I’m a news junkie and it’s my job to follow politics and policy in Washington. But it’s also my hobby to cover the drama of American democracy and the “art of power,” as Nancy Pelosi titled her recent book. Politicians sometimes weigh in on this issue, but often they don’t, but Donald Trump never does. Anyway, there’s a lot I want to write about.
But last week, even as the country was just five weeks away from the most consequential presidential election in living memory, life was disrupted, both welcome and unwelcome, and the political world has had to be postponed. But here’s the silver lining. Having experienced life without being attached to politics or government, I, like many other Americans, have watched the latest developments, if only perfunctorily or not at all.
opinion columnist
Jackie Calmes
Jackie Calmes brings a critical eye to the country’s political scene. She has decades of experience covering the White House and Congress.
Others may not be as immersed in the news, and Americans are often more cursory in their news consumption, relying more on intuition than on head when it comes to forming opinions and making choices at the voting booth. It’s good to remind people that they often make decisions based on their judgment. And in the end, despite the conspiratorial claims of Trump and MAGA Republicans, we each only get one vote.
For me, the initial distraction was a very welcome one. That’s because my second daughter got married. The long weekend was perfect. Surrendered to my family and the bliss of being a mother of the bride, I had neither the time nor the inclination to read or watch the news. It was easily ignored, just a quick glance at my smartwatch as I jingled through the news.
Life can be cruel and kind at the same time, and the second distraction was sad. As I was preparing for my wedding in Chicago, my longtime friend and former colleague at the Wall Street Journal, Neil King Jr., died of cancer. The man knew how to live — in remission, Neil hiked from Washington to New York City and later wrote an engrossing memoir called “A Walk Through America.” And eventually, he also modeled how to die. A few weeks ago, in the midst of his last chance of treatment, he was trying to organize a trip for a few of us to a Washington Nationals game.
The morning after I returned from Chicago, I attended Neil’s funeral mass on Capitol Hill, hungover from joy. Later, a joint eulogy from Neil’s two daughters transformed my tears of joy from the day before into something else of a different kind. After that, no one among my journalist and politician friends talked about Trump, Kamala Harris, Congressional budget votes or new polls.
After all, I spent almost a week riding a personal roller coaster, ignoring newspapers, websites, and cable TV. What did I “miss”? Variations on a familiar theme. And in a way, not being glued to the news makes the important things stand out.
In the must-win state of North Carolina, CNN made bombshell statements threatening the election of Republicans, including Trump. Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the state’s already troubled gubernatorial candidate, has a history of bigoted and obscene posts on social media, and has once labeled himself a “black Nazi” and a “pervert” on a porn site. He is said to have supported slavery. Robinson denied the allegations, but Trump ousted him anyway, even though the Harris campaign reminded voters in a video ad that the former president not only supported Robinson, but praised him. Ta. They called him “Martin Luther King on steroids.”
I was at a wedding rehearsal when Ohio MAGA Senate candidate Bernie Moreno made what I think is the biggest gaffe of the election season (and that’s saying something), and he made what was probably the biggest gaffe of the election season, saying that it was probably Democratic Sherrod. He secured Senator Brown’s well-deserved re-election. At City Hall, Moreno expressed bewilderment that suburban women, especially those over 50, were so upset about losing their abortion rights, saying, “‘It doesn’t matter to you. ‘I think so,’ he quipped. Hahaha. This is a selfish, ignorant man who does not understand that we are concerned about the rights of our daughters, nieces, young acquaintances, and the millions of women we will never meet.
Meanwhile, President Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (Ohio), continue to tell racist lies about Haitian immigrants who eat pets in Springfield, Ohio, which eventually becomes a threat to Vance’s voters. perpetuated right-wing hatred and intimidation. I naively thought they would exclude hateful xenophobic opinions. Their failure to do so is a lesson that their vitriol knows no bounds, as if voters needed a lesson.
Abroad, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has begun what appears to be an escalation of a long-feared war in the Middle East, further raising the question of U.S. support for Israel in the presidential election. This could bode badly for Democrats in Michigan, a battleground state with a large Arab-American population.
Oh, and new election polls have been released showing that the race between Trump and Harris remains close. There’s nothing new there.
Look, I caught up. I return to the mainline news and politics every day. At the same time, I’m also very aware that most other people aren’t quite as addicted. They focus, as they should, on their livelihood and family, and on the triumphs, tragedies and boredom in the circle of life. And that’s something political journalists should appreciate.
@jackiekcalmes