The Coming Election

 

I believe Donald Trump should have been impeached and convicted for his illegal and unconstitutional attempt to remain in power after losing the 2020 election. I believe he is an arrogant, boorish, unprincipled would be Duce, unfit in knowledge, character, temperament, intellect, and judgment to hold the office of president. I believe he is a thoroughly despicable human being, a disgrace to the office, and an embarrassment to the nation. And I think his erratic behavior and crazed online rants are sufficient evidence to justify removal through the 25^th Amendment. He is the worst thing in the present political environment, but apart from him much of the rest of it is far from good.

Looking at the two parties, both are jokingly bad on dealing with the national debt and the annual deficit. Republicans are better on curtailing illegal immigration and dealing with illegal alien criminals, but worse on behavior toward otherwise law abiding illegal aliens who have been here a while. Democrats are better on opposing Russia and supporting Ukraine, but worse on opposing Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, and other jihadists and on unreservedly defending liberal civilization against them. Neither party is doing enough about the danger in the Pacific region from China. Republicans still may be better than Democrats on issues of liberty, individual rights, and supporting the cause of freedom in the world, but the gap has closed - not by Democrats getting better but by Republicans getting much worse. Republicans are better than Democrats on energy and reducing unnecessary regulation, while Democrats now are better than Republicans on opposing excessive executive power. Democrats have a dangerous faction of authoritarian socialists while Republicans have a dangerous faction of authoritarian national conservatives. Crooks and grifters abound in both parties, but Trump and his relatives and pals are wildly corrupt enough to give the Democrats an edge on corruption at the national level at least. Overall neither gang is anything to feel good about supporting.

Still a person needs to vote. It is tempting to vote solely on my opinion of Trump, but I do not think that is right. He is not on the ballot. He will be gone in two years, while some of the victors in the midterm elections will be in office well after that. Most of the races where I vote are not seriously contested ones. The Republicans will win them. The exceptions are the races for United States senator between James Talarico and Ken Paxton and the race for a seat on the railroad commission between Bo French and Jon Rosenthal.

The second one is the easy one. French is a racial and nativist bigot, probably an antisemite, and on the evidence a genuine buffoon. He has called for deporting one hundred million people, pushed a phony scare about sharia law coming to Texas, called his opponent in the primary runoff incumbent Jim Wright “Jihadi Jim” (presumably because Wright knew the business of the commission was oil and gas, not bleating about sharia), demanded deporting some American Indians he did not like, freaked out over some Asian Americans attending a football game, and attacked his present opponent for his religious beliefs The lieutenant governor tried to get him removed from his position as a county party chair because of his antisemitism. The governor has been quoted as saying the man knows nothing about oil and gas. I do not know much about Rosenthal, but he seems to be a fairly ordinary center-left suburban Texas Democrat. He is an engineer with some experience in the oil and gas industry. The proposals listed on his campaign website seem sensible and benign on the surface, and the commission still will have a Republican majority in case some of them really are not. I am planning on voting for him as of now and will not vote for French in any case. Republicans, including primary voters, need to learn that they can lose a statewide election in Texas if their candidate is repulsive enough.

The senate race is harder. Paxton is shifty scoundrel who played a big part in Trump’s attempt to overturn the election of 2020. Later his wife dumped him for infidelity, employees in his office accused him of various wrongdoing, and the Republican controlled Texas house impeached him (though he was not convicted in the state senate). Talarico is a creepy Austin leftist trying to sell a fake moderate act to voters. He is on record as opposing the oil and gas industry, calling capitalism an oppressive system and a tool of white supremacy that must be demolished, and resisting efforts to strengthen border security, things he probably really believes in but for obvious reasons is not pushing during the campaign. Neither of the candidates is qualified to be elected to the board of a home owners association in Dogpatch.

The winner will be in office for six years. Trump will be gone in two. I do not think Democrats will get to the fifty seats they would need elsewhere to make a Democrat senator from Texas give them a majority in the senate. I do not see any likelihood of the senate convicting Trump after a Democrat controlled house impeaches him. I do think Talarico is likely to voter more often than Paxton for things that will make my life worse and the country worse. So my plan now is to run some Vicks VapoRub on my upper lip to mask the stench and vote for Paxton. It is a hell of a note.

a