Why Just Two?

By Stephen Macaulay

A friend of mine said to me yesterday that he’d cast his ballot some weeks earlier. He said, “I didn’t vote for either of those two. As the father of a daughter I couldn’t vote for Trump. As the owner of a small business I couldn’t vote for Biden.”

He voted for Jo Jorgensen, Libertarian candidate for president. Not that he had any illusion that she would win. He just wanted to participate in our democracy.

He told me that this is the second presidential cycle he’s done that.

Mind you he is a well-educated owner of a profitable, family-owned business. Twenty years ago he might have been a Democrat. Now that he is in his 50s, I would have guessed Republican.

His position isn’t exactly “a pox on both of your houses.”

It is more of “I can’t see how either of these people is going to help me.”

As we wait for the results, there is undoubted feeling of rancor among both sides.

Many Trump supporters undoubtedly think that Biden supporters are a bunch of latte-sipping snowflakes who don’t understand the meaning of the word freedom.

And on the Biden side they’re seeing a gang of overweight patrons of outlet malls.

Neither is correct.

Both sides are Americans. Both sides are participating in the electoral process. Both sides think their guy is the right one for the country.

One side is going to be pissed when the last ballot has been counted. Or the last lawsuit settled.

If one wins with the majority of the popular vote but loses the Electoral College, there will be an outcry to abolish that mechanism. Undoubtedly there will be some action.

But is that enough?

Why is it that people like Jo Jorgensen don’t have a snowball’s chance?

Why is it that there are just two parties that seem to matter?

Maybe instead of just going for direct voting there should be more adjustments made to the system as it exists.

Perhaps we should take a page from the British system, which has campaigns running for four weeks. People and parties that are less well-funded than the Republicans and Democrats would not be at the huge disadvantage that they are now. While some would say that the wealthy candidate would just pour it on for those 30 or so days, let’s look at it this way: If you have a glass that you fill with water, at some point it is full and no matter how much more you put in it there won’t be more. Arguably the same could be said for political ads.

You won’t be happy today.

I won’t be happy today.

But do you know who won’t be unhappy?

My friend who voted Libertarian.

Macaulay is The Hustings’ pundit-at-large.

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In the Opera of Presidential Elections, No Need for Third Parties

By Bryan Williams

It has been eight days since the election and it appears most of the media and country have accepted that Joseph Robinette Biden will be our 46th president. However, Arizona and a few other states are still counting, and recounts are inevitable either by law or by the Trump campaign’s request. The plump lady hasn’t sung yet, if you ask me. There was no political violence after the election as feared, and the nearly 72 million Americans who voted for President Trump peacefully heard the results and have so far doggedly remained steadfast with a glimmer of hope that Trump will win.

And yet, I sympathize with the center column writer. In 2016 I was dubious of both candidates Clinton and Trump and voted for a third party. Even I, a grizzled Republican vet, bought into the media narrative that Trump would be a disaster as president, so I made a protest vote. I was a bit scared of what Trump meant for our country’s future, but the past four years has been a surprise. Like many, I don’t care for the president’s more acidic behaviors, but for the most part the Trump presidency has been just fine for America and has not led to her ruin. I feel like America won’t be ruined either if or when Biden is certified as the winner, and not just because it looks as if the GOP will keep the Senate. I have more faith than that in the American people and believe one-party rule would be our own worst enemy – just look at California.

Elections, even those not held during an unprecedented global pandemic and with nearly universal mail-in balloting, take time. Give the poll workers time. Give the lawyers some time. Give the judges some time. We live in an age that is ever more used to instantaneous results and gratification. We have to get this election right, and as Sen. Mitch McConnell said, President Trump is well within his rights to challenge everything he legally can.

So let’s wait to hear the singing from the plump lady, shall we? Remember whatever the outcome, we all appeal to the better angels of our nature and act as responsible, dignified American voters. We will get up the next day and go to work and love and care for our children. And we will hope. Hope the best for America no matter who is elected president. I won’t be unhappy either. But I am willing to wait for that singing.

Williams is a mental health professional and former Republican party official in California.

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In Search of Free and Fair Elections in Pennsylvania

By Andrew Boyd

Rural Pennsylvania, in the vicinity of Lancaster, was the place of my upbringing, and my parents and grandparents, who, on my mother’s side, were Mennonites of the mostly orthodox variety. It was a generally conservative vibe of the God Bless America, hand over heart, tell the truth, stand up straight, elbows off the table, “yes sir, yes, ma’am” variety.

I watched, then, with special interest the rioting in Lancaster that followed the police shooting back in September. I was encouraged by the response of local authorities in quickly rounding up and charging instigators. It seems law and order still has a foothold someplace, although I’m told by friends who haven’t left that Lancaster, or significant pockets of it, have succumbed to the kind of generalized rot of homelessness, hopelessness, drugs, poverty and cultural nihilism that characterizes far too much of America these days. It’s a really serious and pervasive problem that ought to be the stuff of serious discussion and debate, but what kind of ratings or clicks would that likely generate, right? Moving on.

It’s hard not to be cynical about a lot of things these days, and where the Pennsylvania vote count is concerned, I think conservatives are justified in at least raising an eyebrow when no less than the state’s Attorney General, Josh Shapiro, asserts a full day before the polls are closed -- if Pennsylvania polls can ever be said to be truly closed -- that “if all the votes are added up in PA, Trump is going to lose.” Excuse me, what? Reverse political polarities on this one and it’d be the stuff of mainstream media outrage and late-night TV host wet dreams for weeks if not months or years to follow. But down the memory hole it goes. Bye, bye.

That little bit of saying the quiet part out loud followed a series of judicial rulings that also flew in the face of established PA election law -- the kind made by, you know, lawmakers -- because, you know, COVID; just the latest example of left’s pandemic hypocrisy. Thankfully, we’ve had some more recent state court rulings that lean into established legal doctrine, like the courts aren’t supposed to make the law, meaning questionable ballots are at least sequestered, including those from voters unable to produce identification at the time of their filing.

That said, I suspect the game is up, and that all of the litigation in the world, legitimate or otherwise, won’t make a difference in the end. And, so be it. Where free and fair elections are concerned, I’m not rooting for either party, or any outcome except that which follows the letter of the law, because, you know, the ends do not justify the means. What an old-fashioned idea that is, right? Blame it on my upbringing, and pass the shoo-fly pie, please.

Boyd is a public relations and communications professional with 30-years experience. He lives with his wife and three daughters in Charlotte, N.C.

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The Beginning is Near

By Michelle Naranjo

There was an election on Tuesday, and it already feels like it was weeks ago. The news cycle seems to have increased momentum at a rate opposite of half-life. A characteristic even more noticeable in 2020. But here we are: stressed, tired, fearful.

There are protestors outside of the Maricopa County elections Department where ballots are being counted, among other races, for the critical presidential election. Former Vice President Biden is ahead of President Trump in Arizona. The crowd chanting, “Count the vote,” is armed and angry. Their peers in Detroit, Michigan today were chanting, “Stop the vote.” Trump was behind in the count, and they tried to gain access to the inner sanctum where the ballots were to stop the process forcefully.

Several things happened on Election Day beyond the regular polling: People stood in line for hours in many towns and cities, disinformation flooded social media, and an anonymous robocall went out to over 10 million people, warning them to not go to their polling spots. And still, people flocked to the polls in record numbers while millions of mail-in ballots were already being tallied.

The following day, a record-breaking 100,000-plus people were diagnosed with COVID-19, and President Trump began routinely filing lawsuits against states to stop counting ballots. He had declared victory the previous evening. He never mentioned the rising number of people who had fallen ill. There was no mention of the miracle vaccines that had become his rally cry.

Despite leading in electoral college votes, former Vice President Biden did not proclaim victory, but confidence that the Biden/Harris ticket would prevail after every vote was counted.

And then his team quietly launched a transition website, BuildBackBetter.com.

The site is still bare-boned but leads with, “The American people will determine who will serve as the next President of the United States. Votes are still being counted in several states around the country. The crises facing the country are severe — from a pandemic to an economic recession, climate change to racial injustice — and the transition team will continue preparing at full speed so that the Biden-Harris Administration can hit the ground running on Day One. The only link is to a Spanish translation.

And with that debut, Biden introduced everyone to the possibility of a calmer future. An end to divisiveness came suddenly into sight.

Naranjo is a freelance writer based in rural Pennsylvania.

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Welcome to Someone’s Ragnarök

First-Person Essay by Nic Woods

UPDATE Nov. 7: Democratic candidate Joe Biden has won the presidential election, after the AP called Pennsylvania for the former vice president over incumbent Donald Trump late Saturday morning. Shortly afterward he also was declared the winner of Nevada, for a 279-214 Electoral College lead.

I went to bed Election Day evening not knowing whether Donald Trump or Joe Biden would be sworn in as our next president Jan. 20 and I write this now not knowing the result, or whether a definitive one exists.

I have yet to face that music. I don’t need flashbacks of 2000.

The outcome, however, is not central to my message – for many Americans, the outcome is the end of the world as they know it, and they are not fine.

For them, this is Ragnarök.

Setting the Marvel Cinematic Universe aside as it skews the story, in Norse Mythology, Ragnarök is essentially the culmination of a great battle where certain gods rise, others fall, and a new world resurfaces from the ashes.

But one knows nothing of this new world. The story stops there. Even in the mythology, it is what Donald Rumsfeld would have called an “unknown unknown.”

The important thing is we know it happens. As dramatic an ending as Ragnarök is, we know there is an aftermath.

This is where we stand currently, and what America becomes going forward depends on how we behave toward each other now.

Gloating, trolling, and conspiracy theories, I hope, are confined to the trash bin of 2020. They were motivational tools to get people to the polls, perhaps, but they will not help in the aftermath.

For those of us who are angry, determine how to use it creatively, not destructively. Learn from the gods of Asgard where destructive anger leads. Attempt to do better.

A certain sort of trust in each other, and a knowledge that love of country comes in many guises, needs to be re-established, however difficult that is.

No matter how you feel about it, the COVID-19 outbreak provides a blueprint to reestablish that trust, and every American needs to respect it and its science if we want to live together and boost our economy. If the haphazard handling of the coronavirus continues, it will not go away, and the economic and social consequences will extend far longer than any of us want.

And we know at this point the handling will remain haphazard. There currently is no federal response and we need to figure out for ourselves what to do if there continues to be no federal response.

We also need to learn how to talk about difficult subject matter respectfully. We have all been told that politics and religion should be avoided in polite conversation, but that leaves us with no way to talk about needs to be talked about. We need to figure out how to discuss both while respecting that the other person opinion may differ.

Finally, we need to stop sorting ourselves into comfort zones. Be uncomfortable – it will not kill you. We will forever be baffled by our fellow Americans if we only choose to live among the one type we understand.

No matter how you feel right now, it is a new day, and the world didn’t end, but how you shape that new world is, really, up to you. Your beliefs, and your politics, will not save you.

Please email your comments to editors@thehustings.news

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Conservatism Will Always Find a Place in America

By Andrew Boyd

For any of you that have read my previous missives, first, God bless you; second, you’ll know I’m a big fan of metaphors. So, when my esteemed editor emailed me requesting a column themed ‘Ragnarök’ I was gleeful, recognizing immediately what an apt framework it provided to discuss the phenomenon that is Trump and today’s body politic.

To my way of thinking, Trump was the inevitable, final and desperate gambit by a plurality of Americans who believed, right or wrong, that their economic futures were being sacrificed by preening, global elites in the name of a cause unknown, probably greed. The folks in flyover country were tired of being talked down to and dismissed by the establishment writ large, and so they crowned the beast, the vulgarian, the fire-breathing monster and said, “burn it all down.”

Four years later, they’ve returned to the ballot box with, notably, a more racially, politically and socially diverse coalition of voters to say the job is not yet done. And they’re bolstered by an increasingly unhinged left that can’t imagine theirs is not the only right and righteous idea for how to run a society. And while conservatives may yet lose the presidency, I think the broader election outcomes speak to a war that has just begun. You’re already beginning to hear from more centrists Democrats the notion that perhaps their party has lost the plot, that maybe the working assumption, that nearly half your fellow Americans are racist, homophobic, xenophobic trolls, isn’t a very strong foundation on which to build a sustainable political movement.

Perhaps, instead, it’s possible, just possible, that conservatives are people, too, with a different but still important and viable point of view; people who simple can’t accept the operative premise of the radical left that America is the America of the 1619 Project, the America of unbridled institutional racism. Or that caring, compassionate citizens can still struggle with the idea of a federal government takeover of healthcare, or federally funded abortions up to the moment of birth. Maybe they are rightly distrustful of an unaccountable bureaucracy and unbridled state power, and that terrible, awful, no good idea that words are violence and where that inevitably leads.

Conservatism, after all, is not a place it’s a people; and if the land we love no longer wants us, then we’ll make a new land in which to live free and accountable to one another as sovereign and precious souls. I hope it doesn’t come to that, but only time will tell.

Blessings to all.

Boyd is a public relations and communications professional with 30-years experience. He lives with his wife and three daughters in Charlotte, N.C.

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View of Election Night from the Left

Nov. 5 UPDATE: There has been no "blue wave" in the U.S. Senate, with Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., expected to retain his position as majority chairman. [He has since suggested the Senate consider a second coronavirus relief package before the presidential inauguration, a shift from a previous position that it would not be considered until after Jan. 20.] Currently, the Senate makeup is 48-48, with Democrats up one seat and Republicans down by one. The GOP will almost certainly win two more, with incumbents Dan Sullivan of Alaska, and David Perdue of Georgia expected to retain their leads. Of the two remaining, incumbent Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., leads Democratic challenger Cal Cunningham, 48.7 percent to 46.9 percent, though with 94 percent of the ballots counted, Tillis could lose if Biden ultimately flips the state. The second is a special election in Georgia for its other Senate seat, where Democratic candidate Raphael Warnock, at 32.7 percent of the vote with 96 percent of the ballots in, and incumbent Republican Kelly Loeffler, at 26.1 percent, edged out Republican challenger Doug Collins at 20.1 percent. The runoff will be held in January.

The Hustings asked contributing liberal pundits to tell us their thoughts of the presidential election just before turning in for the night. Whether because they were still watching well into Wednesday as we went to post, or because they fell asleep trying to wait out the results, our responses have been rather limited. Here’s what we heard back:

For liberal pundit Michelle Naranjo, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s failure to strike a decisive blow against the Trump campaign is disappointing, though perhaps not much of a surprise.

“There is a blazing red mirage in front of the U.S. map tonight,” she writes. “Ballot counts appear close, and possibly even dire for the Biden, but much like Trump’s escapades, it is temporary smoke and mirrors.

“Republicans appear to be leading in vote tallies, but in-person votes (heavily Republican) are being counted before mail-in ballots, which typically skew Democratic voters. Tomorrow, and even the days following should pull the real results into focus.”

As noted in his last left column [“Fair and Unbalanced,” Nov. 3], Stephen Macaulay is at home, either watching “The Mandalorian” or reading a book.

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Biden is One State from Victory, at 264-214 Electoral Vote Lead Over Trump

By Todd Lassa

Nov. 4 UPDATE: Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden was named "apparent winner" of Wisconsin's 10 electoral votes Wednesday afternoon. The Trump campaign says it will file for a recount. Meanwhile, despite the AP's early morning declaration calling the state for Biden, ballots in Arizona are still being counted and no winner has been officially named. The latest electoral vote count is 248 for Biden and 214 for Trump, according to The Wall Street Journal.

First, it seemed we were in for a long Election Day evening, lasting until this Friday or beyond as we waited for vote counts from the states Donald Trump flipped to beat Hillary Clinton in 2016. Then President Trump appeared before a crowd of unmasked supporters at the White House about 2:30 a.m. Eastern time Wednesday to confirm the fears his opponents in the Democratic Party have long held.

“We were getting ready to win this election,” Trump said, to the cheers of his crowd. “Frankly, we did win this election.”

President Trump threatened, without merit, to take his grievance to the Supreme Court with his three appointees, including Amy Coney Barrett. “We don’t want them to find ballots at four in the morning,” he said.

Shortly after three in the morning, however, the Associated Press called Arizona for Biden, the first state to turn from its 2016 vote. Democratic candidate Mark Kelly also beat Republican Martha McSally in the race for John McCain’s old Senate seat, the AP also reported.

With Trump’s lead in Wisconsin hinging on mail-in ballots still being counted in Milwaukee County, and Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia and North Carolina still in play, Biden was holding on to a 238-213 Electoral College vote lead over Trump, The Wall Street Journal reported.

BREAKING: The vote count in Metro Milwaukee, reported at 4:45 a.m. Eastern time, put Biden ahead of Trump in Wisconsin, though several smaller cities there still had to report votes.

“It looks like it’ll be a long few days,” says Charles Dervarics, contributing editor. “Biden appears to have lost opportunities in the Southeast, though he should win Arizona. But the race looks like it will come down to the old Midwest ‘blue wall’ of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Just as in 2016, they again will decide the election.”

Prior to Trump’s White House speech, Biden made a drive-in appearance in Wilmington, Delaware to tell supporters, “We feel good about where we are. We believe we are on-track to win the election,” but made it clear there is no victory for him yet to declare.

“It is not over until every ballot is counted.”

This presidential election most certainly will revive calls to reform the system and its 51 ways to count votes, but not until after it is over – in weeks, if not in months.

“Although the presidential election isn’t decided, and may not be for a bit, it’s clear that our country needs improved vote counting,” says Gary Sawyer, of The Hustings editorial board.

“The rules on counting absentee ballots differ wildly from state to state. That’s an issue in this extremely strange year. No one could have anticipated the onslaught of early voting. But the result has been increased turnout and it’s unlikely voters will want to return to traditional Election Day voting. This slower count will happen again. “

Please address your comments to editors@thehustings.news

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We’re Watching the Returns

By Todd Lassa

What will you watch, and what will you watch for Election Day Tuesday night?

Flipping between CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC is pretty easy, with the three news networks typically grouped together on most cable TV systems. However, if you try to switch at the commercials, you'll learn that the Big Three run them about the same time. Make such an effort to get a balance of viewpoints, and you'll quickly exceed your doctor's daily suggested intake of Progressive insurance, MyPillow, and Biktarvy commercials. You might be better off going for the free broadcast option and enjoy a cocktail of CBS, NBC, and ABC News with a dose of PBS and NPR thrown in.

No matter what you choose, the likelihood of going to bed at a reasonable hour Wednesday morning will very probably leave you unsatisfied and almost certainly without any idea of whether President Trump or former Vice President Joe Biden will take the oath of office on the west front of the U.S. Capitol next Jan. 20.

Nevertheless, Trump reportedly told confidants he “plans to declare premature victory” Tuesday night, Axios reported over the weekend, citing three anonymous sources. Trump denied the report Sunday night, adding, "I think it's a terrible thing when ballots can be counted after an election. I think it's a terrible thing when states are allowed to tabulate ballots for a long time after the election is over."

On Monday, Biden asked the country and the media to ignore any victory declaration before all ballots are counted. "Under no scenario" can Trump legitimately declare victory on election night, he said.

The last polls to close are 1 a.m. Eastern time Wednesday in parts of Alaska, considered solid Trump country. But several swing states are expected to take until the end of the week before all their mail-in and early voting ballots are counted.

Of the potential swing states, Pennsylvania's polls close at 8 p.m. EST, but the state can count postmarked ballots as late as Friday. Florida's polls also close at 8 p.m., with many in the state closing at 7 Eastern; still, postmarked ballots cannot be counted beyond Tuesday. Georgia polls close at 7 p.m. and allow no late ballots, while North Carolina's close at 7:30 p.m., with late ballots counted by Nov. 12. Michigan's polls close at 9 p.m., with no postmarked ballots counted after election day. Ohio, the other remaining key state in the Eastern time zone, closes polls at 7:30 p.m. but allows postmarked ballots to come in as late as Friday, Nov. 13, with all such late ballots reported by Nov. 28.

Thanks to a Supreme Court ruling, no Wisconsin ballots may be counted after Election Day, where polls close at 9 p.m. Eastern. Iowa, which closes its polls by 10 EST, counts postmarked ballots as late as Nov. 9. Texas polls close at 9 p.m. Eastern, with most closing an hour earlier, and postmarked ballots are to be counted by Wednesday. Arizona closes its polls at 9 p.m. Eastern and does not count postmarked ballots after Election Day.

Please address comments to editors@thehustings.news

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Shifting Allegiances in The Villages

By Jim McCraw

The Villages, in Central Florida, is the country’s largest retirement community, with some 130,000 residents in one contiguous settlement spread across three counties. It has been a Republican stronghold for a long, long time.

The population here is vastly white, upper middle-class Christian, with a few Jewish, Black and Hispanic residents.

The Villages boasts the world’s largest American Legion post. It helped elect U.S. Navy veteran Rick Scott governor twice, then helped send the Republican to the U.S. Senate. He was replaced by former Congressman Ron DeSantis, a fellow Republican and now the youngest governor in the country, just 42 when he took office.

The Villages are represented in the House by Republican Daniel Webster. Almost all of the county supervisors in Sumter, Lake and Marion counties, on which The Villages are built, are Republican.

Sumter county routinely has the highest voter turnout in the entire state. Trump was swept into office in 2016, but his margin over Hillary Clinton was 1.2 percent in Florida. That’s about 112,900 votes.

Things have changed over the last four years, and now there is much more support here for Democrat Joe Biden. Disenchanted Republicans have been coming in to The Villages Democratic Club headquarters in Wildwood, the largest in Florida, since May to complain about Trump and ask how they can volunteer to help Biden’s campaign, says its president, Chris Stanley.

She estimates 5.8 percent of Republicans in The Villages who voted for Trump in 2016 will vote for Biden on Tuesday. The disaffected cite three big reasons for switching candidates.

“Reason number one is his handling of the coronavirus and his lack of leadership. Reason number two is his view of military veterans as ‘suckers’ and ‘losers.’ They don’t like that. Reason number three is policy, the elimination [deferral] of the payroll tax [to mitigate economic effects of pandemic shutdowns], because it will affect their children and grandchildren.”

Republican Voters Against Trump recently completed a $3 million disgruntled-voter billboard campaign across Central Florida with messages like “I’m a Republican. I’m a patriot. I’m voting Biden.” … “I’m a Republican. I’m a Marine veteran. I’m voting Biden.” … “I’m a Republican. I’m a Christian. I’m voting Biden.”

“A lot of Republican voters are going to be casting their votes for Joe Biden because the last four years, what they expected they were going to get from the Trump administration has not been what they want, and Joe Biden is offering them an alternative to bring this country back,” says Daniel Henry, a young, Black Republican voter.

This year more than 40 percent of the state’s 14.4 million registered voted early, and Florida election experts predict the turnout in 2020 will exceed the 1992 record of 83 percent -- which could mean more than 100,000 from The Villages alone. There are signs that Florida could swing to the Democratic side, much as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin flipped to the GOP four years ago, and The Villages, so solid-red for so long, will contribute to this swing.

Jim McCraw is a semi-retired writer and columnist. He has been a resident of The Villages for nearly five years.

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Red, White & Blue Golf Carts at The Villages

By Todd Lassa

By the time former Vice President Joe Biden became the Democratic nominee for president this year, political pundits were still looking at the electoral college map like it was 2016 all over again. Could President Trump maintain his popularity and turn Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin blue once again?

Florida has 29 electoral college votes, however, to Pennsylvania’s 20, Michigan’s 16 and Wisconsin’s 10. It is one of the more reliably red states in play according to the latest polls, along with North Carolina, Arizona and even Texas.

Biden holds a 1.2-point lead over Trump in RealClearPolitics’ Oct. 30 average of 11 polls for Florida, which happens to be the same percentage victory that Trump had over Hillary Clinton in 2016. Four years ago, Trump’s RealClearPoilitics poll average was 0.2 points above Clinton just before the election.

Key to Florida’s choice next Tuesday will be the vote from The Villages, with its 130,000-plus residents, most of them seniors over 55, and many of whom vote assiduously. Residents motor around The Villages largely in electric golf carts. (In 2005 The Villages entered The Guinness World Records with a parade of 3,321 golf carts.) These carts make a great political news story photo op, as many of their owners festoon them with campaign signs.

Before and after the ’16 presidential election, the vast majority of those carts in The Villages were plastered with pro-Trump signs, piloted by seniors wearing red MAGA hats. This time, national media have covered a large influx of Biden-blue golf carts. Is it real, or is it an anomaly, with a handful of outspoken Democrats infiltrating the deep-red retirement neighborhood? Our resident of The Villages and our former GOP official from California discuss, in the left and right columns, respectively.

Please address your comments to editors@thehustings.news

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Greasing the Skids for Red MAGA-Hatted Golf Carts

By Bryan Williams

Imagine, if you will, a remake of the musical “Grease” for 2020, this time with senior citizens in their decked out hot rod golf carts. The concrete Los Angeles River is now a concrete pathway around a pristine Florida 55-plus housing development known as The Villages. Instead of racing for teenage glory and pink slips, these Villagers are in the horse race of presidential politics. Much hay has been made recently of a breakaway group of seniors parading in their golf carts for Joe Biden, when in 2016 The Villages went 70-percent for Trump, according to Courthouse News Service.

All indications point to this election being very close, just as it was in 2016. Trump won Florida by barely more than 1 percent. If it is indeed true that 5.8-percent of senior residents are changing their votes for Biden, this spells trouble for Trump. However, the same Courthouse News article reported that Trump held a rally at the Villages on Oct. 23 with all the pomp, cheering, and excited Trump voters that we have come to expect.

This seems like a hard one to call. Which way will Florida go? We all know that Trump was carried by seniors in 2016 and their support is critical in this round. Will losing nearly 6 percent of The Villages make a difference? Yes. Elections are very close these days. I worked for a California Republican candidate who won an election by 213 votes out of over 25,000 cast. That’s less than 1 percent.

And yet, polls show Florida is a toss-up with 1 percent to 2 percent separating each candidate. There is so much dueling data out there this election year that it can be hard to make sense of any of it. What should we choose? I’ll double down and stick with my prediction that Trump will eke out a win this year. It will be close -- a photo finish between blue Biden- and red MAGA-bedecked golf carts.

Williams is a mental health professional and former Republican party official in California.

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ACB on SCOTUS is Not the End of the World

By Bryan Williams

It is done. Amy Coney Barrett has been confirmed to the Supreme Court by the Republican Party (minus Susan Collins of Maine) in the United States Senate. The sun is still hanging in the sky, birds are still chirping, and bills are still being sent to me. Life goes on. This is how millions in America feel right now I imagine.

How about our political leaders? Those with a “D” after their name are furious and are promising all kinds of retribution should they win next Tuesday. The most notable option for the Democrats to get back at the Republicans for confirming ACB is to pack the court with upwards of six new justices.

Joe Biden has been coy for weeks as to whether he supports this court packing idea. He finally said at last week’s debate that if he becomes president, he will name a commission to study the matter and bring it back to him in six months or so. Ho hum, and I’m not surprised. This is what politicians do when they don’t want to tell you how they really feel and shield themselves from having to make a decision that may jeopardize some votes. Ask yourself this: would Donald Trump name a commission to study packing the court? Would Kamala? I think we all know the answer is “no.”

Do I think Joe Biden will eventually try to pack the court? Yes, but not because he wants to. While he proclaims that he is the Democratic Party, I don’t think he fooled anyone by saying that. Joe is the guy the left-wing needed to look electable while the liberal wing of the party waits in the, er, wing to swoop in and pull his strings come next Jan. 20th. Will packing the court matter if the Democrats own the other two branches of government? Will the new conservative majority on the court alter “Life as we Roe It?” As President Trump says quite often, “We’ll see.”

One thing I do know: the sun will rise tomorrow. Birds will chirp. My bills will still be coming in. Life will go on whether there are nine justices on the Supreme Court or fifteen. Let’s let ACB do her (new) job.

Williams is a mental health professional and former Republican party official in California.

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Coal, Jobs & Cronies

By Stephen Macaulay

In 2016, then-candidate Donald Trump was barnstorming with a message about coal.

“Clean coal,” he called it. Which, as is sometimes said, “isn’t a thing,” but we will let that go.

Trump would proclaim: “We’re going to get those miners back to work . . . the miners of West Virginia and Pennsylvania . . . Ohio and all over are going to start to work again, believe me.”

“We’re going to have an amazing mining business.”

They believed him. Trump won West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. And how did those miners do? According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in November 2016 there were 50,400 people employed in the U.S. coal industry.

How did he do? How many of those people did he get back to “an amazing mining business?”

In September 2020, the number of people involved in the coal-mining industry is 44,500.

Note that this is not a COVID-19 phenomenon. Coal jobs have been on a decline throughout the Trump presidency. What’s more, in October 2019, Murray Energy, the “country’s largest privately held coal miner” filed for Chapter 11 in October 2019, according to NS Energy, which covers the coal industry among other energy-related subjects. It became “the eighth U.S. coal producer to file for bankruptcy in the past year.”

NS Energy noted that company owner Bob Murray “has long advocated for government support for his industry and was a strong critic of the country’s former president Barack Obama, whose time in office he described as ‘eight years of pure hell.’”

“The coal tycoon has long been a supporter of President Donald Trump, and is believed to have played a major role in the reshaping of environmental policies over the past three years… .”

One might change the verb in that statement to “dismantling.”

Still, that did not seem to work out so well. According to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, renewables, which it defines as “utility-scale solar, wind and hydropower,” is increasingly important. “Renewables have now generated more electricity than coal on 131 days in 2020 — more than three times the 2019 results and with some 80 days left in the year.”

IEEFA concludes, “the data show coal power’s economic viability continuing to shrink … .”

Working people need to take his claims about coal into account when he talks about the jobs he has created and will create. Trump undoubtedly created more wealth for his cronies than for the stalwart men and women who once worked the mines can ever imagine.

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The Coal Industry Continues to Falter, but Trump Can Still Rally the Miners

By Todd Lassa

Near rural Salisbury, Pennsylvania, just north of the Maryland border, there is a large building just off the state highway with a sign, “Trump Digs Coal.”

It’s a standout sign in this rural area filled with pro-Trump signs and campaign banners, the single sign calling out an industry that has helped define this part of the country for more than a century. There are far more “Pro Life, Pro-Trump” signs on lawns on the roads to Meyersdale, where we spoke with a Trump and a Biden supporter earlier this month [“Talking to Trump and Biden Supporters in Small-Town Pennsylvania,” Oct. 5].

The Biden supporter we interviewed, Jennifer Clark, said she thought it was time for locals to move beyond the coal industry and train for jobs in a modern industry. Because of natural gas production, spurred in recent years by the fracking process, the coal industry is declining on its own, independent of President Trump’s support for the electrical power source.

Pennsylvania is the third-biggest state for coal production according to a September 2018 report in Mining Technology [ https://www.mining-technology.com/features/five-largest-coal-producing-states-us/]. Wyoming was first with 297.2 million st/year. Even the next four biggest producers in the U.S.; West Virginia (at 79.8 million st), Pennsylvania (45.7 million st), Illinois (43.4 million st) and Kentucky (42.9 million st) don’t add up to the production from the nation’s least-populous state.

According to The New York Times’ recent deep-dive into the industry [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/05/us/politics/trump-coal-industry.html?searchResultPosition=1] 145 coal-burning units at 75 power plants have been idled since the president’s 2017 inauguration, enough to power about 30 million US homes. “Another 73 power plants have announced plans to close,” the Times reports, including the Navajo Generating Station in northern Arizona, which went offline October 2019, months before the coronavirus pandemic shut down major parts of the country and led to reduction in the burning of fossil fuels.

A positive effect of these shutdowns is that sulfur dioxide emissions are down nearly 30% for the first three years of the Trump administration, according to the Times. Coal burning accounts for about 20% US electricity production, down from 31% in 2017. Meanwhile, renewable energy, spurred by Obama administration policies, accounts for about 17%, NPR reports [https://www.npr.org/2020/10/19/925278651/what-would-a-2nd-trump-term-mean-for-the-environment].

Mining coal long has had a reputation as a dirty, dangerous, and life-shortening job. Former Murray Energy CEO Robert Murray has filed an application with the US Labor department for black lung benefits, according to West Virginia Public Broadcasting and Ohio Valley ReSource [https://ohiovalleyresource.org/2020/09/30/bob-murray-who-fought-black-lung-regulations-as-a-coal-operator-has-filed-for-black-lung-benefits/].

Despite the potential dangers, coal miners have prospered over the years, and the biggest threat to small towns and rural communities might be the wages lost. According to the Times report, miners at the Navajo station that closed late in 2019 earned an average of about $117,000/year.

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