Trump: Oh Look, There’s a Squirrel!

(Note to readers: I try to not write about Trump often, but sometimes I just can’t help myself.)

In February President Trump initiated an ill-conceived war of choice against Iran hoping to distract the American public from his falling approval rating, his incoherent tariff regime and the scandal that wouldn’t go away, Epstein.

Now, Trump desperately needs a distraction from his last distraction, the war with Iran. Because — don’t look now — but Iran is winning. That despite the fact that Trump regularly boasts we already won that war, that it’s over, that Iran has been destroyed.

Meanwhile, Iran has gone from tying up the Strait of Hormuz to now, through its proxy, the Houthis, shutting down the shipping routes through the Red Sea. Once again, Iran has taken America hostage on the eve of an election. With the mid-terms coming on November 3, Iran has taken all Americans hostage in the form of through-the-roof oil prices, meaning both gas and diesel cost more and more, and with no end in sight.

Saudi Arabia, whose cross-country pipeline allowed them to access Red Sea shipping routes, is calling for U.S. military intervention against the Iranian-backed Houthis, after their pipeline had been attacked and taken offline. But Trump is turning a deaf ear to our so recently new BFF’s, Saudi Arabia, because well, we already won that war. He is trying desperately to ignore his own great distraction lest Americans pay attention to the real mess he’s got us and world into.

Trump has played the distraction game as well as anyone . . . until now. Until he now needs a distraction from his February “LOOK HERE, (and not there).”

It appears that his latest gambit is to put all his marbles on what he insists are our fraudulent elections, even though the only fraud anyone has found is his own. This is his way of preparing for what I think of as “the other third.” Which would be January 3rd, when Congress is scheduled to certify the results of November 3rd and seat newly elected members.

The other day someone said to me, “We just have to stay focused on November 3,” which is the date of the upcoming mid-terms. “Agreed,” I said, but we also have to pay attention to the second third, being January 3.

All the chaos Trump is creating about mail-in ballots and voters who aren’t American citizens is a way of preparing for outrageous claims in order to delegitimize the elections of November 3 so that when January 3 comes, Republicans in Congress can claim election fraud and refuse to seat what is likely to be a Democratic majority in both the House and Senate.

So, yes, if you care about democracy in America by all means keep your focus on Nov. 3. Keep door-belling and donating to candidates. Be sure to vote and encourage and help others to do so as well. But should the Dems win big on November 3, don’t consider it a done deal just yet. Keep your eyes on January 3 and what could be the biggest constitutional crisis since the Civil War.

Meanwhile, Trump is laying the groundwork for another round of finger pointing and distraction should the mid-terms prove a disaster for him and the Republicans. Worried about the turnout, he is telling his people, “Pretend I am on the ballot. Get out and vote as if I were on the ballot.” If Republicans go south on Nov. 3, Trump will say, “It was because I wasn’t on the ballot.”

But, here’s the thing, Trump is on the ballot. Given the fact that the Republican Party is a wholly owned subsidiary of Trump Inc.and that virtually no Republican candidate is allowed to stand for office without his imprimatur, Trump is on the ballot. In fact, in the elections for national office, he and the wild chaos of his second term are the only thing on the ballot. Which is, just parenthetically, good news for Democrats.

Will America’s recovery begin on November 3? One hopes so. But don’t forget that second third, January 3rd.