CSotD: The Mudville Report

Lisa Benson — Counterpoint

Mike Lester — AMS

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright,
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light;
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout,
But there is no joy in Mudville— Donald Trump is striking out.

Make no mistake: Trump has not struck out yet. But things could certainly be going better for him, and, in fact, just as the arrogant batsman in Ernest Lawrence Taylor’s poem considers it unnecessary to even swing at the first two pitches, Trump has not bothered to directly address the issues he faces.

Instead, the Trump/Vance campaign and its allies appear content to attack Harris and Walz, generally on personal rather than political terms. For instance, I don’t watch Fox or read Town Hall, but I assume someone has issued a fatwah on joy, judging from the above coincidence.

I haven’t seen a survey on the topic, but it’s generally true that people like joy, that joy makes them happy. I get a sense that the crowds at Harris/Walz rallies share that feeling, and a feeling that we’ve seen enough doom, gloom and negativity.

But I could be wrong, and, as noted above, it ain’t over yet. Things remain close.

Whoever lets down their guard is gonna get a punch in the nose November 5.

Still, to paraphrase Taylor again, the outlook isn’t brilliant for Mudville’s team today.

Juxtaposition of the Day

Mike Luckovich

Pat Byrnes

Part of the problem is that Trump has become increasingly incomprehensible at his rallies. Liberal critics have charged the media with having dwelt on Biden’s dubious speaking skills in pressuring him to withdraw but giving Trump a free pass, on the theory that he’s just Trump being Trump.

But it’s becoming hard to ignore, and while Trump defends his speaking style as an intentional “weave,” others are wondering if the wheels are coming off.

Here’s the quote that inspired Byrnes’ cartoon:

She destroyed the city of San Francisco, it’s — and I own a big building there — it’s no — I shouldn’t talk about this but that’s OK I don’t give a damn because this is what I’m doing. I should say it’s the finest city in the world — sell and get the hell out of there, right? But I can’t do that. I don’t care, you know? I lost billions of dollars, billions of dollars. You know, somebody said, ‘What do you think you lost?’ I said, ‘Probably two, three billion. That’s OK, I don’t care.’ They say, ‘You think you’d do it again?’ And that’s the least of it. Nobody. They always say, I don’t know if you know. Lincoln was horribly treated. Uh, Jefferson was pretty horribly. Andrew Jackson they say was the worst of all, that he was treated worse than any other president. I said, ‘Do that study again, because I think there’s nobody close to Trump.’ I even got shot! And who the hell knows where that came from, right?

As Luckovich suggests, Harris’s best strategy may be to simply let Trump “weave” his own political shroud, though it assumes the media will quote him and comment on him as they cited Biden when he began to sputter.

Instead, we’ve got Fox Neporeporter Peter Doocy asking the White House why Kamala Harris talks like a negro. (Granted, he didn’t phrase it that way.)

Juxtaposition of the Day #2

John Darkow

Michael Ramirez — Creators

The debacle at Arlington has not gone away, and the excuse that two Gold Star families invited the former president to illegally videotape a campaign message and take a grinning selfie over the grave of their deceased relatives is drawing rebukes from other veterans despite Trump’s bizarre denial.

Trump loyalists have remained somewhat silent, but Ramirez tends to be a traditional — rather than MAGAt — conservative, and he’s not buying it, while Darkow points out the chasm between what Arlington means to bereaved families and what it means to an ambitious campaigner.

Juxtaposition of the Day #3

Lisa Benson — Counterpoint

Nick Anderson — Tribune

The economy remains a potent issue for Trump supporters, not because it is in bad shape but because people believe it is in bad shape.

Inflation is down, the Fed is on the verge of lowering interest rates and things are generally looking good, but we’re still seeing higher prices on the retail level while housing costs have gone through the roof.

People see the “economy” on a micro level, and this has been encouraged by media reports that emphasize that aspect of the greater picture.

Even people whose 401k and IRAs have been recovering value seem distracted by the cost of groceries. It’s understandable: Trying to convince them that the overall economy has rebounded is like telling a 12-year-old “Someday you’ll understand.”

They don’t care about “someday.” They care about now.

It may be frustrating to Nick Anderson that Trump loyalists aren’t bothered by his endless business failures, including the massive losses for anyone who invested in his Truth Social Network, but they simply aren’t.

Trump has begun quoting Q-Anon and selling swaths of his clothing.

What’s there to reason with?

The general discontent with economic matters opens the door for misrepresenting economic proposals like taxing the gain in value of stock holdings and other investments for those worth more than $100 million, which is fewer than one-one-hundredth percent of Americans and certainly would not include the nice lady in Mike Lester (AMS)‘s cartoon.

Whether this is an unintentional or deliberate misunderstanding of the proposal is irrelevant: Economic issues are a good anti-Harris argument, regardless of the state of the economy and what measures are being proposed.

Juxtaposition of the Day #4

Guy Parsons

David Rowe

And then there’s JD Vance, the most unpopular VP candidate in modern history.

Sarah Palin was a drag on John McCain’s campaign, and McCain was a potentially strong candidate. With Trump weaving in his speeches and failing to engage effectively beyond his loyal core, he needs a solid partner, and he hasn’t got one.

Discussion of plans to dump Vance may amuse Rowe, but it’s way too late, while rumors of slotting in RFK Jr are beyond preposterous.

Trump’s greatest hope is that Harris fans will become overconfident and stay home in November.

Which could happen.