Friday Insights-September 20, 2024
A more disciplined Trump may be emerging.
I watched the video of Donald Trump’s Uniondale, New York rally yesterday. One might ask why. I’m no masochist, but realized I needed to quit reading about Trump and see for myself whether his decline is a serious as claimed by MSNBC and other “hater” media that Trump calls fake. After watching short excerpts of Trump’s outing in Flint, Michigan, I watched the Uniondale event.
What I saw of the Flint rally was encouraging, especially if you are anxious for Trump to retire. He denied climate change, noting that it formerly was called “Global Warming.” He also joked (I think) that climate change was good because it increased seashore real estimate. He was confused about Bagram Air Base, placing it in Alaska rather than in Afghanistan, and he spent considerable time rehashing the 2020 election.
There was a sharp contrast between the snippets I watched of Flint and the full event of Uniondale. In Uniondale, Trump made multiple cringe-worthy claims, including confidence that he would win New York in November, but his attacks on the Justice Department and “election fraud” were limited. He seemed to stay on script, with a couple of exceptions.
I encourage anyone interested to watch the full Uniondale video and judge for themselves, but after watching the tape, I concluded that notwithstanding what I have been hearing and reading, Trump may be listening to his advisors and starting to focus on issues rather than grievances.
In Uniondale, Trump repeatedly addressed his top two issues, immigration and crime. He has merged the two issues into one, “migrant crime.” His message is that if you seal the border and deport the migrants already in the U.S., crime will disappear. The crowd was receptive to this overtly racist message.
I will watch Trump next week, but the 2024 election is not over if I am right. Kamala Harris, who continues to struggle to articulate her vision for America’s future, will not win the 2024 election by default. I no longer believe that Trump is self-destructing or, better said, will not self-destruct and hand Harris the election on a gold platter.
Harris and her supporters need to get busy. They need to “do something” quickly.
Device explosions in Lebanon.
A new chapter in the history of warfare was written in Lebanon this week in the form of exploding pagers and walkie-talkies. The attack was directed at Hezbollah by Israel and was effective. Hundreds of Hezbollah officials were wounded, and more than a dozen were killed. More importantly, the ability of Hezbollah officials to communicate safely with each other is gone.
Israel has followed up the device explosions with airstrikes. Hezbollah says the attack amounts to a declaration of war.
The war in the Middle East continues to expand—bad news for the United States, which is effectively a combatant through its support for Israel.
As an aside, at his Uniondale, New York, rally, Donald Trump told attendees if Harris were elected, Israel would be obliterated. He has repeated this claim in other forums targeting Jewish voters.
An explosion of a different type in North Carolina.
North Carolina Republican Lt. Governor and gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson is in deep trouble. Credible reports have surfaced indicating that he posted antigay and other highly offensive messages on a pornography message board between 2008 and 2012. In one alleged message, he describes himself as a “Black NAZI.”
Robinson vows to remain in the race, but if the allegations are true, he is toast. The scandal could cost Trump, who enthusiastically endorsed Robinson, the state.
Stay tuned. This story will become more damaging as election day nears.
Fed rate cut.
The Federal Reserve cut the federal-funds rate by half a percent this week. The cut, larger than the quarter point expected by many, should help the Harris campaign. The size of the cut decreases any possibility, already small, of a material economic slowdown before election day.
The economy was a potent issue for Trump. With the stock market booming (for now), he will be less able to claim the economy is a disaster. That is why we heard more in Uniondale about “migrant crime” than high prices.
By the way, Trump called for a temporary cap on credit card interest rates at 10 percent during his New York rally. I had not read about that previously. I wonder what Jamie Dimon thinks about that . . .
That is it for today. Thank you for reading Friday Insights. And a special thank you for this week’s new subscribers. I hope I meet your expectations.
I will be back on Sunday. See you then.
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