the DON JONES INDEX…

 

 

GAINS POSTED in GREEN

LOSSES POSTED in RED

 

    1/29/24...     15,025.18

    1/22/24...     15,036.78

     6/27/13…    15,000.00

 

(THE DOW JONES INDEX: 1/29/24... 38,109.43; 1/22/24... 37,863.80; 6/27/13… 15,000.00)

 

LESSON for JANUARY TWENTY NINTH, 2024 – “AND THEN THERE WERE TWO (and a half) PERSONS!” 

 

Nikki Haley rumbled into New Hampshire last week, looking to beat the spread on her first head to head primary confrontation while former President Donald Trump dropped in and out, in and out, transiting between Manchester and New York City and his civil trial in the matter of slandered suffer-gette E. Jean Carroll.  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who had edged out Haley for second in the previous Iowa caucuses decided that second wasn’t good enough and scuttled home to Disneyworld under the slings and arrows of a media hostile to him from the get-go leaving Nikki with the orchestration she’d wanted... mano a mano (or main féminine) for the thirty one electors from the Granite State and the momentum headed into Super Tuesdau and the convention.

She didn’t cover.  It was close, but according to varying accounts of he vote counts, Djonald UnStoppable prevailed by about twelve points, with the numbers negligible for DeSantis and the rest of the field.  (See Attachment A)

There was also a Democratic primary, first reckoning in the country, and with a twist.  Due to a spat between State and Federal government, the incumbent President was excluded from the primary ballot, necessitating the donkey faithful to take to the streets and convince the leftish public to write in Biden as opposed to one of the challengers: Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips, self-help witch Marianne Williamson and the Don Jones favorite Vermin Supreme.  There were twenty one candidates in all, as opposed to twenty four Republicans and President Joe avoided a serious embarrassment by securing over half the vote.  (Attachment B)

When the last electors trudged home through the snows of freezing Iowa, a victorious Ol’ 45 looked backwards (victorious, but ever-angry) and admitted to himself, if not others, that it was good.

MAGA partisans saw sunshine and strudel in the Granite State too.  Haley’s hopes were pinned to the modified open primary rules and regulations... unlike assertations that Democrats could cross over and pollute the vote, New Hampshirites registered to a party had to pull the levers for the donkeys or the elephants.  Independents, however, could voice their choice in either and, given that closure for registration occurred long ago, (but not long enough ago for liberals to foresee the terrible challenge of Dean Phillips, Marianne Williamson and Vermin Supreme to their President) could just quit, register Republican and vote for one of Trump’s then-challenging candidates – which, by Tuesday, had boiled down to Nikki.

The conservative Washington Examiner’s W. James Antle floated three scenarios for the first full primary of 2024.  (1/23, 6:21 AM EST, Attachment One).

Haley wins (or at least comes close)

“If we see a strong showing from former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, we will have several more weeks of a competitive campaign season,” Antle forecast.

By the time former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie suspended his campaign, “Haley had closed to within single digits of Trump in at least one reputable Granite State poll and a lower-rated one. Many of Christie’s Never Trump supporters were likely to gravitate toward Haley, in addition to voters unaffiliated with either party who are eligible to vote in the GOP primary.”

Haley loses, but beats expectations (and the spread)

At this point, a first-place showing by Haley would have been an upset, Antle stated – instead she said she hoped to get “close” to Trump.  Various partisan pollsters and pundits chose various scenarios, but the “point spread” (to use a football gambler’s term) was around ten points in favor of Ol’ 45 (or about fifty five percent of the turnout).

Twenty-four percent (in a two-person race) would be better than she did in Iowa, “but probably not enough to generate any buzz,” Antle wrote. “But if she breaks 40%, that might plausibly be spun as a moral victory.”

“At 50 percent, it’s crystal clear that Trump doesn’t have this primary or the party sewn up like he claims,” Mark Harris, the lead strategist for a pro-Haley super PAC, wrote in a Monday memo. Trump won 51% in Iowa and is at 54.9% in the New Hampshire RealClearPolitics polling average.

Trump wins New Hampshire in march to the nomination

Or. “...if former President Donald Trump dominates the proceedings Tuesday night, she will have difficulty escaping his shadow.”

With endorsements piling up for Trump, WHDH TV and Emerson College found Trump beating Haley and the spread by 53% to 37%, with DeSantis still in the race taking 10%. The Washington Post and Monmouth showed Trump leading 52% to 34%, with DeSantis at 8%.

After Ron quit, Antle cited a Boston Globe-Suffolk survey that had Trump defeating Haley 57% to 38. Trafalgar pegged Trump at 58%, InsiderAdvantage 62%. Haley was still hovering around “the 40% that could keep her viable,” but even that would have doubled the spread.

And New Hampshire, the Trump-friendly Examiner concluded, “could be the last shot to ensure a truly competitive GOP nomination fight.”

 

The match drew motion even cross the ocean; Al Jazeera concurring that “New Hampshire could present Haley with her best chance to beat Trump by building support among unregistered voters.”  (1/23, Attachment Two)

Upon explication of the regulations, the Jazzies made their argument that Saint Ron, who’d dropped out of the race on Sunday, “had about 5 percent of support according to polls. He has since endorsed Trump, and if his supporters vote for Trump, that could further strengthen the chances of the real estate developer-turned-politician.”

Still, New Hampshire could have given Haley “a shot to show that Trump can be vulnerable.”  Had she won, she could proceed to the South Carolina primary as a viable Trump alternative, making the argument to the Republican voter base that she represents the future of the party and Trump the past.

“Which Democrats and Republicans are expected on the ballot?” the Arabs asked.

Republicans: “There are 24 names on the ballot, but Trump remains the most popular, followed by Haley. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is also on the ballot, though he ended his 2024 campaign, endorsing Trump on Sunday. Names of other candidates who have dropped out are also on the ballot, including Chris Christie, Asa Hutchinson, and Vivek Ramaswamy.”

Democrats: “There are 21 names are on the ballot, including US Representative Dean Phillips of Minnesota and self-help guru Marianne Williamson (but not Biden).

 

When the votes were counted Tuesday night, Trump had prevailed – beating  Haley and the spread, only by just a smidgen with all but five percent of the ballots counted.  He’d garnered 174,800 votes, according to the New York Times... 54.3% to Haley’s 43.3%  (139,383).  (Attachment Three) Many charts and graphs broke down the results by region, and by demographics (for example, Haley held a wide lead in Hanover, where Dartmoth University students chose her over the Donald by a wide margin.

The WashXaminer reported that Trump’s victory, howsoever close to the spread, dealt “a blow to former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley’s prospects even as she refuse(d) to drop out.”

“The results were hardly a surprise for many of Trump’s supporters, as polls showed him with a substantial lead for weeks leading up to the election.”  The results were interpreted in four “key takeaways” to make the point that resistance had been and would be futile for the South Carolinian...

1.  As “no Republican candidate has ever won both the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary without going on to win the party’s presidential nomination,” deserting Haleyites were joining MAGA submissives in urging her to drop out.  “It is time for the Republican Party to coalesce around our nominee and the next president of the United States, Donald Trump,” Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), once a primary rival to Trump, said on Tuesday night and, perhaps, bolstered his chances of being selected as the winner’s new Mike Pence in November by traversing the trails of talkshows and meet/greet appearances throughout the remainder of the week.

2.  Haley’s refusal to drop out has angered the former President, saying that “New Hampshire is the first in the nation; it is not the last in the nation...” eliciting the reaction, over the weekend, that any lingering “enemies” who expressed support for or gave money to the loser would be cut off at the ankles by MAGA, just like the Jackie Robinson statue in Kansas.

3.  Exit polls, including those taken after the Democratic primary, showed that Republican moderates and independents remained isolated and off Team Trump.  CNN polling even found that “(r)oughly half of the voters on Tuesday said they believed President Joe Biden’s victory over Trump in 2020 was legitimate,” another shift from the roughly two-thirds who denied Biden’s victory in Iowa, according to the outlet. 

4.  President Joe did what he had to do... no more and no less, according to the Associated Pres, which called the race in Biden’s favor shortly after the polls closed. “With 85% of the ballots in, Biden had tallied at least a third of the votes, while another third were write-in votes that had yet to be processed. Phillips garnered 20% of the vote, while author Marianne Williamson trailed behind at 5%.”

 

(Timeslines of primary day developments were published by three Timeliners and we have collected same and chronologically ordered the dispatches as Attachment C.)

 

The business journal Forbes (named after the family... one of whom dipped his toe into Presidential politics himself back in the day... noted that the winner’s celebration was a subdued, yet steamy affair as Trump “lashed out at Fox News and hurled personal insults” at Haley... calling her “birdbrain” and claiming he was leading in her home state of South Carolina by “30 to 50 points.”

“Trump then turned his ire towards Fox News for saying “CNN & MSDNC” treated his “BIG, DOUBLE DIGIT” win over Haley “BETTER THAN FOX!”  He appeared to be particularly displeased with Fox host and his former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany—whom he called a “RINO” (Republican In Name Only)—for “telling me what I can do better.”  (1/24. 4:47 AM, Attachment Five)

Biden, all but announcing that the Republican race was over, stoked the fires of the general election by saying that the “stakes could not be higher,” and warned that “...“Our Democracy. Our personal freedoms - from the right to choose to the right to vote. Our economy which has seen the strongest recovery in the world since COVID. All are at stake.”

Angrily telling supporters that “This is not your typical victory speech, but let’s not let someone take a victory when she had a very bad night,” he added as the Hour of the Wolf drew near: “(Haley) didn’t win, she lost.”  (Washington Times, 1/23, Attachment Six)  “Who the hell is the imposter that went up on the stage before and, like, claimed a victory?”

Mr. Trump also attacked Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, who endorsed Ms. Haley, saying he “has to be on something” and adding he has “never seen anybody with [so much] energy.”

“He is like hopscotch,” Mr. Trump said.

 

Another friendly medium, the New York Post, reported that the 77 year-old 45th president “took the stage in Nashua to deliver a taunting triumphal address” directed at his last major rival in the GOP field.

“Who the hell was the imposter that went up on the stage... and claimed victory?” Trump asked as his supporters chanted “Bird-brain!” in reference to the former president’s derogatory nickname for his one-time ambassador to the United Nations. (1/23. 11:01 PM, Attachment Seven)

While Haley had trooped through the Granite state, seeking votes, Djonald UnAvailable had spent most of Primary Week down south in New York, bantering with officials in his various legal matters. 

Flanked by former rivals... “Vivek Ramaswamy and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) and allies like far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)” Trump also “sneered” at Sununu for backing Haley, and at pussy-whipped DeSantis (who would crawl to the winner hours later, begging for a bone). He sent surrogates... Scott, Greene and Ramaswamy and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) to entertain the mob at rallies — “while his campaign made hundreds of thousands of phone calls in a bid to boost voter turnout.”

“Remember, Ron came in second, and he left.”

On the Democratic side, early calculations gave President Joe a 37.2% plurality, “more than enough to thwart his nearest challenger, Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), who attained 19.6% of the vote.

“As of early Wednesday, another 30.8% of ballots in the Democratic race were unprocessed write-in votes, the vast majority of which were expected to go to Biden as well and push his  comfortably above 50.”  Trailing were Williamson and the DJI’s own choice, Vermin Supreme.

The Verm had... and will probably continue to... run on a platform “that includes free ponies for all Americans, time travel research and using zombies to create energy by harnessing “the latest in hamster wheel technology.”

He also runs on a promise of mandatory toothbrushing laws, “because gingivitis has been eroding the country's gum line for long enough and must be stopped."  (WGBH, Boston, Attachment Eight)

He wears a boot on his head which is a symbol, he told Boston Public Radio in New Hampshire on Tuesday, of the media's obsession with candidates. “Personnel from the media will ask me about the boot and I tell them that the boot is a pile of excrement and that they are the flies that buzz around it,” he explained.

Vermin confronted Saint Ron at a New Hampshire rally on Friday before the big show, telling the Floridian’s supporters that “a lot of people attacked Ron DeSantis because I was on stage, and they felt his security failed.”

Shortly after, DeSantis dropped out of the race but still received a handful of votes.

 

Among the flies and fly-catchers swarming through New Hampshire in the cold, Time checked in on the side of Trump at 9:15 on Tuesday while the votes were still being tallied, declaring that the Ex was “seizing command of the race for the Republican nomination and making a November rematch against President Joe Biden feel all the more inevitable.”  (Attachment Nine)

Trump’s allies ramped up pressure on Haley to leave the race before the polls had closed, “but Haley vowed after the results were announced to continue her campaign. Speaking to supporters, she intensified her criticism of the former president,” questioning his mental acuity (confusing her with Nancy Pelosi, for example) and pitching herself as a unifying candidate who would usher in generational change.

“This race is far from over. There are dozens of states left to go,” Haley said, while some in the crowd cried, “It’s not over!”

As South Carolina’s former governor, Haley is hoping a strong showing there could propel her into the March 5 Super Tuesday contests. “But in a deeply conservative state where Trump is exceedingly popular, those ambitions may be tough to realize and a home-state loss could prove politically devastating,” contended a trio of Time servers who, on the other hand, suggested that the only obstacles in Djonald’s run for the White House are legal, as opposed to electoral.

Trump has repeatedly told supporters that he’s being prosecuted on their behalf, “an argument that appears to have further strengthened his bond with the GOP base” every time more civil or criminal rockets are launched against him.

But there remains no indication that he’ll try to win over moderates, independents and millenials by easing up on the bellicose rhetoric.  “If he returns to the White House,” Time stated, “the former president has promised to enact a hardline immigration agenda that includes stopping migrants from crossing the U.S.-Mexico border and reimposing his first-term travel ban that originally targeted seven Muslim-majority countries. He’s also said the rising number of immigrants entering the United States are “poisoning the blood of our country,” Time added, “...echoing Adolf Hitler’s language.”

Back in Time’s inner sanctum, opinion addict and early riser Philip Elliott had predicted, Election Morning (6:00 AM, Attachment Ten), that... while it had taken her almost a year... Haley had achieved her ultimate goal: “a one-on-one race against Donald Trump. But now that she's reached that position, outlasting a long list of men vying for the same spot, it might not be as enviable as she once considered it.”

While acknowledging the former Governor and United Nations ambassador has “shown a mix of flinty pluck and feisty resolve during the last week,” Elliott contended that she had made “perhaps the most credible case against Trump since the spring of 2016, when Ted Cruz’s last-ditch effort proved too tardy to matter.”

But she has also endured a barrage of insults that, should she so desire, might win her a few millions in some liberal court... including a revival of the Obama “birther” accusations... and while her alternating demands and supplications that Ol’ 45 man up and debate her had been ignored, inspiring her to refuse to participate in any further one-person debates (a mistake: with no chance at nomination, she could at least trump Trump on the entertainment end by bringing in a ringer to be situated opposite her – a cackling chicken, for example, or Sam Sloan – or maybe pander to the Gen. Z constituency by debating in a Taylor Swift t-shirt) Elliott wrapped by revisiting the “unofficial mantra” among political zealots follows that “Iowa picks corn while New Hampshire picks Presidents.”

The defining factor, he sums up, will be sums... some sums of money from old-line conservative Republican plutocrats.

“There will be a good number of bank transfers on the donors’ screens as the polls close on Tuesday. Hitting the confirm button will hinge on how those donors are conditioned to see Haley’s numbers, and whether there is a reasonable belief that Haley is getting close to her goals, or if Trump is simply too big of a force to bump off course.

“For Haley, who has been pining for this exact head-to-head with her former boss,” there’s nowhere to hide if this (meaning the “green”) “goes sideways.”

 

One might think that the liberal Guardian U.K. would show Nikki a little love and kindness, but no, not on Tuesday.  (Attachment Eleven)

:In the first official results, all six voters in Dixville Notch picked Haley in a traditional midnight primary, a contest once seen as a bellwether for predicting the nominee.”  Things slid downwards from there.

Before the voting, Trump fired off “insults and misrepresentations, accusing his former UN ambassador of relying on “globalists” and liberals. He also revived a “birtherism” lie which claims Haley is ineligible for president because her parents were not US citizens when she was born. Born in South Carolina to parents from India, Haley is eligible. Trump also appeared to mock Haley by referring to (and misspelling) her given name, Nimarata. Haley has always used her middle name, Nikki.”

“We don’t believe in coronations in this country,” Haley told Fox News. “I’m in this for the long haul.”

Trump dominated South Carolina polling, however.

So, is the Republican presidential primary over already?

Not quite, but it’s a reasonable question after New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary delivered a clear victory for Donald Trump last night. (New  York Times, Attachment Twelve)  “And if your definition of “over” is whether Trump is now on track to win without a serious contest, the answer is probably “yes.”

This Times (left center as opposed to Washington’s hard right) stated that New Hampshire had been Haley’s best chance to take up the chase... based on crossover, Independing and RINO voters and an educated population (eighth in the nation) at least somewhat resistance to false flags.

Haley made good on all of these advantages yesterday, quoth the Tmes. “She won 74 percent of moderates, according to the exit polls, along with 58 percent of college graduates and 66 percent of voters who weren’t registered Republicans.”

But it wasn’t close to enough. Haley lost Republicans by a staggering 74 percent to 25 percent — and the Times called Republicans “an important group in a Republican primary.”

The New Hampshire result puts Trump on a comfortable path to the nomination. “If he’s convicted of a crime, perhaps he’ll lose the nomination at the convention.”  (More likely, it will just increase his power and finances.)  But by the usual rules of primary elections, there’s just not much time for the race to change. If it doesn’t, Trump could easily sweep all 50 states.

The Washington Post (as opposed to the Times and Examiner, both MAGA to the max) proffered its own Five Takeaways at 10:16, 1/23, and they were...

1. It looks all but over

It’s not a novel take, but it’s true.  A month will be a long time to keep (Haley’s) campaign rolling “without much in the way of momentum or belief.”

  2. Haley voters were meh about her, which says something about Trump

  3. The other big exit poll numbers

Fewer New Hampshire voters denied the results of the 2020 election (51 percent) than did Iowa voters (66 percent).

·         67 percent of voters opposed a federal law banning most or all abortions, compared with 27 percent who favored one.

42 percent of voters said Trump wouldn’t be fit to serve as president if he’s convicted of a crime — up from 31 percent in Iowa.

Nonetheless, Trump beat Haley... and the spread.

  4. Haley’s reasons for staying in appear elusive

She did cite Trump’s “senior moments,” a growing theme for Trump’s opponents.   “A Trump nomination is a Biden win and a Kamala Harris presidency,” Haley said, “The first party to retire its 80-year-old candidate is going to be the party that wins this election.” (Trump is actually 77.)

5. Biden’s apparent big win erases any doubt

(He overcame Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson: like... wow! – DJI)

 

The day after the primary, a female “fellow” at the liberal Salon reported upon the victor’s victory tweets on Truth Social and other forums, noting how the former president was "melting down after telling his people for a week he was going to win by 30."

"HALEY said she had to WIN in New Hampshire. SHE DIDN'T!!!" Trump wrote, adding "DELUSIONAL" in another Truth posted shortly thereafter. (Attachment Fourteen)

Joined by adversary turned dogsbody Tim Scott, he had asked the Senator “Did you ever think [about how] she actually appointed you, Tim? … And you’re the senator of her state? You must really hate her."

“I just love you,” Scott bent the knee with a laugh.

On Tuesday, another liberal rag... the Huffington Post... reported that the first thing he’d told supporters, once the polls had closed (8:02 PM, Attachment Fifteen) was: “I don’t get angry, I get even.  You can’t let people get away with bullshit. And when I watched her in the fancydress ― that probably wasn’t so fancy ― come up, I said, ‘What’s she doing? We won.’”

He then launched into a rant filled with his familiar lies – “about the 2020 election having been stolen from him, including a new one that he had won the 2020 general election in New Hampshire, when in fact he had lost it by 60,000 votes or 7 percentage points.”

But the hopeful Huffers also held out promises of their own retribution if his trial in Washington on four felony charges “related to his words and actions around the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by a mob” actually does begin on March fourth, the day after Super Tuesday.  Then again, the HuffPost did admit that delays caused by his appeal appear likely to delay the start of the trial, “although it is unclear by how much” and that speedups of any of his other legal encounters might impact the “enthusiasm” so many professionals believe can win or lose elections, even though citizens, no matter how fanatical, have no more and no less effect than their others (unless they pick up a gun and play Oswald or Sirhan).

DeSantis, who endorsed Trump after ending his campaign for the nomination on Sunday, said the 91 felony charges across four indictments “increased Trump’s popularity and made it impossible for any rival to defeat him in the primaries” or, extrapolating the phenomenon the general election.

So – since the bigger the criminal, the bigger the vote,  The only opponent T has to fear might be Santos, Menendez or a Kohberger/Crumbly/Murdaugh/Dylan Roof-rat or, maybe, Alec Baldwin.

Or, perhaps, Taylor Swift (as below).

 

Among the unliberal foreign press, we have already noted and included the Telegraph’s Tuesday timeline; the rival Daily Mail checked in Wednesday morning (Attachment Sixteen) and reporter Scott Jennings asserted that: “Slice it any way you want - Donald Trump has made history in the 2024 Republican primary race.

“No other non-incumbent GOP candidate has won the first two presidential nominating contests in the modern-era - and Trump has done it with resounding victories in Iowa and New Hampshire.”

So, when she took to the podium at her campaign HQ last night, after news networks began calling the race for Trump, the country collectively held its breath for her announcement.

Was she dropping out?

No!

Instead, she derided Fearless Leader’s “mental acuity”, ticked off the civil and criminal trials “and (re-) demanded that Trump debate her. (“Why would he start now?” Jennings asked.)

Dismissing the scenario that Nikki’s angling for the VP slot... the hate is too great and memories of Mike facing noose abuse too loosely bandied about among the cognoscenti... the reporter said it was more likely that she would stay in and burn donor cash until the spigot was turned off and that, if Djonald UnContested did pick a former rival, it would likely be Scott, or even Ramaswamy.  

There may, as we stated, be two and a half humans in the running for President... old white Joe and old angry Donnie, of course, and another person of the female gender mixing up the mix.

But it’s not and won’t be Sweet Nikki. Instead, the only person who can derail the Trump train,(either before or after Super Tuesday, the Republican convention or general election) is Georgia prosecutor Fani Willis.

The reason is simple: his civil cases may ultimately cost Trump money, even necessitation of confiscating, selloff and renaming of Trump Tower and other iconic assets, but he can always go on GoFundMe and beg, and the suckas will respond.  The Federal criminal cases may be serious and result in serious prison time, but there’s an easy out... win and then pardon himself.

The electoral tampering is different.  Deep red authorities in a purpling state, from Governor Kemp and SecState Raffensperger on down to the minions of Justice bear personal animosity towards Trump and will likely let events just play out... a conviction, under law, meaning Trump can get into jail and stay there, even if he wins.

A scenario and spectacle to delight the anarchist indwelt in us all!

Fani is the only person who can whack Trump’s back, short of some lone gunman... but again, the luck of the Ire-ish is holding due to her own personal improprieties – as could well result in charges being dropped in exchange for a favor here or there or, at a minimum, delay any trial until 2025.

So, instead of two and a half humans holding the reins of November, it might be two and a quarter... or less.

 

So, will Haley actually make it to South Carolina on February 24... let alone the convention in Milwaukee, or even Super Tuesday?

“Color me skeptical,” Jennings predicts.  “Nobody wants to take a beating in their own backyard.”

 

Back to Salon Thursday morning, Senior Writer Amanda Marcotte summed up Tuesdays numbers and Wednesday’s thunders... “(k)eeping with his habit of being the worst person alive,” (worser than Putin?... than Hamas?) Donald Trump reacted to his victory by being a sore winner.  He birthered and fashion-shamed Haley and, as above, “even took his narcissistic injury out on Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., forcing Scott to say ‘I just love you’ in a maximally humiliating fashion.” 

He also claimed that anyone who offers Haley financial support "from this moment forth" will be "permanently barred from the MAGA camp." 

But Marcotte believes that, “...(d)espite the headlines about Republicans lining up behind Trump, there's significant evidence that, in fact, his leadership is causing the party to fracture and go to war with itself...” a war escalating to Congress on his dictate to House representatives to refuse to support the Senate negotiations that would otherwise give the hard right almost everything they’ve been asking for as regards mashing the migrants – because a resolution might help Biden’s electoral prospects.

It always has to be about Himself!

Delving into downballot races, Marcotte cited Melissa Ryan’s “Ctrl Alt Right Delete” (guess their leanings) report that “the MAGA power grab is being resisted by the few remaining Republicans not willing to see their party go full fascist.”

Unloading a wheelbarrow of dirty shirts, bloody flags and crazy quasi-criminal colludurators (including election denialists, reributionists and Christian churches, Marcotte and Ryan contend that Maga has "essentially given up on winning free and fair elections," hoping they can cheat their way to victory instead. “Or even, as January 6 showed, use violence to overcome that pesky ‘voters hate us’ problem” even though most polls and surveys show that voters, indeed, love what they perceive as Djonald’s “strength”.

Last week, Impeacher-ers further stickied up the House with James Comer (R-Ky) admitting to the New York Times, of all sources, that the Biden inquiry is a creep-fake initiated to massage the donor class and charges now proceeding against Homeland Security’s Alejandro Mayorkas so as to prevent him from working on the border crisis solution they say should not be solved... at least until November.

But while Salon and the rest of the leftist media (HuffPost, Slate, GUK and the such) believe or think that, as time and tremors escalate, ordinary voters who might otherwise vote Republican if not for their disgust, may just start walking away. 

But to where?  And to whom?

 

The numbers might not be there for Nikki, but the money still is.  The sort-of-far-right New York Post reported, albeit with puzzlement and regrets, that even after New Hampshire, Haley has hauled in $2.6 million including $1.2 million in small-dollar and digital donations despite the former president’s threats to blacklist everyone who donates to his former ambassador to the United Nations.  (Friday, 1/26, Attachment Eighteen)

“Anybody that makes a ‘Contribution’ to Birdbrain, from this moment forth, will be permanently barred from the MAGA camp,” Trump, 77, said in a Thursday Truth Social post, “using his preferred disparaging nickname for Haley, 52.”

“Birdbrain” seems to be waxing fat on birdseed scattered by small donors, turning the Trump trope of victimization on its head, but the big Democratic and old-style Republicans are starting to hold back and save their swag for November (or, in the case of never-Trump conservatives, a new yacht or island).

 “Before recommending another investment at this later stage in the process, Dmitri Mehlhorn, a political philanthropy adviser for Democrat and Haley megadonor told the Post, “I would need to see a new potential path.”  Increasingly, that path leads, if at all, to the courts, not any candidate.”

“You have to know when to hold them. You got to know when to fold them. You got to know when to walk away. It’s time for Nikki Haley to walk away,” metal magnate Andy Sabin told Fox Business host Neil Cavuto on Wednesday.

But the Fox also reported that Nikki’s long walk derives, if anything, from a growing personal animosity coaxing her further down that path trod by the likes of Chris Christie, who remained in the race long after his prospects evaporated – just to vex The Donald.  (1/23, Attachment Nineteen)

"I don't do what he tells me to do," Haley told Fox News and other news organizations as she took questions from reporters outside a polling station in a coastal New Hampshire town on Tuesday morning after the previous night’s rally in the biker-gangster citadel of Laconia, shot-caller Trump crowed "we started off with 13 [GOP White House candidates] and now we're down to two people.

"And I think one person will be gone probably tomorrow," he predicted, as he pointed... like an evil biker chieftan in a cop show having stolen a copy of a proposed summons based on the testimony of a disloyal subordinate and ordering a hit on the rat... towards Haley.

 

Certaom other documents acquired by conservative Breitbart by means unspecified included a memo from Camp Haley “boasting of the millions of dollars the campaign has raised.”  (Attachment Twenty)

Haley’s path to victory, according to the document, posits a “strong performance” in South Carolina, which has no party registration before the campaign moves on to Michigan which, the memo states, “has an open primary” wherein Democrats... with President Joe having conqured Marianne, Dean (and presumably the Skipper, too)... will cross over and further irritate Mister Trump.

“The memo adds that 11 of the 16 Super Tuesday states have open or “semi-open” primaries. In other words, the campaign believes there is “significant fertile ground” for Haley on Super Tuesday.” attracting non-conservative voters.

 

Salon, again, cited an interview given by Susan Collins, the Senator from adjacent Maine, to The Hill after Trump’s victory in the Granite State (1/24. Attachment Twenty One) having been only one of seven Republicans voting to convict the Ex-President for inciting the One Six riots (for which vote she was censured by the elephants) and also one of three Republican senators who voted in opposition to Trump’s attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act in 2017.

When asked if she could envision supporting Trump if he secures the nomination, Collins said, "I do not at this point."

“I’m glad to hear last night,” she added, “that Nikki Haley is determined to stay in [the race.] I think the more people see of her, particularly since she appears to be the only alternative to Donald Trump right now, the more impressed they will be." 

But The Hill also pointed out that an increasing number of GOP senators are “vocalizing support for Trump as the 2024 elections grow nearer.”

So too, despite his three wives and numerous displays of worldly predilections, Trump has been consolidating both Republican and nonpartisan evangelical churches, even being quoted from pulpits across the land, according to Samuel Perry, a Professor of Sociology at the University of Oklahoma, writing in Time (Wednesday, Attachment Twenty Two).

(An aside... perhaps of substance, perhaps not... was a WashPost report that, with its vanquished champion home from the primary wars, the late, great state of Florida has removed sociology as a core course option for public colleges)

Noting that, despite his Godly pronouncements and War on Mickey, DeSantis badly lagged among the white evangelical voters he’d hoped would carry him to victory and. after he quit, any “flickers of hope that Trump’s evangelical support was vulnerable, particularly among the most devout” were... only flickers.

Perry cites a poll that he and psychologist Joshua Gribble took a poll of white evangelical voters – 53% of whom said they would vote for Trump, with 31% for DeSantis and less than 1% for old debbil Joe.

In other words, over a year before Republicans would need to decide their presidential candidate, Trump already enjoyed majority support among white evangelicals.

“Trump is the Republican party now, “ Perry concludes.  As Trump’s victory became more inevitable, any reluctant supporters among the most committed fall into line because they are not only partisans but culture warriors who still feel under attack and had more confidence in Trump than in DeSantis as their warrior king.  As journalist Tim Alberta has described the white evangelical mindset: “The barbarians are at the gates, and we need a barbarian to keep them at bay.” Trump is nothing if not a convincing barbarian.

“Trump has white evangelicals in his pocket. Whatever cognitive dissonance some devout Christians may feel for supporting a twice-impeached serial philandering liar who tried to stage a coup and threatens violence against political opponents is easily dismissed with the conviction that no Republican nominee, no matter how problematic, could be worse than losing to a Democrat,” like Hillary Clinton, who sent consolatory messages to Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig after their "Barbie" Oscars snubs.

Or to Nikki Haley.

“The time for denial is over,” Salon’s Marcotte wrote later on Thursday morning; Republicans are “really nominating Donald Trump.”  (Attachment Twenty Three)

Mainstream media outlets like the Washington Post (which leaned into this style of hopium, reaching all the way back to Dwight Eisenhower's 1952 New Hampshire upset primary win) went into overdrive after all six voters in Dixville Notch voted for saw all 6 people who showed up voting for Haley (which late, late news early Monday morning was the last most Americans saw and heard before going to sleep).

So not all Americans are the "low information voters" we hear so much about. Many are generally well-informed about the political landscape and the stakes of an election where one candidate, Trump, attempted to overthrow democracy last time he lost. “But they still struggle to believe Trump will be the nominee.”

No doubt, part of the reason voters are confused is the misleading news coverage. “Part of it,” the virtuous Salon explains, “is an understandable inability to accept, on a deep emotional level, that Republican voters can be this stupid and/or evil... that it's hard to believe “Republicans would nominate this jackass again.”

Acknowledging that most Republicans pay their bills by working, instead of defrauding people, don't call on their social media followers to murder their colleagues or sexually assault women in department stores, Marcotte admits that it’s “hard to imagine their souls are so dark that they think this man — a fascist who sends violent goons after people and is currently (if expensively) harassing a woman he once sexually assaulted — is their number one pick for president. It's hard to believe it, but true: They may not act that way in person, but on some level, they really wish they could.”

 

A lot of mild-mannered reporters for great metropolitan newspapers (like the aforementioned Post) perhaps also wish they could jump on a Harley to rape and pillage in a small, quiet town like Laconia so its election morning take on Trump’s last rally in Harleyville was, if not nuanced, at least “enthusiastic”.

As the once and future Fuhrer trotted out Scott and Vivek to strains of theme music associated with the QAnon conspiritarians, a MAGAn in the crowd shouted out: “Twelve years of Trump!”

“You’re right,” Trump laughed. “Don’t say that too loud. ... You know they love to call me a fascist.”

This evoked more chanting: “Free the J6ers!”  The candidate said he would absolutely pardon the “hostages” as he has been doing in speeches since December.  (WashPost, Attachment Twenty Four)

 

As the polls closed and results began trickling across the pond, the Daily Mail, U.K. (Attachment Twenty Five, 1/22 updated 23:26 EST) reported that Trump had met with Lawrence Jones of the Fox “to discuss the state of the Republican presidential race” and, in particular, the Vice Presidency.

He said he appreciated Ron DeSantis' endorsement after the former governor dropped out of the contest on Sunday but said he didn't see him serving as his running mate or in his administration. 

“I have a lot of great people,” Trump said, and then added, pointedly: “And I have great people that have been with me right from the beginning,' he said.

But, at least, he added that he would retire the nickname 'Ron DeSanctimonious' now that “the Florida governor has endorsed him.”

As for ungrateful Nikki: 'She worked for me like two and a half years. She was okay. Not great. She was okay. She said to everybody, in fact, when she left, I would never run against the president.'

Who might be more suitable as Trump’s Veep?

The WashPost compiled a list of nine little supplicants, in order of what they believed to be probability (1/25, Attachment Twenty Six) and staff opinionator Aaron Blake selected Congressperson Elise Stefanik of New York as Candidate Number One.

Stefanik has shown a willingness to go to great lengths to defend and support Trump according to Blake’s Post colleague, Adam Glanzman.  “Trump seems to like Republicans he has been able to convert into loyalists, and few embody such a wholesale conversion as Stefanik. Trump and his allies have had very good things to say about the New York congresswoman” who, in return, says “pretty much anything to defend and support Trump, including most recently referring to Jan. 6 “hostages” and by claiming Trump hadn’t actually confused Nikki Haley with former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Scott clocked in at second on Blake’s take with DeSantis fourth and Haley fifth, despite their temporary (the former) or ongoing (the latter) opposition.  One more former candidate was on the list too, but last... Vivek Ramaswamy Number Nine, Number Nine.

 

Blake’s listing, last year of top presidential candidates in both parties unsurprisingly chose Trump and Biden to be facing each other in the “rematch from Hell” but, although it is likely that Kamala Harris will remain on the Democratic ticket (although Blake did think Pete Butt had a better chance of ascension to higher office), the listings for Republicans may be applicable as regards Trump’s Vice President (September 3, 2023, Attachments Twenty Seven “A” and “B”) listed Ron and Nicki atop the greasy pole… an unlikely eventuality now… with the surviver being Scott.

“Every four years, there’s at least one candidate who summons every ounce of earnestness and goes all-in to plant a flag in a specific state. You can’t help but admire their gusto and bravada, essentially telling the world that this is their sole focus. And, like clockwork, many of those committed Quixotic campaigns simply cannot get it together just quite right. Pluck alone is often insufficient...

“The latest case study,” according to Time’s opinionator-in-chief Elliott, was Haley, whom he praised for her “incredible effort” in New Hampshire. For months, she did the quiet and unglamorous work of attending sparsely attended town halls far from the population centers in the state’s Southern Tier and braved the snows and slurs to get her message across... a message which, unfortunately, a majority of the :”Live Free or Die” staters weren’t supporting

“Nikki Haley Did New Hampshire Right. New Hampshire Didn't Care” was the title of his post-electoral autopsy (Attachment Twenty Eight) and perhaps it is a shame (if one overlooks her own Republican agenda) but the best she can hope for is to land on her feet and land a job somewhere in the mediaverse... perhaps with Fox, now that Trump and the Murdochs have follen out of love.  Or she could go into sociology and become a Professor (only not in Flordida).

 

But, for now, she’ll walk that long and winsome road towards Milwaukee, bolstered by memories of that high drama of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire as soon plummeted into a presumable Nikki Nadir – wending her winding way forth towards home and a probably gruesome demise preceding what paleo-conservative George Will called “the rematch from hell.”

 

Zachary Basu, of Axios, impied that a resolution of that rematch... polls be damned... would reveal that former President Trump, the Sultan of Schmooze, was domiciled in an increasably “shrinking tent” as would eventuall envelop and suffocate him in its fetters of the law and of his own arrogance and bad decisions.

“Trump, like any candidate, will need a broad coalition to win in November.” Zach posits... more or less discarding recent history (Attachment Twenty Nine),  one that “casts a far wider net than the core MAGA base responsible for his dominant victories in Iowa and New Hampshire.”

Standing on the demographics, and upon polls commissioned by no less conservative (if NeverTrump) a source than Fox News, whose voter analysis found that “35% of New Hampshire's voters would be so dissatisfied with a Trump nomination that they would not vote for him in November.”

Axios also found “warning signs” in the confidence of allies like the ever-bubbly MTG, who appeared on stage with Trump for his victory speech, and said the GOP is "completely eradicating" any Republican who doesn't adapt to Trump's policies.

Asked, then, how he'll get skeptical Haley supporters to vote for him in November, Trump told reporters: "They're going to all vote for me again. ... And I'm not sure we need too many."

Even “bleeding support from minorities and young voters,” and with his age remaining “a top concern for many voters,” it’s more likely than not he will.

 

Team Biden... bolstered by its latest expert on Presidential politics, John Kerry (tree hugger, former Senator and heir, by matrimony, to the Heinz pickle fortune)... more or less terminated the strangely financed campaign of Dean Phillips, who could never quite catch up to the incumbent, as well as those of Marianne and Vermin.  Still, sounding more like a fifth columnist than a loyal Democrat, Phillips was quoted Tuesday, as the results became manifest, saying that, while Biden had “absolutely won tonight, but by no means in a way that a strong incumbent president should” before vowing to “go to South Carolina, and then we’re going to go to Michigan and then we’re going to go to 47 other states.”  (New York Post, 1/23. 11:01 PM, Atttachment Thirty)

Trump, also, has failed to drive “Birdbrain” from the primaries and, even if his luck holds and the Georgia election tampering charges collapse like a cheap tent in a thunderstorm over the foibles of the “half person” in the picture (again - not Haley, but Fani) Donald won’t be able to duck the Presidential debates and will have to represent himself as regards to the issues of the day... those on which the incumbent is vulnerable, and those on which he is less so, except to the die hard MAGA base.

If nothing else, Haley and Phillips will be stirring the embers of both primary campaigns, and the few flames of publicity that flicker up will keep the candidacies of the leaders in the limelight, howsoever dimmed.  Inevitably, however, the attention of the media and the voters not committed to their party come Hell or High Crimes will turn to the issues... global and kitchen table... as will determine the leanings of that all-important slice of the uncommitted (or, even, the disgusted).

When the debates do occur (and President Joe and his predecessor/successor can no longer hide behind a smile or a sneer); what will they have to say about...

 

THE ECONOMY

Our roster of Fox News takeaways (see Attachment “C”) observing that GOP Sens. John Cornyn and Deb Fischer endorsed former President Trump on Tuesday night “following Trump's win in the New Hampshire primary in his bid to be crowned the Republican presidential nominee.” 

"It's time for Republicans to unite around President Donald Trump and make Joe Biden a one-term president," Fischer said in a statement. "These last three years have yielded a crippling border crisis, an inflationary economy that prices the American Dream out of reach for families, and a world in constant turmoil with our enemies on the march. I endorse Donald Trump for president so we can secure our border, get our economy moving again, and keep America safe."

Cornyn said in a statement posted to X, "To beat Biden, Republicans need to unite around a single candidate, and it’s clear that President Trump is Republican voters’ choice."

"Four more years of failed domestic policies like the Biden Border Crisis and record-high inflation, and failed foreign policies that have emboldened our adversaries and made the world a more dangerous place, must be stopped," he said. 

Fox also interviewed former candidate turned potential Number Two Number Two Scott, who said that Scott argued that Trump has already proven he is capable of lowering inflation and addressing illegal immigration, two top issues for Republicans and Americans in general.

And even Saint Ron, after his come-to-Djonald moment, said: "This is America's time for choosing. We can choose to allow a border invasion, or we can choose to stop it. We can choose reckless borrowing and spending, or we can choose to limit government and lower inflation. We can choose political indoctrination, or we can choose classical education."

"Joe Biden sees things differently,” Fox, in the interest of fairness and balance, published a statement by the President’s campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez.  “He’s fighting to grow our economy for the middle-class, strengthen our democracy, and protect the rights of every single American. While we work toward November 2024, one thing is increasingly clear today: Donald Trump is headed straight into a general election matchup where he’ll face the only person to have ever beaten him at the ballot box: Joe Biden," she added.

He’ll also face...

 

THE CULTURE WARS

We have already noted the attraction of the abortion issue to Democrats... especially in the swing and/purple states, as well as even in some localities in red states as may tweak the house back onto the side of President Joe.

The reaction, on the Executive level, has been for Republicans to push for extreme restrictions, lock up pregnant women, doctors... even those who suffer miscarriages.  Shorter and shorter post-coital grace periods are being enacted and prohibitions against contraception are in the planning stage.

The second target of the MAGAright... more or less a case of corpse abuse, it being stolen from the defunct DeSantis campaign, has been a crusade against gays, lesbians and... especially... transgenders with God’s Army frothing at the mouth at incidents of who uses whose public restrooms and crossover butches scooping up athletic medals from deserving biological females.  While it seems that Micky, Donald, Goofy and/or Pluto (beware of human-animal hybrids!) is off the table, there has been a pushback among social conservatives to take back same sex marriages, even to follow Uganda down the road towards making homosexuality a capital crime.  As with abortion, Djonald UnCommitted will probably try to avoid answering any questions about sexuality – onstage or off – because that might lead to racial branding, at a time when the pink elephants are trying to make inroads into black, brown, red and yellow populations fed up with Democratic bungling.

The final issue for the Hard Right to attack and wimpy liberals to defend is truth itself... whether in a culture of denialism where “they” are conspiring against the good people and “goodness” itself is up for debate (although probably not in 2024).  This plays out most visibly in the education wars... with pollsters showing that Trump supporter ranked lower in social and economic standing and in educational attainment (if not necessarily street smarts) than those backing Haley.  Double the divide for the general election.  And the arrogance Trump has displayed time and again has been mirrored, not necessarily by Biden, but by the woke elites in academia and politics as they scurry about pulling down statues, changing names and spreading shame.

Team Trump can secure a victory should some hard left activists, acting within or beyond the law, take some extreme “woke” action around Halloween... if, for example, they blow up Mount Rushmore’s four evil white men (the slaveholding Washington and Jefferson, and the Roosevelts... animal killer Teddy and Oppenheimer supporting Frank) Trump may not only prevail atop the ticket but carry veto-proof majorities in Congress with him.

(There could and should be a fourth issue as perhaps may be called “cultural”... the issue of climate, mostly ignored in the Republican drawdowns.  After the deep freezes and snowstorms, the cry: “Drill, baby, drill” does not seem so irresponsible to kitchen tablers looking over their heating bills and, come summer, the inevitably rising temperatures will keep fans and air conditioners humming.  But Pickle John is no longer around; the new Climate Czar is... somebody... and both parties remember what happened to Jimmy Carter after he proposed conservation.)

 

TIME..

On Saturday, Jennifer Rubin of the WashPost theorized that “Gen Z might be the MAGA movement’s undoing,” citing numerous instances where millenials hold more liberal views than their parents or grandparents and drawing from a poll from the Public Religion Research Institute that concluded “Gen Z will favor a progressive message that incorporates diversity and opposes government imposition of religious views.”  And the younger, the more liberal on affirmative action, forgiveness of student debt (duh!), abortion, climate and... as might be expected from a Bezos Girl... the promise (absent the perils, as Congress has taken note) of high tech, AI and social media.  (1/28, Attachment Thirty Two)

But demographics also hinders Democrats in that even younger voters are worried about President Joe’s age and perceptions of infirmity.  Haley tried to balance this out by harping on Trump’s “senior moments”, but the queasy feeling that, between 77 year old Donnie and 81 year old Joe, America is sliding down the hill the way the Soviet Union did after Khruschev when one ancient dictator after another let that entity slide until it was finally overthrown.  America, to its credit (if not, perhaps, brute wisdom), did not nuke, invade, nor seize command of the Russian ruins, but let them stumble on through Gorbachev, tipsy Boris and onward to Mad Vlad and his obsession (if not wholly successful) in restoring the Bear’s military (if not economic) fortunes.

“There are also some warning signs for Democrats seeking the votes of those who distrust older generations and are skeptical of voting,” Rubin advises her presumably sympathetic readership. “Democrats might want to tweak their message accordingly,” lest youth look at those two old men pandering for their votes and decide to stay home and vape.

Black voters, particularly the younger men, are disattaching themselves from the donkey chains as have been making the demograph a reliable Democratic asset for generations.  “We know we can’t take any voters for granted, especially Black voters, young voters, who’ve been a crucial bloc for the Biden-Harris coalition,” said Michael Tyler, communications director for the campaign.  (WashPost 1/27, Attachment Thirty Three)

“There’s an assumption that because Donald Trump is Donald Trump, he’ll have zero support among Black voters. That couldn’t be further from the truth,” noted Leah Wright Rigueur, an associate professor of history at Johns Hopkins University. “Amongst a small subset of Black men, there is more of a willingness to entertain Republican overtures. And that is distinctly gendered. Black women are less likely to entertain it.”

“You hear ‘Biden is looking out for Latinos, Biden is looking out for Asians. They passed an anti-Asian hate bill, but where’s our legislation?’” asked Branden Snyder, executive director of Detroit Action.

And Trump, when in office, backed up his words with actions.  Rapper Kodak Black, who was among those offered clemency from weapons charges on Trump’s final day in office and recently endorsed the former president on the podcast “Drink Champs." 

In August, rapper YG , who famously wrote the song “F--- Donald Trump,” said on a podcast that the Black community “forgave” Trump after he rolled out the 2020 Paycheck Protection Program intended to help small businesses during the pandemic. The former president, he said, was “passing out money.”

 

CRIME... and

For now, Trump and the Republicans do own the issue of public safety and domestic security garnering a super-majority of white, often Evangelical voters as well as growing slices of minorities also concerned about safety.  Every school shooting, every robbery or murder, even every dognapping or smash and grab home and retail store invasion drives calls for more and tougher laws, more police and armed forces and less consideration for the excuses that lawbreakers bleat when they are caught.

The execution of Kenneth Smith by nitrogen is a bellweather of changes to come and next week’s lesson will tackle this in greater detail.  Frankly, a majority of Americans of all ages, races, genders and incomes, want to feel safe in their homes and on the streets and... if Trump has no specific plans for achieving this beyond deporting the immigrants “poisoning our blood”, the domestic bloodshed will counter many of the liberal arguments for a Bidenesque society.  Most may not yearn for a strongman, but do want a strong man as will back the blue, support first responders and... uh... obey the law themselves???

 

LAW and ORDER

Well, that last might be debatable.  The Super Tuesday elections come one day after the scheduled start of Trump’s trial in Washington on four felony charges related to his words and actions around the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by a mob of his followers designed... first... to coerce then-Vice-President Mike Pence and Congress into awarding him a second term even though he had lost the 2020 election by a margin greater than could be disputable and then, when that failed, to hang them.  (See Attachments Three and Fifteen, as above)

Trump is claiming he cannot be prosecuted for any of those charges because he had “total immunity” while he was president. An appeals court is set to rule soon on that, which Trump will almost certainly take to the U.S. Supreme Court if the decision goes against him.

The delays caused by his appeals appear likely to delay the start of the trial, although it is unclear by how much.  More damaging to the law... and the donkeys... has been the revelation that Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, faces a series of imminent, critical choices that could upend her consequential case against the former president and 14 remaining co-defendants.

The Guardian, on Thursday (Attachment Thirty Four) reported that Michael Roman, a Trump co-defendant, filed a motion earlier this month seeking the disqualification of Willis and Nathan Wade, an outside lawyer hired by Willis in 2021 to assist with the Trump case. “In court filings, Roman alleged Willis and Wade were in a romantic relationship and Wade had used some of the more than $650,000 he earned from his work for her to pay for vacations for the two of them. Bank records made public last week showed Wade had paid for tickets for himself and Willis to California in 2023 and Miami in 2022.”

A disqualification would upend the case against Trump and significantly delay it. If the judge Scott McAfee were to disqualify Willis’s office from handling the case, the executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia would appoint a replacement. There’s no time limit on how long that could take. “It could entirely derail the entire enterprise,” said Anthony Michael Kreis, a law professor at Georgia State University who has closely followed the case.

“When is the Great State of Georgia dropping the FAKE LITIGATION against me and the others? ELECTION INTERFERENCE! The case is a FRAUD, just like D.A. Fani Willis and her ‘LOVER’,” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform on 20 January.  Others, including political moderates and/or disinterested parties do not believe the charges merit dropping the case, but delays are certain... and may continue long past Election Day.

The case is unique because it is the only instance in which a re-elected President Trump cannot pardon himself.  Thus, America faces the prospect of being under the governance of a man residing in a Georgia prison cell while the lonesome whistle blows and the Russians, Chinese, Iranians or whomever figure out how to turn a profit by the calamity.

Wallis, for her part, openly declared that she intends to play the race card. 

Stephen Gillers, a legal ethics expert at New York University, called the situation “...bad in every possible way.  (MAGAnauts excepted)  It’s not good for public confidence in this case, which is needed.”

 

and BORDER

Co-equal to the kitchen table issues... perhaps even superior to them in the minds of some MAGAnauts... is the crisis at the border (with its corollaries of race, crime and, as above, the econ-me).

Speaker Johnson has expressed “hope” if not faith, charity or clarity, on the possibility of a border security deal... although what it might look out is still cloudy. Governor Abbott has even told the hardliners that he will not order his Texas Rangers nor allow any upspringing vigilante forces to shoot the migrants, after getting blowback from liberals and even some moderates after women and children drowned under his wire fence in the Rio Grande.  Beset on the one side by Nikki’s needling that he was unable to complete that Great Wall during his administration and, on the other, by admissions of impotence by the likes of the Washington Post’s Eduardo Porter who editorialized... “Forget about securing the border. It won’t work...” on Thursday.

“Migration demands a different bargain today,” contended Porter.  “It, too, must be comprehensive. It must restore discipline to the asylum process, tightening rules to ensure it remains a viable option for people truly fleeing for their lives, pursued by a predatory state or organized crime. But it also must acknowledge that a large number of migrants are driven by broader pressures — such as hunger, climate change and a desire for opportunity. Hardening the border will not keep them out.  (1/18, Attachment Thirty Five – with its Peanut Gallery)

Compounding the issue is a legal standoff between state and Federal jurisdiction... as played out in Texas where the INS and DHA are fighting the installation of razor wire to slash migrants andallow some to drown (usually children).

While even Democrats in Texas, Arizona, California and the like are calling out for stronger enforcement, the Senate’s attempt to reach a bipartisan proposal has been vetoed, in advance, by Trump and by Speaker Mike Johnson, who says any legislation would be “dead on arrival” in the House... Democrats saying that Trump is masterminding the stalemate in order to exploit it as a campaign issue.

 

Which brings up the issue of...

 

THOSE FOREIGNERS

(... encompassing their leanings towards or against freedom and democracy and, of course, their wars – and the resulting solicitations for money to keep resisting the Russians, the terrorists and other “bad actors”)

The spotlight has been shining most brightly, and recently on...

“The MidEast” where the Israel-Hamas war has been, for the United States, slowly escalating to include Lebanon (Hezbollah), the West Bank (rogue elements of the moderate... by Islamic terroristic standards... Palestinian Authority) Yemen (where Houthi rebels supported by Iran have virtually cleansed the Red Sea of commercial shipping), Iraq and Syria (Iranian-backed insurrectionists, again) and, most recently, the once-stable Jordan where direct attacks killing American troops are causing parents to grieve, patriots to demand action (include taking the war to Iran itself, which Biden still resists), allies to worry, Russians and Chinese to celebrate and partisans to calculate... the perceived Democratic weakness matched by Republican confusion, dismay and denial.

Dissent is also building within Democrats over Biden’s alliance with Israel in its war against Hamas, “putting the president’s standing at risk in swing states like Michigan. A rally he held in northern Virginia on Tuesday to promote abortion rights—an issue his party sees as critical to success in November—was disrupted repeatedly by protests over U.S. military support for Israel. One person shouted “shame on you!”  (Time, Attachment Nine above)

While a majority of voters and politicians of both parties do support Israel, paying for the war is another matter.  Trump, in fact, has ordered House Republicans to reject a proposed omnibus border security and foreign military and humanitarian aid because... even conservatives admit... he wants to deny President Joe the issue to advance Himself.

Consequently, Israel is facing a multi-front war that is likely to soldier on as long as the Russian invasion of Ukraine, debilitating American power and prestige while harming both Israel and Gaza civilians and risking a Russian conquest of Kyev, as would launch a new war of aggression in Europe while China is stepping up cyberterror against the United States itself while pondering how and when to conquer Taiwan and move on to Korea, other states and, before attacking America itself, Japan.

There will be plenty of foreign policy questions for the standard-bearers to debate when the time comes... unless Trump gambles that choosing not to prolong the next Presidential showdown (and probably a few after March and before November) may aid his cause.

 

This melds with Administrational floundering over the military adventures of Russia in Ukraine and Hamas and Israel in the MidEast... in which funding for our “allies” has been held hostage to nebulous border talk at a time when attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and new moves by Iranian backed terror groups in Lebanon, Iraq and Syria are increasing the prospect of a wider war.  And just this week, the most dangerous development yet... fighting breaking out between a nuclear wannabe in Tehran and nuclear-armed Pakistan, which risks drawing China and India into the chaos.

 

FINALLY, BACK TO AMERICA’S KITCHEN TABLES...

And even if we make it into November, 2024 without apocalypse, most voters will be pounding the table over kitchen table domestic issues like the economy, equality, jobs, crime and the ability of the government to function at all. On Friday the Nineteenth, hours before the expiration of the last can-kick on a government shutdown... the one pumped by Trump, MAGA and the Freedom Caucus against the wizardry of Speaker Johnson (who had vowed that that would be the last), Johnson broke his vow and offered up another can kick that a desperate Congess accepted in lieu of resolution and which President Joe signed that afternoon.

Meaning more debt... and more demands from more Americans on how our tax and spend policy can be reformed so as to pay our bills coming out of a plague and into two wars and a shrinking but still excessive rate of inflation.

During their adventures in Iowa and New Hampshire, Trump, Haley and DeSantis were all adamant in averring that America must find the backbone and the wherewithal to pay its bills, and without raising taxes... expecially on their beloved billionaires.  But... barring an excellent or excruriating turn of events... the March can kicks will probably be extended again and again and again and November and beyond.

Haley, at least, ventured a tax and don’t spend policy that was promulgated in the Des Moines Register (Attachment Thirty Six) wherein she promised to “veto any bill that doesn’t get us back to pre-pandemic spending levels and end hundreds of billions in corporate bailouts and special-interest handouts.”

Whoda thunkitt?... a Socialist!!!

Further she threw a bottle of sulfuric acid over both parties, denouncing the “Democrats and Republicans (that) have been destroying America’s economy and finances for a long time” with their reckless spending is stifling our economy even as our military is falling behind and Communist China lurking as our politicians are “spending America toward defeat. We need a president who stops this madness. We have to win this struggle and keep the peace.”

“I speak hard truths,” spake Nikki, “and here’s a painful one. Republicans and Democrats are both to blame. Barack Obama and Joe Biden both loved to waste the American people’s money, but so did George W. Bush and Donald Trump. Everyone talks about the good economy under Trump — but at what cost? He put us $8 trillion in debt in just four years. Our kids will never forgive us for that.

“I’ll reform entitlements,” she promised, “the biggest drivers of our national debt, while protecting everyone who depends on Social Security and Medicare.”  Hmmm?

The New York Times, back on January 6th when there were still three aspirational elephants, begged to disagree... in that Social Security and Medicare are the government’s biggest entitlements.

“Social Security’s main trust fund is currently projected to be depleted in 2033, meaning the program would then be able to pay only about three-quarters of total scheduled benefits. Medicare, for its part, is at risk of not having enough money to fully pay hospitals by 2031,” warned the Times.  (Attachment Thirty Seven)

Fact-checking Biden (who dis-quoted Trump’s pledge to cut Social Security and Medicare in 2020), and Trump’s own pledge to protect them, unlike DeSantis (uttered in December... Saint Ron more recently said he’d leave present bennies alone, but raise the retirement age to seventy).  The Florida Guv, for his weasly part, said that Nikki had also claimed that the retirement age was “way, way too low” as American life expectancy declined... the Times explained that the statement came at the height of the plague and has since inched back up.

CNN, back on January 11th after it sponsored a debate, dodged by Trump of course, comparing the then-three candidates on creating a flat tax and/or eliminating the Federal gas tax and deduced that DeSantis and Haley were “being deliberately unspecific.”

All the candidates, including President Joe, have at least one thing in common: They want to extend at least some of the measures of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which Trump championed and signed into law. The fate of individual income tax provisions will be a top priority of whoever wins the November election since they are set to expire at the end of next year.  (Attachment Thirty Eight)  Specifically...

DeSantis: The Florida governor voiced his support of a flat tax at CNN’s debate but said only “if people are better off than they are now.”

Asked at the debate whether working families would pay the same rate as billionaires, DeSantis said that “working-class people” would pay no tax – referencing people who make $40,000 or $50,000. Then it would be a single rate after that level.

“We’re going to eliminate the federal gas and diesel tax in this country and cut taxes on the middle class and simplify those brackets,” Haley said.

In addition, Haley supports eliminating $500 billion in green energy subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act, which Democrats pushed through Congress in 2022. And she would reconsider the state and local tax deduction, which allows taxpayers to deduct a portion of their state and local income, general sales and property taxes from their federal income taxes.

Trump: Among the former president’s most notable tax proposals is his desire to place a “universal baseline tariff of 10% on all US imports.”  He has also talked about “reducing the corporate tax rate from the current 21% to 15%.”

Biden, on the other hand says he supports raising taxes on corporations and higher-income Americans but “would protect those earning less than $400,000 annually.”

 

Nikki is going, going, going and Saint Ron is Gone... and that leaves what Karen Tumulty of the WashPost calls a “long, grim rematch”

“The slog between now and November will be long and grim and bitter.”  (Attachment Thirty Nine)

Though although only two small states have voted, “Trump’s domination of the Republican Party appears complete. Its establishment has rapidly closed ranks behind him — something that would have been hard to imagine in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters who were trying to overturn his reelection defeat.”

So, contendsd Margaret Sullivan of the even more liberal, thus terrified, Guardian U.K., “(w)e must start urgently talking about the dangers of a second Trump presidency.”  (Attachment Forty)

The question is whether American democracy will endure and, to put it bluntly, she wrote “not if Trump is elected.”

“He’ll prosecute his perceived enemies with the full power of the government. He’ll call out the military to put down citizen protest. He’ll never allow a fair election again.”

And he’ll send MAGA-hatted God’s Army vigilantes into your home to kick your dog.

How do Americans resist?

Liberals Sullivan interviewed suggest reading books like the “nearly 1,000 page” Project 2025 from the Heritage Foundation.

 

Well then, could a Saviour already be among us? 

And, if so, who?

"Celebrity power in elections has grown because celebrity power itself has grown," communications consultant James Haggerty told Newsweek – which voiced its choice yesterday morning at the peep o’dawn. "Media and social media are now the central organizing framework of many Americans' lives. And in a world awash in messages, it's the celebrity voices that really resonate."  (Attachment Forty One)

"In a world where a reality show star can become president—and maybe become president twice—all of this makes perfect sense," he added, referring to Donald Trump, who co-produced and hosted The Apprentice for almost a decade before his first presidential run.

Could it be Magic Mike?  No... Matthew McConaughy blew it by passing up the opportunity to take out the bacterial Texas Governor, Greg Abbott.

Oprah?  She wouldn’t take the pay cut and the Kardashians are still too close to Djonald UnChained.  Elon Musk is Canadian.  Barbie is from a movie... and so is Batman.

Charles Osgood just died.  Others are too old, too young or too compromised to compete... except...

Newsweek's poll found that an endorsement from Taylor Swift would have the greatest impact on younger voters. Roughly 3 in 10 Americans under 35 said they'd be more likely to vote for a candidate backed by Swift.

Media consultant Brad Adgate agreed. "Swift is in the class by herself," he told Newsweek.

“There is a long history of pop culture figures backing politicians. Frank Sinatra and his Rat Pack pals famously cheered on John F. Kennedy's campaign. (Then they defected when RFK Senior started rounding up Frank’s “family” bros.)  Willie Nelson had a close relationship with Jimmy Carter both before and after his presidency. And Jimmy Stewart, Charlton Heston and Cary Grant were all vocal supporters of Ronald Reagan.

“Oprah Winfrey's endorsement of Barack Obama's 2008 campaign was one of the most widely covered developments in that election cycle, and economists estimated that her support was worth over a million votes in the Democratic primary race.”

A 2024 endorsement would not be the first time Swift has weighed in on political races. Although she's largely stayed out of politics, she endorsed two Democratic candidates for Congress in Tennessee (one won, the other lost).

Still only thirty four, Swift could not run for the job herself but... according to Adgate... "She'd be best to do a public service announcement that tells people, 'If you don't like the way things are going or are afraid of what's going to happen, register to vote," Adgate said.

And politics is a reality show, after all!

 

 

 

Our Lesson: January Twenty Second through Twenty Eighth, 2024

 

Monday, January 22, 2024

Dow:  38,001.81

With the New Hampshire primary up tomorrow, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fl) pulls the plug on himself despite finishing second in Iowa and being widely regarded as Donald Trump’s most formidable challenger.  This leaves former Governor and Ambassador Nikki Haley as his sole competition and he says: “We cannot go back to the Old Republicanism she represents,” and revisits the birther lies he told about Obama to take a 50-39% lead in polls.  With St. Ron, about $150M of donor class dollars go up in smoke.

   The weather in Maine won’t be as bad as in Iowa, but bad enough... storms still sweep across the country, bringing blizzards or floods that freeze into the Black Ice causing highway carnage.  Six feet of snow shuffle off to Buffalo.

   Iranian-backed militants in Iraq shell a US Army base, killing nobody but woundind dozens with brain trauma.  Houthi pirates continue to plague Red Sea shipping, many vessels just leave, rending the supply chain and two Navy Seals are lost at sea.  The wars in Gaza and Ukraine go on and so does the Republican resistance to providing more American aid without some vague migration control legislation.

   But the good news is that the shutdown “continuing resolution” can-kick sends the Dow up over the 38,000 mark – highest ever!  And inspirational 20 year old golfer Nick Dunlap becomes the first amateur in decades to win a PGA event.  Bad news?  As an amateur, he can’t collect the $1.5M prize, which goes to runner-up Christiaan Bezuidenhout.  (Dunlap turned pro four days later.)

 

Tuesday, January 23, 2024

Dow:  37,905.49

Polls open at midnight in Dixville Notch, NH where the traditional first voting gives Haley a 6-0 lead over Trump.  It doesn’t last.  Djonald UnBeaten (so far in 2024) rallies and takes a 56-43% triumph, beating the spread most believed would spell the end of the primary season.  Haley refuses to drop out, but her chances (say the many mediots cited hereabouts) range from bleak to grim.  Write-ins carry President Joe to victory over Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson.

   Also rallying, Hamas kills 21 Israeli soldiers in RPG attack which only makes them angrier and provokes retaliation against civilians, whose death toll tops 25,000.  Humanitarians plead impotenly.

   The US East begins to warm up out of its deep freeze, but more storms pound the West.  San Diego endures a record rainfall.  First responders rescue dozens by boat as homes and cars are swept away.  Even further west the Marshall Islands are hit by “extreme” waves that demolish American military installations and remind a sleeping or distracted world that climate change is real.

   Real, too is “Oppenheimer” which garners 13 Oscar nominations while its consort, “Barbie” earns snubs for lead Margot Robbie and director Greta Gerwig (but sympathy from Hillary Clinton).

 

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

Dow:  37,806.31

A pair of midnight pundits howl under the Wolf Moon – GOP emeritus Reince Priebus says its over and the November contest will depend on seven states (others say only five).  Dejected Democrat Donna Brazile suggests that Nikki go home and talk to her family about her future since a vengeful Trump won’t even throw her a bone if/when he wins.  DeSantis crawls to Djonald, wags his tail, so do Tim Scott, Vivek and the other losers.  “Pathetic!”

   Trump denies that he’s either a madman or a mad man after Haley condemns his “angry rant” instead of the usual victory self-congratulations.  “I don’t get mad, I get even,” responds Ol’ 45, as “experts” predict that Nikki will keep running until she runs out of money.  The early South Carolina polling shows that she’s losing by a whopping 52-22%.

   President Joe attends to his day job, promoting legislation that will restrict Internet usage for children under 15 who, doctors say, are “addicted” to their devices.  And he does a little counter-campaigning, securing the endorsement of the United Auto Workers.

    

 

Thursday, January 25, 2024

Dow:  37,906.13

Flooding rains ooze eastward out of California and stain the plains of the Midwest with washed away cars and homes, ruined crops and beleaguered cops rescuing humans and animals. 

    Trump goes back to New York City as the putative nominee to face the music and the justice system in the E. Jean Caroll case where he rises to testify to the horror of his lawyers, delivers a three minute campaign speech and then walks out, snarling: U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan then threatened to jail Trump’s lawyers. Including Roberta (no relation) Kaplan.

   States are taking action to ban or limit social media for kids, with advocates calling the likes of TikTok “digital fentanyl.”  (From China, no less!)  Speaking of medications, Robitussen is recalled for having gone bacterial and Mister Mucus celebrates.

 

Friday, January 26, 2024

Dow:  38.109.43

Kenneth Smith executed by nitrogen in Alabama.  Authorities say it went well,  Critics say he was “shaking and writhing” but tied down and gagged by the mask. “He was trying to hold his breath.”  His last words: “Tonight, Alabama has caused humanity to take a step backward.”

   The days and days of bad weather stretch into weeks and weeks,  Today it’s fog – planes and automobiles are grounded from Bismarck to Baltimore while trains in the West are stalled due to landslides.

   E. Jean Carroll raises her demand for Tr ump swag to $10M for calling her bad nams: her lawyers ask for $21M but the judge grants her $83M.  Years of appeals loom,  Trump’s retribution is to tell Congress to kill all aid to Israel and Ukraine by cancelling negotiations on border policy.  “He finds a way to enter Himself into everything!” the Democrats say.

   SecTreas Janet Yellin says that the December GDP exceeded expectations and, all in all, 2023’s economy grew at a “good, health pace.”  Microsoft became the world’s second $1T company and the Dow was up, but Don Jones had to cope with rising inflation on food and rents.

 

Saturday, January 27, 2024

Dow:  Closed

Perhaps worried by the prospect of painful executions, alleged and convicted killers try to get their guilty findings invalidated by technicalities: Kenneth Murdaugh because his attorney tweaked jurors to write a book about the trial, Scott Petersen because evidence was fishy, Brian Kohberger because the Idaho jury might revolt at the prospect of months or years of sequestration during trial and Alec Baldwin because... well, he’s famous.

   Lawyers are scrambling to sign up airline passengers injured or inconvenienced by all of the accidents lately; Boeing CEO says, of defective door bolts, nose wheels and such: “We own this issues!” and orders his COO to ride on the next plane out, just to show confidence. 

   Rasslin’ promoter Vince McMahon fired from WWE for practicing Vice McManning a female unconsenting employee.  Other criminals cut off a statue of Jackie Robinson at the ankles and haul it away while tourists are warned not to go to the Bahamas because robbers and gangsters are slaughtering tourists.  Also, a shark in a theme park eats a 10 year old boy.

 

Sunday, January 28, 2024

Dow: Closed

The Senate reaches a bipartisan border agreement, but Trump’s orders to the House to kill everything so people will blame President Joe and elect Him in November leaves the Ukes and Israelis hanging. So the latter just do the best they can do at doing what they do best – kill as many Palestinians as they can.  Interim DefSec C. Q. Brown gives his first press conference and says America doesn’t want a wider war, so Iran expands the war to Jordan by firing missiles that kill three and wound dozens.  Suckas!

   While DefSec Brown dithers, Congress begins impeachment of DHS Chief Mayorkas and AgSec Vilsack starts up a proposal to offer poor children healthy school lunches at 30 or 40¢ a plate, but some states tell the Feds to forget it and just let ‘em starve on Twinkies.  Gov. Abbott (R-Tx) defies even Trump’s SCOTUS by bringing back the Rio Grand razor wire, saying: “We have more wire than they have wire cutters.”  More migrant kids drown.

   On the Sunday talkshows, Djonald’s challenger turned Chihuahua, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) dismisses concern about all of His Master’s legal issues, citing Hunter’s tax and gun citations.  (ABC)  CBS devotes its Sunday newscast to remenberng Charles Osgood while voter profilers every dig up Trump lovers who say they are voting for him “because he hugged the American flag” and Trump haters who warn that he will “take back control” of the liberal media. 

   The Super Bowl is set as San Francisco comes from behind to beat Detroit while Kansas City tops Baltimore.  Travis Kelce scores a touchdown and Taylor rewards him with... a kiss.

 

Many, many jerks went back to work, or tried to find jobs, or sat on their couches and watched the playoffs.  With the labor force growing, migration becomes more of a minus, but that didn’t stop the partisans from colluding to wreck the economy and, perhaps, democracy by holding other critical issues hostile to their way, even when even they don’t know what that is except Gov. Abbot who takes a Texas tip from the town of Cut and Shoot... except that he’s not shooting yet, just cutting them with razor wire and drowning the children.

 

 

THE DON JONES INDEX

 

CHART of CATEGORIES w/VALUE ADDED to EQUAL BASELINE of 15,000

(REFLECTING… approximately… DOW JONES INDEX of June 27, 2013)

 

Negative/harmful indices in RED.  See a further explanation of categories here…

 

ECONOMIC INDICES (60%)

 

CATEGORY

VALUE

BASE

RESULTS

SCORE

OUR SOURCES and COMMENTS

INCOME

(24%)

6/17/13 & 1/1/22

LAST

CHANGE

NEXT

LAST WEEK

THIS WEEK

Wages (hrly. Per cap)

9%

1350 points

1/22/24

 +0.41%

2/24

1,483.24

1,483.24

https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/wages   29.42

Median Inc. (yearly)

4%

600

1/22/24

 +0.25%

2/5/24

667.14

667.31

http://www.usdebtclock.org/   39,349

Unempl. (BLS – in mi)

4%

600

1/22/24

  -5.41%

2/24

616.55

616.55

http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000/    3.7 NC

Official (DC – in mi)

2%

300

1/22/24

 +0.64%

2/5/24

249.32

250.93

http://www.usdebtclock.org/      6,361

Unofficl. (DC – in mi)

2%

300

1/22/24

  -2.02%

2/5/24

288.84

283.01

http://www.usdebtclock.org/      11,696

Workforce Particip.

   Number

   Percent

2%

300

1/22/24

 

+0.134%

+0.271%

2/5/24

304.48

303.66

In 162,651 Out 100,712 Total: 262,363

http://www.usdebtclock.org/   61.99

WP %  (ycharts)*

1%

150

1/22/24

 -0.48%

2/24

150.95

150.95

https://ycharts.com/indicators/labor_force_participation_rate  62.50

OUTGO

15%

 

 

 

Total Inflation

7%

1050

2/24

+0.3%

2/24

970.22

970.22

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm     +0.3

Food

2%

300

2/24

+0.2%

2/24

274.07

274.07

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm     +0.2

Gasoline

2%

300

2/24

+0.2%

2/24

246.55

246.55