Treasonous Scum, More Biden Excuses, a Vacancy in the Pentagon, and an Armchair Diagnosis From a Shrink

 For the treasonous SCUM that refuses to accurately report on our Military Operation in Iran, we have virtually unlimited amounts of Mid to High Grade Ammunition, far more than we could ever use for this, or any other war(which is highly unlikely!), that could improbably take place. In addition, we are producing Munitions at levels never seen before.

The opening two lines of a recent social media post written by Donald Trump--or maybe Natalie Harp, who knows any more. 

Indeed, who are these scum--these communist sons of bitches? Well, one of the reports Donald Trump was responding to came from The Wall Street Journal. You know, one of the papers owned by Rupert Murdoch, a man who could be described with some accuracy as the, Anti-George Soros.  Last week it reported that the Iran war has depleted, "stocks of key weapons, including Patriot interceptors and other precision-guided munitions. According to the Journal this has raised the concerns of Pentagon officials over the military's readiness to respond to potential conflicts in other areas of the world. 

Then there was a report by Reuters which said the DOD just awarded a new $22.9 billion contract to Raytheon to up its production of Tomahawk missiles from 60 to over 1,000. The increase was directly linked to the supply of Tomahawks dwindling to dangerous levels thanks to the war in Iran. 

Nor to worry though, our man in the White House says all is well, but just in case it isn't. as always, Donald Trump has an excuse. In the same post he wrote, "Also let it be known, that the Biden Administration gave far more Munitions away to Ukraine, at no cost to them, whatsoever, than we have used in Iran. Hundreds of billions of Dollars was given to Ukraine and NATO, free of charge that Europe would have paid for..."

Yeah, Don, but Russia invaded Ukraine.  The war in Iran started only because of your hubris and apparently a smooth con job run by Benjamin Netanyahu. 

As all of this is happening the Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll quit, although CNN reports the resignation has more to do with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth than it does with Trump's war of choice. According to CNN Driscoll believes Hegseth is, "...damaging the Army's efforts to adapt to the modern battlefield." The report says Hegseth (who always keeps his wife close by, because the rumors are she is the only one who can keep him off the sauce) is too focused on culture wars for Driscoll's tastes. In addition, Driscoll was also upset by Hegseth's willingness to get rid of experienced officers just because they don't agree with his vision of what the Army should look like. 

Meanwhile, Dr. Henry Abraham went on a radio show hosted by Dean Obeidallah Wednesday. Abraham is a psychiatrist who admits he hasn't personally examined Donald Trump but says he watches and listens to him carefully. Back in April of this year Abraham, along with other shrinks, signed an open letter saying that Donald Trump should be removed from office because he is mentally unfit. Obeidallah asked him if Trump's condition had changed since the letter was published. The response was, " Yeah, if anything it's worse."

Dr, Abraham citied as red flags the usual suspects. The "tangential speech," "rambling digressions," and "grandiose and delusional beliefs, including posting AI imagery of himself as the Pope, a combat pilot, and Jesus Christ." According to Abraham if airline pilots and neurosurgeons displayed the same symptoms as Donald Trump they wouldn't be allowed anywhere near planes and ORs.   

Abraham, who shared a Nobel Peace Prize back in the 1980's, added, "I think we're in even more danger of Donald Trump using a nuclear weapon in a fit of pique or rage or confusion or poor impulse control than ever before."             

How comforting.

White House spokesperson, Davis Ingle claimed Abrahham is a, "Trump-deranged loser engaging in armchair diagnosis for political purposes." He then said the doc was a "disgrace to the medical profession." Of course, Ingle's job is to say things like that and his Master's degree is in Business Administration. Abraham got his post graduate degree in pediatrics from John Hopkins and served his residency in psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital. 

Besides, Abraham isn't saying anything different than a lot of us are thinking or saying ourselves. He just has the better credentials--oh and that Nobel Peace Prize Donald Trump tried so hard to buy but couldn't.   

Yes, here we are--waist deep in Iran without a Secretary of the Army, but stuck with a DOD head who is more interested in images than consequences and a Commander in Chief who might be just as nuts as the fictional Air Force General, Jack D. Ripper. 

So, praise the Lord and if there's any left, pass the ammunition.  Hey, who says America isn't great? 

9-4-26

AI Data Centers Say, Feed Us--A Lot

 There are a lot of things Americans don't agree on these days. In fact, many of these disagreements run so deep the prospect of a second Civil War doesn't seem that far-fetched. Of course, some pessimists were also saying the same thing back in the 1960's, but no one actually took the doomsday prediction that seriously.  Then once we got out of Vietnam and ran Nixon out of office, everyone settled down to more reasonable levels of discord. Now, however it feels different. In the 1960's we were all pissed off at each other. Now, we genuinely seem to hate many of our fellow Americans. 

That being said, it is surprising and not just a little refreshing to find an issue that most Americans, no matter their politics, agree on.  It isn't hard to figure out what it is, especially when even the amoral bastards developing it admit it could end life on the planet as we know it.  That's right, even though AI has been described as in what is known as, "the frontier stage," no one trusts it.  Why should we? It feels like every time we turn around there are reports of some AI program creeping out of its, "sandbox," and hacking into a rival system all on its own.

That's just the tip of the AI iceberg though. It isn't what a HAL-9000 might do tomorrow that angers and unites the left and right--at least mostly. It's what it takes to keep AI up and whirring along in their hometowns.  

Indeed, according to an April 2026 Gallup poll, 75% of democrats and 74% of republicans oppose the construction of AI data centers. In an August 2026 RealClearPolitics poll 70% of Americans across the board oppose them. The main concern of those opposing their construction isn't the prospect of AI taking over the world--that came in third. The opposition is rooted more in the here and now, as in the staggering amounts of water and energy being consumed to keep these digital beasts running. 

Copilot Search reports in 2024 data centers in the U.S. ate up 192 terawatt hours of electricity. For those not familiar with the term, a terawatt hour is equal to one trillion of watthours. 192 of them represented 4.7% of all the electricity produced in the United States. Estimates are, that if the AI greed heads get what they want, by 2030--not quite four years from now--data centers will consume up to 15.3% of America's generated electricity. 

Can you say sky rocketing rate hikes? Not to mention possible rolling brown and black outs. 

But wait. As they say on the TV ads, there is more. The same site says a medium-size data center uses up to 110million gallons of water per year to keep it all nice and cool. A hyperscale data center--like the one that is reportedly proposed for Yukon, OK--can use up to 528,000 gallons of water a day. 80% of that water is lost due to evaporation, the other 20% is flushed down the nearest wastewater system.  That sort of usage in this part of the country is simply not sustainable--at least not as long as people are also living here. 

As for the number of jobs added to the community because of a data center, it isn't that many. A medium-sized center typically employs 20 to 30 people. A Hyperscale center employs more, but how many depends on the level of automation and the size of the security staff. In short, any sort of economic growth gained by getting an AI data center next door isn't worth the drain on the power and water resources it creates.

All of which leads us to a rather large and potent case of NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) that unites both political parties. No one wants these things close to them and with the mid-term elections barely two months away they've become a political hot potato. No politician in his or her right mind wants to publicly support their construction. Even the Texas MAGA republican Governor, Greg Abbott is running fast and far from them.   

However, as we all know, there is this one guy who hasn't been his right mind for quite some time. He wants to build the damned things all over the place.  Yesterday, President Donald Trump posted this message on social media: "The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor. If we kill the Golden Goose, you will only have yourselves to blame." 

Ah yes, that's our man Don--always the diplomat.  

Even Trump's Vice President, J.D. Vance had the brains to acknowledge reality. Yesterday, Vance told the media, "I think probably 99% of the backlash to data centers has come in areas where building a data center means higher utility and electricity for the people on the ground." It is unclear if Mr. Vance understands those, "areas," mean everyone everywhere a data center is built.  But hey, at least he didn't tell millions of American voters, "If you don't embrace data centers, you want to be stupid and broke and it's all your fault," which is exactly what his boss just did. 

Well, what should we expect from a testy old man who has become exasperated by the criticism he constantly gets. After all, he might not have fulfilled all his promises to the millions of rubes who voted for him--or actually any of them--but he certainly has and is to those tech billionaires who sat in the box seats at his second inauguration. 

And let's admit it. To Donald J. Trump, other than himself, they're the only Americans who count.

9-1-26

Going Postal on the Voters

The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof, but the Congress at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except for the Places of chusing (sic) Senators. 

Article 1, Section 4, Clause 1 of the Constitution of the United States of America. 

In other words, the states run all elections and any new federal rules, or regulations effecting elections must come from congress. The President, no matter how much he might want to, doesn't have any constitutional authority to change or regulate elections. That law also goes for the different departments of the executive branch, including the U.S. Postal Service. 

Donald Trump knows that, of course. It's why he tried to bully congress into passing what he called the, "Save America Act." The House did, however the Senate has steadfastly refused to do so. The upper chamber's continued refusal has caused him to--as Kurt Vonnegut once put it--"whirl like a Dervish and speak in Babylonian." 

However, some brilliant legal eagle in the administration (We know it couldn't have been Trump himself) came up with a possible partial work around. Since all absentee ballots have to travel through the mail, just order the postal service to not deliver them. Well, except for Trump's, because he always votes by mail. Or at least he says he does. The man's whole vibe makes it easy to believe he thinks voting itself is beneath him--an act designed for and left to the hoi polloi. Back to the point though. The whole maneuver is meant to gum up the works at the post office. Toss out millions of ballots in order to lower the vote count, reinforce the myth of voter fraud, and discourage people from voting at all. 

Indeed, to be subtle, one must begin to eat away at the foundations first. Lasting kleptocracies aren't built in a day.   

A few days ago, the Supreme Court ruled a lawsuit brought by nearly half the states in the union to stop this postal service boycott of ballot delivery was filed too soon. According to the conservative majority, since the postal service hadn't issued new regulations concerning mail in ballots those states couldn't prove any harm had been done to the voting process. Immediately following the ruling, Postmaster General, David Steiner issued the regulations and surprise, surprise they were everything Donald Trump wanted.  You know, things like pre-election voter lists and envelopes with special bar codes and logos. All of it and more, so postal workers can determine if the ballots are going out to legal voters and presumably coming back from them. 

That's right, if Trump gets his way, the same people who lost our utility payment last month are now going to be in charge of deciding the voter eligibility of tens of millions American citizens. That lost electric bill notwithstanding the postal service has many fine people working for it. However, none of them are trained for this sort of thing and the sheer number of personnel needed for such an endeavor doesn't exist. In short, there is no way they aren't going to fuck this up.

Then last night in Boston, Federal Judge, Indira Talwani ruled the lawsuit by the states, along with some private voting rights groups contending the USPS didn't have the authority to mess with elections would probably succeed.  She slapped a two-week temporary restraining order on the postal department's new voting regulations. 

That 14-day delay is important. Next Friday North Carolina (one of the states suing) begins mailing ballots out to members of the military. The following week other states also start the mail in process. Once the ball starts rolling, as it were, it will be tough to stop without disenfranchising scads of voters and throwing the entire mid-term elections into utter chaos. Although, in truth, to Donald Trump that might work almost as well as not letting millions of people vote in the first place. 

Let's face it, when Donald Trump first entered the White House in January of 2017, he had no clue how the government worked. He seemed perpetually stunned he couldn't do whatever the fuck he wanted to do. He had made the mistake of picking some pros in his administration who reigned him in at times. Some even had the guts to tell him no every now and then. He learned from that. Down in Mar a Lago during the brief exile he plotted to not make the same mistakes again.

The current President's disdain for American democracy is now abetted by a gang of groveling yes-men and women who do and say whatever he wants. At this moment he has gone beyond full bore Benito Mussolini. Between his own delusions and a gaggle of toadies telling him what he wants to hear he is capable of anything. It's doubtful he even believes there will be mass public outrage if he throws an entire American election into complete disarray. The scary part, however, is even if Donald Trump does believe it, at this point, he probably just doesn't give a shit. 

He is, after all, the El Supremo. Hey, just ask him.

8-28-26

Unhealthy Obsessions in the White House

 Okay, the whole Natalie Harp thing just got real creepy really fast. I mean we aren't to the levels of creepy brought to us by Glenn Close in, "Fatal Attraction," and Jessica Walter in, "Play Misty for Me,"--at least not yet. However, it isn't hard to imagine us getting there. After reading the full text of Harp's letters to the President, one analyst said they were more frightening than a death threat. He added, "If someone sent me something like these the first thing I would do is get a restraining order." 

The spectacle began to take a dark turn this past weekend. Someone found a 2023 photo of her desperately chasing after Trump on foot as he and his golf party motor down a golf cart trail. The photo shows the out of office Trump at his Turnberry golf course in the lead followed by two other carts. Then there is Natalie Harp, chugging down the path, arms pumping, eyes squarely on the prize. Behind her are another three or four carts, along with what appears to be a couple of uniformed security guys calmly walking. 

The internet lit up with sarcastic jabs. One dubbed her, "The human printer sprinter," even though that day she was traveling sans printer. Another called her, "Trump's human binky." All of them ignored the stomach-churning fact this was a woman so utterly terrified of being left behind by Donald Trump she was willing to publicly humiliate herself. She knew it too. One of the released letters was written immediately after that trip to Scotland. Amidst the gushing thanks for allowing her to be there and buying her souvenirs there was an apology. Natalie Harp told Donald Trump she hoped she hadn't embarrassed him by wildly pursuing his cart.     

That was the same year she found herself without a seat in a Trump motorcade headed to a New York City courtroom. After a shouting match, which she lost, rather than chase after it on foot--she was no doubt wearing heels that day--she jumped into the trunk of one of the vehicles.

Michael Wolff, a Trump biographer and host of the podcast, "Inside Trump's Head," says he received the letters, which were electronically sent by Harp, from, "concerned," White House staffers. (Although, given the people in this White House, concerned and jealous might be interchangeable terms.)  Wolff claims the President's wife, Melania refuses to appear with him publicly if Natalie Harp is around. Wolff says it's the main reason their joint public appearances have become rare. By his account they numbered 47, or so last year and 38 this one.

As for the letters themselves, they are peppered with randomly capitalized words (sound familiar?) and filled with sickly sweet devotionals. In addition, there are heavy doses of profuse apologies and self-pity. In short, they are an embarrassing, maudlin, mess. The words and tone come from a woman so frantic to hold on to her dream she has driven herself to the edge of the abyss.

In an August 18th interview with CNN's Erin Burnett, Natalie Harp's brother, Preston said her fixation on the Presidency began when she was 16. She wrote at least one letter to then President George W. Bush during the Iraq war. It's unknown if she ever received a response. He described her job in the administration as Trump's top aide, "Her dream come true finally." He also said her relationship with the President of the United States is, "An unhealthy obsession." 

Oh, you think, Preston? 

You don't need to be a psychiatrist--or even a screenwriter--to see this isn't going to end well. We know it won't for Natalie Harp. The real question is, when she does shatter, how many others will get hit by the flying glass.

8-24-26   

Natalie Harp: Executive Assistant or International Woman of Mystery?

 Symbiotic: relating to or marked by symbiosis: Characterized by living in or being a close physical association (as in mutualism or commensalism) between two or more dissimilar organisms.

Meriam Webster Dictionary

Symbiotic is perhaps the only way to describe the relationship between President Donald Trump and his, "executive assistant," Natalie Harp. Svengali doesn't really apply because that's a one-way sort of deal. Rasputin is also a flawed comparison since the mad monk was credited with healing the Tsar's only son of hemophilia.  He also might have been boinking the Tsarina while the Emperor of Russia was out destroying his army on the Eastern front during WWI.  

No one has ever said Natalie Harp and Big Don are having carnal relations, although GA. Senator Jon Ossoff subtly hinted at it the other day during a campaign rally. While attacking the President, Ossoff said, Trump would rather, "travel with Natalie," than do his job. 

Don does like to keep Natalie Harp close. When the AirForce One switcharoo episode took place in Turkey, the President took Ms. Harp with him on the catering truck to the backup plane. The rest of his aides and media members remained on board what had become the decoy aircraft. Journalist, Alex Isenstadt reported that one night Trump's wife Melania found her in the President's private quarters, "delivering papers." Harp has even been seen accompanying El Donald during his frequent rounds of golf. Because she knows he prefers to read hard copies of nice things said about him on social media and other internet locales, she always carries a portable printer with her. It's a habit that has earned her the nickname, "The human printer." 

Her devotion to the Donald seems to know no bounds. CNN reported she once stowed away in the back of a vehicle in a Trump motorcade so she wouldn't be left behind. Letters from her to the President have included the lines, "You are all matters to me," and "I want to bring you joy." When it comes to Donald Trump, other aides have claimed his unswerving codependence with her began when she decided to stick with him after the failed coup of January 6th 2021.  After he left office, she briefly worked for One America News Network, pushing the myth that Trump was cheated out of the White House in 2020, 

Natalie Harp has been the Big Man's, executive assistant since day one of his second term. One journalist described her as, "Donald Trump's gatekeeper. She also has control of his Truth Social account. It's been reported she is the one who came up with picturing the Obamas as apes in one post. And despite her reported fundamentalist Christian faith, she is the person who decided it would be a good idea to portray Donald Trump as Jesus Christ in another. A second media member claimed she is a, "conduit for and an instant enabler of Trump's impulses.

Ah, young love. (Trust me, to a guy Trump's age, a 35-year-old woman is young.)

All of which brings us to that weird part once again. MS NOW reports that Natalie Harp, the President's gatekeeper, the one aide he took with him off the decoy plane, refused to allow anyone to run a security check on her for over a year. That's right, the woman spending late nights with the President, helping him post social media rants could have been, at least as far as the Secret Service knew, really named, Natasha Fatale. Indeed, instead of graduating from Point Loma Nazarene University she might have gotten her degree from Moscow State--and no, not the Moscow in Idaho. How Don's girl got away with this is unclear.  The network also reported that objections from other aides and security officials finally got so loud, the President had to personally intervene to get her to submit to a background check--which the White House says she passed.  

According to her Wikipedia page, Natalie Harp (no middle name is given, although other sources say it is Joy.) was born sometime in 1991. The month and date aren't listed and no one seems to really know. Wikipedia says her father, who isn't named on the page, committed suicide in 2020. Her mother is not mentioned at all. One assumes her academic career can be verified. Besides graduating from Point Loma Nazarene, the page says she received her MBA from Liberty University. Other than her brief stint with OANN her entire professional life has been directly connected to Donald J. Trump.

Does anyone else think this whole relationship sounds pretty twisted, not to mention a tad suspicious? Are we talking about a woman with an unhealthy fixation on Donald Trump (At the 2020 republican convention she compared her billionaire keeper to Jimmy Stewart's character, George Bailey, in the film, "It's a Wonderful Life.")? Or are we talking about a woman with a murky past who has wormed her way into the President's innermost circle for nefarious purposes? 

Hey, this is the era of Great Conspiracies. Why not have one more to ponder over gin and tonics on hot summer afternoons?   

Rest Easy America. Donald Trump is at the helm, and Natalie Harp is at his side--constantly. I mean really, really constantly.  

8-20-26

The Long Voyage of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln

 A Nation's Strength

The motto of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, CVN-72

Well, if some media reports are true, the nation's strength is in dire need of some, to borrow an ancient line, "pumping up." Or at least more than a little rejuvenation--perhaps even a new trainer in the gym. 

Of course, one can only imagine how draining nine months at sea--over half of it in either in actual combat, or combat alert situations and none of it ashore--can be. Reports of deteriorating morale, dwindling food supplies, and poor sanitation have come from the families of the crew and supposedly some crew members themselves. At least one man has gone overboard, on purpose, while others are said to have attempted to, and still others have told loved ones they are contemplating it.

All this aboard a nuclear-powered behemoth which carries over 5,500 personnel when the air wing is there. It leads one to wonder what the conditions are on the Abraham Lincoln's smaller escort ships. (If the crew on a boat the size of the Lincoln is going nuts, how much fun can the crew on a navy frigate be having?)

The Pentagon has refuted the claims, or at least most of them. Some craziness at sea is always present they say. The crew of the Abraham Lincoln hasn't displayed any more of it than usual.  Not only that, but mental health professionals are always aboard and available to crew members who seek help. In addition, for those in need of spiritual assistance there are chaplains representing various faiths and traditions. There are also TVs in the crew's quarters showing movies and even weight rooms to work out those frustrations and the stress. 

All of which is fine and good, but none of it gets you off that fucking boat. Not even for a day.

I'll be the first to admit, that like the current Commander in Chief, I have no naval experience. However, my son, was deployed twice on the carrier, Theodore Roosevelt during the 1990's. One of his letters home started off with the line, "It was pretty boring until we started bombing." (The Serbians had gone a little funny in their heads back then.) His deployments were six months each. Despite the bombing, they included multiple shore leaves everywhere from Spain, to France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, and the Emirates. Even with those stops, he said by the time the six months had passed, everyone on board was sick and tired of each other. 

When asked about life on a navy ship he recently said, "Some of those guys don't see daylight for a while." He said some of shifts on board, "...are12 hours on, 12 off. Some are eight on and eight off. Divisions are different." He was perplexed by the reports of clogged toilets and moldy showers, saying they always had cleaning and maintenance details working, but then added, "I've been out since '97, that was a lifetime ago." 

The major problem the crew of the Lincoln and her support ships have is that there isn't anywhere in the region they can safely put into. Despite the swaggering braggadocio of the President and his Secretary of Defense/War, Iran's military is still actively blowing shit up all over the place. Any American ship in an area port has made itself a sitting duck. Not only that, but there is no end to the madness in sight. Hegseth is yammering on about an indefinite blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. When asked if the Abraham Lincoln had been deployed for too long, Donald Trump's answer was, "No, no, no. Not nearly long enough." 

Way to boost morale, Mr. President. You should put that on a recruiting poster.

The good news is the George Washington carrier group is on its way to relieve the Lincon's. In other words, despite all the cheery chatter that everything is fine, the Pentagon is admitting the men and women of the Abraham Lincoln need to come home. The bad news is, given the insanity and incompetence of the American Commander in Chief, the crew and flight wing of the George Washington are in for an extended, non-stop, cruise around the Arabian Sea.  

My kid, the old salt that he is, doesn't think some of the things on board the Abraham Lincoln are as bad as the press would have us believe. However, he is sure of one thing. When it comes to a nine-month deployment at sea with limited or no shore leave he said simply, "It would be miserable."

Yes, war is hell. Unless, of course, you're the guy saying, "No, no, no. Not nearly long enough."       

8-17-26

Mike Lindell, Unidentified Voting Anomalies in Minnesota, and the Old Man's Magic Begins to Fade

 In the American republican party, especially in the primaries, there is no endorsement more coveted than one from Donald J. Trump. Even republican candidates who don't have it constantly invoke the man's name and pledge their loyalty and support to him. When it comes the GOP, the party that was once Lincoln's, the name Trump has been as golden as all that whore house filigree being super glued to the Oval Office walls 

Unfortunately for a few republican candidates, and perhaps the Big Man himself, there are a few indications that garish gold paint is beginning to crack and peel. In a Michigan republican house primary, Trump backed Amir Hassan who was running against a guy named, Thomas Smith. Smith, seemingly crushed by the endorsement, suspended his campaign a couple of weeks before the actual election. Much to his surprise though, and presumably Hassan's, Smith won the primary--one he had stopped campaigning for. Two days later, Trump backed Tennessee house incumbent, Andy Ogles lost his primary to the state's Agricultural Commissioner, Charlie Hatcher by over six points.

A couple of days ago in Minnesota things got worse for those who thought they had won the gold ticket. Donald Trump's boy and pillow impresario, Mike Lindell lost the republican gubernatorial primary to Lisa Demuth by 11 percentage points. Those points translated into 45,000 plus votes. 

Besides his manic TV ads hawking pillows, Lindell had become famous for insisting Trump had won the 2020 presidential election. This delusional fantasy has become such second nature to him; he immediately emulated his idol. On election night, as the totals rolled in, he began to babble about, "anomalies," in the voting. While not specifically identifying those anomalies--facts and proof are not part of this movie's script--his main complaint, well, besides that he was losing, appeared to center around pre-election polls. They had showed him as the favorite to win. It didn't matter the polls had been described as incomplete and conducted by sketchy organizations with little polling experience, by God, they showed he should have won.  

With 93% of the votes counted and him down by 11+% Mike Lindell still refuses to concede. Hey, Don never did, why should he? Let's face it, the only real difference between the two is that Trump claims everything, including the polls, are rigged, while Lindell says polls are more believable than actual results. Hell, you can almost hear him howling to the heavens, It's the damned voting machines I tell you! 

Whether Lindell wants to admit it, or not, there were other factors in play. Number one, Demuth is an experienced and well-known legislator and Lindell's only experience is in talking really loud and fast.  In addition, it certainly didn't help when just a couple of weeks before the election news hit that he wasn't even registered to vote in the state he was attempting to govern. His main problem, however had to be the fresh and painful memories of Stephen Miller's shock troops running amok all across the state. Donald Trump carried the ultimate responsibility for those masked gangs of ICE thugs gunning down citizens in the streets. Given the circumstances, a lot of Minnesotans simply aren't in the mood right now to buy what the President is selling, including the My Pillow guy.

In truth, it probably didn't matter who won the republican primary for governor. In November, Lisa Demuth will face sitting U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar in the general election. Klobuchar, who announced her intentions to run after Governor Tim Walz decided not to seek re-election, won the democratic primary with 89% of the vote. If her victory margin wasn't omen enough, the sheer number of her votes should be. More people cast their ballots for Amy Klobuchar alone than all three republican candidates received combined. In fact, the totals aren't even close. 

Yes, when Donald Trump pisses people off, they stay pissed. 

Does all this mean Trump has lost the Midas Touch when it comes to election influencing. Not completely. One of his picks recently won in Alabama. In Oklahoma, his choice for governor, Mike Mazzei feels like a good bet in the GOP runoff on August 25th. A Trump TV ad not only promotes Mazzei, but attacks his opponent, Oklahoma AG, Gentner Drummond, calling him a RINO, "Who will sell out Oklahoma to the radical left the first chance he gets." During the primary both men ran just about dead even, but Trump's name still carries wight around here. Especially when he scares the be-jeezus out of the rubes with that, "radical leftist," nonsense. 

Despite his still outsized presence, however, it does seem like some of the old man's magic has faded. In places, some of them unexpected, his endorsement is no longer the guarantee it once was. Indeed, it now appears republican candidates everywhere should keep in mind the old adage, "Be careful what you wish for." It is a warning well worth heeding, because voters have certainly taken another one to heart this election season. You can find it in the Bible. It reads, "Beware the wolf in sheep's clothing."   

8-13-26