Dang! I missed it!

I had to pet my cat.

 

74 million checked put Trump's interview with Tucker. I wonder how many bothered with the debate?

 

Hunh. Nielsen says 73 million tuned in to the debate just 10 million behind the Trump Clinton debate. That's interesting. I wonder if it means the GOP is more open to rejecting Trump than I'd thought.

 

Perhaps the unease is growing.

 

Vivek seemed completely focused on securing the VP spot under Trump. Others also seemed to likely fit into that category, Vivek just seemed the most obvious to me. Niki and Chris Christie seemed the most sane. Pence also seemed pretty sane but I can't stomach his abortion rights or LGBTQ+ outspoken positions.

Does it say more about me or the GOP that the most complimentary I can get is saying that some appeared sane? Probably both.

 

I didn’t watch either one. I had to catch up on General Hospital and then do some homework. Much more interesting than watching those train wrecks.

 

We watched the GOP debate. It had it moments.
As mentioned before Pence/Haley would be my choice.

 

The only Republican I can tolerate is Chris Christie. He seems to be the only one that won’t give in to the Trump cult.

 

The papers this morning revised viewership to a more believable 12 million. These things are very hard to measure. Anyway, fivethirtyeight.com shows before and after polls for everyone but Trump improving while he slipped significantly. Growing unease?

 

Christie has pretty much 0% chance to get elected, and comes with tons and tons of baggage. Pass.
The only active Republican that is actually "reasonable" (can be reasoned and bargained with) is a Democrat: Manchin. The whole of the institutional GOP is a lost cause.

 

I really prefer to vote based on candidates’ actual qualifications but I can’t seem to do that anymore. As long as Trump has influence over the GOP, I have to vote straight democrats. In some cases, I do like the Democratic nominee better, but prior to 2016, I’d vote more on the individual than the party. Now, thanks to the lunacy that has taken over on the Right…. I just can’t. The reason Christie is tolerable is because it seems clear that he’s not influenced by Trump at all. I haven’t really been watching other candidates but if any of them are 100% calling Trump out on his crap, they’d be tolerable too.

Currently, I like our Republican Governor, and I’d probably vote to re-elect him. But thanks to the Trump train, I don’t think I will.

 

The more local the office the more likely I am to consider voting based on the candidate rather than the party. Right now, we have enough MAGA nutcasery in New Mexico that I would not feel comfortable voting GOP for statewide or national office. That's a shame, too, because I am deeply not thrilled by some of our Democratic elected officials.

At the County and municipal level I can get to know more about any candidate.

 

Right now I'm speculating on what a general election sans DJT might look like.

 

I just hope whatever happens, GOP nominee loses. Pox on all their houses.

 

I get it but at some point during the GOP primary one of the candidates will have to make the Rubicon argument, to wit: "A primary vote for Trump is a general election vote for Biden."

That statement is essentially true but grasping the truth of it requires admitting that the 2020 election was not stolen and that Biden won. Trump has made that realization very difficult.

 

Was it more that Sinema was pushed or that she chose to walk? (By the way, with five degrees one an online MBA and online adjunct experience, she may be the most DegreeInfo type person in US politics.)