Political apologies rarely work, still wind up taking ‘hit’ for trash-talk

There’s something about any attempt by a political official to apologize for saying something stupid that always manages to come off as insincere – it winds up sounding like the only thing you’re “sorry” for is getting caught!

Somewhere, a political operative thinks this is clever

That certainly is the case for the Illinois Republican County Chairman’s Association – which how has on its Facebook page a prominent post apologizing for the fact that they let a lame gag get put on their site to begin with – one that attempted to trash the four members of Congress whom President Donald Trump has engaged in trash-talk against.

IT SEEMS THAT Republican-leaning political operatives created a graphic labelling the four as “the Jihad Squad” and implying just how subversive we ought to consider them to be.

“If you don’t agree with their socialist ideology, you’re racist,” is what we’re told. Implying that Donald Trump is totally justified in all of his trash talk against the women – whom the one thing they have in common is that they’re not white.

The graphic, which actually is a parody of sorts of the advertising posters for the “Charlie’s Angels” films (the more recent movies, not the ‘70’s era television show), is labeled as being put together by the national Republican County Chairman’s Association, which then had it put on the sites of their various affiliated organizations.

The original motivating image?

Which led to the Illinois chapter early Monday publicly removing the post, with chapter President Mark Shaw saying the post was “unauthorized” and, “I am sorry if anyone who saw the image was offended by the contents.”

NOW FOR ALL I know, Shaw may well be sincere in his apology. He may well be shuddering at the thought that he’s affiliated politically with the kind of people who’d think this ad parody is somehow clever. Even Illinois Republican Chairman Timothy Schneider was embarrassed, saying he thinks the graphic, “does not reflect … the Republican Party’s values.”

But I don’t doubt there are people who consider themselves good and loyal Republicans who have absolutely no problem with this kind of image being spewed and who will now think the “problem” is that the GOP has people who can’t get on board with their initiative.

Would Farrah, Jaclyn and Kate be offended?

As for the parody, I think it’s tacky depicting Rep, Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., wielding a shotgun, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., packing a pistol, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., looking like an angry be-yotch and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, bursting into flames.

But even more so, I think it comes across as downright lame. It’s almost the kind of image I’d expect that 12-year-olds would find amusing. But then again, there are times I wonder if the mentality of our political people has delved down to the level of pre-teens who think fart jokes are funny.

WHICH MEANS I can almost sympathize with the Republican operatives who now have to address this image and try to explain away how anyone could seriously have thought it would possibly attract anyone to the political cause.

I don’t doubt it will keep the hard-core ideologues aligned. But then again, that may well be the political strategy for the 2020 election cycle.

Make sure the ideologues turn out in force to back the re-election of Donald Trump and anybody whose presence would not conflict with ‘the Donald,’ and scare off anybody who’d be inclined to want to raise the elevation of political discourse these days.

Political spots certainly have changed

But then again, I also don’t doubt there are some who are ideologically-inclined to want to sink the level of discourse to this level – it’s much easier to understand. Four crazy broads! All of them with big mouths!  And most importantly, none of them white!

NOT EXACTLY AN issues-based campaign theme. Not something that would bring out the intellect in would-be voters.

More like something simple that would reduce the election cycle down to something we can either laugh at – or lambast those who don’t think it’s funny as being mere “snowflakes.”

Which in-and-of-itself is a political label that gets used far too often.

Although I think one anonymous Internet commenter may have stated it best – this “Jihad Squad” graphic is just too stupid for anyone thinking about voting to take seriously. Although we’ll have to see if it’s too stupid that it winds up costing anybody a vote come Election Day.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Some Republicans are tossing out their own response, trying to claim Democrats are no better. They're citing a blurb posted on the website of the Kankakee County Democratic Party that equates those "Make America Great Again: caps with the pointy hoods of the Ku Klux Klan -- if only those hoods were an obnoxious bright-red. Crain's Chicago Business is reporting that Democrats are in a similar circumstance for their Internet attempt at humor. Although I can't help but wonder who is really offended by the gag.

Trump seems determined to use immigration trash-talk to get re-elected

President Donald Trump wants another term in office, and seems determined to create the impression of himself as the guy who kicked all those frickin’ foreigners out of this country.

TRUMP: National equivalent of playground bully?

He’s the guy who wanted a series of national immigration raids to create a sudden boost in the actual number of deportations.

OF COURSE, SO many details got out about where and when these raids would take place that Trump put a hold on the plan – while insisting he did it as a courtesy to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who was working to put together a border aid package in Congress.

Not that anybody believed Trump would do anything out of courtesy to anybody but himself. Which is why the talk is starting up again that raids of a sort will start Sunday.

With activists saying they’re planning a protest rally in Chicago for Saturday, hoping to get several thousand individuals to publicly express their disgust with The Donald and his immigration desires.

This comes as Trump made his announcement Thursday of his latest desire to get information about non-citizens living in this country. He contemplated an executive order that would require a Census Bureau question as in being able to enact his desires without having to get Congress to sign off on them first, which truly is the “American Way” of doing things.

TRUMP, WHO HAS tried to get the 2020 Census population count altered so as to include questions about the citizenship status of those reporting, now says he’s going to require federal government agencies to turn any information over to the Commerce Department so it can be compiled into incriminating information.

He’s not concerned with the several court rulings that have found there to be no legitimate purpose to having such a question as part of the Census. Because the purpose of the Census is to get as accurate a count as possible of the U.S.’s actual population on April 1, 2020.

And Trump is determined enough that his way MUST prevail that he’s going to get his question included in some form, so as to gather up as much information as possible as to who exactly is here.

Which has some concerned that all Trump is doing is trying to gather intelligence that could someday be used to single out even more people for deportation. Trump backers try to claim that it’s overly cynical and paranoid to think ill of the presidential intentions on this issue.

BUT IT PROBABLY says much about the lack of trust the majority of our society has in the executive abilities of Trump that we don’t fully trust him. And for good reasons.

Because this is the man who started off his political portion of life by letting it be known he was more than willing to single out for abuse certain types of people – and was more than willing to kowtow to the segment of our society that has a strong xenophobic streak running down its spine.

The kind of people who will wet their pants with glee at the very thought of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents working overtime on Sunday to weed people out, arrest them, then deport them.

And those who are willing to think that the courts’ refusal to go along with Trump’s desires for a Census Bureau question that some in our society would not feel comfortable answering is merely evidence that the courts themselves ARE the problem.

IT WILL BE curious to see if this becomes a winning strategy; letting the ideologues amongst us think they are succeeding in reclaiming our country from those of us who’d prefer to see American ideals prevail in the way things are done.

Which is why I found interesting the results of a Morning Consult poll that shows one-time Vice President Joe Biden holding slight leads over would-be presidential challengers Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren.

But that is amongst people who identify themselves as most likely to actually vote. Which means it could well be in the hands of those slightly-more apathetic about casting ballots to decide whether we actually replace Trump come November of 2020.

Which may well be part of the Trump strategy as well – stir up so much trash that the bulk of people will be dismayed enough to not bother voting. Truly a sad strategy that says little about the man’s inherent character.

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Preckwinkle overly ambitious? Seeking fourth term while barely in third

Toni Preckwinkle fell short of her desire to be the first black woman ever elected as Chicago mayor, but still seems to have her heart set on going into history as a political first of sorts.

Preckwinkle looking toward 4th term in office

Preckwinkle, 72, has already served two terms as president of the Cook County Board, and managed to get herself elected to a third term – of which she has barely served one year.

BUT PRECKWINKLE LET it be known this week that she’s already planning her next re-election. An election cycle that actually won’t come about until 2022.

Which if she manages to carry it through and win, would keep her in office through 2026 and have her as an elected official at age 80. Not bad for a woman who previously said this year she was running her last campaign for office.

It would seem that Preckwinkle hasn’t let her political defeat earlier this year to Lori Lightfoot as mayor crush her political spirits. She’s going to be in public office as long as she can – and may very well envision herself becoming the equivalent of Richard J. Daley or Harold Washington.

Both of whom died while in office. With Washington taking that literally – he suffered a stroke while working at his desk.

NOW I’M SURE some people are completely appalled at the notion that Preckwinkle won’t just wither away into anonymity. There are those who were offended that she didn’t have to give up her county board presidency post in order to run for mayor.

Won't let Lightfoot victory set her legacy

They would have wanted her overwhelming defeat to Lightfoot (tempered somewhat by the notion that many more people didn’t bother to vote at all) to be a career-crusher. Something that would cause her name to go into the Chicago history books as evidence of her public disgrace.

Instead, Preckwinkle remains as county board president (the post known informally to some political watchers as the “mayor of Cook County”) and as chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party.

Making her political legacy one of coming close to reaching the titles (if not the actual power or influence) of Mayor Daley, the elder, himself.

Does Preckwinkle hope to last as long as Dunne or Daley?

WHICH MEANS I’M sure there are some who already are gearing up to cast votes against her come 2022.

Who knows? Maybe some people truly are petty enough to hold a life-long grudge against Preckwinkle for that pop tax measure (a penny per ounce) she pushed that boosted the cost of a can of cola upward by about 21 cents.

While some who truly carried the notion of Lightfoot as some sort of political saint may well want to hate on Preckwinkle for having the nerve to run against her earlier this year.

All I know is that there’s quite a bit of time between now and 2022. Who’s to say what will happen that will change conditions for Preckwinkle. Perhaps she’ll become politically fashionable again?

OR MAYBE SHE’LL come up with circumstances that show she won’t be able to run for a fourth term – which would be something extraordinary.

Will Preckwinkle have Washington-type ending?

Because if she truly were able to serve four terms as county board president, that would make her one of the longest holders of that office ever. You’d literally have to look back to George Dunne (who served from 1969 to 1971) to find someone who held the post longer.

The point may well be that Toni Preckwinkle isn’t going anywhere. She’s in office, and intends to carry on with her job for years to come.

The real question, one that we’ll see answered in 2022, is whether the electorate is in any mood to retain her in office. Or will voters remain as temperamental three years from now as they were back in May – and finally send her off to political retirement?

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“Deport ‘em all” seems to be the extent of a Trump campaign strategy

Donald Trump may well have said stupid things about just about every group of people possible who isn’t like himself, but he’s the guy who kicked off his time as a political person by calling Mexicans “drug dealers,” “criminals” and “rapists.” 

TRUMP: He wants to stay in D.C.!

So it really shouldn’t be surprising that to kick off his bid for re-election, he’s going on a rant about deportation.

AS IN HE’S going to have federal immigration officials begin the process of kicking out millions of people whom he wants to believe have no business being in this country.

Of course, that’s just Trump his role as the twit who Tweets – using his Twitter account Tuesday morning to send out messages to his followers about how he’s going to get serious about removing all these foreigners from this country.

Which may well be a task too large to take on. It may well be that trying to get rid of that many people at once is too great to accomplish. It may very well overwhelm the infrastructure of our immigration department.

But then again, I doubt that Trump is seriously intending to accomplish much of anything – other than spewing cheap trash talk to get his ideologue followers all worked up.

AND SINCE MANY of his backers seem to have a xenophobic streak behind their thought processes, saying he’s going to get the foreigners out of this country so that only people like themselves will remain will be just the kind of trash talk that will get them all worked up.

Which makes this perfect for the rally Trump planned for Tuesday night in Orlando, Fla. – the one where he officially kicks back into campaign mode and becomes the guy trying to win himself re-election.

Actual governing? He’ll leave that to the geeks whom he has appointed to various federal government posts. And when they turn out to be incapable of getting anything done?

 

OCASIO-CORTEZ: She's not leaving, either!

Well, he’ll blame it all on Democrats for standing in the way of everything he wants done on behalf of people just like himself.

OR MAYBE HE’LL blame it all on Alexandra Ocasio Cortez – the congresswoman from New York whom the far right seems overly obsessed with. Even though many of them don’t even appear to know her name, instead merely referring to her as “that AOC woman!”

Who knows? Maybe Trump, in his own delusional way, thinks she’ll be the first one he can have deported. Or maybe one of her relatives – even though as one of Puerto Rican ethnicity, that means her family consists of U.S. citizens going back generations.

For all I know, she’s more a “real American” than any of the Trump backers whose families came here a generation or two ago from somewhere in Eastern Europe – and view nodding their heads in accordance with Trump trash talk as their way of “fitting in” with our society.

But back to Trump, who’s more than willing to use his xenophobic scare tactics to stir up support.

TAKE TRUMP’S SON, Eric, who had an e-mail message sent out Tuesday telling people that his father wanted $7 million in contributions made to him that day – a “huge” and “incredible” gesture meant to show that everybody loves Donald. “Even the Radical Left won’t be able to lie their way out of this one,” Eric said.

 

BIDEN: Can he even beat his 20-plus opponents

Although going through my e-mail, I also found a message from the Joe Biden presidential campaign – announcing his own Internet-based fundraising effort.

Both men are seeking donations of $5 or more per person (although Trump claims the average donation he’d like to see is $42), all in a grand to try to one-up each other. Which makes me think that Trump’s trash talk about deportations is meant more to inspire donations toward his $7 million goal, rather than being about removing a single soul from this nation.

And making believe all the moreso that Election ’20, regardless of its outcome, is going to be an incredibly depressing period in our society – as we all dive down to the bottom of our pit!

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No more Mayor Rahm-bo?!?

For all practical purposes, the era of Rahm Emanuel as Chicago mayor is over.

EMANUEL: Kaput as of Monday, but will he return?

The transition to the Lightfoot Years comes Monday, so unless Rahm has some sort of “midnight surprise” planned for the weekend, his time being able to do much of anything in municipal office is kaput!

ALL THOSE “HUZZAHS!!!” we’re hearing are from people pleased that we’ve managed to survive the past eight years, and that Emanuel is no more. Or so they think.

Because personally I think it’s wishful thinking to believe that the Era of Rahm is over and that we’ve sent the man packing into political oblivion.

I’ve heard the same political reports of the mayor saying he’ll focus his life back on the business community – for the time being. But I can’t truly envision him a political has-been.

If anything, I won’t be the least bit surprised to learn Emanuel becomes a “behind the scenes” political player who winds up being connected in some form to whichever of the dozens of Democrats with dreams of becoming president in 2020.

THE MAN DID, after all, serve as a significant part of that 2006 effort that shifted the House of Representatives back to Democratic Party control. He did serve as a White House chief of staff under the “beloved’ Barack Obama presidency that many progressive politicos fantasize about returning to in spirit.

TRUMP: Do we despise more than Rahm-bo?

Could it be that many of the same people who are thinking thoughts of “Drop Dead!” at the very thought of Rahm Emanuel’s continued existence will wind up touting the man’s merits (through gnashed teeth, most likely) at the fact he’s likely affiliated with whoever it is they wind up touting for president?

Because it may wind up being that these people of progressive political leanings will despise the notion of “four more years” for Donald Trump far more than they do the thought of Emanuel.

They may wind up coming to appreciate his hard-core political leanings that are willing to play hardball just as much as any Republican ideologue does. Adopting the notion that history only remembers who won an election, and doesn’t care in the least about praising the merits of the good loser.

Can Rahm turn unknown Dem into 2020 winner?

OF COURSE, THERE were those people who always despised the notion of Emanuel as mayor – maybe because they’d rather be the loser with a so-called sense of morals who can then blame the opposition politicos for running roughshod over everything they desire for our society.

Looking back on commentaries I wrote back in those days of 2011 when Emanuel beat three other mayoral hopefuls to avoid having a run-off election, what catches my attention was the notion that Emanuel would be the mayoral hopeful who placed the business interests of downtown first.

Not all that different from the days of the Mayor Daley eras (both elder and younger), if you think about it. So perhaps we shouldn’t be the least bit shocked by the way the Emanuel era turned out.

For those who still rant about the way Emanuel early on oversaw the closing of public schools in predominantly black or Latino neighborhoods, the reality is that many of those schools were failing their students. You can say Rahm didn’t do enough to replace them, but we’d be worse off if many of those schools were still lingering in existence – providing inadequate services for the students stuck there because of a lack of alternatives.

THEN, THERE’S THE key issue that I’m sure upsets people – the relations between police and the African-American segment of Chicago. As evidenced by the 2014 shooting death of a teenager that took more than four years to finally get a case to trial – and resulted in a police officer getting a minimal penalty.

LIGHTFOOT: Her era begins Monday at noon

Although to some, even that three-plus year jail sentence is too harsh. But for others, the injustice is that it wasn’t Emanuel himself who had to suffer some punishment.

I don’t doubt that the same people who were pushing for a 90-something-year prison term for Chicago cop Jason Van Dyke are also the ones who would have wanted Emanuel to suffer an indignity – rather than being able to walk away from office with his political win streak intact.

A streak that I really believe will be put to the test by those people eager to Dump Trump next year. We may have to decide just which character do we despise more – and will we have to put aside our contempt for Rahm if it achieves a “greater” good.

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Newman for Congress – trying to get a head start? Or an act of desperation?

We’re almost a full year away from the 2020 election cycle primaries. We haven’t even inaugurated the new mayor that a third of Chicagoans voted into office.

NEWMAN: Will her 'time' finally arrive in 2020?

Yet Marie Newman is already thinking in terms of wanting to be like Mr. Smith and go to Washington – where her goal remains the same as it was in 2018. She wants to dump decade-long incumbent Dan Lipinski from his post on Capitol Hill.

NEWMAN, WHO LOST to Lipinski by a narrow margin last year, has already begun her active campaigning for office on the grounds that Lipinski is far too ideologically conservative to represent a part of Chicago and surrounding suburbs in Congress.

It was the same strategy she tried employing the last election cycle – only to have it fall short as long-time Chicagoans who remember back when Lipinski’s father, Bill, was their representation in Congress stood fast and firm behind the Family Lipinski.

He won, no matter how much Newman reminded us over and over how Dan was amongst the most conservative of Democrats in Congress. An abortion opponent, not a backer of measures meant to reduce gun violence by restricting firearms access, and the kind of guy inclined to think that focusing attention on protecting the rights of gay people is a waste of everybody’s time.

About the only thing that makes Lipinski line up with Democrats, rather than just switch political party alliances, is that he can side with much of organized labor and unions – at least up to the point when they start getting all floofy on social issues.

IT’S OBVIOUS THAT Newman plans to run her same campaign strategy, while hoping she can make up the few votes she would have needed in the 2018 Democratic primary so as to put her ahead – where she likely would have walloped Republican (alleged, that is) Art Jones just as bad as Lipinski did in last year’s general election.

Hence, the fact that Newman felt compelled to inform us Monday of all the endorsements her second-chance campaign of 2020 has received.

EMILY’S List (female candidates), Move On, NARAL (abortion), Planned Parenthood Action Fund and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. It’s almost like an All Star team of sorts of political activists who’d be inclined to oppose anything ideologically conservative.

LIPINSKI: Is the 'old' Chicago alive?

For all I know, this puts the Newman campaign on an enemies’ list put together by those people inclined to support this Age of Trump our society is now in. But also on the side of those people who were in the majority who voted against Trump in 2016 but could not generate enough of the Electoral College vote to defeat him.

BUT UNLIKE THE presidency, there is no Electoral College for members of Congress. Newman will have to gain a majority of the vote in the Illinois 3^rd Congressional District come March of 2020 – if she’s to prevail at having a shot at the Congressional seat.

And seeing her endorsement activity, she’s certainly hoping that getting such an early campaign start well before anybody is seriously thinking about the congressional seats will give her the electoral advantage towards victory.

There is just one thing – some people are inclined to think that Newman was a “sore loser” when she was defeated by Lipinski. Or else they’re the ones ideologically inclined to think that Danny is a remnant of the old days of the “Chicago Machine” that made sense to their way of thinking.

Will Newman give us material for 21st Century sequel?

Will the thought of all these endorsements with liberal leaning (take Move On, a group created in the wake of the Bill Clinton impeachment efforts by those who opposed that political exercise), it makes me wonder how many people will now regard a vote against Newman as a vote for political sanity!

CAN LIPINSKI CONVINCE a majority of the congressional district’s electorate that he’s still more aligned with their views – that he’s not too extreme to call himself a Chicago congressman (even though he lives in suburban Western Springs)?

Or has even the Chicago Sout’ Side that still worships the memory of Hizzoner himself Mayor Daley (the elder) progressed enough on social issues that Newman’s “time” has come for “Mrs. Newman goes to Washington” to become a reality!

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Can we dump Trump?

The Washington Post is managing to tick off the sensibilities of many people who are looking forward to the 2020 election cycle with the goal of dumping that orange-tinted buffoon from the White House.

TRUMP: Is four more years really inevitable?

For the commentary by Hugh Hewitt basically implies that this upcoming presidential election is for Donald Trump to take. The 2020 election isn’t going to be close, is what we’re being told.

DESPITE THE FACT that various polls show the Trump presidency has never been popular amongst the masses, and only survives because of the incredibly outspoken level of support it draws from a minority of our society, many of whom do so because The Donald tends to give his backing to their own prejudices.]

As Hewitt feels, the one thing Trump has going in his favor is the economy. In short, it’s not in a recession or headed in that direction.

“Innovation is accelerating, not declining,” Hewitt wrote. “A recession before Election Day looks less and less likely by the day.”

In short, Trump will not be taken down by the very factor that caused many people to back Bill Clinton over incumbent George Bush (the elder) in the 1992 election cycle.

I’M NOT WILLING to totally dismiss this theory, because I happen to have a cousin who leans Republican and is nominally a Trump backer who defends his ideological choices by saying the state of the economy is really the only issue that matters.

All of Trump’s moments of stupidity and ignorance on so many issues that cause offense to the sensibilities of the majority of us? He argues they just won’t matter, in the end.

Which means that the masses of voters come Nov. 3, 2020 will wind up supporting, either enthusiastically or begrudgingly, the notion of a second term in office for Donald Trump.

BUSH: Trump won't lose due to economy

Something that I’m sure the man’s over-bloated ego will construe as evidence that we really, really love him – and that those of us who don’t want the return of Melania as First Lady can just go and “suck it,” so to speak.

NOW I DON’T doubt that Trump can win re-election, although I think the real factor at work is that many people just won’t be able to reach a consensus on who should be the Democratic challenger against Trump.

I actually think the dozens of candidates thinking they’re the only ones who could possibly run a winning campaign will actually result in enough electoral chaos so that none of them would be capable of getting enough voter support to prevail on Election Day.

Too many people who think that we have to have Bernie Sanders, Or Joe Biden. Or Pete Buttigieg. Or it has to be someone who specifically is NOT a white man. While refusing to consider anybody else. Democrats may not be capable of reaching a consensus candidate to challenge Trump.

Which could result in an election cycle that the masses find contemptible. They hate Trump, but can’t stand whoever it is that winds up getting the political nomination to run against him.

OR, WORSE YET. The confusion level is such that the same Electoral College mess that enabled Trump to win the presidency with 3 million fewer votes than Hillary Clinton could kick in yet again. Right now, I'd have to think the odds are too great that Trump will once again get less than 50 percent of the vote.

BIDEN: Leading Dem, for now

Donald Trump could easily wind up as the two-term president who never took a majority of the vote and also was unable to ever get his popularity rating in polls above the 50 percent mark. In short, the man forced upon our society by an outspoken minority determined to force their ideological leanings upon the masses.

Some might think that a “victory,” of sorts. History would record Trump as a president no one wanted. But in reality, it would record him as a two-time victor – and further reinforce the leanings of the ideologues into thinking they’re the only people who really matter.

Some might want to think that the lack of a recession is a Trump accomplishment. But if anything, the fact that Trump has a snowball’s chance in that place ending in double-hockey sticks of winning re-election really ought to be blamed on the political ineptness of those who want to Dump Donald, but can’t quite figure out how to do so.

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Did we get a preview of the ’20 presidential “brawl” this year in Chgo?

Could Lightfoot campaign give us clues as to how … 

Let me state up front – I don’t have a clue who I support for president. Although I’m inclined to think that both former Vice President Joe Biden and Rep. Bernie Sanders of Vermont are too old to be taken seriously as candidates.

A notion that I’m sure will offend certain political people who are viewing the 2020 election cycle as one in which their guy can finally achieve long-desired aspirations.

BUT I HAVE to admit to dreading the Democratic primary for president, largely because I fear the twenty-some people saying they want to run for the office will all get so pig-headed and believe there’s no way they can lose.

There’s no way anybody would vote for Donald Trump over them, and it’s everybody else who needs to get a clue and get out of the election.

All I know is that I fear it will be that very attitude that will enable the re-election of “the Donald” and ensure that this Age of Trump stretches out to the maximum length permitted by the Constitution’s Bill of Rights.

With also the likelihood that Trump (already 72 years old) could theoretically be the oldest president ever surpassing Ronald Reagan if he were to live long enough to finish a second term in office.

… we get the re-election of Donald Trump?

IT BECOMES POSSIBLE because the large number of Democratic presidential aspirants will do nothing more than create confusion amongst the electorate. People won’t have a clue who to cast ballots for.

Which could mean the followers of this Age of Trump will feel emboldened to the point that they’ll be the ones who feel compelled to vote. Which means they’ll get all wrapped up in talk of presidential mandates – as in Trump’s minority voter support would have to be treated as though it truly represents the will of the American people.

Ugh!

Now why is it that I feel like this? Largely, it’s because I feel like I’ve already seen this saga play out with last week’s election of Lori Lightfoot as mayor of Chicago. An election cycle I have to confess I was glad to see come to an end.

HAVING TO WEED through the dozens of people who talked of being mayor weeding down to 21 people who finally put their names on the ballot – with 14 of them ultimately qualifying.

BIDEN: Past his presidential prime?

I don’t think there ever was a consensus behind any one candidate. Even after the process weeded down the candidate field to a two-person run-off.

I know the Lori Lightfoot backers are going to be offended that I don’t see an overwhelming victory for her over Toni Preckwinkle. Because even a week after Election Day, I still can’t get over the atrocious voter turnout.

For an election cycle that was supposed to be historic and a case where, to have a chance to dump Rahm Emanuel, it really seems that the bulk of Chicagoans didn’t care.

REALLY! SOME TWO-thirds of the registered voters of Chicago didn’t bother to vote. They didn’t care enough – brought about largely by the confusion from having so many candidates convinced that everybody was destined to fall in love with them. It was nowhere near the swarm of voters (about 83 percent) who turned out in 1983 when Harold Washington became mayor.

BUTTIGIEG: Can he pop out of masses?

And now, that the Chicago election cycle of 2019 is complete, I almost fear we’re destined to repeat the electoral chaos come 2020 at the national level. As if the electoral nonsense wasn’t absurd enough this year, we get to do it again next year.

Double Ugh!!! And groan!!!

So if you’re asking me who I back for president, I have to say I want most of these current wannabe candidates to come to their senses and drop out so we can have a manageable field from which to pick. Either that, or we’re destined to get an encore of Inaugural ceremonies in 2021 in which Trump will claim even more people turned out to celebrate his greatness than did back in January 2017.

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Can Lightfoot, Preckwinkle connect? Or will the women be political rivals!

It was an intriguing political theory put forth by some – the notion that a Lightfoot political victory for mayor benefits African-American political empowerment by boosting the number of black people in the top government positions.

Lightfoot gets 5th floor office suite; Preckwinkle stays put in her half of city/county municipal building.. Photo by Gregory Tejeda

The way it was described by some, there were those people who wanted Toni Preckwinkle to not bother running for anything in this election cycle.

SHE WAS SUPPOSED to accept the Cook County Board presidency that she was re-elected to back in November – thereby leaving the mayoral post open for another black person to hold. Chicago’s local government structure would literally have its two highest-ranking positions held by African-Americans.

But that didn’t happen, as Preckwinkle insisted on running for mayor. Which creates the potentially awkward position of Preckwinkle and Lightfoot fighting it out for who is the more prominent black woman in our local politics.

Considering that Preckwinkle also holds the post of Cook County Democratic chairwoman, it means that Toni will be in a position where she could theoretically make life difficult for Lori Lightfoot.

She could decide to use the political party structure to thwart a “Mayor Lightfoot” from being able to accomplish much of anything – if she so wishes. Although admittedly, some people will dismiss her as petty and ignorant if she behaves that way,

The mayor 'elect' for a month

IS THIS WHAT is destined to happen, now that Election Day has come and gone – Lori Lightfoot having managed to come sweeping in and usurping the niche that Preckwinkle had planned on playing this cycle?

That of the “good government” type who engages in high-minded talk about the betterment of our society. Instead of the niche that Lightfoot wound up tagging Preckwinkle with – that of a political hack!

The question essentially becomes whether or not Preckwinkle and Lightfoot can “play nice” with each other and figure out ways in which the two can co-exist within the Chicago political structure for the betterment of our city.

Remains as 'mayor' of Cook County

Or are we destined to have the next three-and-a-half years become a period in which the Preckwinkle/Lightfoot rivalry takes on ugly overtones. Will Preckwinkle decide she needs to show us just how big a political “Boss!” she can be.

HERE’S ACTUALLY THE intriguing question, for those people who want to view this now-complete election cycle as one for the betterment of African-American political interests in Chicago.

Would those interests have been boosted more by having both a black mayor and black county board president? Or would they have been boosted had Preckwinkle prevailed and become the first person since Richard J. Daley himself to serve as both mayor and county Democratic chairman?

Would an all-powerful Preckwinkle have been a nice prize for black political interests? Or was it sexism that wound up making some people think that the two positions were simply too much power to put in the hands of a lone woman. Along with the notion that a “Mayor Preckwinkle” also would have created the chance for a “Cook County Board President John Daley” – a notion some black activists would find abhorrent.

How different scenario could be with Wilson win

Keep in mind that back when black political operatives were suggesting that Preckwinkle defer to another black candidate for mayor, the likely favorite was Willie Wilson. Considering how she managed to qualify for the Tuesday run-off while Wilson fell short by merely finishing fourth in the 14-candidate field, it’s not surprising she felt no need to defer to him.

THE RESULT OF all this political scheming is that we now have a mayor-elect who doesn’t come from the current political set-up. Lightfoot has been a corporate attorney and a federal prosecutor, in addition to a one-time member of the Police Accountability Task Force.

Daley remains as county finance chair

In short, the kind of person who might arouse suspicion from incumbent politicos.

But keep in mind that several people bearing the polical label of “Democratic Socialists” managed to get themselves elected to the City Council. There’s going to be an assortment of aldermen anxious to assert the fact that the city technically has a “weak mayor” system of government.

Lightfoot may get the title of “mayor,” but there will be many individuals anxious to tell her just how little she can do while in office. We’ll have to wait and see whether Preckwinkle will be their leader?

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History? Maybe not

I know some people are giving the spin that Tuesday will be a historic day for Chicago. What with all that first black woman as mayor jazz, and some even stoked up by the possibility of Lori Lightfoot’s orientation being another “first.”

Will polling places be anywhere near this packed on Tuesday?

But what does it say that the first phase of this year’s election cycle was dreadful, and the evidence exists that Tuesday will give us equally pathetic results?

I’M TALKING ABOUT the voter turnout – which back in February reached only 34 percent (only 1 percent higher than the all-time record-low turnout for a mayoral election in Chicago – back in 2007).

Guess what? The Chicago Board of Election Commissioners says that the number of people who have turned out to cast their ballots early for the city municipal elections is low.

So low that we’re not likely to match the voter totals from Feb. 26. Seriously, just under 110,000 votes have already been cast for Tuesday – compared to the 125,000 who voted early before the first part of this year’s election cycle.

Basically, unless we have some record-setting voter turnout of people who actually wait until Election Day proper to cast their ballots, what we’re going to get is a pathetic voter total.

NOT EXACTLY WHAT you’d expect to see for a moment of Chicago history – an event that people will want to think was a significant shift in the way things were done in the Second City.

So this is what 'history' feels like?

More like just the beginning of a four-year period in which many of us are going to gripe about the way things are done here, because – after all – that’s what happens when people don’t bother to vote.

Their views tend to get ignored, and they think it’s their “right” as an American to gripe and grouse about it. Rather than do something to actually express their attitudes that impact the election’s outcome.

Of course, what is particularly appalling about all of this talk of pathetic voter turnout is that it falls into the political strategies of the candidates themselves. Rather than try to win over voters, they’re counting on it to be pathetic.

Will Preckwinkle need to update her headshot?

TONI PRECKWINKLE, IN particular, talks openly about how poor she expects voter turnout to be for Tuesday.

Which means her focus is going to be on getting the “right” people to show up at the polling places. As in the kinds of people who are inclined to view her as the “good government” Preckwinkle and not the “political hack” Preckwinkle that is the image that has arisen about Toni in recent months.

Preckwinkle does have the endorsements of people like Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White and the unions for school teachers and some municipal government employees.

Get those kinds of people to turn out en masse while the masses feel a sense of apathy toward this mayoral election – and, who’s to say. Tuesday could turn out to be an Election Night victory for the Preckwinkle campaign.

BASICALLY, IT COULD turn out to be similar to the Feb. 26 election for aldermen when Edward M. Burke of the 14^th Ward managed to get select precincts of voters to cast their votes for him – thereby enabling him to prevail over the strong sentiment of the Latino majority population that Burke’s time has passed.

Can Preckwinkle play hardball electoral politics just like Eddie Burke? Or is there too much of that Hyde Park “goo goo” spirit in her to overcome the strong sentiment amongst some voters who think Lori Lightfoot represents change and reform – and who are more than willing to take it out on Toni the fact that Burke (who faces criminal corruption charges) got himself re-elected last month?

Will you bother to vote?

Who’s to say just what Tuesday’s voter outcome will be. Other than that it likely will reflect the views of a minority of the Chicago electorate, with many other people likely to complain about the results – which came about because they couldn’t be bothered to cast ballots.

Not quite how “history” is supposed to feel when it’s in the making!

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