Just a quick one today as the election looms. The information campaigns from both sides deserves a quick update. It is grand fun. I offer this synopsis only as a snapshot for what both sides hope will work as we line up for the dramatic conclusion.

The “mostly peaceful protests” is still a chip in play, and continued activity in the streets is still alive. Some of the mayors of the blue cities have had to pull back, and literally raise the drawbridges on scenes that are admittedly poor publicity for the larger campaign. That is the big game, of course, and civil insurrection plays well to a dedicated component of the base, but not to the larger electorate which must be mobilized.

To that end, a candidate was selected to appeal to the traditional voting block of working-class Americans. Unfortunately, he has a problem with communicating the approved message from his handlers. Accordingly, he has been locked down to avoid answering questions. So has his newly announced Vice Presidential running mate, who also must be kept on a tight tether in view of the amount of conflicting baggage she brings to the campaign.

The information campaign continues, of course. The plan contains two major goals. One is to continue daily assaults on the Orange Man Bad figure, and the other is to lay the groundwork for effective action in the election itself. You are familiar with the “scandal of the week” that has been running since the last election. One of the latest was the stirring accusation that the President was aware and even supported bounty payments to insurgents who successfully killed American soldiers in the various zones of war.

It was a nice little branch of the campaign, since it resurrected the narrative that the current Administration is held in sway to the vile Mr. Putin of Russia. It didn’t seem to have much staying power, and was a bridge from one story to the next, while keeping old narrative certainty alive.

It was not bad, but not directly aimed at the real deal at stake. The election.

The latest development is the widely accepted notion that Orange Man is attacking the beloved US Postal Service, with the clear implication that the incumbent intends to harness his power to undermine well-tested mail in ballots.

I would insert the usual disclaimers here, you know, wearing masks and avoiding crowds, but I happen to like our regular letter carrier, and view with concern what has happened to the postal work force as the health crisis has forced it into being the de facto delivery arm of the kind Mr. Bezos of Amazon. It has been entertaining in the extreme, watching the photos of trucks carrying away mailboxes, and gives credence to the impending attempt to undermine the election by the incumbent. He intends to disenfranchise voters by eliminating the mailboxes, we are told, and tip the vote in his Bad Orange direction.

There are going to be hearings, in the House, of course. It should be a good show, one out of the legendary Saul Alinsky’s Chicago playbook. He laid out information campaigning tactics nicely. Attack the opposition for the infringements you are actually committing. Lay the case that even if minor cases of fraud emerge, the Orange Man and his fascist underlings did it first.

We covered it yesterday, but stories about missing Social Security checks, loaded trucks and other assaults on decent Americans is in progress, and any result in the election that favors the incumbent is inherently illegitimate.

So good work this week, and it is a story that will be repeated up to the moment it might be needed after November Third. The curious virtual convention of course is playing a version of it all, and great fun.

The other side is trying a two-pronged approach. Their candidate is actually campaigning, a disturbing demonstration of old-school stumping at airport rallies replacing the traditional address from train stop stumps. Overnight, word swirled that a Big Pardon was impending, and not one directed at the much-maligned former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn. Even the traitorous spy Snowden was offered up as a possibility, presumably with the implication that the previous administration had been spying on other Americans for a much longer time than previously alleged.

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It was a cute finesse. This morning, word came that the actual recipient of the pardon would be the legendary feminist Susan B. Anthony. Her conviction for illegally voting as a citizen prior to the actual legal extension of the franchise to half the adults in America would be expunged.

Cute, and topical timing with the anniversary. But unless it is followed up by something bigger, this cute story and a few jet-scape appearances doesn’t seem to present much of a challenge. But the polls seem to be changing, and we will have to see if an invisible campaign by a muted candidate is the sort of thing that sells.

What are the planners going to do next? That depends on the goal. A panel of former government players I hang with predict that a narrow win for Mr. Biden is a flat-out and unassailable victory, however achieved. A narrow victory for Mr. Trump will be rejected as election fraud. Only a massive vote for Mr. Trump would present a case for his continuation as President, and I have seen no credible prediction for that. But who knows, and all campaigns have to be able to impromise when inconvenient facts slip out.

The pieces on the chessboard of politics are becoming clear, if unannounced, and courses of action are starting to become visible on their placement. I have to say, this is going to be the coolest campaign we have ever had a chance to witness. It is great to be an American!

Copyright 2020 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com