Et tu, Brute?

The long knives come out for the king

I’m going to break two of my Substack rules. I’m going to say something about politics and I’m going to post something after I’ve been drinking.

I’ve been drinking because I was playing the Matt Taibbi/Walter Kirn presidential debate drinking game. It went downhill after Matt added “take a drink if Joe says ‘The Idea’….” I’m three Dark ‘n Stormys in and it might get worse before I’m done.

I’m going to talk politics because I am deeply sad and angry on behalf of my Democrat friends tonight.

I’m firmly outside the Team Red/Team Blue divide. I haven’t voted for a national candidate who won since 1976. I get castigated every four years because I won’t admit that I’m “throwing away a vote” when I cast for a third party or write in some random name because I’m disgusted with both the major party choices I’ve been handed.

What we saw tonight on CNN was a planned assassination. The same commentators who have been waving off Joe Biden’s obvious and well documented cognitive decline as ”Republicans pounce”, “Cheap fake/deep fake” and “We all know he’s struggled with a stammer” just simultaneously executed a heel turn to “This man cannot possibly run, the party has to step in, something has to be done…” Every single one of these vultures knew this was the case nine months ago. Yet they blocked challengers, they wouldn’t hold honest primaries, and they cock-blocked RFK Jr until he was forced to mount an independent run.

They did this because they don’t want you, the Democrat voter, to have a say in who your nominee is. Even though I’m pretty sure the candidate who would survive an honest Democrat primary season is someone I wouldn’t vote for, it’s an abdication of every principle of popular governance that this choice has been stolen from you. I don’t know what to do about any of this (other than keep drinking) but just know that even if I would hate the candidate you prefer, I really do believe you should be allowed that choice.