I’ve been sensing this for a while now. Maybe you have too. Things just don’t feel right in the country. Life goes on, of course, but much feels off-kilter.
Some Americans are always angry about something. I know. I was involved in covering the angry, sometimes violent anti-war years in the 1960s.
But now a new Gallup Poll confirms my suspicions.
This is the beginning of Summer, happy graduations, fair weather, and weeks of it ahead. Maybe even some vacation days slipped in when Mom and Dad are totally focused on their kids and each other. No distractions. No schedules.
Just serendipity.
This week’s Sunday column (they now post at 9 a.m. ET) looked ahead at the GOP primary race featuring Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Tim Scott, and Donald Trump.
They’re soon to be joined by a former Trump ally, former Vice President Mike Pence, and probably other Republican wannabes, making it an even rockier road for the party.
Pence plans to announce his campaign on June 7, which is his 64th birthday, just before a scheduled town hall event in Des Moines.
Aides say Pence will organize for the Iowa caucuses in all 99 counties, no easy task.
The challenge for Pence, a former Indiana governor and House member, will be to rebrand himself as a Reagan conservative after four years as the loyal No. 2 to the controversial Trump.
My colleague wrote:
The top contenders in the GOP primary, Trump and DeSantis, are each polling in double digits while Pence remains in single digits among the crowded field of candidates.
Others who have thrown their hats into the ring include former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
And former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is said to be on the verge of running again. He did not get past New Hampshire in 2016.
All of which delights Trump, who wins the primary by more Republicans dividing the non-Trump vote. In 2016, the Republican field had 17 candidates.
All of my columns, and indeed all of my posts, including the previous 63 audio commentaries, are available here. Sixty-three already? Is that possible? But they’re all pretty short.
Meanwhile, Democrat Marianne Williamson is running again and complaining that the Democratic National Committee is rigging the party’s alleged primary race in Joe Biden’s favor by, among other things, scheduling no debates.
Rigging? Do ya think? Biden’s physical and mental capabilities these days are clearly deteriorated. He couldn’t win a debate for a high school Stamp Club presidency.
He’ll need all the rigging he can get, if, in fact, he continues to seek the nomination at their convention in the deeply-troubled city of Chicago.
Biden’s party has no realistic alternative, thanks to the incumbent’s characteristic dithering and pride.
I just find it nearly impossible to believe that the party’s bigwigs and moneyed powers won’t try to find some transparently phony excuse to shuffle the octogenarian off to walk his dog on some Delaware beach.
But then, what to do with the Word Salad Woman?
