Good Morning friends,
Not a lot has changed since we last talked. Arizona’s still counting votes. Harris County is still trying to explain why elections there were a mess. And, a whole constellation of paid pundits and political operators are still trying to convince everyone that the Republican rank and file are done with Donald Trump, after what seemed to be a rude series of rants on social media, targeting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Odds are, not many folks were watching Saturday Night Live over the weekend. That’s not a guess— the ratings and statistics for the show are as low as they’ve ever been.
Consequently, many may have missed a very nimble monologue by comedian Dave Chappelle, who we are totally swiping the title for today’s newsletter from.
“An honest liar.” That’s how he describes Donald Trump— trying to explain for a New York audience why many of the folks in his present home area of Ohio are still in favor of the man.
One imagines Trump’s appeal remains strong in many rural areas, as evidenced by how vocal so many paid political experts are being in their rush to measure out a metaphorical coffin for the man.
We called it an agile monologue because Chappelle manages to wheel and engage and skewer just about every sacred cultural cow presently dominating the zeitgeist in 15 minutes or less. There’s red meat there for everyone— even as he manages to carefully stick up for Kanye West and Kyrie Irving, who are both getting a digital tarring and feathering for alleged anti-Semitic comments.
It’s worth a watch if only for the laughs, but we feel it’s also some pretty good and honest analysis.
Chappelle doesn’t seem to have much of an axe to grind— and also seems very aware that it would be much safer to just hew to the well-trod territory many might expect. Of course, after coupling that awareness with his history of walking away from showbusiness at the height of his career, one realizes the odds of him taking the safe road was probably slim to none.
We should probably talk a little bit about Trump and DeSantis and the perception some out there have that the former President has severely damaged his own brand by behaving in a less than presidential fashion.
This is one of those things that might be true, but is almost certainly not as big of a deal as some would have you believe.
After all— Trump’s been flying off the handle on social media since 2012 at least. What’s new? Nothing. By this time next year, no one will care. Promise. There’ll be something else.
By jumping out there like this, Trump has spared himself weeks of needling and speculative press about him possibly having to run against DeSantis. Has he cost himself a lot of support? Sure— if the election was tomorrow, he’d be in real trouble.
But it isn’t. And now we’ll all have to just wait and see what happens. But anyone who thinks Trump is done, is probably just full of wishful thinking.
Meanwhile, one has to admire the savviness of the Republicans in Florida— refusing to comment on things, and starving the story for lack of oxygen.
Politico barely mentions it in their preview for the week, focusing instead mostly on the expected leadership wrangling coming up this week in the House and Senate.
As for the Border Crisis— readers should not have been caught off guard by the resignation of Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Chris Magnus. Not that it was much of a prediction on our parts, anyone paying attention could see the game that was being played.
Some believe Magnus was doing as ordered the whole time he was in his position— focusing on the “Culture” in Border Patrol. Activists and others seem to view Border Patrol as an organization full of “buckaroos,” prone to adlib and twist situations so that they’re able to do whatever they want.
The narrative goes, that Magnus was expected to oversee a transition at Border Patrol, from a hardnosed law-enforcement agency, to more of a softer-edged migrant rescue and reception crew.
Magnus finally resigned Saturday, despite earlier signals that he was going to try and force Secretary Mayorkas to fire him.
As for local matters here in Kinney County, it was obviously a busy weekend for authorities. We haven’t spoken with the Sheriff yet, but counting the numbers of vehicles racing up Ann Street to points north of Brackettville, we can confidently predict at least 3 highspeed chases— perhaps as many as 5, assuming other activity in less populated areas of the County. It’s also a fact that a helicopter spent much of the afternoon Saturday over the town, presumably trying to find suspects after a bailout.
And on that note— we’ll call it a morning. Expect another newsletter tomorrow, early.
As always, any errors or other misdeeds here are ours alone— despite our employment with the Kinney County Sheriff’s Office, no one should mistake this newsletter for any kind of an official communication.