Today is Sunday, November 13, 2022. During an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan who is a Republican but a moderate repugncan, not like the scores of others who failed in their bids for state or federal office this past Tuesday, excoriated the former president for his continuing overwhelming influence on his party of dumb and loyal cultists.

Hogan, who has been critical of Dumpf for years and leaves office in January, appeared on the show with coanchor Dana Bash to discuss the Republican Party’s largely dismal performance in the 2022 midterm elections across the country. This election cycle, Maryland voters elected Democratic candidate Wes Moore to become the next governor over Republican candidate Dan Cox whom Hogan refused to endorse and even pledged not to vote for him. Would you think there was a problem with Cox’s extremism here in that the sitting governor had refused to endorse him over his Democratic challenger?

Here Bash asked Hogan to interpret the results of the party’s middling performance during the 2022 midterms and subsequently Hogan laced into his party for holding onto baseless conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and other unverified falsehoods. Hogan believed that common sense conservatives who focused on talking about issues people cared about like the economy, education, and crime primarily won their races like in upstate New York. I believe that these are simply rank repugnican tropes that the party has no intention of ever fixing if they gain control of the House!

Soon after, Hogan went on to directly pin the disappointing results directly on Dumpf, stating, “I think it’s basically the third election in a row that Donald Trump has cost us the race. It’s like, three strikes and you’re out.”

Bash then questioned if Republicans would finally get the damn message about supporting an indefatigable loser like Dumpf and would they seriously be interested in finally rejecting him. Hogan retorted that “That’s the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” He then encapsulated the effect of the orange-haired menace on the party, with “I’m tired of losing. That’s all he’s done.”

The soon-to-be retiring Maryland governor then said that losing so many races to Democrats is a failure that should have Republicans reassessing how they can “appeal to a broader group of voters.”

After this exchange, Bash pivoted to asking more directly about Dumpf and his potential plans to announce his candidacy for president in 2024. Which I think is the most absurd proposition anyone can think of, coming from this animal who wanted to tear down the foundations of Constitutional government just a year and a half ago. It’s tantamount to an airline hijacker seeking the presidency of an airline of whose plane he hijacked in the air.

In a mocking voice, Hogan called the announcement “huge” in Dumpf parlance. He then pointedly states “I think it would be a mistake. As I mentioned, Trump has cost us the last three elections, I don’t want to see it happen a fourth time.”

The blonde CNN anchor then follows up by asking, “If he does announce, could he cost Republicans the runoff in Georgia?” “No question about it,” Hogan quickly replied, although he noted that the race is “not as consequential now” because the Republicans have lost majority control of the Senate as of last night. Hogan again places blame directly on the orange-haired one for losing the Senate.

Hogan also reiterated another reason for his party’s low standing before the American people in an aside Bash referred to on Dumpf’s social media site “Truth”(that’s a joke!) Social in which the racist ex-president referred to Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin as “Young Kin” and remarked that the name “sounds Chinese, doesn’t it?”

Calling the juvenile remark from the former Fascist-in-Chief “definitely distasteful and inappropriate,” Hogan also said it was racist when asked directly by Bash.

Hogan then speared the dumbness of the remark by saying that Dumpf couldn’t even get his nationalities correct because “Young Kin” would be Korean as opposed to Chinese. He lashed out at Dumpf, saying, “It’s more of the same from Donald Trump, insults and attacks and . . . that’s one of the reasons why the party’s in bad shape.” He got this right!

In the conclusion of the interview, Hogan was questioned about his own prospects as a presidential candidate in 2024, and the governor cautiously said he’ll consider it after an array of events in the coming weeks, including with former Vice President Mike Pence and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (both inferior choices for the job, in my mind).

“I still have to do my day job until January 18,” the Maryland governor quipped.

Today was another day toward my recovery from surgery on Thursday. I was able to fall asleep without taking an Oxycodone last night and I went to bed almost my regular time: 2:30, which I’ve decided I shouldn’t do tonight. My hiccups dissipated yesterday and I’m very grateful for that.

I woke up rather late this morning and I made my own breakfast at home. Elliot was content upon staying in today as the weather was considerably cooler than before. Before going out, I received a welcome call from my son, “Joshua,” who was calling me from North Port, a city located in Sarasota County, Florida. This is where he is now going to settle after staying in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for over a year or so. He drove there on Thursday, the day of my operation, and he was calling to see how I was doing. So Florida will again be his home for who knows how long? I wished him good luck on his new capacity as general manager of a hotel in North Port.

I then ventured out later to buy some groceries and to treat myself to lunch at my Austin Street Diner. I even darted into a J. Crew on Austin Street to buy another pair of sweatpants. The pair I had originally bought at Target last week was too baggy and large on me; I was losing the pants as I strolled down the thoroughfare. I was afraid I would be hauled in for indecent exposure before long, so I entered the clothing store with the aim of buying myself a smaller size. I found a saleslady who helped me locate the few sweatpants on sale on a rack and she pulled out a medium right away. It was a darker gray than the gray I had before and it definitely didn’t look so spacious like the last ones. I’m surprised that the pants didn’t fall off me when I went to the hospital last week.

Now I entered the coffee shop and had my brunch. I decided to call “Carol,” my lady friend from the diner to see how she’s doing. She informed me that she was home and mobile, even though she’s walking with the aid of a cane now. But she was coming to the diner tomorrow and was I able to meet her, she asked. I said I would definitely try to make it. I filled her in on my tsuris and said I would be looking forward to seeing her tomorrow.

After brunch, I walked over to Foodtown to buy a few items. Before leaving the supermarket, I failed to realize I had too many items in my bag since I added heavier stuff like orange juice and milk. Boy, was I a jerk! I’m not supposed to lift items heavier than 20 pounds or more for 6 weeks, as my discharge instructions plainly indicate this injunction and here I was shlepping this shopping bag home filled with heavy items. I should have called Elliot to come for me, but I didn’t. So I gingerly walked out of the store with my bag of groceries, seriously praying I wouldn’t tear my incisions. I was able to somehow get upstairs without too much of a strain, but I vowed not to do that anymore. When I got upstairs, I told Elliot of my foolhardiness and said I’m done with lugging home groceries like this anymore. I then looked at my two incisions and was pleased that they looked the same. If something terrible had had happened, I would have felt it immediately, I’m sure. I was lucky this one time then.

Later my dear friend “Harold” called to inquire how I was feeling and we had an hour-or-so conversation, where we discussed my lapse in judgment concerning going grocery shopping and my almost embarrassment from losing my gray sweatpants over my hips in the street, to the midterms and what they signify for the losing party. It goes without saying that Harold chastised me for doing such a foolish action and said we could always order in food from outside or buy fewer items at a time instead. I couldn’t have agreed with him more.

Now it’s getting late and I would like to watch the third episode of The White Lotus.

Have a good week.

Stay safe and be well.