{"id":1062,"date":"2020-07-31T13:15:19","date_gmt":"2020-07-31T13:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bikingwithmike.com\/?p=1062"},"modified":"2020-07-31T13:15:19","modified_gmt":"2020-07-31T13:15:19","slug":"july-31-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bikingwithmike.com\/?p=1062","title":{"rendered":"July 31, 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There is the ongoing Trump antics involving his \u2018love affair\u2019 with Russia.\u00a0 There is the dismal performance with respect to the coronavirus ravaging this country.\u00a0\u00a0 There is the sending of Federal troops to cities run by Democrats under the umbrella of \u2018law and order\u2019 but by some accounts are actually escalating the violence.\u00a0\u00a0 Trump is completely tone deaf with respect to the racial tensions in the country and continues to traffic in white supremacist dog whistles.\u00a0 And probably the biggest dog whistle of all \u2013 refusing to pay homage to a civil rights giant like John Lewis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A man truly worthy of the office of the president would be able to put aside any personal differences and recognize that John Lewis had a tremendous impact on this country.\u00a0\u00a0 Such a president would rise to the occasion and be able to pay homage to John Lewis \u2013 a tribute that he deserved; one that he earned.\u00a0 But Trump just cannot rise above himself.\u00a0 He cannot find the courage to get outside of his little comfort zone and recognize the contributions of anyone other than himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I suspect there were also a couple of other reasons.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure he was aware that Obama would be there and would give a moving eulogy, which he did.\u00a0 We all know how much Trump detests Obama so I\u2019m sure he didn\u2019t even want to be in the same room.\u00a0 He certainly would have been uncomfortable when Obama got a standing ovation for his eulogy.\u00a0 And there is no way that Trump would have been able to give a speech anywhere near as stirring.\u00a0 Trump is simply not an orator like some others.\u00a0 But that doesn\u2019t mean he gets a pass to just not show up.\u00a0 Like I said, Trump just cannot get outside of his comfort zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think the other and perhaps the more problematic reason that Trump didn\u2019t show up was because it wouldn\u2019t have played well to his \u2018base.\u2019\u00a0 Can you imagine how the primarily white Trump base would have reacted to seeing and hearing Donald J Trump paying homage to a civil rights icon like John Lewis.\u00a0 Not well I suspect.\u00a0\u00a0 Like I said earlier, Trump continues to traffic in racial dog whistles and this one was loud and clear.\u00a0 \u00a0There is no room in Trump\u2019s world for a civil rights giant like John Lewis.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was just another example of why Donald J Trump is unfit to be President of the UNITED States of America.\u00a0 He is only interested in governing part of the country \u2013 his base \u2013 and the rest of us can go to hell for all he cares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lastly, in one of my past blogs I think I speculated that Trump would try to postpone the election one way or another.\u00a0 That trial balloon took flight today as Trump tweeted that perhaps postponing the election would be a good thing.\u00a0 In some ways he is so chaotic but, in some ways, he is so predictable.\u00a0 In spite of the immediate pushback from both sides of the aisle, I would guess this is not the only time that Trump will raise this possibility.\u00a0 And he will certainly continue to try to undermine the credibility of the election results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He does not have the authority to move the election; that authority belongs to Congress.\u00a0\u00a0 Everyone keeps saying that he can\u2019t do it.\u00a0 However, I still think it\u2019s not outside the realm of possibility for Trump to declare a national emergency and then all bets are off.\u00a0 Even his Attorney General, William Barr, waffled when asked the question about postponing the election.\u00a0 Rather than just simply stating that the decision is not up to the president, he talked about the legalities and purporting to having the decision play out in the courts.\u00a0 This is both disgraceful and frightening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I saw an article in which some member of Congress just dismissed Trump\u2019s statement about postponing the election as ridiculous and that we should all just ignore it.\u00a0 I, personally, don\u2019t think we should just dismiss it.\u00a0 In some of my previous posts I pointed out that almost all authoritarian leaders were duly elected.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t start abusing their authority until AFTER they were in office.\u00a0\u00a0 Trump and his enablers are getting desperate.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Trump is trailing badly in the polls.\u00a0 There are strong challenges against Mitch McConnell and Lindsay Graham and several other Republican incumbents. \u00a0\u00a0I would put nothing past the Republican party to try to retain power in the White House and the Senate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a 100 percent probability that shortly before the election, at least \u00a0three things will happen \u2013 the information that Congressman Nunes has secretly received from questionable (associates of Rudy Guiliani) from the Ukraine will be blown up all over the press; the investigation by Congressman Ron Johnson into the Mueller probe will unleash derogatory information about the Mueller probe to discredit it; and the parallel investigation instituted by Attorney General Barr will publish their final report also discrediting the Mueller probe.\u00a0 \u00a0And to foot stomp the point about William Barr being in Trump\u2019s pocket, it is Department of Justice policy not to do anything controversial within 60 days of an election but, Barr has already stated that this particular investigation does not fall under that policy and will be released whenever it is available \u2013 which you can bet will be within 60 days of the election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyone who thinks that Trump\u2019s statement about postponing the election should just be dismissed as ridiculous, has not been paying attention.\u00a0 He has already done things that many thought no president could ever do. \u00a0And if he is reelected, as I have stated before, the guardrails will really come off and Pandora\u2019s box will be open.<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"