Donald J Trump dodged a bullet, literally. And thankfully.
But, yesterday he did not. He now must defeat Vice-President Kamala Harris. He went from a virtual certainty to defeat President Joe Biden to, in my mind, a 50/50 race.
Trump is no longer running against an obviously declining old man but rather engaging a relatively young woman. Yes, there will be all sorts of criticism of her California past. In politics, at least, California is not a predictor of national attitudes and trends. More often, its one-party progressive policies, for example, are said to be why so many businesses are leaving the State.
Vice President Harris, of course, will snip off traces of prosecutorial aggression to make the case she will be tough on crime but then quickly pivot to claims of success working as President Biden’s sidekick. Ultimately, to satisfy the policy wonks, she will have to voice a coherent Harris presidential set of ideas.
On the Trump side his attitude and conduct toward women will be highlighted again. He will not be able to dodge his instincts. At some point he will make none too subtle and, to many, egregious comments which will reflect back on his unforgiving alpha male interior.
Now, maybe I am too sensitive as a father of three daughters—I will admit that—but I am not a pronoun guy looking to take offense.
But, most can recall earlier comments of a sexualized nature and, of course, recently, his felony convictions tied to “hush money” payments. Now it is all out there; what is called “oppo” research will be easy; it can be completed with an Internet search.
And there will be plenty of women who will be quick to recall his tawdry behavior. Start with Republican Liz Cheney. Or Alaska’s Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski. Well, you get the picture. If you want a refresher on Trump’s comments and the reactions, here is a Wikipedia link.
It is always hoped that campaigns will come down to ideas and debates. And in the impending race there will be traces of what many will prefer. But there will also be an underlay, a sexualized one, that will not be kind to the Former President.
Help!
History records that many new products were at least intuitively understandable. Tractor implements that dug looked like an enlarged shovel powered by fuel and visible mechanisms. Farmers could see and make judgments about the invention. But what about the recent CrowdStrike affair?
CrowdStrike calls itself “the world’s most advanced cloud-native platform that protects and enables the people, processes and technologies that drive modern enterprise—secures the most critical areas of risk”. In its recent past it used a software patch that brought down a significant part of the data-driven network we all use.
Begin with “patch”—how to envision? Well certainly not as you would patch a shirt. Or, download—moving vertically? And in a wide spectrum of troubled network perversions, how can we protect against downloads when the source is from a well-disguised enemy? That is the business of CrowdStrike.
The world and in particular the more open United States need guard rails and ones that can be explained to safeguard the way we protect ourselves from things we don’t know; no, we can’t understand.
In the impending race for a four-year Presidency, journalists should ask the candidates for an idea or two that will secure our almost complete reliance on the worldwide exchange of transactional data across digital networks.
Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books.
Reed Fawell 3 says
“The world and in particular the more open United States need guard rails and ones that can be explained to safeguard the way we protect ourselves from things we don’t know; no, we can’t understand.”
This is a head scratcher.
“The world and in particular the more open United States need guard rails.” Safe Spaces? Against what and when?
“… and ones that can be explained to safeguard the way we protect ourselves from things we don’t know; ” But what we don’t know is most everything out there, and what we known is an tiny sliver of what’s out there, so by and large we are ignoramuses. Why should we remain so?
…; no, we can’t understand…” Why should we not try to be aware of what we don’t understand, and embrace it?
William Dalton says
Political party ideas are often called platforms. The Republican Party has been good enough to furnish a platform of ideas which we can understand. They call it Project 2025. I have been waiting for Mr Sikes to comment on the contents of 2025 so we can get his response to the plans prepared by his former political party leaders. Of course we know Mr Trump had nothing to do with their preparation . If elected however he will then claim them as his.
Deirdre LaMotte says
Oh yes, Project 2025, 990 page manifesto which has already been “staffed” for government wide implementation. Should Trump win.
It calls for dramatically cutting Medicare and Medicaid,
revives an 1800’s law , the Comstock Act,
halting the sale of abortion pills in all 50 states. It calls for the sacking of thousands of civil servants, expanding the power of the president, and sweeping tax cuts
for corporations and top earners.
The document labels the FBI a “bloated, arrogant, increasingly lawless organization”. It calls for drastic overhauls of this and several other federal agencies, as well as the complete elimination of the Department of Education.
This Party is deranged. Vote Blue for sanity.
trudy wonder says
JD Vance Wrote Foreword of Upcoming Book from Project 2025 Architect – Axios News (key excerpts, below)
JD Vance wrote the foreword of an upcoming book from the architect of Project 2025, a right-wing blueprint for the next Republican administration. In publishing materials for Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts’ upcoming book [scheduled for release September 24, 2024] , “Dawn’s Early Light: Taking Back Washington to Save America,” Vance said Roberts is presenting a “new future for conservatism.”
The Heritage Foundation and Project 2025 are referenced in the first sentence of the book’s description, which also claims “America is on the brink of destruction.” In response to a promotion of the book from Vance last month, the Heritage Foundation said on social media “The Swamp is long overdue for a controlled burn. It’s time to take our country back.”
Trump disavowed Project 2025 earlier this month after Roberts said the U.S. was amid a “second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.” Vance also uses incendiary imagery while praising the book, writing, “We are now all realizing that it’s time to circle the wagons and load the muskets. In the fights that lay ahead, these ideas are an essential weapon.”
Project 2025 proposes sweeping changes to the federal government, reproductive health care and American life. Its primary goal is to concentrate the next Republican president’s control over the executive branch to override checks that otherwise could restrain his power. A key tenet of the plan is what’s known as “Schedule F,” an executive order that would allow the president to strip thousands of federal employees of employment protections, fire them and replace them with ideological loyalists. It also recommends expansive changes to the social safety net that, if adopted, would reshape daily life for millions of Americans.
The plan wasn’t created specifically for Trump, but at least 140 former Trump officials have worked on it.
In his prior administration, Trump had adopted hundreds of the recommendations the foundation made in its 2015 mandate for Republican leadership.