It seems like it has been going on for like…forever. This morning, the billing on the flatscreen is that the GOP candidates are doing something fresh and new at the start of the campaign. It is only the formal start, since the contest has actually been going on now for months. The Governor of Florida might have been be the actual “first,” since he apparently has been running for months.

So, this a day with an actual scheduled formal event up in Milwaukee. It is supposed to be a “debate,” which will outline strategies to fix an economy, lower crime, restore some police officers to the major cities and determine how to pay for it all. And there is only 14 months to go in a process that already seems endless.

There was discussion about that this morning. The Legacy Media wants nothing to do with Mr. Trump, which is not exactly “news.” That means the programmers at Fox are running this event as the beginning of something fresh and interesting. It will have elements of the former, though it seems to have been going on for a long time. A very long time.

Are you interested in commentary on the individuals involved? There is some of that, though Splash was muttering from his chair under the bright morning sun. He claims he will vote for Mr. Trump if he is the nominee of the party that has supported a stronger national defense than the other one. He claims to have voted that way twice, once in the refreshing defeat of the former FLOTUS, and once against the incumbent Chief Executive. Despite everything else, he swears it will not stop him from doing it again if that is what the choice is.

There is talk about third party options to avoid repeating the campaigns of the last eight years, but voting for an actual new choice or a new Party without the resources of the old binary system only means the candidate we dislike the most will likely be the next President. We have done that before and the results- charitably- were less than satisfactory.

De Mille is trying to play his chances to the least damaging candidate. The chances of his voting for the current President are precise: “Zero.” That is exactly the same odds as the front-runner on the other side is likely to get. That aspect of the universal campaign does have some interesting aspects at the moment. There is talk about age and acuity on CNN, which is something unlike what has gone before.

So, a crowded field of less than a dozen on one side will run against “uncertainty” on the other. We will only have a year before there is anything imminent to report, so we are completely in agreement with everyone else. The debate this evening will highlight all sorts of things that were unknown yesterday and will be forgotten by the time the first analysis is complete after we go to bed tonight.

One of the candidates has responded to the one on the other side. The son of the last Democrat we voted for (deliberately, anyway) was recorded doing some impressive push-ups a few weeks ago. In preparation on the other side, one of the GOP candidates is playing tennis (shirtless) with great vigor.

We assume this represents an attempt to bring “age” into the beginning of this more formal stage of the actual campaign. “Youth” and “Vigor” appear to be the thrusts of that one, since there are at least two serving Senators who appear to need assistance to perform their ordinary duties, which is to speak words of “yes” or “no” on important bills being processed on the other side of the Potomac.

In an earlier phase of life in our Constitutional Republic (not a Democracy!) the challenge would have been how quickly they would have been gently ushered out of office. Now, the point appears to be to keep them on the job as long as possible to continue their important work.

So what does that mean for this evening? There will doubtless be protestations of vigor and energy, some of which might actually be true. There will be discussions on the state of the Economy, and of the epidemic of looting in progress at some retail chains coordinated by social media. It could be “fun” on that side of the divide between the political aisle. Will will have to take that approach since we are tired of it. The current set of problems confronting the nation is daunting, and no number of shirtless push-ups or tennis serves will alter that that plain fact.

But if you hear shouting this evening, it may represent something new that is actually news. As you are well aware, we are only (roughly) 400 news cycles to go until the formal ritual sweeps over us and the arc of our collective future is revealed.

Ugh. We are thinking about push-ups on the Patio to see if there are any insights left laying about that are useful. We will be hearing about the other alternatives a few hundred times in the days to come. It seems like some of them have been uttered a few times since 2016. We took a brief non-binding poll about whether we support the nine-years of nonsense we have endured since 2016.

We are strong, and we can take it. There was an interesting opinion that floated in with the second cup of Chick Full O’ Nuts. We have voted in all the Presidential contests since we became eligible in 1970. It doesn’t appear to have made much difference, but we have resolved to continue to exercise the franchise.

Otherwise, the next 400-odd days will not make a great deal of sense. Not that it does now, you know?

Copyright 2023 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com