Just One Thing
Yesterday, former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence gave dueling speeches in Washington, DC, perhaps presaging part of the 2024 Republican presidential primary race. (For the record, I just don't think Pence is an appealing enough candidate to have a chance against Trump and I think Pence's hard-core religiosity would make him a weaker candidate than the GOP needs in the general election, so even though I oppose Trump I won't be supporting Pence unless he's the only alternative.)
Both speeches are posted at the end of this note.
Putting aside the unusual situation in 1792 when John Adams kinda sorta challenged George Washington for the presidency when the outcome for Washington was never in doubt, there have only been two times when a current or former vice president challenged the current or former president, with whom he served, for the presidency.
First was in 1800 when VP Thomas Jefferson defeated President John Adams in one of the nastiest elections in American history. It should be noted, however, that Adams and Jefferson were from different political parties. Here's an interesting article about it: The Press, the Propagandists, and the Election of 1800 | The New Yorker
Second was in 1940 when John "Cactus Jack" Garner challenged President Franklin Delano Roosevelt for the Democratic nomination after Garner had served as VP for Roosevelt's first two terms. In part, Garner challenged FDR because the former was upset with the latter's abortive effort to pack the Supreme Court (although that effort did stoke enough fear in the hearts of the justices that they stopped overturning FDR's many unconstitutional programs.) Garner ended up with about 10% of the number of convention delegates that FDR did.
So on the one hand VPs are batting .500 in trying to take on their former presidents but on the other hand, the one victory was when the VP was of a different party than the president. Just based on history, if this were a two-man race, you'd have to think that Trump would be favored. That said, we're living in chaotic, perhaps unique, times and I don't think anything is predictable with any level of confidence these days.
Today's Guest
Todd Furniss is CEO and managing partner at gTC Group, a private equity firm based in Dallas where they invest in, among other things, healthcare. His book is called The 60% Solution: Rethinking Healthcare and his podcast entitled Civil Discourse has over 1.5 million views or listens.
https://www.gtc.group/todd-furniss
https://mashable.com/article/amazon-buys-one-medical
https://www.amazon.com/60-Solution-Rethinking-Healthcare/dp/195443703X
Other Stuff
A remarkable poll shows how much Americans fear and loathe our gov’t: Polarization-Poll.pdf (opalstacked.com)
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Why Ukrainian grain still isn't being shipped out despite an agreement on paper with Russia: Ukraine's grain is ready to go. But ships aren't. Why? Risk | AP News
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Recently I was talking on the show about how none of the articles I read about the military, especially the army, failing to meet their recruitment goals mentioned what seems to me to be a VERY obvious factor: The kind of person likely to volunteer to join the military is NOT the kind of person likely to want to subject himself or herself to woke indoctrination. That very wokeness has infected our military and our service academies at the highest levels and it's being forced down the throats of young volunteers and cadets alike. What patriotic young American wants to be force-fed George Takei and Ibram X Kendi? Now the brilliant Victor Davis Hanson makes the same point, better than I could: How To Erode the World’s Greatest Military - VDH’s Blade of Perseus (victorhanson.com)
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Normally I'd be absolutely shocked about this story but since it's about my alma mater it doesn't surprise me at all.
Title IX: Biden Changes Mean Return to 'Dark Ages' for Falsely Accused Students | National Review
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A great short piece about doctors and tolerance: The Message America's Future Doctors Need to Hear (commonsense.news)
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Megamillions lottery jackpot now over $1 billion (over many years, not the cash option):
https://apnews.com/article/iowa-b8fa630dff95317d41fecab348880806
Good stuff here about odds: Mega Millions, Powerball prizes come down to math, long odds | AP News
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I'm sure a lot of dog lovers would agree: Polish institute classifies cats as alien invasive species | AP News
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What happens when you don't engage your brain after reading what you think are the instructions: Crooked road lines painted on California road baffle residents - UPI.com
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Sometimes I just love Florida Man: Florida man arrested on DUI charge after driving scooter into Walmart shelves, police say (clickorlando.com)
Today's Videos
Here are the dueling speeches from Trump and Pence yesterday. (Pence's was first so I'll post it first.) Trump's speech more than twice as long as Pence's...ugh. They're both fairly dull. Trump can be quite dynamic at rallies but he's fairly wooden giving speeches. Pence just ranges from duller wood to shinier wood.
As is always the case, Trump spends some time looking backwards at the 2020 election. Pence carefully but specifically criticized that, talking about how it's important to look forward, not back.
VERY interesting to hear Pence talk about the "Trump-Pence administration" and use the plural "we" talking about those years. He's trying to thread a narrow needle by holding himself close enough to try to try to keep Trump voters at least open to supporting him but not so close as to appear to be trying to be a clone. As I said, that's a tough needle to thread but in a time when so many Republicans are more loyal to Trump than to the party, it's probably the only path forward for a Republican presidential hopeful right now. When it comes to Pence's effort to thread this needle, just watch for a minute start at about 36:06 in the first video below.
The Unamusement Park