Is it possible, scientists in the room, to both expand and contract at the same time? I am not a scientist, nor even science adjacent, although I do defer to science and medical professionals when making decisions regarding, say, vaccines, but I digress. The GOP field of presidential candidates keeps expanding, and – in my opinion – contracting as well. This is because while the field grows, the choices narrow: another relatively unknown billionaire throws his hat in, this one from North Dakota (a state whose population is lower than that of the Albany metro area), while the billionaire already in, whose name also escapes me, remains at something like one-percent support from likely primary voters in recent polls. Oh goodie – not. We do not need more billionaires in politics, literally in the halls of power, halls where they’re already so over-represented by ‘virtue’ of their ability to buy or provide over the top support to their chosen candidates, or to buy media, lobbyists and established politicians, directing policy decisions while the voices and needs of those of us who are the majority of the larger us, we regular ol’ non-billionaire U.S. citizens, get ignored or overridden.
It’s a little like the Saudis buying the PGA (or becoming partners? whatever), with that august organization whose commissioner said in 2022 that getting into business with the Saudis and LIV would be a betrayal of the 9/11 families, several of whom he was personally connected to. Oops. Money talks, and you all know what walks, which Mr. Monahan is clearly full of. How much money, how many cars and planes and resources does any individual need? As a proud Scot on my father’s side of the fam, whose great-great gramps built the first golf course in northern Sullivan County, I regretfully admit I find golf the slowest, most boring sport to watch, play, or contemplate. I’m also not a fan of golf courses located in deserts, or any other place where water is scarce, and those grassy greens can’t exist without huge expenditures of time and agua, a.k.a. water. Water, duckies, will, in twenty years or less, be our single most precious resource, and wasting it so that a few men can take a good walk spoiled is insane. Wait, did you say the Saudis, with their terrible record of repressing the lives, choices, and rights of women and girls, didn’t want to partner with the LPGA as well?!! Not a chance. Jay Monahan has two daughters; I wonder if they give a darn about this merger/partnership? I wonder if they’ll enjoy being cloistered and chauffeured around while visiting daddy and his new pals in Saudi Arabia? FEH.
But back to the GOP and their ever-growing number of POTUS candidates. Chris Christie expands any field, at least as far as average girth goes, and while I applaud his throwing a few truth bombs toward the Orange Menace and his grifter-laden family, he has zero chance of winning the primaries, nor should he, given he supported You-Know-Who up until the moment he almost died of Covid after YKW’s super-spreader event at the White House. Asa Hutchinson seems like a decent guy, for a regressive, and could maybe garner a few independent voters’ support, but Arkansas gubbner to POTUS is a once in a hundred-year roll of the die, and that roll was already taken, and won, Asa. Besides, the current GOP doesn’t do ‘nice guys’, which is why the second leading contender in the polls is the guy suing Disney, his state’s largest employer. Mickey will win that one in a no-brainer, which is another not-so-subtle swipe at anyone (looking at you, Ron) who is dumb enough to go after the creators of Dumbo. Plus, he has the personality of a battery-operated buzz saw. I cannot stand Orange Menace, but I have to admit at least he does have a certain humor to him, and charm, I guess – even if his brand of humor and charm leave me hypothermic-level cold.
Nikki Haley is a bad for women, and bad, period, and she also has zero chance in a party whose leader (and party base) is famously misogynistic, even for the V.P. job for which she – and her fellow South Carolinian Tim Scott – are clearly angling. Scott ain’t gonna happen either, as V.P., or anything else, but definitely not as V.P. because You-Know-Who is equally famous for not ‘cottoning’ to people who look like Scott.
Let’s see, who have I forgotten? Oh. Mike Pence. Now that’s funny. “Indiana wants me, Lord I can’t go back there!” Yes, you can, Mike. Yes you can.
*A photo of Tricky Dick jumping, from Philippe Halsman’s The Jump Book. I like to imagine Nixon is jumping because he’s no longer the worst GOP POTUS in U.S. history…