Okay…so Nikki Haley's dropping out of the presidential race — as if she was ever really in it — and Mitch McConnell's endorsing Trump. Do either of those announcements surprise anyone anywhere? The press wants you to pay careful attention to all this and watch what they want you to watch and click where they want you to click as if the election's all but over. I think it's all but started. I don't see that any of this strongly foretells the future.
Think of all the stuff we don't know at this moment. We don't know who Trump will select as his running mate and we're not 100% sure Biden will stick with Kamala Harris. We don't know what the economy will be like when it becomes time to mark ballots. We don't know what the status will be of the wars in the Middle East or Ukraine. We don't know the outcome or timing of certain trials involving Trump…and would it shock anyone if there were more indictments or revelations about him by November?
The recent Republican-led efforts to sell the concept of a Biden Crime Family that's worse than or as bad as Trump's is collapsing…but they'll try again. With something.
And since the candidates' ages and mental states are emerging as issues of importance: We don't know how either man be talking or walking by the time it comes to vote. One of those guys falling down or getting hospitalized or saying something really, really mindless could wildly swing the election. And this list of Things We Don't Know Now could go on and on.
I also think a lot of people who today can and do say "I will never in a million years vote for that man" will vote for that man. Or stay home and not vote for his opponent…which is kind of a way of voting. If I'm running against you for office and most of the people who support you can't bring themselves to mark their mail-in ballots or go to the polls, I probably win.
I know we're all impatient to know if the wrong guy is going to get back into the Oval Office and destroy the world (or at least, America) but I don't think we have enough evidence to be worried or over-confident now or even soon. This election will turn on a lot of things that just plain haven't happened yet.
I'm going to cite three items here from Kevin Drum's site, one being this article which I agree with. It's just too early to think Biden's in trouble. And as further evidence of this, read this article which shows that most voters haven't paid much attention yet to matters which obsess those of us who follow the election closely…and perhaps too closely.
Lastly: Almost every Trump supporter I see on TV is wailing about how terrible the Biden Economy is and how inflation is killing us all. Donald's doing his usual "it's a disaster and only I can fix it" routine. But that's just a lie. Right now, the U.S. has the second-lowest inflation of any major nation in the world. Trump would be taking bows if he'd had those numbers on his watch. That's got to sink in to voters eventually.
I have friends who support Biden. I have a few (not as many but a few) who support Trump. I'm tired of both thinking the election is almost over. Like I said, I think it's almost begun.