2016 and I walk by a bar with a Hillary Clinton – Donald Trump debate on, and the crowd reacting. I catch a response of “that’s right!” to a parry of Hillary Clinton to a Donald Trump name-drop of Bernie Sanders over – – it would seem — trade issues. I get a sick feeling on this — the missed point as they cheer on Hillary Clinton dousing Trump because obviously Sanders is — however shakily — supporting her. It misses a point that Trump is reaching a set of rust belt Sanders or Sanders sympathetic voters in this one. The debate answer works in Trump’s favor, the post show punditry and theater review poll analysis showing Hillary with a win be damned. A threshold holds up for Trump for a section of the that belt electorate — the poll question on “who won the debate?” is as meaningless here as Romney’s smashing of Obama in 2012.

2024. Light years away from a Trump who held it together at key points of 2016. The previous debate had the pre-chatter of a Biden plan to “rattle” Trump, lay out the bait and let Trump show himself to be Trump. Biden, at the end of his effectiveness for the presidency and past the end of effectiveness for performative aspects for the presidency, was not up for it — the big take away is a visual of Biden staring befuddled by Trump’s beguiling mendacious barrage and then Biden unable to weave a response out of it. And that was the end of him. I can deliberate on the meaning of the bad performance, but a good cross-section of the electorate will view anything other than “he’s senile!” as stanning for Biden. The trouble is if the lowest common denominator ask for a vote on Biden over Trump is “normal” versus abnormal, the pointers against that frayed greatly against him now.

There is this desultory feeling I get wading about the political spectacle going into a presidential debate. The key, the staff of political campaigns past say, is to have your one liners and singers at ready. Wait for the moment it comes. Then throw it out there. And! Blam! “You are no Jack Kennedy!”. And with that, meet the next vice president, Lloyd Bentsen.

In the aftermath of the big show, joint appearance with infectious person and one not serious man taking up the issues, I look about the clips of cable news figures. The hackiest of hacks, Fox News’s Jesse Waters, chimes in that Trump got in the lines everyone will know. “See Spot Run” apparently amongst them. A little hard to get there, as Trump moved into the hyper-Internet space of dogs and cats eating Haitian migrants, and that was the end of everything.

Memo to Erik Erikson: your culprit is JD Vance. Further memo: they are running with this one. They got the cop backing it up!

At the risk of doing a hint of that thing Rod Dreher hates for left-wing culture war goal post shifting … Even in the insane scenario that there was some handful of cases of Haitian immigrant cat eating totalling five or so — why should that in the national conversation of immigration issues? Also, aside in that Dreher vantage… What ever happened to slamming Trump for January 6 as the “Beerbelly Putsch”?I

The big line from the “Right” has long been “the left can’t meme”. Sure. The right can meme all right. And if this is “meme-ing”, why would the Left want to bother?

I guess we sit to see how much this skin is back to the ground of “addressing illegal immigration”, and the appeal to those five cross current Pennsylvania voters that will decide the election.

Lost in the sea a bit are a couple other great items. Transgender surgeries for illegal immigrants in prison. Funny that, I would think that would be in the Republican platform — don’t dare cross the border (jump over that wall) or you will face the consequences! It is also interesting to dissect the “Venezuela on Steroids” — on that spectrum that has transgender surgeries for illegal immigrants in prison — what does Venezuela’s government do that falls short of that? Also worth noting, Trump rhapsodized about leaving to Venezuela to Elon Musk. So… He is fleeing to a Hellhole?

A quick jump over to Matt Taibbi and Walter Kirn. I see that their line on the latest DOJ droppings on Russia TV – paid personalities. Taibbi is somewhat hilarious, as he appears to be the big bugaboo for a Bulwark personality — intimating sinister-wise who might get ensnared and exposed as paid by the Russia government — the man JVL trailed off at the end after a list of the usual suspect — Greenwald and Ritter — and the quick mention indicates he wants him revealed. For his part, I do see the Taibbi comment is a Fox News headline — “The Russia Hoax just Will Not Die” — presenting intriguing questions on just what the “Russia Hoax” be and be not to form “hoax”.

I do say Kirn and Taibbi did a fantastic job dissecting the ridiculous celebration on Tim Walz. On this new news item, where Taibbi is required to laugh off people’s casual dumping of him in any mid-length list, it is interesting to hear them move to one woman in the indictment, and kind of scratch their head at her fringe casual. Yes, it is an anti-19th Amendment advocate. Ponder the nature of Russia social and cultural conservative attempts and how they slide off of American political chatter. Or, simply keep within the terrain of online weirdness.

Out in the mists of our political sideshows, Senator Rob Johnson of Wisconsin has endorsed the conspiracy classic The Creature at Jekyl Island — and the fight against the Fed commences, and Ron Paul has won. Ticket Carlson, prime spot speaker at the RNC convention, veers to a guest wanting to take Winston Churchill down a peg — the true villain of World War 2. And the Lieutenant governor of North Carolina, the Republican gubernatorial candidate Democrats hope can drag Harris to winning the states’ electoral votes — was really big customer of our of state porn.

Actually one weird thing on the last guy, a hitch in the manner Democrats rail on him. It was a somewhat canned and rehearsed spiel from a Democratic official getting to carry forth on MSNBC. “Holocaust denier”, she said, and then “Abortion denier”. I sighed, muttering “knock it off”. Like, take the biggest anti-abortion figure — Constitution Party Presidential nominee Randall Terry. The man does not deny the existence of Abortions. Words appear to cease having any meaning here.

I see a Kennedy yard sign. Something about Declaring Your Independence. The sign is off because I do not think I saw it up there before his “suspended his campaign”. And I guess such a sign does not necessarily work against the Kennedy drop out speech, as the man did state that outside of ten states where you need to vote for Trump to stop Harris you should feel free to vote for me — Kennedy — I still wonder if the lawn sign owner is paying attention with this one. I do not even not what ten states Kennedy refers to — we have things down to seven swing states — eight of you toss in the Omaha district of Nebraska. Maybe he has figures Oregon for the additional states? Maybe California, which Trump believes would go his way of Jesus were counting things because — Jesus is just that in the tank for Trump.

In terms of ad purchases, Trump has actually gotten it all down to two states. Basically. Pennsylvania and Georgia. We can plausibly see little else for the man in the coming months except rallies in those states. Trying to read the tea leaves and sanity of the Trump campaign, I do sense some method to some of the madness. He called out and insulted Brian Kemp as one step to bring him to heel when we need to stop counting.

He has made a first into a few weird niche YouTube figures and podcasters — sub Joe Rogans. A guy by the name of Aidin Ross who — to glance over at his ouver is to fear for the “Generation Zoomer” future. There is. No. Substance. With him. All suppositions that the man is somehow “fascist adjacent” in “alt-right” ideology fall by the wayside because — if he were, he would at least be communicating something. By most accounts Lex Fridman is better — but a sort of free floater soft ball allowing “just let whoever I am interviewing answer what they want to answer” — what little I see is hardly impressive. Here we do get a new blip that was also there in his rambling answers to the head of “Moms for Liberty” — Trump stating that he lost the election of 2020. That is a new one, isn’t it? Throw it into the crapper in consideration of January 6. It don’t.