The Red Wave that Wasn't

 

I very carefully treated Tuesday's returns like they weren't even there until now. I wasn't posting last night. I didn't want to hear any news. I don't do prognostication on this blog for a very good, reason--there are ghosts in the machine. and I believe in them. We shouldn't listen to polls too much, because if polls were great, why would we ever have elections? And knowing very well that returns take time, and might be illusory early on, I wanted to say less and less even as some kind of picture shaped up.

But I'm now less reticent in saying--it was a good night. It was a good night especially in Pennsylvania, where Shapiro and Fetterman came through and the State House is blue. I am extremely pleased that Mastriano (1/6 attendee) lost despite the rainbow that his "prophets" thought might foretell his victory:

I mean:

During Mastriano’s speech on pronouns, he sees a rainbow and says God is sending a message pic.twitter.com/EOHc9aSuIX

— Acyn (@Acyn) November 5, 2022

No, hon, this is the sign Lesbian Jesus sends to you to tell you why you lost.  Keep up.

Dr. Oz Didn't Stumble When He Said This

 

Holy shit: Oz says his abortion position: should be between "a woman, her doctor, and local political leaders" #PASenDebate pic.twitter.com/UDiJvDYHYo

— Pat Dennis (@patdennis) October 26, 2022

I personally do not think my uterus is any place for a city council meeting, thanks! This wasn't a case of being inarticulate, this candidate is not in any way impaired, but he said this. Out loud where we all could hear.

Local political leaders, Dr. Oz says, belong in your personal business. Playing chicken with the reaper, with your mental or physical health on the line, with your future fertility and economic security on the line, your ability to take care of the children you may already have on the line, having a debate about something as personal to you as your own body and its future. Grandstanding for political points over your well-being. Appealing to local church leaders for future political support over your well-being. Appealing to right-wing donors, or even basic misogyny, over your well-being.

Transparency and the Malcontents

 

Pennsylvania Lt. Governor and Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman sat down with @DashaBurns in an exclusive interview using closed captioning.

Fetterman discussed his recovery after suffering a stroke in the primaries and his race against Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz. pic.twitter.com/0fee1cKXgY

— NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) October 11, 2022

U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman gave an interview where he was forthcoming about his recovery and the limitations that he still has post-stroke, and it seems to me that a certain number of people who were previously looking for more transparency about his condition were probably actually looking for some window to indicate that he was not capable of serving in this capacity.

I may add more to this, but to be perfectly blunt--it's ableism. We have people serving in the US Senate right now who are recovering from strokes, and have had, and have had people serving in the Congress and even the presidency with other disabilities without this election. Needing some assistance to perform isn't a sign of incapacity, and I do not think the same questions would arise if a candidate was using a cane or a hearing aid. But it is still the same ableism, and some of the "takes" I am seeing on social media are, to stay blunt, in very bad faith.

That said, I can see from this and other interviews that Fetterman remains sharp and insightful, thoughtful and genuine. I can also say that I am unaware of an assistive device for someone who is profoundly ethics-impaired, as in, say, a snake-oil-dealing puppy killer.

There Was a Rally in Wilkes-Barre

 

The picture above isn't from the rally Trump held in Wilkes-Barre, PA for Doug Mastriano (insurrectionist) and Dr. Oz (snake oil salesman) but from May of this year, when it was all about the primary. Sure, Trump was already a one-term, twice impeached former president, who incited an insurrection riot and had already had 15 boxes of stuff taken from his Mar-A-Lago country club/domicile at the time. But his support was enough to boost Dr. Oz over the top in the GOP primary. 

Trump has since had a lawful search warrant served back in August to have even more classified and other documents horked out of his increasingly dodgy-seeming resort, once referred to as the "Winter White House". It might look bad, and I suspect the reason why is bad. But why would Mastriano and OZ turn down such valuable assistance? 

Dr. Oz Got Endorsed By Donald Trump

 

I used to enjoy the Dr. Oz show a little bit, whenever I was off during a weekday to see it--because Dr. Oz isn't 100% horseshit as a doctor, or at least, he wasn't always. Sure, the hydroxychloroquine/ivermectin/anti-Fauci shit is obviously a political cry for help, and he's always been at least a little bit pop-science-y and "one weird trick" prone--but his show sometimes did relate useful health information. And then he decided to run for US Senate in my state as a Republican.

And that was when he fucked up. This North Jersey ass jumped up tv bullshit promoting should have had his tv syndicated thing and left a good thing be.

But see, he didn't do that, and for some reason, Trump is endorsing him for this actually important political role. 

And MAGAs are agape and aghast. Why, how? This is an OprahWorld op! He's a Hollywoodian liberal! How are we being betrayed by Trump and can we still "trust the plan"?

So, to work these things backwards, there never was a plan. Trump is not a planner. He hasn't got the bandwidth for one and thinking he's part of some white hat brigade is wishful thinking gone mad. Trump endorses Dr. Oz because he knows who Oz is because he is a Hollywoodian liberal.  He saw him on tv. Probably Fox News. Trump only knows people are any good because he saw them on tv. KT McFarland--was on tv, brilliant. Fiona Hill, not on tv until Trump made her infamous, has an accent, doesn't know what she's talking about. (She literally wrote the book on Putin. She knows what she's talking about.) 

Trump endorsements are a very mixed bag.