THURSDAY: Candidate Turek on The Last Word!

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2026

In search of an emergence: "I'm a scrappy kid from Youngstown," Candidate Acton has said. We Blue Americans could surely gain from the emergence of some scrappy new blood. 

Senator Ossoff has emerged as a master of punishing but reasonable rhetoric. On Tuesday night, Candidate Turek went on The Last Word to offer a version of his closing campaign pitch.   

Josh Turek is the Democratic nominee for the Iowa Senate seat from which Senator Ernst is retiring. It would be a Democratic Party pick-up, but Iowa has seemed to be quite Red of late.

At present, the Iowa race seems to be roughly even. Here's a bit of the leading authority's overview:   

Josh Turek

Joshua Peter Turek (born April 12, 1979) is an American politician and wheelchair basketball player serving as a member of the Iowa House of Representatives from the 20th district. He is the Democratic nominee in the 2026 United States Senate election in Iowa.

Born in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Turek played wheelchair basketball for Southwest Minnesota State University and professionally in Europe and competed with the United States men's national wheelchair basketball team, winning gold medals at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Paralympics.

Turek was elected to the Iowa House of Representatives in 2022 and reelected in 2024. He has been described as a moderate and a prairie populist.

[...]

Born with spina bifida, Turek underwent multiple surgeries as a child to improve mobility and has used a wheelchair since childhood. He has linked his spinal condition to his father's exposure to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War.  

We Blues could possibly learn a few things from a good solid "prairie populist." Here's part of what the candidate said when he appeared with O'Donnell:

CANDIDATE TUREK (10/27/26): My political North Star is actually a quote from Franklin Delano Roosevelt where he said, "The test of our progress as a society is not whether we add more to those with  abundance, but whether we have enough for those with least." 

And I can tell you, I grew up with a lot of economic struggle. In my family, come from a working-class family, working-class community.  We went to the Goodwill for clothes, we shared clothes, had the wrong color lunch tickets. I know what it's like to worry about missing a meal. 

Also born with my disability, 21 surgeries by the age of 12. I say that most people in that circumstance, it breaks them. but the ones that come through that have a mental strength that can't be broken.

[...]

I think we have a lot of people that go to D.C. from wealth and privilege We don't have a whole lot of people that came from a place like Council Bluffs, Iowa with lived economic and health care experience—struggle.  

When you've experienced that struggle yourself, you'll have a different level of empathy, a different level of compassion, a different level of understanding, and a different level of fight. That's what we're missing right now in D.C., fighters for the working class, for the everyday Iowans, not just billionaires and large corporations.  

Turek seems to be finishing his campaign with fairly conventional Democratic Party rhetoric, tied to a stress on personal background and personal character.

People, we're just saying! We're hoping that Turek wins this seat, helping Dems take the Senate.

EMERGENCE: Spirits are using us as Tuesday nears!

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2026

Voices of outreach emerge: "Spirits are using me," Stephen Stills wrote. "Larger voices calling."   

In the famous song in question, Stills was discussing a marriage which failed. That isn't exactly this—what we're all dealing with now. 

Stills wasn't discussing this. But just for the record, here's part of the leading synopsis—and a key word is lurking here:

Southern Cross (Crosby, Stills and Nash song)   

"Southern Cross" is a song written by Stephen Stills, Rick Curtis, and Michael Curtis and performed by the rock band Crosby, Stills & Nash. It was featured on the band's Daylight Again album and was released as a single in September 1982. With a theme concerning the healing power of sailing amongst the natural world, it was a hit for the group and has received classic rock airplay in the decades since.

[...]   

Stills explained, "The Curtis Brothers brought a wonderful song called 'Seven League Boots', but it drifted around too much. I rewrote a new set of words and added a different chorus, a story about a long boat trip I took after my divorce. It's about using the power of the universe to heal your wounds. Once again, I was given somebody's gem and cut and polished it."  

Spirits were using him, Stephen Stills wrote, as he was trying to heal.  

We focused on the concept of healing a few weeks back. To our reckoning, spirits are floating around in the news as next week's elections draw near.   

This nation has a desperate need—a need to find a way to heal. Various spirits are lurking about as an ancient battle is fought. Let's start with the fury of Senator Bernie Moreno, (R-Ohio).  

Yesterday, Moreno spoke at a Republican rally in Chillicothe, Ohio. As reported by Mediaite, with videotape provided, some very familiar spirits seemed to be speaking through Moreno:  

[Moreno] Says Non-Christians Are Unfit for Senate: ‘Should Be Nowhere Near Washington’   

Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) said on Wednesday night that anyone who does not believe that Jesus died for their salvation is unfit to serve in the Senate and “should be nowhere near Washington.”

Moreno spoke at a rally in Chillicothe, Ohio, where he was joined by President Donald Trump and Sen. Jon Husted, who is in a close race against former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown.

During his remarks, Moreno turned his attention to Michigan, where Democrat Abdul El-Sayed is in a similarly tight contest with former Rep. Mike Rogers. If El-Sayed wins, he would be the first Muslim to serve in the U.S. Senate.   

“On Monday, I went up and campaigned with Mike Rogers because he’s in a race with somebody that just is an affront to me as an American,” Moreno said. “By the way, an affront to me as a naturalized citizen to this country.”

Did Moreno really say what Mediaite says he said? Did he really say that you're unfit to serve in the Senate unless you believe that Jesus died for your salvation?

It's hard to believe that he could have said that. But here are a few more of Moreno's peculiar remarks:

“This character, Abdul El-Sayed, can be nowhere near Washington, D.C.,” he continued before saying non-Christians have no business in the Senate. “Do you think he understands that concept? That our rights come from God Almighty? That Jesus came here for our salvation? He should be nowhere near Washington, D.C. And Mike Rogers is gonna kick his ass on Tuesday.”

Astonishing! On balance, we aren't fans of the prickly way Candidate El-Sayed has conducted his Senate race. At times, it has seemed to us, perhaps incorrectly, that his prickly ways might be costing him the Michigan Senate seat.

That said, does a person have to believe "that Jesus came here for our salvation" to be allowed to serve in the Senate? An ancient part of the war of the (human) world was playing out in those astounding prehistoric remarks. 

Ancient spirits of tribal conflict were in the air yesterday—and it isn't just Senator Moreno who has brought that prehistoric impulse to the ongoing campaign. In this report, USA Today describes intemperate remarks by the furious Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas):   

GOP makes Islamophobic attacks against El-Sayed in Michigan Senate race   

Republicans are ramping up Islamophobic attacks against Democratic Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, using recent campaign trail appearances to claim he would be a threat to American security if elected. 

At an Oct. 28 event near Detroit, Sen. Ted Cruz called El-Sayed a "jihadist leprechaun" and said he believed El-Sayed was a "passionate supporter" of the Muslim Brotherhood, a group the Democrat has disavowed. The Texas Republican said that if El-Sayed wins and is put on the Senate Intelligence Committee, there is a risk that "Americans will die as a result."

Cruz said he believed the Democratic candidate could use the panel to help terrorists avoid detection by U.S. troops or intelligence operatives.  

"We have every reason to believe that Abdul El-Sayed, if he found out, 'OK, they're about to apprehend these terrorists,’ that he would let those terrorists know," the senator said.   

Cruz’s comments are the latest escalation in Islamophobic rhetoric from Republicans against El-Sayed, who would be the first Muslim American elected to the U.S. Senate if he wins on Nov. 3. 

Can those remarks fairly be called "Islamaphobic?" It's hard to say that the answer is no.

Fear of The Other is bred in the bone. It's part of the way our imperfect species is wired. Spirits are using us as we proceed toward Tuesday's midterm elections.   

Up in Alaska, the Peltola campaign—and, we'll suppose, Peltola herself—has engaged in the kind of braindead behavior which may keep Democrats from winning control of the Senate. From the standpoint of Blue America, it would be a disaster if ridiculous conduct of that type allows the the sitting president retain control of that body.   

On the other hand, possibly this:   

Last night, Candidate Annie Andrews made a brief appearance with Lawrence O'Donnell on The Last Word. Earlier in the day, the New York Times had reported its new poll, in which Dr. Andrews was running even in the South Carolina Senate race.   

Could some such breakthrough really occur in the Palmetto State? As in Ohio, so too here—the Democratic Party has turned its hopes over to a female candidate who is a doctor—who literally is a healer. 

Last night, the analysts came out of their chairs when the healer in question said this:   

DR. ANDREWS (10/28/26): There is so much hope and optimism and energy on the ground because we've been building a campaign that's for everybody, not just the Democrats who are feeling hopeful in South Carolina, but for Independents who are ready for change and for Republicans, like my own Dad, who care more about South Carolina than they care about politics in D.C.    

The candidate was speaking the language of the healing of rifts! Soon, this exchange occurred:  

O'DONNELL: Your Dad is not the only Republican voting for you. You've got a former Republican governor of [South Carolina] endorsing you, in a kind of team endorsement with a former Democratic governor of [South Carolina]. What is your pitch to Republican voters?   

DR. ANDREWS: Yeah, I'm really excited to have the support of former Republican South Carolina governor and David Beasley and former Democratic South Carolina governor Jim Hodges....They ran against each other. They disagree on a lot of things, but they're coming together because they see in me a senator who will put South Carolina first, and that's what I'm hearing from the over one hundred Republicans across the state who have endorsed me... 

The spirit of outreach was again being voiced by the candidate on the Blue side of the aisle. Elsewhere, the spirit of civilizational war was being expressed.  

Spirits are using us as this prehistoric conflict is being played out again.  Elsewhere, the spirit of Puck prevailed:

‘Pitch Perfect!’ Critics Delight as Obama Mocks Trump’s Cheesecake Factory Joke ‘Tantrum’  

Former President Barack Obama took another swipe at President Donald Trump on Wednesday, days after the commander in chief’s furious reaction to his Cheesecake Factory joke, much to critics’ delight.

Obama reignited the bit on Wednesday night at a Democratic campaign rally in Atlanta, mocking Trump for apparently taking greater offense at being compared to the restaurant chain than to former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

And so on, with laughter, from there.

Is Obama wiping the floor with the sitting president? Next Tuesday, we may find out. But larger ancient voices are calling as this struggle plays out once again. Spirits urging the end of war may be using Blue America's newest candidates. 

We Blues will have to cop to the ways we've been wrong. It can't just be the Reds. 

Tomorrow: Attention C-Span callers 

WEDNESDAY: Did Dems just lose the Alaska race?

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2026

Staffers strike again: We've been semi-wondering when some sch snowshoe might imaginably hit the fan. Mediaite sends in the sled dogs:   

Alaska Dems Spent Months to Find New Dan Sullivan to Derail Republican Foe...

Alaska Democrats working for Senate hopeful Mary Peltola engaged in a coordinated effort to find someone named “Dan Sullivan”—the same name as the Republican in the same race—in a bold bid to confuse voters, a bombshell New York Times report has alleged.   

The Times report, which is sure to shake up the closely watched Alaska Senate race, alleged Wednesday that Peltola staffers worked for months to find another “Dan Sullivan” who could draw votes away from incumbent Senator Dan S. Sullivan (R)... 

“The plan worked,” according to The Times, when they found Dan J. Sullivan (unaffiliated), who threw his hat into the ring earlier this year.

Ugh! 

"Name's-the-same" ballot misdirections have a long history in American politics. That said, they're always an unsightly, unattractive attempt to fool a helpful number of voters, possibly tipping the scale in a close election.

On MS NOW, obedient anchors have been rolling their eyes at the very thought that Alaska's sophisticated voters could possibly be so fooled. Unfortunately, a campaign doesn't go out and find a "name's-the-same" entry unless they think the unattractive answer is an unattractive yes. 

Amazingly, here we go again! Rather, here they go again. We refer to the hapless, self-involved Peltola staffers who were involved in the earlier New York Times report about the troubling way they were dragooned into the care and fee3ding of Peltola's pet iguana, Cricket—or was Cricket really a hamster?

Actually, Cricket was a chameleon, but these staffers are always the same:

The Times report cites Elisa Rios, Peltola’s former aide and campaign manager, who was fired in the summer.

“Alaskan voters need to know,” Rios told the paper. “There was a lot of speculation, and voters should get the full picture when making their decisions.”

While Peltola is “definitely aware” of the effort, she was not directly involved, Rios added.

Last week, however, Rios told The Times she no longer wanted to participate in the story, and said she wanted to retract her previous statements to the paper.

“As discussed on our call earlier today, I am confirming that I have retracted all statements made regarding the 2026 Alaska Senate Race in connection with any article you may or may not be writing,” Rios reportedly told the paper. “I am not willing to be a source for any story in any capacity.”

The firing may have been a mistake. That said, how did this person ever get hired to begin with?

(For the record, no. You can't unsay what you've already said to a major news org!)

Hopeless! This could help the GOP win the Alaska Senate race. Given the publicity it will create, it could conceivably help the GOP win elsewhere as well.

(Yesterday afternoon, we asked a version of this question: Could a Blue American player ever do something wrong?)

For the TIMES EXCLUSIVE itself, you can just click here.

EMERGENCE: The president's disorder is the curse...

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2026

...from which we need to emerge: "I'm a scrappy kid from Youngstown," the Ohio candidate said.

"And scrappy kids from Youngstown, we never back down from a fight!"

At this site, the analysts loved that bit of rhetoric. They liked it all the way down.

For the record, that self-proclaimed scrappy kid is sixty years old at this time. It's her first run for elective office. She's running for governor of her state, and she's expected to win.   

The analysts also like the cut of the jib of the rest of the rhetoric she put on display last weekend. Meanwhile, out in Iowa, a scrappy Senate candidate also offered some striking rhetoric as he spoke with Lawrence O'Donnell last night. 

Personally, we'll go with the rhetoric of Candidate Amy Acton in Ohio over that of Candidate Josh Turek in Iowa. But various forms of new rhetoric—new ways of challenging and inspiring the American public--are struggling to emerge as November 3 draws near.   

New ways of thinking are trying to be born! And from what nightmare do these new voices seek to let us emerge? 

Yesterday, in Corpus Christi, a thoroughly disordered person was seen making outlandish claims toa lrge group of people in a thoroughly public setting. The RealClearPolitics site offers videotape of some of the president's comments. 

Inevitably, the sitting president refers to Candidate James Talarico as "Talafreako" all through his remarks. Below, you see the transcript of some of his remarks, the evidence of a profound disorder. 

(We would recommend discussing it as an untreated medical matter.)

We include the headline from the RealClearPolitics site. Here's part of what this nation's disordered president said in this disordered session:

Trump on Talarico: "No Politician In History Has Been More Obsessed With Turning Your Young Boys And Girls Transgender"

President Trump launched a full-scale culture war attack against "James Tala-freak-o" during a rally for Ken Paxton on Tuesday in Corpus Christi... 

[...]

TRUMP: Talafreako wants to get rid of the guns. He wants to get rid of the oil. He wants to get rid of the meat.

But he wants to keep the transgender mutilization of your children, open borders. He wants to keep men playing in women's sports. Figure that one out.

This is what Talafreako stands for, and it's what he is, it's where he is...But no politician in history has been more obsessed with turning your young boys and girls transgender. I mean, he wants to—he said that recently.

I saw a thing where he said, "What do you like the best?" He said, essentially, "Transgender children." That was a straight— That was a straight—

You know, look. That's the way it is. You're not going to change it.

You know, it's like meat. He's going around to so many barbecues. That's probably why—either that or he has a mental illness. 

[...]

And not only did Talafreako state that God is transgender, he actually said that if Jesus Christ himself came and visited the Texas legislature, Jesus would be promoting sex changes for little children.

You know, just—I'm not an expert on it, but I will tell you, I read enough about it. I find it amazing, you know, many of those little children, as he says, when they turn 22 and 25, they say, "Who did this to me? Who did it to me? Why did you do this to me?" Many, many.

[...]

But the only man standing between Texas and this raging lunatic is a man named President Donald J. Trump. Thank you. And I need the help of Ken Paxton in the U.S. Senate. I need a little help, please. I need help. He's the perfect guy. 

In the iconic film, On the Waterfront, Father Barry famously says this:  

Jesus Christ is down here on the waterfront.  

The sitting president has now disgracefully told a Texas audience thissss:  

Not only did Talafreako state that God is transgender, he actually said that if Jesus Christ himself came and visited the Texas legislature, Jesus would be promoting sex changes for little children. 

The candidate never made such ludicrous claims. It is from this manifest, undisguised madness that the rhetoric of a scrappy kid in Ohio is attempting to let us emerge.   

This morning, Morning Joe played tape of those claims by the sitting president. In response to this inexcusable madness, Joe Scarborough said this about what the Trump operation has done:

SCARBOROUGH (10/27/26): They've twisted and perverted the gospel. It's extraordinary. 

It's just extraordinary how much they've twisted and perverted it and created their own new religion. And they have! A completely new religion that lets them feel good about voting for people like Ken Paxton and Donald Trump. 

So said Scarborough, who runs the best policy and political discussions seen on American TV.   

Morning Joe played the tape of that insanity; Scarborough offered his view.  But the New York Times and other Blue orgs have been running away from this, an act of cowardice and incompetence, all through these past years. 

This madness needs to be reported and discussed on page 1. If the paper's journalists aren't up to the challenge of discussing what's going on, those journalists need to step down.

We badly need a type of emergence. Many are refusing to serve.

Tomorrow: Candidates Acton and Turek

TUESDAY: Could a Blue star ever do something wrong?

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2026

As we all know, the answer is yes: On Saturday, October 17, we closed our report with remarks which have been described, by at least one site, as a "record shattering statement." 

We were describing the way we Americans might be able to find our way out of our current journalistic / political / academic mess.  It's considered bad form to quote oneself. Today, we make an exception:

We Americans can't fact-check or name-call our way out of our current national mess—"back out of all this now too much for us," as Frost confusingly had it. 

Instead, we'll need to emerge into a world of deepened American values—some of them seeming to be a bit Reddish, some of them tilting toward Blue.   

If we want to emerge from our current (dangerous) mess, we'll need to concentrate on values. And some of the values on which we settle may tend to come a bit more from what is currently the reddish end of the pile.  

We thought of that "record shattering" suggestion as we perused Elie Honig's recent piece for New York magazine. Honig is a senior legal analyst for CNN. He's also a regular contributor to New York.

Honig's essay concerns the ongoing pursuit of Rp. Ilhan Omar by the current DOJ. The headline seems to tilt in a Blue direction. Under current circumstances, the opening grafs may perhaps seem to tilt Red:  

DoJ’s Ilhan Omar Probe Reeks of Politics  

Last week’s search of Ilhan Omar’s home was abnormal in several key respects, and she’ll have an opportunity to contest the government’s actions if she does find herself on the wrong end of an indictment. But the truth is, at this point, anyone who definitively proclaims Omar’s guilt or non-guilt is just guessing.  Let’s start with what we do and don’t know. 

We do know that federal prosecutors obtained approval from a federal magistrate judge, Matthew Sharbaugh, to search Omar’s home. (Magistrates are appointed by district court judges—not by the president—and can exercise certain administrative judicial powers, including review and approval of search warrants.) That means prosecutors convinced the magistrate judge that probable cause that a federal crime was committed exists and that investigators would find evidence of that crime in the place to be searched. We also know that prosecutors have issued at least a dozen subpoenas, which do not require any judicial review or approval. We don’t know, however, precisely what evidence prosecutors marshaled to convince the judge to sign off or how strong the current case is against Omar or others.   

Say what?  Anyone who "definitively proclaims Omar’s...non-guilt" would just be guessing at this point? Is Honig allowed to say that?   

Clearly, he's allowed to say it, but does it make any sense? After all these years of rumor-peddling on grimy MAGA programs like Gutfeld!, is it possible that Rep. Omar has actually done something wrong? Something for which she could (reasonably) be criminally charged? Something for which she could lose her citizenship?   

Honig, who isn't a MAGA adherent, says the answer is yes/ (Meaning yes, it's possible.) He also says it's possible that the answer will turn out to be no.  

(Concerning that magistrate judge, the Wall Street Journal's James Freeman has reported that "when he was a lawyer in private practice, Mr. Sharbaugh donated to various Democratic political campaigns, including those of Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden." So there's also that.)

Honig runs through various possibilities, dismissing certain procedural objections which have been raised against a possible prosecution. As he closes, his headline comes into play—the recent announcement seems baldly political, he now seems to say: 

[W]e know that Trump and his allies would delight in an Omar prosecution, regardless of the strength of the evidence. The president has used grotesque, inflammatory language to attack Omar’s ethnicity, race, national origin, and family, often calling for her to “go back” to Somalia, as he has continued to do after the search. The appearance of a sitting president’s pliant DoJ investigating one of his nemeses in this way is disturbing...

Then there’s the question of timing. Federal authorities searched Omar’s home just 22 days before a midterm election in which the incumbent Democratic U.S. representative from Minnesota is on the ballot. That timing ordinarily would violate the Justice Department’s traditional practice—sometimes referenced colloquially as the “60-day rule”–of refraining from overt law enforcement actions (like executing a search warrant, which is plainly visible to the public) during the run-up to an election. There’s no binding law here. But the DoJ has imposed the prohibition on itself, for decades and under both political parties, to prevent prosecutors from influencing an election, or even appearing to do so.   

The timing here looks grimy, Honig says. That doesn't mean that there might not be some violation of law, he says once again as his essay closes:

The problem here isn’t necessarily the investigation of Omar itself; it’s the timing of the search warrant on the brink of an election. Omar might be guilty of some crime, or perhaps not. We’ll find out, eventually. Either way, the Justice Department has done institutional damage to itself, yet again, by letting politics drive its prosecutorial tactics. 

Has Rep. Omar done something wrong? Honig says he doesn't know; we ourselves have no idea.  

More generally, is it possible that one of us Blues did something wrong at some point in time? Everything is possible, including even that! 

As a nation, are we ever going to pull ourselves out of our dangerous downward spiral? If so, Blues and Reds will have to agree on an obvious point:  

Sometimes, people make mistakes (or not). But are we ready to say, as tribal beings, that people we favor on our own side can sometimes, just maybe, be wrong?   

In our view, the timing of the DOJ's announcement is just flatly wrong. Has Rep. Omar ever done anything wrong? Here at this site, we hope not.

EMERGENCE: As presidents feud about Cheesecake jibes...

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2026

...the future tries to emerge: And so, today, it has come to this! 

There it is, in the New York Times! If we're willing to state the truth just for once, this is our nation's deeply underdeveloped political culture in action:   

Obama’s ‘Cheesecake Factory’ Jab Rankles Trump on Mississippi Campaign Stop
Former President Barack Obama had cast his successor as out of touch while jabbing at his extravagant sense of style. Mr. Trump responded at length.  

Pitifully but accurately, that's the dual headline which sits atop the New York Times report. President Obama had indeed offered a jab, and President Trump had responded at length. 

In fairness, it wasn't quite as nutty / stupid as the sitting president's discussions of Jon Husted's ascot. But it was stupid enough to define our flailing political culture.

Filling you in on the inanity in question, the actual report in the Times had started out like this:

Obama’s ‘Cheesecake Factory’ Jab Rankles Trump on Mississippi Campaign Stop   

Former President Barack Obama has struck a nerve with President Trump.

Mr. Trump took time from campaign issues to defend his fixation on remodeling the White House in his second term on Monday after Mr. Obama jabbed that “he’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory.”

Mr. Trump spoke for several minutes about the remark on his way to a campaign swing in Mississippi, then delivered an extensive aside there on the White House ballroom, helipad and other projects. He was in the solidly Republican state, which has been shifting toward Democrats, as part of his swing through ruby red America to shore up candidates ahead of the midterms.   

Mr. Trump...at times insisted he had spent “very little time” on redesigning the White House, parts of which he has demolished to make way for the new ballroom. But he also defended his focus on the renovations and eventually conceded that “I have fun doing it.”  

Obama's "jab" about the Cheesecake Factory had triggered a discussion—one which got dumber and dumber.  Later in his report for the Times, Chris Cameron describes the way "Trump administration officials and other Republicans responded with indignation" to Obama's joking remark, saying it showed that the former president is, in fact, an "elitist."

Cameron then checked his stopwatch regarding President Trump's reaction to the appalling remark:

No one appeared more insulted than Mr. Trump. In a six-minute gaggle with reporters on his way to Mississippi, the president devoted more than half his speaking time to Mr. Obama’s remarks. He spent comparatively little time repeating his unfounded claims of massive voter fraud.   

“For you to say it’s a Cheesecake Factory, that just shows why you were a lousy president,” Mr. Trump said, before calling Mr. Obama “a stupid person.”

Once onstage, Mr. Trump devoted another six minutes to defending his makeover of the White House, and other parts of the nation’s capital.

“Nobody loved it like I do,” Mr. Trump said of the White House... 

In truth, the sitting president's various remarks were substantially dumber, and made less sense, than Cameron lets on.

In this report for Mediaite, Kathryn Wilkens provides a second report on this pitiful piffle. She includes videotape of the huffing and puffing by President Trump as he decamps for the South.   

Personally, we aren't fans of former president Obama's transition toward the role of stand-up comedian in chief, at times like these, in these post-presidential years. Meanwhile, the sheer stupidity of the MAGA pushback was evident on the Fox News Channel last night—for example, with resident nutcase Greg Gutfeld sounding off idiotically on The Five, the nation's most-watched "cable news" show.

He scolded Jessica Tarlov: 

You can go after Trump all you want. Don't go after the Cheesecake Factory, OK? You know, a lot of us don't have a personal chef. The Cheesecake Factory is a tribute to America. It is literally a melting pot, Jessica. That's why you hate it.  

Scolding the program's designated punching bag, the nutcase told the liberal Tarlov that she hates The Cheesecake Factory because she hates America. 

This is standard inanity on our failing nation's most-watched—and stupidest—"cable news" TV show. By the way, with a salary of $9 million per year, the resident nutcase could hire a chef if he ever chose to.

Alas, poor Gutfeld (age 62)! Increasingly, the manic insanity of this small, angry nut-ball defines the shape of American "news" and information flow. 

At 10 p.m., when his own show aired, he opened by describing the way Bill Clinton still enjoys "banging skanks" at the White House, then offered a joke in which he rather unmistakably described former Vice President Harris as a "drunk, crazy bitch."  

(It's the rare night on the Gutfeld! show when Harris isn't portrayed as a drunk.)

This is the stuff of primetime "news" within our braindead journalistic and academic culture. Incredibly, you have never seen the ugly content of this show described in the New York Times, or in the Atlantic, or even on any program on CNN or MS NOW.

Dearest darlings, use your heads! Giant salaries are at stake! It simply isn't done!

This is the ugly inanity our national culture has chosen. That said:

Over the weekend, even as this latest inanity was taking shape, we thought we saw a new improved batch of messaging starting to emerge.   

Amy Acton is the Democratic nominee for governor of Ohio. She will probably win that race. 

She won't be the Democratic Party's candidate for president two years hence. But last Saturday, she spoke at a rally in Cleveland. In part, she energetically offered this:   

I'm an Ohio girl through and through. I grew up in Youngstown... 

When I grew up, we didn't know what party you were in. We knew what union you were in!

We knew what branch of the military you served in, we knew where you worshipped. We knew what civic groups you were in. But the biggest thing we knew was that you had one another's back.   

So said Candidate Acton, energetically, early on. 

I'm a scrappy kid from Youngstown, she later said. And scrappy kids from Youngstown, we never back down from a fight!  

We Blues badly need to find some scrappy kids. We don't need another comedian. We need to find a scrappy kid who might help let the future emerge.

Tomorrow, we'll look at the messaging in Acton's speech. It was delivered by a scrappy kid who's already 60 years old!

Tomorrow: Messaging from Candidate Acton

Thursday: What two C-Span callers had said