If Trump happens to win—and who knows if such an occurrence would ever be treated as legitimate—is it out of the question that all hell would still break loose, just for different reasons?

For all the talk about him and Project 2025 paving the way for a second term, can’t we expect pushback from Trump detractors who remain in Congress, hopefully uncooperative law enforcement and military, along with what would seem the inevitable unrest in the streets and statehouses across the land?

If Trump wins, either legitimately by a narrow margin in the Electoral College or because he was able to pull off some Maduro-like sleight of hand, I have to believe that there would be great unhappiness in the land, unless the current energy generated by and support for the Harris-Walz ticket dissipates and collapses.

It seems that come November 5, if things remain as they are now, the race shouldn’t be close. How can anyone in their right mind look at the two tickets and draw the conclusion that it’s a toss-up? Light versus darkness, needs addressed versus needs ignored, level-headed leadership and reasonableness versus paranoid fear mongering, heavy-handed religion, and incompetence.

Anything that’s now being promised publicly by Trump and Vance most likely and categorically contradicts the substance and intent of Project 2025. And the powers that be within the Republican Party, one would think, won’t stand for any departure from that script.

Did Republicans honestly think that Project 2025 would just cruise under the radar? Do they not realize that a majority of voters are sick and tired of Trump and Vance and their insistence on peddling negativity and hate? That the polls still reveal a close race is almost beyond comprehension.

Where would the hope and pride be in a Trump-Vance White House? If it happens, then we stick our heads firmly between our legs and kiss our asses goodbye.

Or, we gird our loins and reassess the wisdom and usefulness of the Electoral College, and prepare to somehow heal the open wound left us after Appomattox and Lincoln’s assassination. And of course there are the ongoing assaults leveled by hostile governments and people like Putin and the rest.

Anyone who still thinks accelerated climate change isn’t happening should simply take a look at the temperature trends over the last few years, including this current summer season. And by the sound of it, Fall is just going to be more of the same.

The trend is warmer, so by next summer, who knows what we’re gonna get? It’s a safe bet it’ll be even hotter than this summer has been. The storms and the flooding will get angrier and more widespread, too, and we’ll just keep trying to adapt until we can’t adapt anymore.

When the temperature is 100 degrees and the relative humidity hovers close to that, the human body cannot cool itself. Sweating makes no difference. But the people sitting in their air-conditioned board rooms at Exxon-Mobil and BP and the rest apparently are unmoved. All they still see are dollar signs.

But ninety-seven percent of actively publishing climate scientists are unlikely to be wrong. So, what’s it gonna be, world? It’s not like we haven’t been warned.

And it’s not like we have all day.

The “Border Czar” trope. Another mirage, another steaming pile. A nothing burger cooked up by the dimly lit minds of Donald Trump and his handlers.

Why not, in their thinking, commandeer a bipartisan effort on border security and attendant details, stop it in its tracks, and appropriate it as a contrived campaign issue?

Republicans are spending millions trying to drive home this fabricated tale, and the sad part is that it’s having some effect because people keep seeing it on the TV and hearing about it from Trump and Vance and the rest. It’s a variation on the strategy that says to keep telling people they’re not seeing what they’re seeing, or hearing or feeling.

It’s Grade A deception, insidious, slimy and manipulative. In short, right up Trump’s alley.

Had an enlightening conversation last night, about Donald Trump, of course. We got to talking about scenarios and how Trump’s narcissism blinds and informs at the same time.

One thing I wrestle with is why Trump, at the age of 78, wants to continue to pursue POTUS. Why wouldn’t he just want to sail off into the sunset, spend his remaining years at Mar a Lago or try to build another golf course, or something? There are the obvious reasons—he’s a sore loser and wants to win, he’s power-hungry, he’s gotten himself into so much hot water that he’d prefer to stay out of jail, etc.

But what was driven home in last night’s back and forth is that he’s actually incapable of generating the self-talk that might convince him of choosing such a path. He can’t do it, because he’s broken, and broken from a young age.

Trump is a case study in what happens when a person misses out on nurture and attention and the formation of a healthy self-image at a critical developmental stage. He’s practically incapable of self-assessment and course correction. Which isn’t a reason to dismiss his behavior, or forgive it. It’s just that we’ve given permission to a monster, of sorts. And the jury’s out on what or who is going to stop him.   

The earth is a vast system of impersonal forces. In an anthropomorphic sense, it has its own best interests in mind. It is inherently uninterested in our human proclivities and short-sightedness, along with the lip service we pay to claiming some sort of symbiotic relationship. Rather, Earth by nature is destined to survive whatever assaults we unleash on its air and water and what we call natural resources. The only catch? Earth’s survival implies our demise.

No doubt, we’ve followed the biblical protocol and seemingly “subdued” the planet, but the biblical mandate to “be fruitful and multiply” is just a fact-starved story—neither divine permission nor blessing.

The planet will get the last word.

The Republican playbook is an appalling bit of underhandedness, reeking of desperation, a sad commentary on their own assessment of what they have to offer in the way of policy and governance.

They obviously don’t have a very high opinion of themselves, especially in Georgia, where instead of offering a vision for the future, a platform of rational ideas, they’ve instead been able to infiltrate the state Elections Board with a majority of MAGA disciples who have introduced multiple roadblocks intended to complicate the vote counting process– for the express purpose of casting doubt on the upcoming election results.

Turns out the Dems are pushing back in a big way, even calling on Republican Governor Kemp to step in and investigate and put a stop to this incursion into a process that has always been straightforward. Gov. Kemp appears receptive to doing just that.

The Republicans are a pathetic lot.

Well, not all of them. Gov. Kemp seems open to doing the right thing, as he hopefully follows through and pushes for the right of all Georgians to be able to vote with confidence.

The whole thing stinks of Donald Trump and his brand of “getting things done.” What a conniving weakling.

The leopard can’t change its spots. Trump can claim all sorts of things in the heat of the campaign, but hopefully people realize that any change of tune at this point would be in the service of getting votes, and not an indication that he’s had a change of heart on any particular issue. It’s all very much in keeping with his transactional nature, his propensity for making one-sided deals.

He’s already sold his soul to the devil and anyone else who compliments him. He’s putty in the hands of the Heritage Foundation and many others, a deceptively illiterate stooge who bludgeons his way through public appearances and the rare press conference. He can’t speak policy because others are speaking it for him, or feeding it to him. And besides—he doesn’t care, anyway.

His motives have always been highly suspect. He’s a thug wannabe, incapable of statesmanship. And he really wants to avoid criminal prosecution.

So, what the hell is he doing running for President? Now there’s a question that’s only been asked two or three billion times…

It’s difficult to comprehend the hubris. Or is it just desperation?

If I was just starting out and weighing whether or not to have children, I would give serious consideration to remaining a childless cat person—in part to spite JD Vance, but mostly because I’d have my doubts about the kind of world any child of mine would be inheriting.

Previous generations have carried on in a largely clueless manner when it comes to environmental and ecological considerations, which has contributed to the maelstrom of meteorological excesses that are no longer abnormal. And the way things are looking on multiple fronts in the battle of ideologies and religions, it’s only a matter of time before all hell breaks loose.

The U.S. and certain other NATO nations are making no bones about supplying Ukraine with weaponry. Ukraine is taking the battle into Russia, which besides being an insanely ballsy move, one would think is also not sitting well with Putin and his kettle of war hawks.

Israel attacked targets in Lebanon because they saw that Hezbollah might be preparing to attack. Sudan is a collapsing hell hole, China is engaging in saber rattling and bolstering its claims of support for Russia, with the help of North Korea in a supporting role. Taiwan must be wondering when the other shoe is going to drop. And who knows what Iran is up to?

And who knows what else will be flaring up?

Holy shit. Why would anyone want to bring children into all of this?   

The people who are criticizing Nancy Pelosi for pressuring Joe Biden to step aside need to find something else to turn into an issue. The stakes were high, and who knows how it actually played out?

Besides, the naysayers and bad-mouthers are probably employees of Fox News and OAN and Newsmax who are looking for ways to make Pelosi look like a grim reaper and have an excuse to use the word “coup.”

For everyone else, it’s just another contrived topic that makes someone look like they know how to fill air time with pseudo probing questions. News people, of all people, should know that politics isn’t for the faint of heart.

If the race is close, it will only be because people believed the lies and were too quick to apply labels. The Dems aren’t communists or baby killers, or weak. I’ll concede that they might favor some left-leaning social programs, but what’s wrong with helping people– helping them through tough times, helping them get on their feet, or providing a baseline of health care, or a bit of a financial safety net after retirement (it’s their money!)? The bootstraps mentality is overly romanticized.

Yes, people will take advantage of the system, but these aren’t the norm. Republican voters make assumptions, they embrace the mad ramblings of an extremely damaged and unhappy man, and they get their information from a highly biased “news” organization. They make rash generalizations, and buy into the fear-mongering.

They appear perfectly OK with calling the shots when it comes to bodily autonomy and deciding whether or not to carry a pregnancy to term—because the Bible tells them what to think. They must like the prospect of wielding that power, as ill-gotten and ill-conceived as that is.

If this race is close, well, it shouldn’t be close. At all. How is it possible to look at or listen to Donald Trump and the host of others clamoring for attention without wondering why they’re so angry? They’ve had years to convince Americans of a viable plan, to construct a platform, and the best they can do is leave it to the Heritage Foundation to come up with something that favors the white plantation owners and crumbles the bedrock we’ve been standing on since the late 18^th century.

May the momentum from the DNC be sustained, and, come November, the voices of reason and compassion and a certain idealism take the country back—if this is the language people prefer to use when considering the stakes.