You recall Karl Marx’s observation that “history repeats itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.” You are about to observe a master class in that premise, with Donald Trump attempting to imitate Grover Cleveland, the only president to be elected to two, non-consecutive terms.
Nobody liked last night’s speech. Reports today are that it was promised to be a 35 minute speech and it ran on for 65. This is notable because Trump’s need for the limelight will be one of the things that tanks him. CNN dropped out after 20 minutes and Sean Hannity stayed in for the full 35, but he made a decision (or somebody in the control room did) that it was more prudent to bail at 35 minutes than to torture everybody for another thirty minutes. Having sat through the whole thing, I agree with whomever decided to pull the plug.
Last night there were tens of Trump supporters on the intracoastal highway. He didn’t exactly have a star studded turnout at Mar-a-Lago, either. The only current member of congress who attended was Madison Cawthorn and he’s on his way out the door. Matt Gaetz said he couldn’t fly down from Washington due to bad weather but reportedly the weather was clear. Let that be an omen to you, Donald, Gaetz is a fair weather friend. Here’s what Trump’s “star” had to say.
Leaving Mar-a-Lago, failed congressman Madison Cawthorn lectures Rs who won’t get behind his hero: “I will follow this man until the day I die. This man has bled for us, fought for us. I want a president who people are terrified of, who’s gonna push people out of the way.” pic.twitter.com/AiivV5Tp8a
— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) November 16, 2022
“A guy who’s going to push people out of the way.” Yes, very desirable qualities in a leader. Plus, the only way Trump ever bled is if a jealous husband went after him. Or, do bone spurs bleed? Anybody know?
Well…Madison Cawthorn bought a $million home in FL, and plans on getting back into politics. And Lauren Boebert went from welfare to $41million in 2 years. Being in congress sure is fruitful. https://t.co/J7e3DNGfkR
— Laurie 🇺🇦 (@Laurieluvsmolly) November 16, 2022
Must be nice to be able to buy a $1.1 million house when you have no job.
Want to know two locals who weren’t in attendance at Trump’s bash last night? Would you believe Donald Trump, Jr. and Ivanka? What, the weather was so bad they couldn’t drive a few miles down the beach, or walk even? Ivanka is not surprising. She jumped ship a while back and announced she was getting out of politics. But Don Jr. was supposedly going to take over Jared Kushner’s old job. This would seem to indicate otherwise.
Maybe Cawthorn will be Trump’s new surrogate-son? Maddy and Eric will be Trump’s mouth organs. And you know Kari Lake will come traipsing around. I didn’t think the Trump brain trust could diminish further than Stephen Miller and Boris Epshteyn, but I was wrong.
Good luck financing all this, Donald. You’ll need it, with mega donors jumping ship and Rupert cutting bait.
And never forget friends, Trump got into this for the money. He needed to build his brand. He wanted to do Trump TV — even up to quite recently when he suggested that CNN do a conservative channel featuring only him. If there’s no money in politics, Trump doesn’t need to be there and all signs are pointing to that fact, that in this run, there will be no money.
No fuel? The baby huey blimp goes down squealing, splattering dinner on the wall.
The mega donors (many of them) will take a pass this time around. Sadly, we have moved into the era of small dollar donor fundraising and Trump still has millions of goobers who will feed his bank account. He will send out the emails and they will send him ten, twenty or even more dollars. They will buy his overpriced “MAGAGA” hats and t-shirts. And “covfefe” cups and who knows what else. All of which will be made in China (which he pronounces “Chi-ner”) of course, including the “Made in America” labels on the clothing. He can milk them for at least another year and quite possibly for years to come. Even if he’s sitting in prison where he belongs.