2016 Jan 31^st

Sorry about yesterday: never trust electrons, even they don’t know where they are half the time.

We have an election soon where the party in power despises the party in power’s leading candidates for that party’s Presidential nomination. Isn’t that just delightful? (Yes, I know all about Schadenfreude; it’s built into the genes of the Pennsylvania Dutch.) Consider the two leading Republican contenders, Donald Trump and Senator Ted Cruz: For the upcoming Iowa Caucus tomorrow Iowa Governor Terry Branstad has told Iowans that the nomination of Ted Cruz would be disastrous; it would destroy the party. Branstad is a very popular Iowa governor; he has been Governor of Iowa on and off for over twenty years and even though he is clearly a member of the establishment, Iowans will pay attention to him.  Could Branstad be said to have dis-endorsed Cruz? We also know that Cruz is unpopular with his Senate colleagues. Sometime ago he could not get a second for a routine Senate motion. His hope tomorrow is that he’ll get the evangelical vote. He’ll get some of it but that might not be enough.

Donald Trump is playing his hand superbly: He ducked the debate because he said that he had been “treated unfairly.” Then in an interview on his enormous airplane he said that everything was fine because Fox had “apologized” for this unfair treatment. He refused to say who at Fox had apologized. The usual savagery Republican candidates show toward the lead actor in their mini- tragedy was quickly transferred from Trump to poor Ted Cruz. It was interesting to watch these Republicans throwing nasties at each other instead of at the Democrats. Democrats will recover all of these criticisms and use them against the Republican winner in the general election. Ah, the perils of savagery, which sometimes return to bite the originator!

Neither Trump nor Cruz fare very well with the right wing columnists: The intellectual dean of this group, George Will, has used considerable ink to bash away at Donald Trump. Here is an example.

“If you look beyond Donald Trump’s comprehensive unpleasantness — is there a disagreeable human trait he does not have? — you might see this: He is a fundamentally sad figure. His compulsive boasting is evidence of insecurity. His unassuageable neediness suggests an aching hunger for others’ approval to ratify his self-admiration. His incessant announcements of his self-esteem indicate that he is not self-persuaded. Now, panting with a puppy’s insatiable eagerness to be petted, Trump has reveled in the approval of Vladimir Putin, murderer and war criminal.”

Bill O’Reilly, of Fox news fame, rejects Will’s bashing of Trump; and why is that you may ask? Bill O’Reilly’s co-authored “history” books, all titled the death of this or that historical figure, have not been kindly received by George Will, who is at pains to point out their shortcomings, which are many; so O’Reilly is now at pains to return the favor and dump on Will’s dumping on Trump….And so it goes ad nauseam.

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