2024

Ten Percent of Ten Percent

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

The House took three weeks off to make up their minds about a new Speaker.  BBR took three weeks off to give the staff some much-needed rest as well.

Wednesday the new Speaker Mike Johnson and at least 25 of his House Republican Representatives sat down for a town hall with Republican blowhard cheerleader Sean Hannity.

Sean asked them in a show of hands who would vote for, based on their knowledge to date on the influence peddling of Hunter and the Biden family, impeaching President Biden.  The show of hands looked unanimous in favor of doing so.

Yesterday a copy of a 40k check made out to Joe Biden was shown again and again on fair and balanced Fox.  The 2017 transfer from first brother James Biden and his wife Sara to the future president allegedly involves the same business deal in which Joe Biden was called the “big guy” and penciled in for a 10% cut.  It could be and maybe will be the first proven instance of the commander-in-chief getting a piece of his family’s foreign income.

All of that while more than just Rome is burning around the globe and here at home.  Would impeaching old Joe be a good idea in the political theatre while men and women are dying in theatres of war?

Maybe it would assuage those from the right still seething from one or more of the Trump “witch hunt impeachments.”  But does it move the needle in 2024?

Well, it would if the House actually voted to impeach then sent it to the Senate and the Senate held an Impeachment Trial and found Prez Biden guilty of hiding some fraudulently acquired funds.

The Senate has a slim Democratic majority.  In today’s polarized political climate, there is no way any Dems would break ranks and vote to abandon Joe is there?

That’s likely very accurate.  An in-the-know Republican friend of BBR doubts that any Dems would break.

It’s very accurate unless you are one of those who believe that the Dems don’t really want an 81-year-old Biden to run again.  After all, he seems challenged to walk much less run.

It’s actually the trap door they may be looking for if only one or two decided to make it so.

“Farfetched that is,” you naysayers say.

Pay off Kamala with a 15 million dollar book deal.  She could write about Venn Diagrams.  And voila!

Before your eyes appears a Newsom/Buttigieg ticket.

What are the odds in Vegas right now that we could have a second Second Gentleman in a row?

If you were Biden would you take 10% of the “10% for the big guy” and get some action now?

Or, is this another all-talk and no-action Republican-led House with a new leader making all of the above a nonstarter?

 

 

Sailor’s Warning

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

That red wave promised yesterday morning should have been a Republican sailor’s warning.  And, while the Democrats can’t sing “blue skies, nothing but blue skies, over me” just yet, they can certainly see a silver lining in the dark clouds.

What exactly just happened?  Or, what continues to happen today as those who can’t count continue to count?

What happened was America voted.  And, despite what many polls identified as major flaws in how they were running the country, they voted for a lot of the same as what they voted for two years ago.

Does that make sense?  Of course, it doesn’t.

If you were shocked that Trump came from no political background to win it all in 2020, you had to be shocked about last night into this morning.

Here’s what we know happened, and a few guesses on why it happened.

There is no red wave.  Yes, the odds favor the House turning red by a slim margin.  And the Senate could as well by the ever so slimmest of margins.  Or, it might stay purple.  Or it might turn blue.   That is not a red wave.

Ron DeSantis sailed far and away as the biggest winner on the Republican side.  He won four years ago by the slimmest of margins for his first term as governor.  It was a blitzkrieg this time.  He motored through Miami-Dade county, a 12-point Biden win county, in the most impressive of fashions.  He has to be considered the Republican frontrunner for 2024.

Has the population growth in Florida, mostly from the northeast and accelerated by covid hysteria, come in as transplanted conservatives?

Pennsylvania can’t count.  Also, they elected John Fetterman.  Sometimes if you have nothing nice to say you should say nothing at all.

Will Beto O’Rourke and Stacey Abrams finally go away?

Beto got a veto in Texas.  He’s ‘oh for” in his last three election at-bats.  In Texas, you don’t say out loud that you’re coming for the guns.

Abrams said last night that she’ll continue to do everything she can to right all of the wrongs in Georgia.  Sounds good until the DNC money goes elsewhere.

Arizona can’t count either.  And, they have broken machines in Maricopa County supposedly.  Does anyone think to give them a test run a few months back?  No.

And, if they don’t elect Kari Lake it will be the second biggest surprise of November.  She trails 51-49 with nearly 2/3rds counted this AM.

Republican leadership, we say again, is nonexistent, old, tired, white, and selfish.  Young adults aren’t buying what they are selling.

Mitch McConnell and his PAC cronies had a game plan.  Mike Tyson said everyone has a plan until they get hit.  McConnell and the RNC got pummeled.

The polls got it all wrong again.  Like the Republican leadership, it’s past time for them to look at their flawed ways.  They didn’t get to Trump voters in 2016.  And, they likely whiffed on Gen Z in 2022.  Calling landline numbers might be past its prime.  Get a TikTok account already.

Could control of the Senate come down to Georgia again in a Senate runoff?  Herschel Walker was once a hell of a running back.  There are holes in his candidacy as big as the ones his Bulldogs used to create for him to run through though.

So where does all of this leave one Donald J. Trump?  Today it is Mar-a-Lago.  Tomorrow it’s likely in some court.  By 2024, it’s likely on stage gunning for the White House.  The Dems can’t wait.

One thing about the weather “they” say.  It’s always changing.

The forecast from here till 2024 looks tough to call.   Red wave?  Blue Sky?  One fish, two fish.

Blame it on climate change if you wish.

 

 

 

Frick and Frack

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

They were out in all of their glory doing what they think they do best last evening for their respective parties.  Trump and Biden.  Biden and Trump.

Donald Trump was in Ohio at a rally of his own, promising a major announcement on November 15th.  He even spent some time attacking Ohio Democratic Senate candidate Rep. Tim Ryan and boosting his GOP opponent JD Vance.

Meanwhile a few states over in Maryland, Biden headlined a last-minute get-out-the-vote rally at Bowie State University, stumping for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wes Moore.

Trump didn’t call anybody in his party a bad nickname.  Biden forgot the want to be governor’s name.

On his best behavior, as he went through poll numbers at the rally, Trump did not call Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis “Ron DeSanctimonious” as he did at a recent rally.

“And, of course, you got that next governor. What’s his name? Wes… Wes…,” Biden said, turning to the audience as they held up “Wes Moore” signs.  “Wes Moore!” Biden said after reading a sign. “The guy’s the real deal, man.”

So on midterm election eve with a possible red wave on the horizon, you had an orange face stumping for himself and an ashen face who might be singing the blues hours from now just plain stumped.

The questions are “why now” for Trump and “why” period for Biden.  Haven’t we reached a point where we can agree on one thing?  That thing is one past president and a past prime current president are both more harmful than good for their sides’ cause.

It may have been fun to label Marco Rubio “Lil Marco” six years ago. How about “low energy Jeb?” Some smart money is now on DeSantis and calling him “DeSanctimonious” doesn’t draw the laughs these days.

It may have been fun for 81 million people to bounce Trump in favor of Biden two years ago.  Today that choice will cost the left the House for sure and the Senate is at best a toss-up.

Things are bad around these 50 states, or 54 if you ask Joe.  Only an ostrich can’t see that.  DeSantis and Newsom can.

The for-sure Republican that will get a Democrat elected to the White House in 2024 is Trump.  The for-sure Democrat that insures a Republican will move in is Biden.  Kamala is a very close second, but we digress.

The RNC and the DNC have quite a job on their hands.  The former needs to convince an egomaniac that it’s in the party’s best interest that he should have no interest in running.  The latter needs to finesse a sitting president and vice president straight to the curb.

That fact will never become clear enough in Trump’s cranium for him to see it.  That fact should become clear to Biden around 10 pm tonight assuming he’s awake and cognitive enough to see it.

Americans coast to coast can see it.  Especially the smart ones.

Toward the beginning of his speech last night, Biden reminded some just how smart they were.  He told the mostly Black audience at the historically Black university that – despite them not having the endowments other schools have – they were “just as smart” and “just as bright.”  Pandering much?

See.

 

If You Fall Off of a Horse

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

During one of the Democratic Party’s nomination debates, then-candidate and now President, braggadocious Joe Biden claimed that he was the one that Vladimir Putin wanted nothing to do with.  “I’ve stood toe to toe with him and looked him in the eye,” he said, or words similarly intended, but a bit garbled.

He also told us that he had a plan to combat the coronavirus while the sitting president did not.   Though for better or worse, Trump’s Operation Warp Speed was full speed ahead by the fourth quarter of 2020.

Soon enough thereafter, also for better or worse, 81 million votes were counted for Joe.  “The most ever,” we’ve been told.

Fast forward to today, 18 months after he took office, and take a look around.

Shaking in his boots, Putin invaded Ukraine right away.  Biden has sent well over $40 billion in aid and weapons as he continues to stand toe to toe with Putin. Then, in a late Friday news dump, the Biden administration said that it will send another $400 million in military equipment to Ukraine, including four more advanced rocket systems.

What’s the end game?  “I don’t know how it’s going to end, but it will not end with a Russian defeat of Ukraine in Ukraine,” Biden said last week.  Eye to eye, this guy is.

Just wait till we get the bill to build Ukraine back better.

On the virus front, it seems like the man with the plan has seen the plan go awry.  He’s weirdly whispered into the mic a few dozen times, though not recently, “Get vaccinated, get boosted.  Now!”

We wonder if it works, why do we need to keep taking it?  If it doesn’t, why do we need to keep taking it?

Apparently, mothers (you can still use that word in the safe space of BBR) are questioning it as well.  The approved vax for 6-month to 5-year-olds has plenty of supply and little demand, unlike baby formula.

Will we have another variant creep into our lives before the midterms?

Old Joe swears that he’s running for reelection in 2024.  Given the above and throwing in Afghanistan, Wall St, and crime he has a tough hill to climb.

An in-depth Civiqs poll now has Biden with a historic low 29% approval rating.  Only 63% of Democrats and 36% of Hispanics approve of the job he’s doing.  Artificial intelligence aside, getting back to 81 million is going to be a stretch.

But, never count the career politician out.

As the old saying goes if you fall off of a horse, you get right back on it.

It’s the same as if you fall off of a bike, you get right back on it.

Joe remembers the old saying.

He’s living the new one.

 

 

 

 

Yin and Yang

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

If America had a nickel for every time a politician said “we need to come together as a nation and move forward,” America wouldn’t be in debt.  Well, it still would be actually based on the “free” for all mentality we have in place now.  But, go with it anyway.

The truth is we never come together in the absolute sense of the phrase.  We aren’t even built that way as the checks and balances that our founding fathers (can you still say that?) put in place some 245 years ago create what used to be a purposeful debate.  And, we should thank them for that.

But, way back when we did a much better job of putting the country first and the agendas of factions thereof second.

Remember when House Majority Leader Tip O’Neill and Ronald Reagan would top off Tip’s glass of Scotch and hammer out a deal while Tip got hammered?

Bill Clinton’s tenure at the top produced nearly balanced budgets and a budget surplus once or twice.  He signed into law the three strikes and you’re out legislation.  The border was ours and we protected it well.   As a friendly reminder, Clinton was a Democrat.  But most all Americans saw these policies as effective, not just the more moderate left back then.

No more, and close isn’t close.

So, what to do?  Well solving it on just one quick dip of the pen in the ink well is far too ambitious.  But, with an early eye on 2024, we have an idea to try on.

Biden has no shot unless you count his three and counting “vaccine” shots.  Kamala will be off creating a new gameboard phenomenon called “Where’s Kamala?”  She’s practicing and perfecting it now.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the President and Vice President of the United States, Ron DeSantis(R) and Tulsi Gabbard(D).

Did you see the R and D inside of those parentheses?  Of course, you did.

Forget if you like DeSantis or not. The pendulum always swings and it’s swinging right now.  The Republicans will return to the highest office in the land, mail-in ballots or not. It’s him or someone else from the right.

The point is, what if he used his Floridian stones to go where only Abe Lincoln and Andrew Johnson have gone before?  Nominate the opposite party as your running mate.  He’s not afraid to make bold moves and take chances.

At a minimum, for the Republicans, it would(should) neuter the every four-years “war on women” nonsense that the Dems drag out.  The cries of misogyny would be dampened.  And it reaches across the aisle like never before.  It might even make Morning Joe happy, or infuriated, or both.

She seems very even-keeled, intelligent, and moderate in her views. She could be the yin and Ron the yang.  Her actions (military service) and her words always seem to try to put America, not her party, first.

And, most of all “we could come together as a nation and move forward.”

Couldn’t we?

Sure, probably, maybe, doubtfully, no chance.