The primaries in North Carolina will be March 5th. No real contest on the Presidential candidates. The Governor’s race is tighter with the Democrats having two leading candidates that may run to the wire. Nobody pays any attention to the Lt. Governor race, which is why we ended up with the unfortunate results the last time. The Democrats also appear to have a contest for Attorney General, and they may take back the Insurance Commissioner’s slot.
The Gerrymandering of legislative districts (both federal and state) is still being contested, but the ballots (and candidates) in the NC primaries follow the new alignments. Speculation is that the GOP will gain more seats from NC in the Congress. They already hold a majority in the House & Senate in the NC General Assembly.
After four months, the judge in the NY Civil Trial finally assessed a $350 million penalty on Trump. (I can’t explain why the numbers vary or why it took so long.) Of course, the case will be appealed, but it still was a big slap in face for Trump and his children. I’m just hoping that one more hissy fit will result either in a heart attack or a stroke. I know that’s not very charitable, but it’s the kindest thing that I can say.
Two of the big Trump cases pending are the ruling of the Supreme Court whether Trump is an eligible candidate, and the other is whether he is exempt from criminal prosecution for his actions while in office. Rulings are expected before the primaries.
What would happen if Trump were ruled ineligible by means of engaging in an insurrection or not exempt from criminal prosecution? In neither case is that likely given the highly partisan nature of the current make-up of the U.S. Supreme Court. In the rare possibility that such a ruling might happen, how bad would the MAGA response be? Obviously, we would be facing an armed rebellion, but the question of how long and how widespread is still just a guess.
How did we end up with such extreme positions in our national politics? In one word, Trump. He has been fomenting chaos since 2015, even when he was in office. His continuing treasonous claim that he won the 2020 election is still a war cry for his base, even though it is false. The Russians are continuing to conduct misinformation campaigns, not only in the US but also in Europe. The defeat of a Senate bi-partisan bill to resolve the crisis at the border was rejected by Trump so that he could claim it as an issue in the general election. The Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives also is using it to stall desperately needed funds for Ukraine. Why? Just because they can. How can we let fewer than a dozen anarchists dictate foreign policy? That’s just how dysfunctional the Congress has become. Participants in Friday’s Security Conference in Munich were worried that the US is failing to meet its obligations.
Oh, how ready I am for November and a clean sweep of the nutcases!
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