Consider, if you must, and you certainly should, my favorite political story of this notoriously fractious political year. From Tulsa Public Radio:
Lacey Benningfield Rundle, 109, issued a statement late Friday saying she was grateful for the right to vote. Randle was born in 1914, and women did not gain the right to vote in Oklahoma until 1918. In 1921, Randle witnessed the destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood neighborhood by a white mob. The area was known for its relatively wealthy black population. Researchers say up to 300 people died. In her statement, Randle alluded to Harris’ Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, but did not use his name.
Mrs. Randall had more to say.
“I don’t know how much time I have left. But if this is my last ballot, I’m grateful it’s for Kamala Harris. I have five children and over 20 grandchildren. VP Harris has a better chance of building the nation I want them to inherit.”
It is worth reading her statement in full. A 109-year-old survivor of a horrific racist massacre that this community cannot be bothered to atone for puts her name in a statement that sums up the stakes of this election better than a statement from a flock of highly paid pundits, and then her 109-year-old self jumps in. year to vote anyway. For the past several weeks, I’ve snatched a logo from Shaka Smart, the basketball coach at my alma mater on the gleaming banks of the Menomonee River in Milwaukee. To me, it seemed like a salutary reminder that the work to erase Trumpism will not end if its founder loses another election — which, God willing, will be his last. Then came Mrs. Randall’s story, and I realized that she was the living embodiment of the following slogan:
There is no finish line.
In less noble constituencies, the weekend was a holiday for grumbling, especially on the Republican side. The Vice President appeared well on Saturday Night Live. (Regardless, a vice presidential victory would mean more Maya Rudolph on TV, reason enough to warn off any undecided voters.) …once again. The Republican Party now plays a deck of 52 victim cards, much like the all-diamond deck that Frank Sinatra waved in The Manchurian Candidate. Cue one Brendan Carr of the Federal Election Commission. From the hill:
“This is a clear and blatant effort to evade the FCC’s equal time rule,” Commissioner Brendan Carr posted on social media platform X. “The purpose of the rule is to avoid exactly this type of biased, partisan behavior — a licensed broadcaster using the public airwaves to exert influence in favor of one candidate on the eve of the election,” continued Carr, a Trump appointee, unless the broadcaster offers equal time to other eligible campaigns. “The rules allow,” Carr, a Trump appointee, continued. “Equal Time” to the FCC for competing candidates to request equal airtime. Carr, the ranking Republican on the commission, was appointed by former President Trump.
Jebus, get over yourself.
There’s more to Carr than just being hired by a talking cliché. He is also one of the authors of Project 2025, the bureaucratic “Mein Kampf” book produced by a group of members of the ex-president* whom the ex-president* of course knows nothing about.
“Given the close ties between Project 2025, Trump, and his re-election campaign, it is deeply troubling that Commissioner Carr would use his official title and position to author part of the political playbook for a Republican presidential candidate,” the lawmakers wrote. “The potential misuse of the title raises serious questions about Commissioner Carr’s commitment to keeping his private political activities separate from his official duties.”
Meanwhile, outside, the former president* did his best to ignore the “check engine” light flashing in the corner of his eyes. It was constantly moving, and by the end of the day, it looked like a representation of death cut from a medieval tapestry. It sounded like an old 78 RPM motor that had been left in someone’s garage for seventy years. His familiar recitation of grievances was lifeless, when it was not graceless, when it was not completely incoherent.
“Then they accuse you of being a conspiracy theorist and want to lock you up and put you in prison. The people who should be locked up are those who cheated in this terrible election we are having in our country. Add 100 and think 112,000 jobs. “That beautiful white skin I have will be nice and tanned. I have white skin because I don’t have time to go out in the sun. I have this beautiful white color. “It would have been a nice tan.”
I picked those cherries between soccer games just yesterday.
And they were back at it on Monday, a dizzying stretch of speeches, rallies and endless TV ads. (There’s nothing like watching a happy Christmas ad from Target with one of those death-spraying commercials from the former president’s ad men*. Please stop killing my dead hype.) But I’m still hanging in there Mrs. Lacey Benningfield Rundle, who learned her lesson On a dark day in 1921.
There is no finish line.
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