The only people I’ve heard defend Bush vs. Trump have done so with shameless national chauvinism.

Reelecting Bush in 2004, knowing what we already knew about the Iraq War and torture, was a much more telling indictment of the U.S. electorate than Trump’s comeback.

If I recall correctly it was after that, and Trump was saying the should have been accompanied by a full troop withdrawal.

I haven’t seen the clip in 20 years, though. I just tried to find it and CNN has an excerpt from what may have been the same interview, but they only include the part where Trump is joking about his hair. Important archival journalism.

In 2004 or so Trump was on Larry King Live giving advice about the Iraq War. He said “Declare victory and have a parade.” Larry King said, “But we haven’t won!” He said, “Doesn’t matter. Declare victory, and have a parade.”

NYT:

The Harris campaign just shut off the sound on the TVs at her watch party and replaced it with music after a guest on CNN said tonight felt “more like 2016 than 2020.” The crowd has significantly thinned here and the mood feels seriously downcast.

That one’s winning 70-30.

I mentioned the Harris numbers because it seemed like the 14% sample might not be far off from what the final percentages would look like.

Ross Douthat has a theory! Kamala Harris will lose because she didn’t go on Joe Rogan!

Slavery is winning 57-43 in California so far…

(Proposition 6: End Involuntary Labor by the Incarcerated › This proposition would amend the state Constitution to remove a provision that lets prisons and jails force inmates to work.)

Minimum wage and rent control are also losing. Increasing prison sentences is winning big.

It’s early yet but if that’s what it’s like when Harris has 60% we’re in trouble.

Edit: At 35% reporting, slavery’s lead is down to 53-47.

“We’re just a center-right country, after all, what else can we say?” they’ll sigh, as they settle in for brunch.

There’s a particular kind of blame I dread - the kind coming from the average everyday Democrat whose political analysis absolutely refuses to go beyond “Third-party voters hate us for our freedoms.” It’s impossible to talk to those people and they’ve refused to listen or change or demand that the party change for 24 years now.

Uh. What if Trump wins by a large enough margin that they can’t blame the left, and instead blame themselves for not going far enough right?