A happy All Saints Day to all my readers, even those too Protestant or secular to commemorate this holy day.
Trust that I completely understand them. All Saints Day was hardly on my radar until I became interested in Anglicanism. The holy day soon became to me a delightful aspect of the Anglican patrimony. Yes, I know it long predates Henry VIII, but I’ve not the time to argue through all that at the moment.
In fact I’ve hardly had the time and energy to write much at all lately, and for the that I apologize. I’ve been on a big road trip to attend the Perseus Conference and to visit family. I am thankful for the trip, especially for God’s protection and providence, but it may have been too big a road trip in hindsight. It took a lot out of me, and I became mildly sick. I’m doing better now, but still recovering.
May I make it up to you on Election Night? What I think I will do is comment on my substack notes and on X as long as I can stay up and endure. And since I will need beer for this ordeal, it may become slightly drunk-tweeting. Yes, great fun. And my knowledge of elections and politics is well above average, so I hope you find it value-added.
And now a few hot takes about the on (on and on and on) ongoing election.
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Love or hate Trump, his campaign has been amazing. Has any campaign in our lifetimes had so many iconic moments? The mug shot that Trump turned into a rousing “Never Surrender” icon….
…the raised fist and bloodied face with the flag flying in the background….
…McDonald’s, the garbage truck — Trump has created iconic American moments like no other.
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I know what you might be wondering. “So who do you think will win, Mark?” I think it looks good for Trump and for other Republicans. I say that mainly looking at changes in registration, the early voting stats and at polls that are not tilted toward either party. I agree with Seth Keshel: “a Trump victory is highly likely if and only if our elections are run with a modicum of security and voter confidence in the process.”
But I do not put anything past the Democrats. If they think they can steal this election and get away with it, they will do their worst. Already there are — well I would call them shenanagans but they are really crimes or should be crimes. Biden-Harris’ Department of Justice suing to keep non-citizens on the voter rolls, Democrats posing as election officials and turning people away from the election lines, all sorts of crap in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and too much more already.
On the other hand, Republicans are more prepared for such rigging as they are already demonstrating. And with Trump doing much better in this campaign than in 2020, a rigged Harris victory would be harder to sell. I will venture to say it is possible that the Democrat powers-that-be late on Election Night decide that even if they could steal the election, it would not be credible and not worth the fall out. Better to let Trump back in and undermine him. Yes, that’s an unusual take, I know.
Look, don’t get overconfident. Get out and vote for Trump and allied Republicans. We have to make this election “too big to rig”. And really we need a landslide (or two or three) to teach the Democrats a lesson and to make needed nationwide election reforms possible.
And is it too much to desire that Democrats reform after some electoral punishment? I really want to go back to having two mixed major parties we can live with. But maybe that’s a pipe dream.
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Ever notice how some Democrat politicians pose as “independent”? Right now there are four “independent” U. S. senators. All four caucus with the Democrats and vote accordingly most of the time. The two that are more moderate, Sinema and Manchin, are retiring.
Well, there is another fake independent running for Senate in Nebraska. Dan Osborn is playing that bait and switch. And, oh look, he is backed by money from Soros and Reid Hoffman. Why am I not surprised.
Don’t be fooled, Nebraska. I don’t know a lot about the Republican Senator, Deb Fischer. But she isn’t a Soros fake like Osborn.
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I better stop as I have too much to catch up on after my trip. That is one problem with long road trips. You spend so much time and energy driving, it makes you fall behind on everything else.
Oh, well. Ignore my First World problems and have an excellent All Saints Day.
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the image of Trump waving from the McDonald’s drive-through window is courtesy of Rod Dreher.
We shall attend our first All Saints service tonight. BTW I have been praying the Great Litany. I will keep praying it. I think you mentioned it here a while back.