I’m not sure how to feel about this Iowa caucus snafu, other than to ask, once again — why the hell does Iowa have such an outsized influence on who gets to be president?
It looks bad on a few levels:
- Turnout was mediocre, which suggests enthusiasm is not where it should be.
- Iowa Democrats looked confused and incompetent, which could make it appear to casual observers that Democrats as a whole are confused and incompetent.
- With so much attention focused on the state, 1) and 2) take on added significance.
But, come on. It’s one night. In early November, how many people will be talking about this? Who will even remember it? And between now and then, Trump will have insulted a few combat veterans, mush-mouthed his way through numerous speeches, brazenly lied another 8,000 times or so about matters both momentous and trivial, suggested a few deceased people he never liked were awful wretches who are likely in hell, said something off-the-charts racist, mumbled his way through some administration policy he clearly doesn’t understand (this actually happens every day), and did about 50 horrible things no one here (or anywhere else, for that matter) could ever predict like, I don’t know, take a shit in a bucket during a town hall debate and start panning for gold with it. Not to mention we don’t know what the state of the economy will be in November after three more quarters of Trumpian mismanagement.
This reminds me of the freakouts you see in the NFL preseason when a team looks like dog shit during an August exhibition game. Fans are ready to jump off cliffs because their team’s first-string offense went three-and-out every time they had the ball. But no one ever remembers what happened in those games a month later.
This might suck for the winning candidates, who largely missed out on their moment, but it’s hardly anything to get torqued about.
I remain optimistic that the ocher abomination will be sent packing in November. I mean, his approval rating has been underwater for three solid years now. And 2018 showed that we have the energy and momentum, and that the blue wave will come crashing down on Republicans’ craven heads if we make it so. We just need to keep the faith and work our asses off for the next nine months.
Iowa Democrats may have screwed this up royally, but at least they know how to close an umbrella.
This is a speed bump. In Iowa. We’ll get past it.
Breathe.
Is Trump’s disgusting, tumescent blob of a head getting you down? Dear F*cking Lunatic: 101 Obscenely Rude Letters to Donald Trump by Aldous J. Pennyfarthing can help! Find it at Amazon, along with its sequels, Dear Pr*sident A**clown: 101 More Rude Letters to Donald Trump and Dear F*cking Moron: 101 More Letters to Donald Trump. Reviewers have called these books “hysterically funny,” “cathartic,” and “laugh-out-loud” comic relief.