Drowning in a Red Sea: Joe Yetter in Oregon's 2nd Congressional District

Thinking about running for Congress? It might be the experience of a lifetime. 

Red. Bright Red. And very Trumpy.

Decide now. Pull together a team of supporters. The window for filing in Oregon starts September 14. The primary is in May. 

One man's story, Part One.

Joe Yetter is a retired physician who practiced family medicine and pathology in the military and civilian life on three continents. He ran for Congress in 2022 and he was badly crushed by Cliff Bentz. He and his wife, Lee, live on a small ranch near Azalea, in Douglas County. 

I supported his campaign. He seemed earnest and intelligent. He had a lifetime of public service and he cared about things I cared about. His opponent had voted to overturn the presidential election in Pennsylvania, even though the certified and audited results showed Biden had won by 80,000 votes. Trump told his lawyers just to claim that there was fraud, and to let the GOP Representatives take care of awarding the presidency to him. Bentz played his part. I consider it shameful and un-patriotic of him. That was a deal-killer and motivator for me.

Guest Post by Joe Yetter

The Washington Post’s Paul Waldman published an opinion piece, “Democrats should stop squandering money on glamorous lost causes.”  

Hey! Paul Waldman’s talking about me. I “squandered” a boatload of my own money and several boatloads of other people’s money—including bucks that once resided in the wallet of our host, Peter Sage.

I ran for Congress in a district that was perhaps R+30 in a midterm election. I bet against the house, and I lost.

To my surprise and delight, I had a great time. I'm an introvert (I redlined the “Introversion” score on my Myers-Briggs back in its heyday), and I don't care much for driving. But I loved meeting so many interesting, smart, and accomplished people in this vast district. 

Vast? Liz Cheney (WY-Ostracized) lives closer to Cliff Bentz than I do.  So I drove a lot. People welcomed me into their homes, introduced me to friends, put me in touch with local elected officials and media, set up meet-and-greets and arranged dinners and beer and karaoke. 

Introversion, schmintroversion.  You can find videos of me karaoke-ing Marty Robbins’ El Paso; I recommend that you not.

What I heard along the way was not merely folk’s overall concerns over democracy and individual liberty (especially after Roe was overturned.) Their quotidian concerns were economic: housing, jobs, health, infrastructure. No surprises there: people have immediate concerns. I was talking on the phone with a very smart, politically engaged veterinarian back in March. “Fish on!” he shouted, and hung up. Priorities.

I met a Tribal elder whose father’s memories reached back to the start of the Pendleton Roundup (1910), and whose grandfather had told him first-hand tales of Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce War. This elder was a font of wisdom and knowledge, and he positively oozed optimism for the future. A few miles away, I listened to a 16-year-old Native American who expressed utter despondence, her classmates and friends already decimated by drugs, disease, and violence. She saw no future with her in it. I listened in despair.

I met with mayors and commissioners, cattlemen and real estate investors, firefighters, aircraft engineers and drone developers. Every one of them was positive about their own futures.

Out in the sagebrush, up in the mountains, I heard over and over, “Portland,” as an epithet; it was weaponized against Democrats. I saw homeless encampments on Reservations and at the edges of small towns, but distant “Portland” was consistently invoked to condemn Democrats. 

I worked the Democratic booth at Pioneer Days in Canyonville, and one fellow assured me that he knew I was a “gun-grabbing pedophile.”

I met a host of great people. One mayor was a retired Marine Corps Colonel; he and I had served at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe at the same time, though we didn’t know each other then. I commanded the hospital there, and he was engaged with the combat folks, so while we certainly had attended some briefings and events together, we hadn’t met. We both considered ourselves pragmatists and we wound up agreeing on almost every policy we discussed, especially regarding housing and economic development.

Among the inspiring people I met, and worked with, were fellow Democrats on their own campaign trails. 

Many the people I met had been Peace Corps volunteers. I know I was meeting a select group, but the proportion was still remarkable. (They tell me there are three kinds of Peace Corps volunteers: a third go to Africa and come home with bizarre diseases; a third go to South America and come home with radical politics; a third go to the South Pacific and…they…don’t…come…home.)  One couple who came home from decades in Africa hosted me several times; they continue their service to our nation—and their neighbors—right here at home.

I flatter myself to believe that I also continued my own service to our country, just a bit. And I had a heck of a good time. 

Even though I lost the election, I feel great about carrying Democratic values out to the community.

My quest wasn’t a “glamorous lost cause” (à la Waldman).  Victory was improbable, but not impossible: candidates and campaigns implode, black swans exist, and the future…well: Ya nevah know.

 

Tomorrow: Part Two, why Joe Yetter ran for Congress. 

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Crime. Punishment. Deterrence.

Attorney for Enrique Tarrio:
     “My client is no terrorist. My client is a misguided patriot."

Prosecutor, requesting 33-year sentence:
     "We need to be sure that the consequences are abundantly clear to anyone who might be unhappy with the 2024, 2028, 2032 or any future election for as long as this case is remembered."

The judge sentenced Enrique Tarrio to 22 years in prison.

 

Two Proud Boys on January 6.  Convicted of Seditious Conspiracy.

The Proud Boy and Oath Keepers leaders put their intent in writing. They celebrated their success in writing. They were found guilty of seditious conspiracy by a jury. They were sentenced to terms of 15 to 22 years in prison.

So far about 1,000 people who entered the Capitol by force and vandalized it or assaulted police have also been charged. Some people identified and prosecuted received slap-on-the-wrist penalties of a few months of home detention. Others served longer detentions in federal lockups. 

Ashli Babbitt was shot and killed as she defied orders to stop while she attempted to crawl through a smashed window in a door inside the Capitol. The door led to a House chamber where Members of Congress and their staffs were sheltering. Her death stopped the crowd's effort to breach that door.

We should celebrate people being arrested, charged, and prosecuted for destroying public property or assaulting police officers. That goes both for Trump supporters on January 6 and for outlaw anarchist hooligans who found refuge by hiding within Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020. Regardless of the larger context of the "worthy cause" -- be it protesting bad police practices or trying to impede the peaceful transfer of office -- violent behavior is politically bad. It muddles the message of the protest. It is also morally wrong and illegal. Police and prosecutors who were slow to identify and arrest hooligans hiding amid lawful BLM protests made a grave error, both politically and in signaling community norms. Republican apologists and minimizers who complain about prosecutions of post-election crimes intended to keep Trump in office, including the crimes committed by Trump's top staff, his lawyers, and by Trump himself, are making a greater one. Throwing rocks at a courthouse in Portland, Oregon is a crime and an offense against public property. Over-throwing an election is a crime and an offense against our democratic republic itself.

The arrests and prosecutions of violent demonstrators have already had a good effect. Had the prosecutions not taken place there might well have been ten thousand, maybe a hundred thousand, people attending the arraignment of Donald Trump in Atlanta, carrying the signs and weapons people from January 6, making gallows, chanting "Hang the Judge," intimidating witnesses and jurors. They might have defied the police again. They might have attempted to break into the courthouse. 

This time people thought twice. Good.

I have every presumption that if I were to assault a police officer that I am at risk of immediate death. In a traffic stop, one keeps hands visible, moves slowly, and narrates what one is doing. Courts give officers legal immunity in nearly every circumstance. If they feel at risk, even if in hindsight they confused a flashlight or phone for a gun, they can shoot and kill me. They would still continue to work, get promotions, get their pension. I would still be dead. If one is openly pushing, shoving, stabbing police officers, or crawling through a window amid shouts of intent to do violence, then of course one is at risk of being shot and killed, or prosecuted and imprisoned.

January 6-related defendants may have thought themselves the "good guys," that their cause was noble, and that Trump had authority to authorize what they did. He encouraged it, but did not formally authorize it. He was careful, then and still, and protecting himself. He cannot say he authorized an insurrection without increasing his own trouble. The perpetrators of violence on January 6 were gullible and foolish and they committed provable crimes.

American prisons are full of people who were gullible and foolish and committed provable crimes. Their imprisonment is pure and vivid body language messaging. The message: Don't let Trump talk you into breaking the law.

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Elites North of Richmond

Republicans thought they found a working class hero to replace "Joe The Plumber" from 2008.

Democrats thought if Republicans liked him, he must be bad. And evangelical. And racist. And Q-Anon-friendly.

Both sides revealed why frustrated working class Americans are open to angry populist messages from either party, or neither party. 

Oliver Anthony

Oliver Anthony's song, Rich Men North of Richmond, went viral. The leadoff question in the GOP debate invited candidates to comment on why the song resonated with Americans. Anthony says he was misunderstood. He said he was mostly angry with rich business executives north of Richmond, not the bad choices made by working people. He said he mostly liked Democrats, but they were attacking him and Republicans were praising him. He said his real target was privileged, out of touch, oppressive elites. 

Michael Trigoboff observes that elites come in different forms. Financial elites send jobs to China, keep wages as low as possible, lobby to avoid paying benefits, and generally and see to it that the rich get richer. Cultural elites shame the great mass of "deplorables" for thinking what they think, liking what they like, and being who they are. They work with their hands. They get sweaty and dirty. Cultural elites say they should have gotten a better education. Trigoboff is now retired from work as a Computer Science professor in a community college. He taught classes to people struggling to reposition themselves out of dead-end work. He lives near, but outside, Portland, Oregon.

Trigoboff

Guest Post by Michael Trigoboff 

We have a “two-party system” in this country, but the two parties now represent different segments of the American elite. Republicans are the party of financial elites. Democrats, who used to be for “the little guy“, are now the party of cultural elites. Neither party represents normal, non-elite Americans.

 

This has opened up a huge, gaping space in our politics for populism. It’s why voters who do not have a college degree are gravitating away from the Democrats and toward the Republicans, including members of minority groups who the Democrats thought they owned. It’s what gave Donald Trump the opportunity to take over the Republican Party from financial elites like low-energy Jeb!.

 

When enough people are fed up with the elites, votes will matter more than money or cultural clout. Republicans will not be able to spend their way out of being engulfed by the populist wave. Democrats will not be able to use their cultural clout to scare people away from populism with words like “deplorable”.

 

Eventually, one party is going to ditch its elites and line up with the populists. Right now, it looks like it’s going to be the Republicans. But it could be the Democrats, if they’re capable of catching a clue; if not, they’ll never know what hit them.

 

In the meantime, populism is starting to develop its own cultural messages. This song is one of the latest:

Rich Men North of Richmond 

I've been sellin' my soul, workin' all day
Overtime hours for bullshit pay
So I can sit out here and waste my life away
Drag back home and drown my troubles away

It's a damn shame what the world's gotten to
For people like me and people like you
Wish I could just wake up and it not be true
But it is, oh, it is

Livin' in the new world
With an old soul
These rich men north of Richmond
Lord knows they all just wanna have total control
Wanna know what you think, wanna know what you do
And they don't think you know, but I know that you do
'Cause your dollar ain't shit and it's taxed to no end
'Cause of rich men north of Richmond

I wish politicians would look out for miners
And not just minors on an island somewhere
Lord, we got folks in the street, ain't got nothin' to eat
And the obese milkin' welfare

Well, God, if you're 5-foot-3 and you're 300 pounds
Taxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge rounds
Young men are puttin' themselves six feet in the ground
'Cause all this damn country does is keep on kickin' them down

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Anchoring Victory.

Steve Bannon, on audiotape, October 31, 2020, four days before the election: 

     "What Trump’s gonna do is just declare victory. Right? He’s gonna declare victory. But that doesn’t mean he’s a winner. He’s just gonna say he’s a winner.”

Donald Trump, on TV, election night, 2020:

"This is a fraud on the American public. This is an embarrassment to our country. We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election. We did win this election."

Sunday morning I got this email from the Trump campaign, telling me he has wrapped up the GOP nomination.  

Donald Trump understands the psychology of anchoring.

Democrats with intense dislike for Trump may under-estimate him by being blind to his strengths. He does wild, crazy, intemperate things but he is not stupid. Amid his manifest faults, he has some of the attributes of a great communicator. He can frame an argument and shape opinion.  As Barack Obama put it, the job of a president is "to explain stuff." 

Trump understands how to use anchoring to perpetuate the idea that he is a winner, and therefore that anything that looks like a setback for him is illegitimate. False. Immoral. Taken away from its rightful owner. Humans are susceptible to anchoring an original status; they presume it to be legitimate, normal, the status quo ante. We compare any deviation from it as requiring special justification. The simplest example is the "sale" in a store. It's Labor Day, a reason to drop prices below their "real" value!

Oriental rugs at great prices: www.rugs.com

The "real" price is exactly $7,247.50.

We witness this device being employed to serve other people's interests. We know it is a device. We fall for it again and again. 

Even smart, rational people anchor. We cannot help ourselves. Every Financial Advisor observes it with clients. Once an investment hits a certain price, or a portfolio a certain high point in value, that is the new anchor point. Anything less than that is "loss," something taken away from what was once rightfully theirs, regardless of the price paid or its price history. Loss implies fault in some way, either by neglect or theft, and therefore there is an implied villain. Humans hate loss. It disturbs the natural order of things. After the drop in housing prices in 2009-2013 from the previous highs in 2006-2007, houses sat on the market for years. People who had understood their house to have been worth a certain value in 2007 could not bear to sell for less than that value.

We see Trump making the statement repeatedly that he received 73 million votes, seven million more votes than any president in history seeking re-election. He is using anchoring. He repeatedly posits that the number of votes prior presidents received in re-election bids is a relevant fact for determining the 2020 election. He got more votes than Obama in 2012, more than Bush in 2004, so he simply must have won in 2020. 

Trump is a far better salesperson than is Joe Biden. That combines with the fact that Trump is shamelessly dishonest, selfish, narcissistic, and sociopathic, as widely acknowledged by his former cabinet members. But Trump understands what captures our attention and he is persuasive to a big group of people and is therefore powerful. Next generation Democrats who might arise as party leaders to present an articulate counter-narrative to Trump are deferring to Biden, letting him be party leader and spokesperson. Biden has many strengths, but telling a persuasive narrative is not one of them. 

Trump is making it harder for any GOP competitor to replace him. After all, he has already won the nomination, as he asserts. He is anchoring. The nomination is his. It could only be taken away from him by theft, and surely GOP voters would not want to support an election thief.

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Easy Sundy: "Tennis, anyone?"

Today's "Easy Sunday" post is a respite from politics.

It is part travelogue, a glimpse into British culture and manners. It is also a look at modern retirement in America among Boomers. "Tennis, anyone," is a cliche evoking the lives of prosperous people at leisure. Tony Farrell plays tennis and he got a chance to play tennis at the grass courts at Wimbleton, so of course he went there to do it.

Social Security and Medicare greatly reduced poverty among America's elderly. Farrell is in a cohort of active and prosperous American seniors living well off earnings saved during an era of abundance, shaped by generous defined benefit pensions for some, by bull markets in 401-K investments for others, and for rising home prices for most. America has created a leisure class. Farrell earned his success. He is smart, hard-working, creative, lucky. He is a college classmate who went on to the Harvard Business School, and then had a series of marketing jobs for The Gap, The Sharper Image, The Nature Company, and independent work creating TV infomercials. You have seen his work. He managed the Trump Steak marketing. You may have bought something "As seen on TV!"

Tennis is part of his life. It was part of mine long ago. I earned school letters in tennis in my youth. A red "H" and a black "M" lie at the bottom of a box stored on an inaccessible shelf. I haven't looked at them for 40 years, but haven't thrown them away, either.

Guest Post by Tony Farrell

Three weeks after Wimbledon ended this July, my wife, Kathy, and I were among 16 players from Berkeley Tennis Club (California) to be hosted by the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) for friendly matches with them. We were honored to play on the hallowed grass of Wimbledon, the sport's most revered shrine.

I’ll start with my most recent prior visit to England, in 2016. On Tuesday, November 8, election day, Kathy and I boarded our SFO flight to London at 6:00 p.m. Nine hours into the flight—still sealed off from the outside world and clueless about the election’s outcome—the lights came on; breakfast service began; and the pilot announced that Donald Trump had won. This sudden revelation elicited a few high-pitched cheers but a deep, funereal moan seemed to send a shudder through the plane. Remember, that June Great Britain had voted to exit the European Union. A dark time. The centenary remembrances of the Great War matched the mood.

This time, in 2023, the mood was sunnier. What struck me first was the festive, crowded, constant bustle of all of London; not only tourist areas but the neighborhoods we transited on our way out to the suburbs. Streets, sidewalks, parks, cafes, shops, all seemed at capacity with both vacationers and locals. An impressive sight, compared to San Francisco, where at 4:30 p.m. workdays, downtown is practically void of people and cars, with boarded up lunch spots everywhere. The Bay Area may have a diverse populace but not a diverse economy, and tech’s work-from-home shift has struck a mighty blow. London was a revelation.

Being from tiny tennis clubs, we were surprised to learn that the All England Lawn Tennis Club has only 500 members (tournament winners get in automatically) and only about 300 are active! But AELTC, the billion-dollar enterprise, has 350 full-time staff. The waiting list is, obviously, more than a century long and practically hopeless for almost all who are on it. After a thrilling croquet match (AELTC was founded as a croquet club) we learned there are only 20 active croquet players. While attractive, the Wimbledon grounds are massive; more like a well-landscaped industrial park than a typical club. Its management is divided between those who run the major annual tournament, and a much smaller staff who takes care of the few members.

Farrell with wife Kathy, daughter Morgan, and their new rescue dog.

Because of the down-to-earth graciousness and courtesy of our charming Wimbledon hosts, politics were never discussed. (No titting their Boris to tatting our Donald.) But it was interesting to hear of one London-based player who had left his home at 6:30 a.m. to take the train to Paris to catch two doubles matches at the French Open, and was home by 10:30 that night. Before Brexit, that was like going from California to Nevada; post Brexit, it was quite the hassle with passports, etc.

In London, plus in Scotland and Northern Ireland, Brexit remains a shocking disappointment; something as serious as it is senseless to be dealt with. Of course, Britain has always been contrary: Driving on the wrong side; rejecting the metric system. But, you know, now they have Euros (unlike the first two EU countries I visited, Sweden and Hungary, which retained their currency). Ultimately, I believe Great Britain will make non-treaty accommodations with the EU (like Norway and Switzerland) to adopt EU rules, and enjoy most benefits, without surrendering “sovereignty” as they view it. In any event, virtually all service staff, in hotels, shops, transit, etc., seem to be non-natives.

One chat I had with a former chair of AELTC signaled a consonance with progressive trends, when he lauded the accomplishments of the now-grown children of an immigrant Laotian family (one of whom is a senior umpire for their tournament). He stated that if one ever needed an argument for how immigration strengthens a nation, there it was.

After our Wimbledon treat, Kathy and I vacationed further in Hamburg, and found ourselves in the middle of a 100-thousand person Gay Pride march; rainbow banners flying everywhere. Again, quite lively and festive, with not one hint of animus.

 

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Fox News: A Guided Tour

     "Donald Trump has expanded his dominating lead for the Republican presidential nomination, a new Wall Street Journal poll shows, as GOP primary voters overwhelmingly see his four criminal prosecutions as lacking merit and about half say the indictments fuel their support for him."

                          Wall Street Journal, today, September 2, 2023 

Really? Even now? Still?

Consumers of mainstream news have watched Trump's problems compound. The books by his former top appointees saying Trump is dangerously unfit. The New York rape/defamation verdict. The Trump Foundation mis-appropriation settlement penalty. The Stormy Daniels hush money indictments. The New York real estate tax scam indictments. The January 6 House hearings report. The Mar-a-Lago documents, with Trump's voice on tape. The Georgia indictments, again with Trump's voice on tape, and Georgia Republicans testifying against him. The Giuliani stipulation in the Georgia election worker case. The Department of Justice conspiracy indictment of Trump's orchestrated effort to overturn the election. Mike Pence now joining Chris Christie and Liz Cheney saying what Trump tried to do was both illegal and morally wrong. It all might give Republican voters pause, right? Apparently not.

Republican voters who primarily consume Fox News, talk radio, and conservative media don't think Trump did anything wrong. They have heard nothing about this.

I watch a little Fox News when I make coffee in the morning, and when I refill my cup, about ten minutes spread through the day. This will read like exaggeration and parody. It isn't parody. This is Fox News:

Images of Hunter Biden looking wasted.

Republican neurologist opines that Joe Biden is senile and confused.

Trump calls former AG Bill Barr a dishonest and cowardly RINO for saying the election was legitimate.

RNC employee says the Fed's interest rate bumps are destroying car and home sales, causing misery. Blames Joe Biden.

Joe Biden goes to Florida to look at hurricane damage. Why bother? Florida Republicans complain about federal response. 

Hunter Biden again, looking wasted.

GOP congressman says Trump innocent that the FBI is weaponized against conservatives. Says Christopher Wray is a RINO.

A Heritage Foundation economist says U.S. economy is catastrophically bad and is getting worse. Blames Bidenomics.

Interview with a Wisconsin woman who attended Jan 6 rally. "We were just patriotic Americans protesting an election that was stolen from us."

White men gathered in Ohio diner for breakfast, all wearing MAGA hats, opine that Trump is "very popular with nearly everyone," and a victim of weaponized corrupt prosecutors.

Pictures of Joe and Hunter Biden.

Interview with Arizona Republican wearing "Keri Lake Won!" tee shirt, who says that Republicans who ran the 2020 and 2022 elections in Arizona conspired to rig them for Democrats.

Blurred photos of Hunter Biden.

Interview with Georgia Republican who says GOP "alternative electors" just followed expert advice, and were indicted "so they would lie and flip."

Interview with six White New Hampshire men in front of gun range who all say Biden is senile.

GOP congressman says that Chris Christie and Liz Cheney are "lying RINOs" who just want jobs on MSNBC.

Mother of January 6 rioter found guilty of hitting Capitol police officer says her son was just trying to stop Biden from stealing the election Trump obviously won.

North Carolina mother condemns pedophiles and trans people, and thanks Trump for appointing judges who can put a stop to "Democrat iniquity." 

Hunter Biden's income from Burisma. 

Story on Trump rally where Trump reaffirms that he won every battleground state "by hundreds of thousands of votes and that he has absolute proof of it."

Interview with John Eastman saying he just wanted a fair election count, nothing more.

GOP congressman condemns search of Trump's home for document. "They were just boxes of golf shirts!"

Story about fire in Maui, interspersed with images of Joe Biden at beach. "Why doesn't Biden care about Americans who are suffering," the news anchor asks? 

Report about a country singer who says she has lost  gigs because she said "Trump is a good Christian man who loves America." 

Economist says job growth numbers are a "danger signal" of a "Biden economy on the brink of hyper-inflation." Urges people buy gold and ammunition.

Story about a Black teenager in Chicago who shoplifted, confronted by White man with a gun. 

Story questioning Hunter Biden's qualifications to get into Yale Law School.

Story quoting Trump's recent Truth Social feeds blasting prosecution of a "totally innocent man."

GOP congressman predicts potential evidence will emerge soon of massive "Biden crime family wealth" hidden offshore.

And on and on throughout the day. 

Republicans believe what they believe because they know what they know and don't know what they don't know.

 

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Doug Burgum took a shot

"I am not throwin' away my shot
I am not throwin' away my shot
Hey yo, I'm just like my country
I'm young, scrappy and hungry
And I'm not throwin' away my shot
It's time to take a shot."

                   Lin-Manuel Miranda, "My Shot," from Hamilton, 2015.  

I had to remind myself of his name to write about him. Doug Burgum.  

Doug Burgum is the guy on the end of the stage, on our right.

He is the North Dakota governor. The GOP presidential candidate. The guy who made a billion dollars selling a software company to Microsoft. The one who said Pence did the right thing saying "no" to Trump. The one who raised his hand to say he would vote for Trump, even if Trump were convicted of a felony. The one who wanted abortion handled state by state.

Here he is close up.

Doug Burgum's workaround to qualify for the debate nudged him into the dim edge of national public awareness. He offered a $20 gift card to everyone who donated one dollar to his campaign. He needed 40,000 contributions of any amount. I sent him a dollar. A week later I got this gift card in the mail, loaded with $20. I also got an email and phone text every day from him until I managed to unsubscribe. Heads up: Donating puts you on lists. 

He had his moment on the main stage. He got to introduce himself to America. He got his shot.

With an estimated net worth of $1.1 billion, he can afford controversial stunts. He couldn't afford to waste his shot. He did. He needed to have distinguished himself by saying something memorable. Pence said he wanted a national ban on abortion; Burgum said this should be a state matter. He didn't pound on the point, say why a national ban would be a disaster, or generalize from it to some bigger concept of states' rights. He needed a reason for people to say, "By gosh, Burgum is right" but his was a soft toss of a tiny pebble into a big pond, leaving barely a ripple.

Burgum has a tough job. Burgum appears to want to look normal. Reasonable. He would be old-style GOP leadership, promoting low taxes, small government, fewer abortions done with low-temperature rhetoric. There is a market for "normal" in the GOP electorate, but the energy in the GOP goes to flame throwers, and now it has two of them, Trump and Vivek Ramaswamy. Attention switched to Ramaswamy, who crashed the party with know-it-all flash and sweeping insults, giving the GOP audience an amped-up younger Trump. Nikki Haley distinguished herself by standing up to Ramaswamy, telling him he was a dangerous, inexperienced fool. That interaction defined the candidate's positions, making Haley the "normal" candidate, who stands up to upstart Trump wannabes -- although not yet to Trump. If Burgum has any position on the mental map of voters, I don't know what it is. 

Why bother even wasting a blog post on him? Burgum will be an example of candidates dropping out. The field is clearing. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez just dropped out of the race, but he doesn't really count because who knew he was in it in the first place? Burgum will need to get to 3% in a national poll to be eligible for the next debate at the Reagan Library. If there had been votes up for grabs, after that debate Haley or someone else would likely get them, not Burgum.

Burgum serves by losing. Alternatives to Trump get credibility by demonstrating that voters are choosing them, not that other guy, that governor from North Dakota, that guy on the edge of the stage, Doug something. A guy with a billion dollars can easily afford to spend 10% of it on a presidential race. Why not? He gave it a shot.

I used the $20 gift card to buy two bags of frozen berries at $9.99 each.

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