{"id":3668,"date":"2024-10-29T12:39:12","date_gmt":"2024-10-29T11:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cmccutcheon.com\/wp\/?p=3668"},"modified":"2024-10-29T12:39:12","modified_gmt":"2024-10-29T11:39:12","slug":"countdown-to-the-biggest-jackpot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cmccutcheon.com\/wp\/2024\/10\/29\/countdown-to-the-biggest-jackpot\/","title":{"rendered":"Countdown to the Biggest Jackpot"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Pick a card, any card.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Money. Immunity. Photo Ops. Air Force One. More!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In these last days up to the 2024 presidential election, Donald Trump has radicalized his rhetoric. It has become more racist, misogynistic, authoritarian, and megalomaniacal than ever. His base has known, along with the rest of us, that Donald denies, exaggerates, distorts, and torments the truth. His heightened racist talk is no problem for them. Slurs and insults are fine. Nor does his lying faze them. They like it. They bond over it.1<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0It proves that Donald is their man. It shows he has what it takes to dismantle the U.S. government and bring in the terminators \u2014 Proud Boys, Steve Bannon,2<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Elon Musk \u2014 to plunder the ruins.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the face of Donald\u2019s vitriolic ranting, culpable gaffs, and conspicuous falsehoods, his base, terminators, and running mate alike have taken to curating his statements. They separate out what Donald means from what he doesn\u2019t mean, defend the statements they like, dismiss those they don\u2019t, explain what his insults really mean, and advise, as JD Vance did recently, to \u201cstop getting so offended at every little thing in the United States of America.\u201d3<\/a><\/sup> Donald has groomed his base to filter his message to champion what they support and discard the rest. We must hand it to Donald. Few conmen have shown that kind of finesse.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Donald\u2019s conditioned base should ponder, however, is not which part of his message is true, but that none of it\u2019s true. Donald doesn\u2019t care about abortion. Or immigrants. Or healthcare. Or autoworkers. Or veterans. Or minimum wage. The 4,000 legal cases that encumbered him and his businesses from the 1970s to 2016 testify to that.4<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0What Donald does let drop in interviews about those subjects only exposes his ignorance. He knows as much about steeplechasing as he does about inflation, foreign diplomacy, border control, or tariffs. You need only imagine his figure astride a galloping thoroughbred in that steeplechase to visualize his suitability for president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the substance of his message is thoroughly false, Donald\u2019s vitriol and slurs sincerely express his animus. Of that, his base should beware. <\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Let Donald\u2019s base also be aware that Donald will simply say anything to them if he thinks it will get him elected. No remark of his reflects his preferences, vision, intentions, plans, or any policy whatsoever. He doesn\u2019t have any. No one knows what he would do if elected again. What we do know is Donald quite desperately wants to secure the office of U.S. president for another four-year term. His incentives are common, exclusionary, and obvious: Money. Immunity. Privilege. Photo ops. Air Force One. Many dream of having such privilege, convenience, luxury, and attention, but know it\u2019s not possible because we live in a world where resources must be shared. Donald does not acknowledge such restrictions.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the substance of his message is completely hollow, Donald\u2019s vitriol and slurs express his animus sincerely. Of that, his base should beware. Like his resentments, Donald\u2019s appetites are unique and immense as are the resources he needs to satiate them. Hence his feverish bid to regain the presidency.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foremost, Donald requires privilege that can only be accorded by a nation. Donald is an outlaw and a convict. He requires Federal immunity to shield him from his past, present, and future violations. As president, he\u2019d have it. The Supreme Court has seen to that. Gone would be the days thinking up ways to steal money from people, gone the days of fighting the law after he did.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, Donald requires measureless wealth to support his extravagant lifestyle, but recoils from using his own resources. He wants very much to spend the wealth of others, preferably by pinching it, and keep whatever he happens to accumulate in the meantime for himself.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The office of the president of the United States is the only position that could satisfy all Donald\u2019s requirements. As president, he will once again be able to pilfer at will from the most wonderful victim a predator could ever have, a victim that can\u2019t retreat, complain, or withhold favors, but must yield to be plundered again and again unto destitution if that\u2019s how far Donald chooses to take it. How Donald covets the office of the president.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps Donald\u2019s base might want to consider whether they\u2019re ready to be loaned out to fight in Ukraine alongside North Koreans.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The power that comes with the position, however, Donald would squander as he would the power of the thoroughbred in the steeplechase. Donald doesn\u2019t know enough about the U.S. or any government to wield presidential power to the devastating effect of a Putin or a Netanyahu. Trump\u2019s abuse of power would extend no further than selling favors to such men, with no inkling or concern about what they would do with it. Perhaps Donald\u2019s base might want to consider whether they\u2019re ready to be loaned out to fight in Ukraine alongside North Koreans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curiously, because this nefarious character is running for president again, The New York Times chose to abet Donald\u2019s ominous bid by saying it \u201cleft voters facing a bleak choice over the country\u2019s democracy.\u201d5<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0This is a confounding capitulation on the part of the paper. If Trump were running against his favorite criminal, Al Capone \u2014 a man who Donald won\u2019t admit was indicted at least six times to his four6<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0\u2014 the outlook for American democracy would indeed be bleak. But that\u2019s not our choice. Donald is running against Kamala Harris, an energetic, experienced, well-regarded politician who offers economic policies to strengthen families and build out the middle class and who will defend a woman\u2019s right to choose, that is to say, someone who seems to be pretty okay. Though economists and pundits prefer to quibble with the details, the general tenor of her focus and concern overwhelmingly passes muster. Rather than being bleak, the choice of Harris on the ballot should give us great confidence and direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not a forever choice. Presidential terms last four years. But four years of Harris would give us a chance to scatter the political grifters, rustlers, and crapshooters that have been circling the camp for some time now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Daniel Dale, \u201cDonald Trump voters: We like the president\u2019s lies,\u201d\u00a0https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/truth-and-politics\/donald-trump-voters-we-like-the-presidents-lies\/<\/a>, Fall 2020. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  2. Fresh out of prison Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, in time for Halloween. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  3. https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/10\/28\/us\/politics\/trump-msg-rally-backlash.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  4. https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Personal_and_business_legal_affairs_of_Donald_Trump<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  5. https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/10\/26\/us\/politics\/trump-democracy-threats.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  6. https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2023\/11\/20\/politics\/fact-check-trump-al-capone-indicted-once\/index.html<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    To defend Donald\u2019s vitriolic ranting, his base has taken to curating his statements, defending those they like, dismissing those they don\u2019t. What they should realize is none of what Donald tells them is true. He will say anything if he thinks it will get him reelected, and he has to get reelected. Only scampering back into the office of U.S. president can get him out of the fix he\u2019s in. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"[{\"content\":\"Daniel Dale, \u201cDonald Trump voters: We like the president\u2019s lies,\u201d\u00a0https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/truth-and-politics\/donald-trump-voters-we-like-the-presidents-lies\/<\/a>, Fall 2020.\",\"id\":\"34bf1298-caa5-4eb0-82ec-48971ccfb54a\"},{\"content\":\"Fresh out of prison Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, in time for Halloween.\",\"id\":\"9e2df5f4-e0af-4aa4-b014-66f1e1848fff\"},{\"content\":\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/10\/28\/us\/politics\/trump-msg-rally-backlash.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare<\/a>\",\"id\":\"98d7a8ed-aa01-4d2c-9aa4-c2630aff3f4f\"},{\"content\":\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Personal_and_business_legal_affairs_of_Donald_Trump<\/a>\",\"id\":\"8f2d69b3-6b90-4aef-854b-4aad6a01b68e\"},{\"content\":\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/10\/26\/us\/politics\/trump-democracy-threats.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare<\/a>\",\"id\":\"8d024e54-43fb-47c7-9651-e6dbaa769db0\"},{\"content\":\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2023\/11\/20\/politics\/fact-check-trump-al-capone-indicted-once\/index.html<\/a>\",\"id\":\"3cd21f75-ce4c-48f2-8bb5-8d0405009538\"}]"},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cmccutcheon.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cmccutcheon.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cmccutcheon.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmccutcheon.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmccutcheon.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cmccutcheon.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3668\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cmccutcheon.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmccutcheon.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmccutcheon.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}