Election Campaign Craziness: April 2024 Edition
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Election years can be a stressful time. So, I thought it might be good to spin some humor into this post today:
Feel free to check out my past work on my Substack and Medium blogs, which feature past takes on the 2024 election cycle and exclusive write-ups on US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, among other matters. Also feel welcome to reach out to me on LinkedIn with any comments or questions. And share any posts or petitions (Change.org or MoveOn) you like.
And apologies for post publishing issues just now.
So let’s get started:
If you hear someone say “the FBI set me up,” run the other way. Because that was what Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson claimed during his re-election bid in 2022. For all the work taken to monitor domestic terrorism, foreign adversaries, and issues of that sort, who knew national intelligence had the time to wade into congressional elections? Actually, if you take Marion Barry’s word for it, they also carve out some time for municipal politics in Washington DC.
Johnson has proclaimed a quest to expose corruption in the FBI since 2022. Hmm, no luck there, but what about the FBI informant with ties to Russia, who was arrested for making false statements and using falsified records in the Hunter Biden investigation? Well, no comment from Johnson there. Because that is an informant you can trust.
If Ron does want to look into real corruption, though, he should check out the fake elector schemes and their connection to members of Congress like Senator Johnson himself. In Arizona, the Arizona Attorney General has subpoenaed Reps. Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs in her criminal investigation of Trump’s fake elector efforts in Arizona. Wisconsin participants are similarly ripe for charges of “civil conspiracy,” “offering a false instrument for filing,” and “forging…fraudulent documents.” All of this is just more reason to join the “Recall Ron” movement.
In other news, a Maine GOP state lawmaker is defending the rights of Nazis to engage in “unauthorized paramilitary training in the state.” Cracking down on far-right wing paramilitary drills, she argues, would infringe on both gun rights and “First Amendment right[s] to free speech and association.” Over footage of neo-Nazi rallies in Maine, she even asked what these groups “did that was illegal.” Nothing wrong with that. Moving on…
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo continues to flop in the doling out of money from the CHIPS & Science Act. The money meant to be used for science research & development on semiconductors has been shifted to bankrolling more of Intel’s luxury projects—to the chagrin of several US Senators. As former Labor Secretary Robert Reich put it, why should we be so dependent on supporting one large microchip corporation that puts so much more money into stock buybacks instead of helping its workers and expanding its fabs here in America? Although if Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger is propping up Raimondo for a presidential campaign come 2028, I suppose she can justify her decision on pure self-interest. Smaller microchip companies, after all, could not give Raimondo such a boost—and they definitely would not have the money to invest in one of her high-end Rhode Island fundraisers.
Still, all that does not excuse Raimondo’s mistakes in the distribution of CHIPS & Science Act funds. But, from the former Rhode Island Governor whose state was once ranked dead last in overall business climate on her watch, should we really expect better? And don’t get me started on her many other missteps, scandals, and so on.
In other Raimondo news, she continues to lead on AI policy—despite her husband Andy Moffit’s continuing entanglements in the AI business. In fact, he is currently employed at Sword Health, a company with a special focus on AI healthcare. Who knows? Maybe Raimondo will soon be asking to lead the way on healthcare policy too. Join the family business.
More good news on the economy front. Although Fox News Primetime will make it sound like we are in an economic apocalypse, even the few reputable daytime reporters Fox has have commented on the unique strength of the American economy since the pandemic. Unfortunately, that has caused Fox a great deal of embarrassment on the alleged dangers of Bidenomics.
I repeat: the American economy is strong, especially when compared to the economies of right-wing populist governments like Hungary. Don’t tell Trump that Orban’s Hungary once had a record high of 17% inflation. But maybe Biden should take that point directly to Trump’s voters. Nonetheless, prices are still too high in America. Because of this, the disconnect between perception and the reality remains high with voters. See how reasonable pundits analyze the two. Now, here is the comical Fox News interpretation of it- “blame the migrants.”
The Biden campaign has raised an immense amount of money, dwarfing Trump’s campaign coffers (much of which will probably go towards paying Trump’s legal bills, by the way). The DNC has likewise trounced the RNC in its fundraising efforts. But there is more to money than simply filling the coffers, right? Money is not meant to be stared at in a bank account. Expand the 2024 presidential & down ballot electoral maps with it.
No Labels has officially dropped its intention to puts its presidential ticket on the ballot. But I still have a slogan they can use in the future: “No Labels, No Values, No Candidates: No Thanks.”
But the third party movement is still alive, but not well. We have, for example, RFK Jr., the true conservative anti-vax candidate (see a profile from a year ago I did on his career). Even Trump supported the first COVID lockdown in 2020. RFK Jr., on the other hand, would have opposed a lockdown, and he would have opposed the vaccine rollout efforts (i.e., Operation Warp Speed, and President Biden’s vaccine rollout) that helped us return to normalcy. If Trump is not your guy, and if you are in the mood for mass measles outbreaks, then RFK Jr. may just be your dream candidate.
Ever hear about an environmentalist with financial stakes in fossil fuels? It sounds like the punchline to a joke, but it happens from time to time. Besides Trudy Coxe (a Rhode Island household name from the 90s), we now see Green Party candidate Jill Stein covering both angles of the environmental issue. She apparently has a stock portfolio with ties to both fossil fuel business and Big Pharma. How bold and progressive of her: maybe she should join forces with Rhode Island CVS executive, friend of the opioid industry, and Raimondo ally Helena Foulkes.
If that was not bad enough, Stein is well-known for her close ties to Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin (here is a link to one of the photos). Russia, I should mention, is one of the major coal and gas-producing countries in the world. Indeed, John McCain once referred to it as a giant “gas station.” Again, love her or hate her, Jill Stein truly knows how to take the “green” out of the Green Party. Well, the dollar bills are technically green, aren’t they? So maybe the party name still works.
On a related note, other third parties have been facing similar PR problems. If you are a progressive intellectual running for president, for example, maybe you should avoid getting donations from Clarence Thomas bankroller Harlan Crow. Yet that is exactly what Cornel West did. Oh how the mighty have fallen.
As we all know, running for political office in the United States has become very expensive after Citizens United. The candidates with the most money—and usually incumbents—win more often that not. But in 2024, why bother earning votes when you can just buy them through the airwaves from your cozy homes? For candidates like Dave McCormick, Bernie Moreno, Mike Rogers, Eric Hovde, Rick Scott, Ted Cruz, Tim Sheehy, and Jim Justice, that clearly is the default approach.
A lesson for us all: if you are unfamiliar with a word that you want to use, please double check its meaning before you use it. Advice clearly lost on self-funding Maryland Congressman David Trone.
Who knew the Bible could also serve as campaign merchandise? Leave it to Donald Trump to discover new ways to dishonor the Christian scriptures. Unlike Jimmy Carter, whose entire life has centered around true biblical values like unselfish public service and personal devotion, Donald Trump is a pathological liar, tax cheater, adulterer, and all-around narcissistic sociopath. These are all facts that Jesse Waters conveniently neglects to tell his viewers. At least the Bible was not held upside down this time. And Donald, before you forget, read the “Two Corinthians” before you go to bed.
Finally, Republicans still say the 2020 election was stolen. Really? I know Democrats have problems with coordinating their resources and messages, but I am sure the Democrats could rig a better election than 2020. 2020 was a narrow Electoral College victory. Contrary to public polls, Trump actually won in North Carolina and Florida in 2020. Why would Democrats mastermind a rigged election where they actually lost seats in the House of Representatives, and narrowly held onto the Senate?
And why did we hold onto the Senate? Partially because Donald Trump told voters in the 2020 Georgia runoff that—you guessed it—those elections were “rigged” too. In other words, this is not the way to professionally steal elections. Putin wins reelection regularly with 80+% of the vote by comparison.
For now, we have reached the end of the Crazy Express. But rest assured: we are living in crazy times, and stay tuned for many many more crazy moments to come.
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