For the second week in a row, I am tossing out most of what I already wrote. Maybe I should leave my computer off until Sunday evening.
President Biden announced this afternoon he will not be the Democrat candidate for 2024. He wants Kamala Harris to succeed him.
VP Harris is not a shoo-in because she is less popular than Biden. She has not won a single vote in a primary election. In the 2020 campaign she dropped out before the Iowa caucuses. Of course, she did not run in the 2024 primaries because her boss was the “chosen one.” However, any prominent young Democrat who challenges her, especially a white man, would be committing political suicide.
The Democratic National Convention is scheduled to start Aug. 19. In reality, it started today. If VP Harris is the pick for President, the race will be for her running mate.
You may remember my comments last week about the 1924 Republican convention. As Will Rogers wrote, that convention 100 years ago, was simply to choose a VP. Two leading candidates turned it down! Will any top Democrat accept the VP slot with Kamala Harris?
West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin just announced he may challenge Kamala Harris. With all the chaos, this is another reflection to 1924. If you don’t know the history, you will be shocked. The 1924 Democratic convention lasted 17 days! Sixteen candidates received votes. It required 103 ballots before the delegates agreed on a candidate for President. Yes, 103 ballots! And the candidate they finally agreed on was John W. Davis. He is the only person to be selected as a nominee for President from the state of… West Virginia.
The Republican convention ended with a rousing unanimous endorsement of the Trump-Vance ticket. Republicans seem to be happy with the selection of JD Vance for VP. He’s a young Senator from Middleton, Ohio, with deep roots in eastern Kentucky. He is better known as the author of “Hillbilly Elegy” than as a politician.
Donald Trump gave a 90-minute acceptance speech Thursday night. That was too long for several folks in the media (and many watching at home). I think he did it as a challenge to Joe Biden. If Kamala Harris speaks on the closing night of the Democratic Convention, she may keep it to half an hour just to limit the risk of too many uncontrollable bouts of laughter.
The Secret Service is expected to be the most elite agency in the government. But last Saturday was a colossal failure. The Secret Service has 7000 people, but they couldn’t spare enough of them to adequately prepare and protect the presumed Republican nominee for President. Director Kimberly Cheatle refuses to resign and Biden has not fired her.
The 20-year-old killer was a “rank amateur”, but he was smart. One of the brightest students in his high school class. So why didn’t he go to college? He fired 8 shots before a Secret Service sharpshooter killed him with one shot. The first shot at Trump was accurate, within a half inch of killing him. But the other 7 were far off target. If he had been steady, probably a couple Secret Service agents (the ones who did their job exactly as trained) would have died. Instead, three men in the stands behind Trump were hit. Cory Comperatore was killed.
In the hour before Trump was shot, officials missed opportunities to foil the attempted assignation. Here is one you probably have not heard speculated. When the killer was spotted on a roof, a local policeman was helped by a fellow officer to reach the edge of the roof. He was holding on with both hands when the killer turned and pointed the rifle at him. He dropped to the ground. He and his partner immediately got on their “radio” to warn about the shooter. Did they call the Secret Service? No, there was no direct communication connection. So the delay allowed the shooter to fire at Trump.
But suppose, as soon as the policeman dropped to the ground, he would have pulled out his gun and fired several shots into the air. What would have happened? Hearing shots, the Secret Service agents near Trump would have immediately got him on the floor of the stage and laid on top of him.
I don’t know how the 20-year-old would have reacted. But Trump would not have gotten shot.
Historic quote by Will Rogers:
“If we got one-tenth what was promised to us in these acceptance speeches there wouldn’t be any inducement to want to go to Heaven.” DT #645, Aug. 20, 1928