Morning News, July 20

 On Saturdays I do book events this summer. Today I will be at a market from 9-1 and at Barnes and Noble in Chattanooga from 2-4. I am writing this on Friday night after watching a good bit of the Republican National Convention and other news coverage, listening to many political podcasts, and thinking a lot. 

Things I know:  1. President Biden needs to drop out of the race, and if he had done it earlier, he and his people could have controlled the narrative and made it seem like he was resigning from the race for the good of the country and party. Now that is too late; he just looks like an angry, deluded, and ill old man who can't or won't accept reality. 

2. The media is not to be trusted in their portrayal of Donald Trump. I am not saying he is innocent of a lot of serious things, including disregarding the constitution, just that he is not what they present him as and they get away with the misrepresentation. The fascist narcissist is apparently a really human and generous person to a lot of others. At the same time, he is not even loyal to his wives (or has not been), and that means a lot. I am reminded of the phrase: The best thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.  Kind of a failure there.

3.  People who write and talk about politics are generally incapable of a neutral opinion on Trump. Never-Trumpers and Democratic-leaning writers see nothing but deception and dissembling in everything Trump does.  Devotees are just that, sometimes showing an adoration that borders on idolatry. There are some pundits who can say, "He's an immoral person, and guilty of so many serious faults and crimes, about which he seems to have no remorse....but his policies are better than what Biden is doing."

4. The Trump machine does not have a  contingency plan if someone other than Biden or Harris is the Democratic nominee.  

5. The convention was quite a spectacle designed for Trump people: Kid Rock (not a clue here about him or his music), Hulk Hogan, Lee Greenwood, Franklin Graham.  All of these people the general media left makes fun of, who write about their fans or followers as if those people are developmentally delayed.  

6. This Republican party is not the party of 2012, 1980, or 1860. For that I am deeply in mourning. Trump has taken over the Grand Old Party.  Sigh.

Do I have any conclusions from these indisputable items? Will I vote for either? What will happen? Will there be another debacle about a stolen election? Can there be a peaceful transfer of power like there has been for 200 plus years?