The Taste of Victory

Had a looong day, so I decided to burn up a Panera gift card (the turkey chili in the sourdough bread bowl was good, albeit pricey).  It was fine, but what surprised me was that they are now offering pizza.  I don't know; I like the place, but it's not the first choice I would go to for pizza, right?  Sort of like their mac and cheese (not that I would ever choose that)...not my first choice.  I did drink plenty of diet pop, FWIW.

I HATE when the announcers talk about no-hitters during games, especially when OUR pitchers are throwing them.  Oi.  I realize we are shedding baseball traditions with reckless abandon nowadays, but...

I've been amused by the spate of recent articles about GOPers leaving the party and forming a new one.  I think this is unlikely for three reasons.  One, most of the names are not exactly famous, or, more accurately, they are not famous now.  This is not a bad thing, just that a lot of these people were names (and not exactly big ones) a generation ago.  Two, it seems they are the only people involved in this.  Certainly, the mass of the party is NOT with them; I think Trump won more than 90% of the GOP vote in 2020, and I don't think he has suffered in popularity since then. Whether or not this is bad, I can't say, but I do not believe that Trump is losing his hold on the GOP electorate; if anything, as I have said before, the GOP electorate has divorced much of its leadership.

However, the main reason -- I believe -- that this is going to fail is that... well, Trump won in 2016 and, had it not been for the global pandemic, I say, would have won in 2020.  Not because of himself, but because of the strength of the economy, of which he could claim (legitimately) the credit. Much like in 1996, the President was a scumbag, but things were going well, and the opposition was running the Ghost of Christmas Past, so...  I mean, the party gave us Romney in 2012, whereas the grass roots gave us the Tea Party (and the House) in 2010 and pushed us this close to retaking the House in 2020. People like to be on the winning team, and Trump -- of all people -- was able to provide that.  I think a LOT of GOPers outside of the Beltway have come to the conclusion that the same message, packaged a bit differently, will work in 2024.

https://theamericanscholar.org/obscura-no-more/

Interesting read; not exactly a fan, but I think they are correct -- it is an art form, and certainly underappreciated as one, especially in this country.