The best time of the year!
Ahhhhhh….it’s in the air, Fall temps (most of the time) to go with the leaves starting to change colors and fall. Of course, the best part of this time of year is that it’s football season….high school, college and the NFL. If you’re a football junkie, it’s tremendous. Tailgating with friends and family before a game anywhere in The Palmetto State is magical.
But….
It’s also Election Season. This is a big one. We have a Presidential election to go with every member of the South Carolina House and Senate asking for your trust. So, if you have two addictions–football and politics, you’re really enjoying the moment. That’s me. I’m both a political and a football junkie! Thus, my favorite time of the year.
I don’t have a crystal ball. Not sure I can predict what I think USC or Clemson’s record will be—I can even offer my thoughts on who wins between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Although in that case, it might not be who wins—but who loses. We’ll see. Whatever the case, it’s fun to speculate and take the news of the daily and determine how it will impact the race.
I’ve said a couple of things for a while. First, I’ve said for a year and a half that I knew it wouldn’t be Joe Biden on the front of the Democratic ticket. They masterfully removed him with a great early-debate strategy and with the help of Hollywood and the national media, they brilliantly recrafted the Vice President’s image in 30 days from a candidate polling at 32% nationally to someone we can all love and trust and count on for more “Hope and Joy”. The other thing I’ve said is this election, much to my dismay, will likely come down to personalities instead of genuine issues. If it’s an issues election, it should be a blowout victory for Mr. Trump. It doesn’t matter how difficult it is for middle-America to afford groceries—or gas or anything else—it doesn’t matter about the drugs or trafficking coming in from the Southern border and it doesn’t matter about the world’s instability which has been compounded by the pandering of Harris toward Michigan’s Arabic community (and voters). All that matters is the “Orange Man” has a personality that many can’t handle and 81 million people might turn out again to vote against Trump—instead of voting for Harris. Let’s face it, nobody except Hunter and Jill Biden voted “for” Joe Biden in 2020. Millions voted against Trump. Now that the Dems got their base excited by yanking Biden off the ticket for someone with a pulse, that base might turn out again.
The one big difference here is that these Americans can judge these candidates on performance. Harris has been part of a dumpster fire so large, it might be the cause of climate change. Meanwhile, Trump had a very successful Presidency going until Covid gave the Democratic party a lifeline. Will any of it matter? Can women hold their nose and vote for Trump because he’s a stronger candidate? Not sure. Doubt it. Will Harris get 95% of the black vote or will Trump siphon some of that off? These are fun questions that we’ll figure out in November. For now, enjoy the leaves changing and the chicken wings at your next tailgate. I do love me some Fall in South Carolina.
