Today is Thursday, August 22, 2024. As the Democratic National Convention (DNC) nears its last day, with the nation waiting for Kamala Harris to make her long-anticipated acceptance speech, there has been some coverage of prominent Republicans who have taken the stage at the DNC in Chicago to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris, not Donald J. Trump. Isn’t this weird? in deference to Democrats now labeling the opposition party and everyone in it as “weird, weird, weird.” I think this offensive is working quite well now. An online article for CBS News by Kathryn Watson details this strange phenomenon in “These Republicans denounced Trump and endorsed Harris at the DNC. Here’s what they said.”

Some of those prominent Republicans were former Georgia Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan, former Pence homeland security adviser Olivia Troye, and former Trump press secretary Stephanie Grisham who have all thrown their support behind the Democratic nominee and have indicated that Dump lacks the moral character (isn’t that pretty obvious by now?) to lead the nation again. Former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger is also expected to speak tonight.

These former Dump acolytes all had one message to their fellow Republicans and independents: do the right thing and vote for Harris in November.

The first speaker, former Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan, said, “To my fellow Republicans at home that want to pivot back toward policy, empathy and tone, you know the right thing to do, now let’s have the courage to do it in November.” The former Georgia official knows what courage requires. Defending the election results in Georgia after the 2020 presidential election [you know that recorded call where Dump asked for 11,780 more votes], Duncan faced such serious threats from Drumpf supporters that law enforcement had to protect his home.

Troye, the former top Pence aide, said she “grew up in the kind of working family that Trump pretends to care about.” (For my druthers, I never thought Dump actually cared for working families from the outset.).

She continued, “Conservative. Catholic. Texan. July 4th was our most sacred holiday. Those values made me a Republican. And they’re the same values that make me proud to support Kamala Harris.”

Troye described working inside Dump’s White House as “terrifying.” She added, “But what keeps me up at night is what’ll happen if he gets back there. The guardrails are gone, the few adults in the room the first time resigned or were fired.”

Grisham, who was criticized for never holding a press briefing during her tenure, resigned on January 6, 2021, as rioters assaulted the Capitol and Drumpf did nothing to stop them.

Her story is a little different from that of the other repugnicans, as she herself says, “I wasn’t just a Trump supporter, I was a true believer. I was one of his closest advisers. The Trump family became my family. I spent Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s all at Mar-a-Lago. I saw him when the cameras were off [boy, that must have really been “terrifying” as well.] Behind closed doors, Trump mocks his supporters. He calls them basement dwellers.”

Then Grisham recalled an incident with her boss in which they were visiting a hospital where Americans were dying in the ICU. She remembers Trump was upset the cameras were not on him, but had no empathy for the dying patients at all.

Grisham confirms that with this hospital visit, saying, “He has no empathy, no morals, and no fidelity to the truth. He used to tell me, ‘It doesn’t matter what you say, Stephanie – say it enough and people will believe you.’ But it does matter. What you say matters. And what you don’t say matters. On January 6th, I asked Melania if we could at least tweet that while peaceful protest is the right of every American, there’s no place for lawlessness or violence. She replied with one word: “No.'” What she just said about “Melanoma” confirms what I always thought about this aloof woman: she’s a real bitch! Dump and her are a match made in Heaven!

Grisham concluded her comments, saying, she “couldn’t be part of the insanity any longer.”

The former Dump press secretary defended her record of not holding a press briefing because she, unlike her bastard of a boss, never wanted to stand at that podium and lie. She then said she was advocating for Harris because she loves her country more than her party and that Harris tells the truth. “She respects the American people. And she has my vote.”

Last night when Minnesota Governor Tim Walz took to the stage to deliver his acceptance speech, the social media world exploded when cameras focused on the vice presidential candidate’s 17-year-old “neurodiverse” son Gus, who was gushing and pointing to his Dad while he was speaking. I had not known that Walz’s son suffers from a nonverbal learning disorder, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and anxiety disorder, but I did know that the other side would seize on this moment and mock the young son of the vice presidential nominee without knowing the young man’s medical background. And they did! However, there was another backlash coming from social media users who empathized and identified with the footage of Walz’s son’s crying; they counteracted the disgusting comments made by repugnicans and by Dump if he even weighed in on this defining moment. He was probably sleeping since Walz came on quite late last night. Many of the decent social media users said they too were in tears when they saw Gus react to his dad speaking at the DNC. Hey, would we ever, ever see any of Dump’s five children react in the same way if he spoke somewhere? I don’t think so.

It’s about 10 here and Harris still hasn’t spoken yet. Rachel Maddow has declared that she’s arrived at the arena. It could be moments now before she takes the stage.

Today we took our crumpled car into Metro Auto Body, located on Northern Boulevard, for an estimate. Of course, we had breakfast first at Jax Inn Diner, also located on Northern Boulevard. This was about 20 blocks away from the body shop.

I spoke to “Rowan” in the office who was ordering lunch after bringing the car in. This time Elliot decided to stand in the shadows while I spoke to the technician/manager. In retrospect, it seems that any repairs couldn’t be done until we hear from Travelers about supplying us an amount based on the book value of the vehicle. Who knows how much we’re talking about here; then we could decide to repair the vehicle if we want to or not. So nothing was done today. We drove back to Forest Hills with no resolution yet.

Hey, former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger is now speaking. Good for him! He knows party loyalty is not crucial anymore. “Donald Trump is a weak man pretending to be strong,” he just said. Very good line. “Donald Trump has suffocated the soul of the Republican Party,” he’s just said. He condemns his own party for supporting a man who doesn’t believe in the peaceful transition of power. He also is stating that we have to put country first.

I wish more repugnicans have the courage to do what Kinzinger and others here have done. Let’s hope those weak repugnicans hearing his speech might change their tune very soon.

Stay safe and be well.