opinions – Page 3 – Michael Seidel, writer

I’d seen the non-answer and privately mocked it.

I’m addressing the Veep debate of 2024. In this corner, JD Vance, acknowledged purveyor of lies. In the other, a schoolteacher, Minnesota governor Tim Walz.

The non-answer was how JD Vance bobbed and weaved around the last election and Trump’s efforts to deny he’d lost and game the system to convince others that it’d been stolen. Ol’ orange skin has a thin skin. Anyone and everyone seeing him react to criticism knows he responds with vigorous childish antics. Admitting he’d lost the election was above his skillset, so he’s been conjuring an alternate reality ever since a record 80,000,000 voters told him to get lost. He just can’t take that reality.

The way Vance spoke, Trump didn’t do anything to impede a peaceful transfer of power.

Let the NY Times state it:

Mr. Walz had a question for his counterpart.

“He is still saying he didn’t lose the election,” Mr. Walz said of Mr. Trump, turning grandly to Mr. Vance. “Did he lose the 2020 election?”

“Tim,” Mr. Vance replied, “I’m focused on the future.”

Tim Walz reacted to that.

“That,” Mr. Walz said, “is a damning non-answer.”

There was a reason, he added, that Mr. Pence was not on the stage as Mr. Trump’s running mate anymore.

And it was worth asking, he said, what that could tell viewers about Mr. Vance.

“America, I think you’ve got a really clear choice,” Mr. Walz said, his eyes getting bigger, “of who’s going to honor that democracy and who’s going to honor Donald Trump.”

Just ’bout summed it up for me. Vance won’t admit the truth. Anyone ignoring reality and history won’t learn from either. That’s a person I don’t want in any leadership position.

But reading the NYTimes comments always delivers a surprise. Like expecting a birthday cake and opening the box to find a turd. Here’s one, two, and three of those comments about the non-answer.

JD Vance made some interesting points about January 6. He basically distanced himself away from the event. Of course, Walz, needs to associate Vance with January 6 and rightfully so, because the Vice President has an important role to play: they count the electoral votes. If the Vice President does NOT count the electoral votes, there cannot be a new president. Another thing, Donald Trump had to leave office on January 20 because of Mike Pence’s refusal of Donald Trump’s command not to certify the election. If Vance were VP that day, I think he wouldn’t count the electoral votes and Trump would have an excuse to stay in power. Of course, there would be the threat of impeachment, but based on how the last trial went, I’m not sure if that process works.

A plastic statement to be sure, but generally makes sense. Next.

Mr Vance was absolutely correct in his response to what took place on Jan 6. The protest at the Capitol was initiated and instigated by Democratic operatives and FBI plants and informants. The legacy media glosses over these facts in a desperate effort to convince America that the attempts by President Trump and his supporters to get to the truth about election interference prior to certification and the instigation of events at the Capitol were some nefarious plot by President Trump. No they were not and the election results and the true instigators of Jan 6 still need to be investigated and exposed. One of the biggest fears the left has is that his reelection will result in these truths being exposed. The left well knows that President Trump isn’t a threat to democracy but a threat to their hold on the levers of our governments power.

Well, someone is certainly drinking the Qanon tuna juice. They get their info from where? Delusions are deep in this one. They ignore all evidence and the facts of what happened and just 3D print some new reality.

And comment #3.

Tim Walz came across as a nice guy, good neighbor, but not VP material much less POTUS in the event he has to step up to the plate. Harris made a profound mistake by picking Walz when she had the opportunity to choose either Josh Shapiro or Mark Kelly. I am not voting for Harris and I am not voting for Trump but had Harris picked Shapiro or Kelly as VP, I would definitely have reconsidered voting for her in November.

Basically, in their opinion, ‘Harris made a mistake in Walz so she’s not good enough for my vote cause Walz isn’t good enough to Veep.’

Everyone heard the same words and saw the same scenes. But the baggage we carry always drives our perceptions. And if Trump wins, and it all turns to shit so many like me and others gag on as a possibility, that third commenter will proclaim, “Well, it’s not my fault. I didn’t vote for either of them.”

Yeah, Vance’s performance didn’t change me. I didn’t come up with shivers from his wisdom or oratory prowess. I saw none of the first and little of the second.

With all I’ve seen of Trump and Harris, I’m still voting blue. Not only do I share my values and hopes for the nation with her, but with him, I believe he and ‘his supporters’ would continue shredding the Constitution and moving us backward.

Guess that’s my baggage.

We had a head in a jar. Dream knowledge told me it was a clay jar yet it was sufficiently clear to see the head inside. Not completely clear, but filmy and gauzy, as though petroleum jelly was smeared over it.

The head was in a cloudy pale-green liquid, and was male, white, and venerated. Now, on a pedestal, in the middle of scrubland, one other man and I had it. The other man was tall, spare, and mostly silent. Older, but I couldn’t give an age. He seemed to lack interest in the head jar.

I, though, tried singing to it. I thought that if we sang to it, it would sing back. Though the head’s eyes would look at me, and it would blink, it wouldn’t sing back. The other man wouldn’t sing either. That didn’t affect my mood. I remained optimistic and energetic. I then started prattling other ideas to him about the head in the jar. Maybe we should take it to a market and sell it. We could get good money for it. Or we can set it up in a square and I’ll ask others to sing with me to see if we could get the head to sing. I spoke to the head, asking it, what do you want us to do?

A hunter, armed with a compound bow and arrows, dressed in woodland camouflage vest, hat, and pants, came along. I quietly watched him. He saw the head in a jar on a pedestal, but went on, looking for animals to shoot.

The army came along, as expected. This was an army of the people. They walked, but didn’t march, in orderly rank and file. Most wore ragged clothing. All ages, races, and sexes were in it. My older, silent friend and I joined them, and the head in the jar was given to someone to carry. I was leading one large group, but in an unofficial capacity. On a road, we were supposed to keep up with the other groups but were going too slowly. Impatiently, I urged them, “Come on, we must keep up.” We’d been warned not to get separated because that would leave us exposed and vulnerable to attack. I saw the group ahead pulling away. I walked faster, thinking that my example might prod the group to walk faster. No; they instead dawdled and began chatting about trivial ideas. Exasperation building, I walked faster, becoming separated from both groups. But being in the middle, I could see them both and thought, if something were to happen to one group, I could turn to the other group to help.

We came to broad creek running low in a sandy, rocky basin. As I went to the water to drink, my group caught up to me. One said, “We know that women like you.” As I laughed at them, he continued, “We’ve all seen the way they react to you.”

End of dream.