This column was posted earlier today in Santa Barbara Current.
“Moscow had high hopes for Trump in 2016. It's more cautious this time” (BBC)
Piece of advice for you - never buy a huge amount of champagne unless you’re absolutely certain it’s worth celebrating.
In Moscow, expectations were high that Trump would scrap sanctions against Russia; perhaps, even, recognise the Crimean Peninsula, annexed from Ukraine, as part of Russia.
“The value of Trump was that he never preached on human rights in Russia,” explains Konstantin Remchukov, the owner and editor-in-chief of newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta.
It didn’t take long for all that fizz to go flat.
“Trump introduced the heaviest sanctions against Russia at that time,” recalls Remchukov.
“By the end of his term, a lot of people were disappointed in his presidency."
The corporate mainstream media would have you believe that Donald Trump is Mad Vlad Putin’s stooge.
Nothing could be further from the truth, despite such bunkum coming from folks with an “intelligence” background.
Putin has learned he cannot predict a Trump reaction as easily as he can predict an institutional Washington reaction—and it is the former that gives him pause.
“Who does China's president want to win the U.S. election?” (NBC News)
Ditto China.
Behind the scenes, Chinese officials might have a slight preference for Harris.
“We already had four years of experience with Donald Trump, and Donald Trump is a very unique character. He’s not a normal politician. He’s not even a normal businessman, he’s highly unpredictable. said Jia, a political adviser to the Chinese government.
In other words, Trump scares the crap out of them.
“Kim Jong Un wants Trump back, elite defector tells BBC” (BBC)
He says that North Korea still views Mr. Trump as someone it can negotiate with over its nuclear weapons program.
Let’s face reality: North Korea will never give up its nukes. You just need to keep talking them down from wanting to align with Russia or China and be used by either as a nuclear proxy.
“Who will win the US election? Our experts agree Trump is gaining ground” (The Telegraph)
Three of four experts forecasting for The Telegraph believe Trump will win.
And…
“Trump is going to win election, says America’s top analyst” (The Telegraph)
Nate Silver has forecast the outcome of most US elections over the past decade and a half and is one of the only polling experts to have predicted Trump’s victory in 2016.
“Donald Trump's Chances Soar in Top Election Forecast” Newsweek)
The median projection for Trump is 276 electoral votes to Harris' 262.
Just breaking…
“Donald Trump Takes Shock Lead Over Kamala Harris in New Hampshire Poll” (Newsweek)
The latest New Hampshire Journal/Praecones Analytica poll released Sunday night gave the former president 50.2 percent of the vote.
Meantime, Quantus Insights’ polling forecasts this outcome:
“US news media endorsements for 2024 presidential race” (Hindustan Times)
Out of the 80 endorsements for the Democratic nominee, a few of the notable ones include Winston-Salem Chronicle, New York Times, Boston Globe, The New Yorker, Denver Post, The Las Vegas Sun, Los Angeles Sentinel, Seattle Times, The Star-Ledger, Tennessee Tribune, Scientific American, and San Antonio Express.
Media endorsements for Trump include New York Post, The Washington Times, and Las Vegas Review-Journal.
“Jeff Bezos vetoed Washington Post plan to endorse Kamala Harris” (The Telegraph)
Causes uproar among newspaper’s staff and senior resignation.
It is called hedging your bets.
And underscores why billionaires with a variety of business interests should not purchase trophy newspapers. (Rooting for the candidate that loses might be bad for their biz.)
“Liz Cheney Cancels Washington Post Subscription After Outlet Won’t Endorse Presidential Candidate” (The Hollywood Reporter)
Liz Cheney is angry.
Sadly, so are too many politicians.
Politics is a very dirty business. By the time a person gets elected to political office, the mud slung at him or her makes that person angry.
“If you become angry,” wrote Epictetus, “you not only perform evil but you also develop an evil habit, and you increase your potential for further evil.”
This appears to explain the history of the world,
“Michael Keaton tells fans Trump, Musk 'don't really respect you' and 'think you're stupid'“ (USA Today)
I think it’s the other way round, Michael (who also appears angry in his video diatribe).
Like much of Hollyweird, this thespian is stuck on the fantasy side of the looking glass, akin to the character he plays in Beetlejuice.
“Bruce Springsteen’s Absolute Betrayal” (National Review)
Celebrity support for Harris isn’t surprising given the era’s unignorable class divide. The shock is Springsteen repeating DNC talking points: He parroted Obama’s sneaky assessment of Joe Biden’s presidency as “consequential” when announcing, “We are shortly coming upon one of the most consequential elections in our nation’s history.” Then he checklists “the Constitution,” “peaceful transfer of power,” and “disqualify,” as if ventriloquizing Harris, Biden, and Liz Cheney.
Springsteen’s video horribly contradicts “the vision of America” he says he’s “been consistently writing about for 55 years.”
His growly-voiced, plaid-shirted “sincerity” — filmed in a diner like the final scene from the New Jersey-set The Sopranos — resembles Kamala’s grinning Alpha Kappa Alpha black-sorority-girl bonhomie.
Maybe The Boss didn’t notice (because he doesn’t need to) that prices at the workingman’s diner where he poses (as a workingman) have doubled.
“Shocking viral video shows Kamala Harris supporter screaming in little girl’s face outside Houston rally with Beyoncé” (NY Post)
Just another “woke” progressive doing her duty as a dunderhead.
“How progressive politics turned Kamala Harris’s birthplace into a post-apocalyptic nightmare” (The Telegraph)
Hard-Left causes such as ‘defund the police’ which the VP once flirted with have brought crime, drugs and violence to Oakland.
Ask yourself one simple question: Do you want the rest of the country to become like Oakland?
And meanwhile…
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
North Korea is already aligned with Russia. Feeding the meat-grinder, trying to recover the Russian Oblast now occupied by Ukraine. Putin's Folly is a military embarrassment.
Wonder if Musk's businesses will suffer if the winds blow against him next week.
He took a $44B gamble to have access to what is now a $10B megaphone. Talk about a class divide.