Don’t Pop the Champagne Just Yet

The last couple of weeks brought a lot of welcome news to our side of the political fence. Joe Biden’s disastrous performance in the first presidential debate - after at least a week of solid preparation time - has the Democrats scrambling for ways they can somehow salvage the upcoming election. And last Monday’s Supreme Court ruling in favor of presidential immunity from prosecution for official acts dealt a blow to Special Prosecutor Jack Smith’s January 6^th case against former President Trump. All to the good. However…

A few items of caution before we start celebrating anything:

1. There are lots of unanswered questions regarding the timing of the debate, the earliest one in modern history. One is this. Was the debate scheduled almost two months prior to the Democratic convention to showcase the failing Biden and give the Dems time and a reason to kick him to the curb (albeit with some grace, by their standards)? And then nominate someone younger and more energetic at their convention? Remember, the Dems have shown they will do anything - and I mean anything - to win. If they think that Gretchen Whitmer, Gavin Newsome, or Josh Shapiro has a better shot against Trump than Biden does, then don’t put it past them to go that route. Why should nominating rules mean anything more to them than the Constitution, if the rules are seen as an impediment to their win-at-any-cost objective?
2. Although Trump was somewhat more measured in this debate than he has been in the past, don’t ever underestimate the ability of his loose lips to cause plenty of trouble between now and the election. There are, after all, still four months to go. Anything he says that even hints at “authoritarian” is something the Dems will use against him ad nauseam, masters of projection that they are.
3. The leftists in the “mainstream” media (excuse the redundancy) are showing their utter lack of shame or remorse for their four-year cover-up of Biden’s apparent demise, both mentally and physically. Up until just before the debate, most of them were going with the latest mantra of “cheap fake videos” regarding Biden’s recent wanderings and non-sequiturs on camera. Yet they feigned “shock” at Biden’s horrific debate performance, as if there was no prior evidence to indicate that such a massive failure could happen. This means that the media will continue their all-out assault on Trump’s candidacy without a flinch, and they will roll with (or even help determine) whatever course of action the Dems ultimately choose. Turning the narrative on a dime is what they do.
4. And then there is the Kamala Harris factor. She is, after all, second in line. And although her Vice Presidency has been, by almost anyone’s account, quite underwhelming, and her simplistic word salads laughable at times, we discount her at our peril. She may be a lot of things, but stupid is not one of them. And one thing she’s very good at, as demonstrated in the Judge Cavanaugh hearings, is slicing and dicing her political opponents. Given the chance via the 25^th Amendment or Biden otherwise leaving the scene, she, even more so than Biden, Schumer, and Schiff, could make the words “convicted felon” stick to Trump like crazy glue. There’s a reason (besides the obvious DEI square-filling) that Barack Obama likes Harris enough to have promoted or at least approved of her as the VP candidate for Biden, and I think the political assassin in her is that reason. Looking back, Obama was pretty good at that himself and still is when given the chance – like the way he gently assassinated the current president’s future by guiding him off the stage at a recent fund-raising event like a nurse guiding a recalcitrant senior who appears lost.
5. Finally, there is the Judge Merchan wild card. What will this man do in his rather wide discretion at Trump’s looming sentencing hearing in the Alvin Bragg case? Although the sentencing date has been pushed to September, the pressure from his Democratic allies to imprison Trump will be immense and continue to mount as the date approaches. If he actually pulls the trigger on that, then how many voters will vote for a man locked in a prison cell? More to the point, how will prisoner Trump carry on his campaign while behind bars? This could be the ultimate “October surprise.”

Keep in mind, much of what happens in the next few days and weeks is driven by the left’s beat-Trump-at-any-cost attitude, since they continue to hate Trump with the intensity of a thousand suns, and will plot their next moves accordingly. We can only pray that the voting public won’t get fooled again.