Dream On

If you’re like me and the thought of another presidential race between Joe Biden and Donald Trump gives you urges for self-immolation, then come along on a trip to fantasy land and let’s dream for a few minutes.

My magical mystery tour started on Wednesday night of this past week,  watching the first debate amongst the Republican presidential wannabes, sans Trump.

First, a fashion note.  Did you notice that all the men wore red ties, as if the color of one’s tie is an indicator of one’s position on, let’s say, inflation.  Kudos to Nikki Haley for wearing a blue-hued suit.  More on Nikki in a moment.

As I closely watched the candidates on the debate stage, I found myself slipping into slumber, and not only when North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum was speaking. 

While in the land of Nod, I dreamt that the criminal, okay, the alleged criminal, that was not on the debate stage, was under house arrest at his gilded, gaudy golf club, where his ankle bracelet pinged when he putted.

I dreamt that we were able to honestly evaluate the presidential chops of the eight Republicans that were debating, because one of them would actually become the party’s nominee.  That one of them would actually be able to challenge the current, senescent occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

In my reverie, watching that first debate, I was looking for a leader, a responsible adult, to run against a doddering, icky old man.  Someone who wouldn’t fall asleep when meeting with leaders of other nations. Someone who wouldn’t talk about almost losing his beloved Corvette in a small house fire, while trying to console the victims of the devastating and deadly Maui wildfires.  A candidate we could evaluate on the merits of their policy positions and not on their fealty to the US Constitution. 

Pretty basic, no? 

The elephant wasn’t in the room during that debate on Wednesday of this past week, but his scent was very much in the air.

Even in my dream state, I easily dismissed Ron DeSantis as a viable candidate.   When a guy has to look around to see whether the other candidates would endorse a convicted Donald Trump for president before raising his own hand, he’s not a leader in my book. At least have the guts to be firm in your convictions, as distasteful as they may be.

Then there was Tim Scott, sincere and optimistic Tim Scott.  But I think he would rather be a preacher than a president. 

There was Mike Pence, who might as well be a preacher, and whose claim to fame is that he upheld his oath of office on January 6 and didn’t overturn the will of the American people.  Whoopee!

Chris Christie was lurking on the left side of the stage.  He got drowned out by boos from the Republican audience when he said Trump’s conduct was beneath the office of the President of the United States.

Cross Christie off the nomination list.

While in NREM, I heard the incessant whine from the youngest debater, 38-year old Vivek Ramaswamy, who may have been chugging Red Bulls on stage because no one could possibly be that amped up without outside stimuli. 

He says Trump was the greatest President of the 21st Century.  So Vivek,  why are you running against him?

But thank you VR, for giving Nikki Haley a chance to shine.

When he blurted out that US support for Ukraine was “driving Russia further into China’s arms” Haley pounced on that puke and schooled that nattering, know-nothing novice about US world leadership.

Actually, she was doing pretty well even before Ramaswamy dropped his foreign policy turd on the stage.

She was honest about which party drove up the nation’s debt.  The Republicans.  She was clear about the Lindsay Graham crap of a federal bill banning abortions after 15 weeks.  She called out her fellow party members and told them to be honest they won’t get that passed and to seek consensus rather than demonizing women.

Hearing Nikki Haley at that first debate, I thought, wouldn’t it be something if she ran against Joe Biden?

Nikki Haley as the Republican nominee, would make Biden so worried about getting wheeled out of the White House in 2024, it might make him skip his morning Ovaltine.

She’s smart, tough, experienced and not for nothing, she’s a woman of color with an American dream story to tell.

And then, I suddenly woke up and checked my iPhone to make sure I was living in 2023 and not in 1980 (yeah, I know, iPhones weren’t even invented yet), when Ronald Reagan was first elected President of the United States. 

The party is so far removed from the Reagan era, Nikki Haley doesn’t stand a chance to be the Republican presidential nominee.

She doesn’t stand a chance because of the gargantuan Trump cloud that hangs over the Republican Party.  It’s an ominous, very dark cloud, and anyone who doesn’t cower beneath it, gets swept away in a torrent of MAGA rain when it bursts.

You don’t have to have your eyes fully open to see the decline of a Republican Party that continues to grovel at Trump’s feet and is enslaved to his base.

You don’t have to be fully awake to see the black rain that continues to fall on the United States from Hillary Clinton’s atomic implosion of a campaign that gave us President Donald J Trump.

When I snapped out of my slumber, I sadly realized both Trump and Biden are not figments of my imagination.  They’re real and they’re far from spectacular.

The election is still more than a year away, but if we don’t immediately wake up from this bad dream, the chances of a campaign that will be about the future of our nation, is a chimera. 

Yes, you can feel sorry for Nikki Haley who won’t even get the chance to run for president on her party’s ticket.  But if we were truly awake, we’d be sorry for ourselves who’ll be stuck with either a crook or a cadaver until 2028.