It's Friday, and that means it's time for the 3 things from this week that left, or are leaving me, thoroughly flummoxed.
Vivek's dynamite
And we start with this: how is Vivek Ramaswamy not surging in the Republican Party primary polls? I know that he is Hindu which runs afoul of many voters for whom allegiance to Christ is a non-negotiable. Still, didn't 2016 prove that Republican voters are fed up with traditional politicians and are desperate for something – for someone – who is a true outsider regardless of moral grounding?
Now, mind you, I don't necessarily agree that it is always prudent to pick someone with no experience being a government executive when it comes to electing a president. But if that's the course Republicans are charting for themselves, if they're truly looking to liberate themselves from those who are Democrats (Christie), those with ties to the establishment (DeSantis, Haley, Scott, Pence), as well as those with an unproductive obsession with spending four years doling out vengeful paybacks (Trump), why is Vivek not getting more traction?
I know it's early, but the man is everywhere and seems to be doing everything right. He's offered a spirited defense of his chief rival Trump, arguing that any Republican that doesn't vow to pardon him once in office is no friend of the conservative movement. At the same time, he has effectively refused to make his a candidacy focused on his opponents, but instead continues dropping truth bombs like this:
I'm not sure I agree with the tweeter that you'd never hear a message like that from former Vice President Pence. But I am quite confident he wouldn't deliver it in as passionate, and as believable of a way as this young entrepreneur.
Who's the real boss?
I have a natural aversion to conspiracy theories. I think the most obvious explanation is the most obvious for a reason. I understand that in this current moment that puts me at odds with a significant portion of the new right, but I don't see my personality adjusting any time soon. That said, those who want to pretend that any talk of a "deep state" is conspiracy nonsense, or is stuff of QAnon chat groups, simply denies reality.
The bloated bureaucratic state – actually, that's an impotent term to describe this morbidly obese, all-consuming Jabba the Hutt that pours over the waistline of D.C. – is a self-preserving monster that takes advantage of its shadowy nature to exert a frightening degree of unchecked power. And it does so even over those who they are constitutionally required to submit to.
Watch this clip from 2017 in light of what is occurring now, and tell me this is stuff of conspiracy theories:
Chuck Schumer is one of the "most powerful" figures in D.C. and has been for decades. Notice how evident he knows who is really in charge. Yikes.
Hannibal or Hannah?
Finally, let me preface this all by acknowledging that I don't ever expect coherence from the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU sold its "civil liberties" mission long ago in exchange for being yet another left-wing legal lobby group, which are a dime a dozen. So the fact that the group would tweet something contrary to common sense and good judgment is hardly surprising to me.
But imagine wanting to promote transgender "rights" – and by that you mean the "right" to have taxpayers pay for you to mutilate your sex organs in prison – and you went with this guy to make your sympathetic plea:
Make sure you notice the community notes there – this man stabbed a 14-year-old and then raped her corpse. But the ACLU wants us all to shed tears because he was denied the ability to waste our money on sex change surgery. What world are these people living in? Apparently one where they envision a remake of Silence of the Lambs where Jodie Foster goes to court so that Hannibal Lecter can become Hannah.
Those donating to the ACLU to keep it afloat would be much better off chucking their money into a meat pulverizer.
