Saturday Morning Coffee (November 9, 2024)

From the collapse of the celebrity endorsement to the collapse of abortion as a federal issue followed up by a helping of cabinet picks, come sit a spell.

Photo by Sylwia Bartyzel on Unsplash

I remember that I’m invisible and walk softly so as not awake the sleeping ones. Sometimes it is best not to awaken them; there are few things in the world as dangerous as sleepwalkers.

—Ralph Elison, Invisible Man

Hollywood needs to stick to its day job?

I decided sometime in the last week that if I were to avoid every actor or actress that prostituted themselves for the Democrat Party, I’d, well, have to watch nothing made much after—I don’t know—1970. If you didn’t know, Harrison Ford was one of the last to make a commercial for Kamala Harris. All I could think was “Hans Solo, the rebel’s rebel, would not approve.”

But I think this time it might have backfired on them.

Or for a more humorous take . . .

I did love the “Avengers” ad. I was informed by someone in the media (can’t remember who) that these were the “real Avengers.” Let that sink in.

Down with democracy!

Paging Dr. Freud.

I have to note that actors are not nearly so impressive without all the costuming and makeup and special effects. I feel as if nearly anyone with a few acting skills could do these people’s jobs. I can understand now why they are so worried about AI. They might do their jobs slightly better than AI, but they’re just as artificial.

Anyway, do you think celebrity endorsements have lost their power?

Or do you think that they never really mattered but we put up with these out-of-touch nitwits because times were good and they entertained us, but now that they’re not so entertaining and times are a little less good it feels like they would fit right in among the French nobility right before the era of the guillotine?

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Was sending the abortion issue back to the states Trump’s most brilliant political move?

So Montana went for Trump (not a huge surprise), and we traded out our incumbent Democrat for a Republican senator, while giving both House seats to Republicans. One of them I wouldn’t have voted for, Ryan Zinke. But he was in the western district, which is not my district. I will miss Matt Rosendale. He was incredible, and not because I agreed with him on everything but because he had a backbone. But Trump endorsed Sheehy, and that was it for poor Matt. Now we have a Republican whom I can’t name as our rep. I just voted Republican to do my part to keep the House Republican so Trump has the best chance to keep a few of his promises without immediately being impeached.

But you know what else happened in Montana?

It was a bad amendment. It didn’t even mention women. Yes, an abortion rights amendment that doesn’t mention women, just “pregnant people.” My guess is it was dreamed up by the wokies in Missoula or Bozeman.

I didn’t vote for it because it basically allows abortion up to birth with no meaningful restriction. People didn’t really read it or it wouldn’t have passed, but . . .

That’s democracy. We’ll see if we end up with a car wash, coffee shop, vape store, and abortion clinic on every corner or not. (I’d add MaryJane dispensary, but those have to be outside the city limits. Yes, weed is legal in Montana. Crimson red state and weed is legal. I’ve pondered on that a lot. I think it’s more about a libertarian impulse.)

But as Amala Ekpunobi did above and Walter Kirn did at some length in his and Matt’s assessment of the election on Wednesday, moving the abortion issue back to the states has taken that issue off the table for Republicans at the federal level. Who people vote for at the federal level has no real effect at the moment on “reproductive rights.” And the states seem to be solving the problem on their own to their satisfaction.

I know Trump really didn’t plan it that way, as putting in conservative judges who would overturn Roe actually cost the Republicans in 2022 and the reversal was part and parcel of a conservative majority. But his insistence that he wouldn’t sign a national ban might be a shrewd political move.

What do you think?

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So what the hell is going on with this?

Chris Bray wrote a post with this video. He thought it was humorous, and it is in a way. But I have to wonder what is going on. So as you watch this, bear in mind, this is not an ad made before the election. This was made after the election was called for Trump.

So why would the New York Times make this video?

I have a few options, ranging from bad to worst.

• The video is part of a marketing campaign to draw in the TDS addled and signal “this is your source for your daily shot of hysteria and outrage at the latest thing that the Orange Fascist and his uneducated zombie mob have done.”

• The NYT and the Democrat machine are getting ahead of any impending violence by preemptively blaming it on this fantasy version of Trump’s second term. (It didn’t happen and it could of, so therefore they rioted, and it’s all Trump’s fault because he could have done that.)

• The NYT and the Democrats are trying to inspire violence.

• They are egging on the Democrats in Congress and whatever Never Trump Republicans the donkeys can get to join them not to certify the election. (It won’t work. The Supreme Court will throw it back. But that doesn’t mean they won’t try.)

• And the worst option, though both Biden and Harris have claimed they will engage in a peaceful transfer of power, they are trying to signal that the media is behind the nuclear option of militarily denying Trump the White House because he might do all these things.

I don’t actually think that last is possible because it would be eff-ing insane, but the whole video is eff-ing insane, so . . .

What do you think? Marketing ploy? Something else?

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Trump’s staffing picks

Trump has already made his first pick for his administration.

I don’t know anything about the woman other than she ran an inspired campaign and managed Donald Trump’s worst tendencies better than most. And I can’t see how she could be any worse than John Kelly, who ran around telling stories wherever he could.¹

Twitter reacted predictably.

Yes, she does look a little like Paula Deen.

But it’s amazing how quickly the crowd of “you hate women if you don’t vote for Hillary/Kamala because they would be historic” went to this . . .

And when she got backlash . . .

Notice how she didn’t really apologize for the comment.

I doubt that Susie Wiles cares what a random Democrat rep from Tennessee thinks, or Twitter as a whole for that matter, but the reaction is illuminating.

It’s only historic and laudable when it’s their side.

I’m not going to go into NBC’s version of Trump’s reasoning, but I still think staying outside the halls of Congress is a good idea.

For example, I heard rumors that he’s weighing Thomas Massie as Secretary of Agriculture. I think Massie would make a wonderful secretary of ag, and if that’s what he wants and Trump offers it, more power to him.

But here’s the strategic problem: Massie one of a handful of decent lawmakers, and the House is going to be tight, with very slim Republican majority. Massie comes from Kentucky, so, not knowing how Kentucky law prescribes replacing a representative, at the least, the House would be one vote tighter and at the worst Andy Beshear, the Democrat governor of Kentucky would appoint a Democrat.²

But this is the strategic problem with pulling from the DC crowd.

I’ve also heard Doug Burgum from North Dakota thrown around for “energy czar,” to which I say . . .

Let’s set aside that Doug Burgum, a Republican went COVID crazy. I know because I live right next door and we visited the family farm in North Dakota during his tenure as governor, which covered COVID. Let’s set that aside.

Doug Burgum has made a mess of where I grew up in North Dakota. I’m not a tree hugger, but there’s basic environmental sense, and he doesn’t have it. The wells, which are only supposed to flare for a year, a giant waste of natural gas, were allowed to keep flaring past that. It’s gotten better, but it was bad while he was governor. The state sides with oil companies over landowners because they love that sweet, sweet tax money. And there has to be a balance between regulation and extraction, and Doug Burgum is not going to find it.

That’s my two cents.

On the other hand, I’ve heard Dr. Joseph Lapado mentioned as the head of Health and Human Services. He’s the surgeon general of Florida who had such a level head during COVID.

I think he would be an amazing pick.

Other than that, I would love to see Tulsi Gabbard as Secretary of State, for the simple reason that her default is actually diplomacy, and that would be a refreshing change.

Finally, it’s not gong to happen, but I’d love to see Harmeet Dhillon made Attorney General. I know it’s farfetched, but she was part of the ground team countering the attempts by, for example, Pennsylvania to close polls early during the early voting period, and she’s working to cure ballots to see if they can get Kari Lake across the finish line. For what it’s worth, I don’t think it will work and I know Kari Lake is not everybody’s cup of tea, but Harmeet Dhillon is clever and a hard worker.

How about you? Any picks?

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Escapism

First, what I read this week because it wasn’t all that inspiring, so we’ll get it out of the way.

This is one of those books that I didn’t really see the point. Yes, there was sort of story, but it seems like the backstory to a better story that you’ll never hear. Ever come across a book like that?

But movies . . .

Okay, so the Critical Drinker didn’t care for it.

And he has a point: the plot is kind of a mess. But I found some humor in it, and it’s very colorful with things that go boom on an alien planet.

It was fun, but when it comes to action movies, I’m easily entertained.

And then there was this . . .

Okay, I loved this. It’s got a Tucker and Dale vs Evil or a Zombieland vibe going on. It makes fun of the wokies. It makes fun of the stereotype of the right. And I didn’t see coming who was the werewolf, but I should have.

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Sorry, a bit shorter than usual, but it was a busy week. Hope you find something in here to talk about. I’ll see you in the comments.

1. Are those stories true or are those stories false? I don’t care. I have a feeling a lot is said behind closed doors in any administration that would make our toes curl. These are just human beings, and generally the most narcissistic and conniving, because that’s how you get to that level of politics . They’re going to let the mask slip or lose their cool. Unless it’s something particularly egregious, you keep it to yourself, just as every other administration has

2. That is only natural.