When Reality Interferes with Bias

The DNC Convention overall went on without a hitch. It featured, as all conventions do, a lineup of pro party speakers sprinkled in with a few republican speakers who believe the the reelection of Trump would be disastrous for the electorate as well as for the US. Many of the speeches contained similar sentiments including that the current Administration had failed to provide the leadership needed to curtail the Covid-19 pandemic and had isolated this nation from its long standing allies. All in all, the Democratic party laid out its case against Trump and went to great lengths to characterize Biden as a calm experienced leader who understood the inner workings of government, had the respect of foreign leaders and would work across the aisle to accomplish solutions to the myriad of issues facing this country.

As expected the initial and immediate response by Trump, (true to his character) was to denigrate and name call, thereby making the case for the Democrats that trump is a unhinged individual who has neither the emotional intelligence, judgement or leadership abilities capable of dealing with opposing viewpoints other than to disparage and character assassinate. When a conspiracy group suggested that th Democratic party was infiltrated by pedophiles, Satanists and cannibals, instead of denouncing such BS. he retweeted and encouraged such lines of thinking. Anything to boost his chances for reelection.

The RNC convention will occur this coming week. What do we think will be put on display? Will we listen to speeches about how the Administration intends to govern the next 4 years or will there be the usual name calling and character assassinations, painting the opposition as enemies of the state, etc. The playbook for Trump is clear which is that he can do no wrong and that he is the greatest ever and those who do not share his world view are unpatriotic at best and enemies of the state at worst.

It is clear that Trump has his core base of supporters who will buy whatever Trump is selling and he has made no effort to date to broaden that base. He has surrounded himself with yes men and women who have forgotten why they were elected and who have sold their soul, their morality and their sense of ethics in order to stay within Trumps' orbit. On election day in November, each of us will be required to answer the question of who do we want to lead this country for the foreseeable future. Do we want a bully who coddles up to dictators, ignores science, considers the general voting public second class, (yes that includes the blue collar workers who voted for him), who has an inflated image of himself as the greatest individual on this planet. Or do we vote for an individual that has a history of compassion, an in-depth understanding of domestic and world governance, an individual that seeks to unite rather than divide. On election eve 2016 I said "be careful what you wish for". Now more than ever that rings true. The choice we make in November will have reverberations for years to come.