Tag Archives: elections

And So It Goes

Today is Friday, December 5, 2025. The Orange Turd has been hit by more bad news as a new poll of MAGA voters are souring on the delusional “leader.” In an online Daily Beast article by Adam Downer, terrible news is delivered by this new poll in the article entitled “Poll Shows Even MAGA Voters Now Want to Dump Trump.”

Thus even his most “diehard supporters are souring on the idea of four more years of him in the White House,” according to the article.

That poll, released by The Economist/YouGov outlets, found that among voters who backed the demagogue in 2024, 45 percent oppose the president running for a third term in 2028, even though he’s unable to do so constitutionally. Only 43 percent supported the idea – which is large in my eyes – and 11 percent were unsure.

Though a third term is illegal under the 22nd Amendment, which limits presidents to two terms, the idea has gained some steam in part thanks to sycophantic Trumpican reps, official Dump merchandise trumpeting 2028, and former White House chief strategist and arsonist Steve Bannon saying there is a “plan in place” to give Grump a third term. He’s as delusional as the Orange Turd here, and is just engaging in more distracting techniques to cover up how awful this second term is for his darling racist.

Knowing instinctively how bad he is, both physically and mentally, Dump himself is souring on even suggesting a third term. Just on Tuesday, he acknowledged “it’s not gonna be me” in 2028 while suggesting that one of his incompetent Cabinet members could be the next Republican nominee. God help us! I think by then the country will be so soured on his entire Cabinet that if any of them ever attempt to run, they’d be outgunned by any Democrat who decides to run against them.

The poll results underscore Dump’s loosening grip on the repugnican party. Boston University politics professor Thomas Whalen said to Newsweek, “MAGA is not immune to the law of political gravity. It is a spent force at this point, bereft of ideas and urgency. I suspect Trump may want to run again, but he runs into a major roadblock known as the U.S. Constitution. There can be no third terms. Also, eight years of Donald Trump is enough drama for even the most devout MAGA supporter,” he concludes. He didn’t mention the roiling drama of just 11 months of his second term that is chock full of chaos already that is causing everyone a massive headache for those who follow the horrible news.

The president’s contentious second term – putting it mildly – is rife with scandal and extremely unpopular policies that have led to his sliding approval ratings which are literally in the toilet. Every pollster paints Dump with a negative approval rating.

High prices have also fueled MAGA’s break with their Supreme Leader. Americans are blaming him for the country’s cost-of-living crisis that he exacerbated with his damn tariffs, with 37 percent of Chump voters saying things have never been worse than they are right now. Democrats are definitely taking advantage of this perception, using an “affordability” message to make massive gains in special elections. And the jerk in the White House had the temerity to mock Democrats’ message on affordability, failing to recognize the harm he’s caused to millions of Americans!

This sets the stage for a 2026 midterm election cycle where Dump will undeniably be a liability for Trumpican candidates, barring a dramatic shift by November. Which hopefully won’t happen! Considering how awful he’s conducted himself in the Oval Office these last 11 months, the likelihood of Dump turning his record around to positive figures is highly unlikely. He would have had to have a massive stroke of empathy and decency and that ain’t going to happen!

I’m cutting my blog short tonight since Elliot and I are driving up to Massachusetts tomorrow to spend some time with Elliot’s dear friend, “Laura,” and her husband, “Richard.” This weekend was planned for some time now and it’s already here. We’re returning on Monday, December 8, sometime in the late afternoon or early evening, so I might not post my blog until the nest day if I’m too exhausted.

Have a great weekend then.

See you sometime next week.

And so it went!

This is the banana bread that Elliot and I baked today to bring up to Laura and Richard. The picture is a little blurry, it seems; sorry.

Here’s a better picture of our creation. Can’t wait to try it.

And So It Goes

Today is Wednesday, November 5, 2025. Flush over triumphant Democratic victories across the country yesterday on Election Day, today conservative news outlet The Wall Street Journal torches MAGA triumphalism in a hard-hitting editorial published today. An online article by Isaac Schorr entitled “A ‘Warning on ‘Trump’s Unpopularity’: The Wall Street Journal Torches ‘MAGA Triumphalism’ After Election Night” reports about the paper’s editorial which declares “The era of MAGA triumphalism should be over.”

Under the headline, “Democrats Start Their Comeback,” and sub-headline, “A warning for the GOP from New Jersey and Virginia on affordability and Trump’s unpopularity,” the Journal observed that “President Trump rolled to victory in 2024 promising to reduce inflation and make middle-class life more affordable. The warning to Republicans in Tuesday’s election results is that Democrats are turning the tables on affordability, especially when they steer clear of leftist cultural snares.”

After reviewing Democrats’ victories in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York City, the conservative newspaper suggested that the Orange Turd played a role in the GOP’s losses. Even though the GOP won both states in 2009 and Virginia in 2021, under Presidents Obama and Biden, “this time Democrats had the advantage of rallying voters upset at President Trump.” Exit polls showed the Orange Turd’s approval rating at 44 percent in New Jersey and 42 percent in Virginia.

The conservative Journal wasn’t the only media entity to acknowledge as much. On the fake news station, Fox News, Brit Hume chalked up Democrats’ triumphs simply to anti-Dump sentiment.

“Today Donald Trump went from a lame duck to a humiliated lame duck,” so states Lawrence O’Donnell on his show tonight, The Last Word. The election of New York Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani to be New York’s newly elected 111th mayor signals “Donald Trump’s days are numbered,” according to an online Mirror article by Christopher Bucktin entitled “‘New York mayor Zohran Mamdani’s win signals Donald Trump’s days are numbered.'” Here the piece boldly declares “the tide has turned” against the fascist in the White House.

I’ll quote some of this lovely piece here: “It is the first major, flashing-neon, impossible-to-spin sign that the American public has begun to reject the catastrophic second presidency of Donald Trump.”

Again, the language here is impossible to not overstate: “New York did not just choose a new mayor. It chose a new direction, a new generation, and a new political vocabulary.”

According to the article, Mamdani built a powerful coalition that Trumpism has never understood and cannot compete with: younger voters, working-class immigrants, and the Black and Latino communities who know too well what it means to be used (by Dump and his horrible party) as political props and then summarily abandoned.

Mamdani didn’t just win, according to the article, he redrew the map of who holds power in New York City. He did it while becoming the city’s first Muslim mayor and the first South Asian to ever hold the office.

So, what did the idiot in the White House do in the wake of these disastrous results? He does what he always does: he shrugs, he deflects, he denies, he snarls, he bursts out in anger. Here he blamed Congress, his staff, the government shutdown, the “media elite,” but always forgetting to blame himself. He was the sole person on the ballot and people came out in droves to vote against him!

This was also on the ballot, according to this well-written article, “his policies, his cruelty, his chaos, his hollow nationalism, his disdain for every person who does not fit his reflection – those were the issues voters saw. And they rejected them.”

All of those states that racked up large Democratic victories were saying one thing very clearly: We are done with the policies of this cruel administration. The conclusion is quite telling: “And Trump, for the first time in this term, looks like a man who knows he is being outplayed.”

In the wake of this wonderful good news, today will be my last blog before next Monday, November 10, because Elliot and I are flying to Nashville, Tennessee, tomorrow morning for a four-day birthday celebration. It was this or a party, but I decided upon going somewhere where I haven’t been to before. One friend is joining us: “Harvey.” He overheard Elliot mentioning our going to Nashville a while ago, and he asked if he could come along. Elliot cheerily said “sure, you can.” He’ll be meeting us in Nashville since he’ll be leaving out of Newark Airport. He is also staying at the same hotel where we’ll be staying. But he will not be accompanying us to the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday, November 8. He said he might be going to an ice hockey game. But we’ll join up for some nice meals, that’s for sure.

Have a good four days. Hope to see you on Monday.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Thursday, August 14, 2025. “Wake up, America!” these are the words spit out by Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom today as he outlined a muscular response to what’s happening in Texas over redrawing the electoral map which would favor Republicans over Democrats. An online MSNBC article lays out Newsom’s press conference which, coincidentally, was met with border patrol officers outside supposedly making Los Angeles citizens safe – what bullshit! – and it’s entitled “California governor announces redistricting in response to Texas gerrymandering effort,” by Erum Salam.

Newsom then has called for a special election on redistricting in retaliation against Texas Trumpicans, who have moved – for no apparent reason other than to disenfranchise minority voters – to redraw their congressional districts and further gerrymander the electoral map at the direction of their Demented Leader.

The special election, which Newsom has scheduled for this November 4, will be an ethical litmus test for California voters who must decide if they want to strip their independent redistricting commission of power temporarily in favor of a constitutional amendment to allow the state Legislature to create new maps for the 2026, 2028, and 2030 election cycles. Who knows? Maybe California voters might even vote against it, but I would not think so, given the urgency of the matter and the stakes at hand.

The suave governor was met with loud applause as he began his address on what he deemed “Liberation Day.” This is true Liberation Day, not the bullshit day that Dump announced in April over his ridiculous tariffs. Speaking directly to the camera, he said, “Wake up, America, this is a serious moment. Wake up to what’s going on.” Newsom spoke about the need to fight fire with fire and took direct aim at the dictator known as Chump: “Donald Trump, you have poked the bear, and we will punch back.”

He added, “I know they say, ‘Don’t mess with Texas.’ But don’t mess with the great Golden State.”

Trumpican lawmakers have been met with severe criticism over their acquiescence to Demented Don’s demand to redraw the map to gain an additional five seats – a move that would disenfranchise Democratic voters in the state, particularly communities of color. The move is especially brazen given its timing: Redistricting typically happens only after every decade, after the U.S. census has updated demographic information for each state.

A fucking repugnican Texas House member elucidated his whole party’s approach to going down this authoritarian path under Demented Don when he was asked why his fellow legislators were taking such drastic measures to unfairly tilt the balance of future elections, and he arrogantly replied, “Because we can.”

This response should now galvanize other blue state governors to pursue the same approach being undertaken by Newsom in California.

Other people who spoke at the press conference publicly supported Newsom’s strategy, primarily saying that democracy itself was on the line if nothing was done. Erika Jones, a representative of the California Teachers Association union, said, “Our union stands in full support of this ballot initiative. We are ready to do whatever it takes to stop this power grab and fight back against any and all attacks on our democracy, on our students, and on public education.”

What is especially humorous about Newsom’s messaging to Demented Don was his trolling the president on social media and poking fun at his linguistic mannerisms on his own tweets, with his press conference posting on X in all caps, which is a stupid style preferred by Demented Don. He wrote: “PRESS CONFERENCE COMING – HOSTED BY AMERICA’S FAVORITE GOVERNOR, GAVIN NEWSOM. FINAL WARNING NEXT. YOU WON’T LIKE IT! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER.” Great, Mr. Newsom; hope your mirroring of the president’s own style will get his goat!

The adversary of Demented Don also railed against federal officers who showed up outside the presser: “BORDER PATROL HAS SHOWED UP AT OUR BIG BEAUTIFUL PRESS CONFERENCE! WE WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED! . . . TRUMP’S PRIVATE ARMY IS ILLEGALLY ON PRIVATE PROPERTY!!! WE WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED BY THIS WEAK LITTLE MAN!!!” It’s so easy to mock this little man who finds himself as toddler in chief a second time.

Today the highlight of the day was meeting four regulars from the Austin Street Diner somewhere else: Diner Bar, in Rego Park, at 12:30 for an early lunch or brunch, whatever you want to call it. Elliot, unfortunately, had two doctor’s appointments and couldn’t join us.

A round table in the back was reserved for us by “Rachel.” I walked in first, then “Norma” and “Marshall.” After them, walked in “Jerry.” Our last attendee was Rachel herself. I have to say that we didn’t speak politics that much, even though we did take a survey over whether Demented Don would survive his second term, and the consensus was that he wouldn’t. We actually spoke more about personal matters. That was quite refreshing. We must have held forth for at least two hours or more. I must have drunk three cups of coffee or more. Then Jerry and I walked back to our neighborhood. I said goodbye to Jerry at his skyscraper building.

Have a good Friday.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Wednesday, August 6, 2025. In light of the despicable Texas attempt to redraw the political map in order to pick up more Republican seats – in which the pedophile in chief arrogantly chimed in that repugnicans are entitled to five more seats when clearly they’re not – NBC Politics has an article today entitled “Democrats draw up plans to retaliate if Republicans gerrymander Texas – but they face legal hurdles,” and it’s by Sahil Kapur and Adam Edelman and it outlines steps that Democrats could adopt if Texas gets away with this effort to suppress the vote for millions of minority Texans.

Retaliation threats have come from California Governor Gavin Newsom and New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who lead states where Democrats control large legislative majorities. Two can play at this game, they say, vowing to eliminate GOP-held seats in their states.

But that’s easier said than done, according to this article. Democrats have legal hurdles to clear in California and New York, which have restricted partisan gerrymandering, which liberal advocates pushed in previous years in the name of good government. But as expected, Texas has no such limits, and that’s why odious Governor Greg Abbott can call a special session to draw a new map.

Still, Newsom of California intends to get around those limits in his state only if Texas dares to enact its GOP-favored map, which is aimed at giving GOPers up to five more seats in the U.S. House, thus giving them a majority yet again.

Newsom hopes to work with the Democratic-dominated Legislature starting this month to set up a special election for a statewide ballot measure on November 4. It would offer a newly drawn map if Texas moves forward, a source close to Newsom told NBC News.

In a fighting spirit after hearing about Texas’ immoral bid to stack the deck against democracy, Newsom said, “We’re not going to roll over. And we’re going to fight fire with fire.” The governor added, “We will also punch above our weight in terms of the impact of what we’re doing. And I think that should be absorbed by those in the Texas delegation. Whatever they are doing will be neutered here in the state of California.”

The potential Republican-held seats that could be flipped by Democrats in California if this change does go in effect is three, four, or five seats, according to Paul Mitchell, a California-based redistricting consultant who has advised Democrats and has said any new House map would be constrained by the Voting Rights Act as well as the governor’s office and the Legislature, which would need to green light it.

As for New York, changing the redistricting process must move forward as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment – a lengthy and arduous exercise that probably wouldn’t lead to new congressional maps until the 2028 election cycle, even if Texas acts before the upcoming midterms.

In an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes on All In, New York Governor Kathy Hochul said, “I wish I could just call a special election and change it. I’d do it in a heartbeat.” She added, “But we have a constitutional amendment process that’s required first. I’m willing to do that. I’m working hard with our legislative leaders to pass legislation immediately – as soon as they return in January – pass it in this current session of the Legislature, go to the next one, which is required, so it won’t be until 2027 we can get it on the ballot. But what would that mean – is that in 2028, we could have different lines.” Thus it appears that New York will have barriers to redraw the map before the 2026 midterms, which is bad.

Maybe only California will be able to sidestep the ingrained barriers to redrawing their maps and can effect change only if Texas gets away with its undemocratic move. The article doesn’t mention other blue states, so I’m not sure what these states could do in light of the Lone Star State’s push for unfairness in the political realm. Let’s see what happens next.

Democracy was in sharp relief at a repugnican town hall held by Representative Mike Flood (R-NE) in Lincoln, Nebraska, as he was pelted with boos, catcalls, and fierce opposition from his constituents who voiced their opposition to his endorsing the “big, beautiful bill” that his party rammed through Congress. You can say that this representative was “flooded” with his constituents’ ire at this town hall.

Thus House members are facing mounting backlash from voters on multiple fronts, including controversies around convicted child predator Jeffrey Epstein and the slashing of Medicaid funding.

In light of such hatred directed at them, it’s totally inexplicable that House repugnican leadership has demanded that their vulnerable members go home on a hopeless mission to try and sell this cruel, unpopular law that election experts have said will cause House Republicans to be ‘eaten alive’ for their support of it. I say, “Let them be eaten alive by their voters who now wish them dead!” Or at least to be removed from political office.

On a personal note, this will be my last blog until next week, probably until next Wednesday, since we will return later on Tuesday. As I mentioned, we’ll be flying to the West Coast to attend our friends’ 50th-wedding anniversary party. And to celebrate our 11th-wedding anniversary on Sunday.

Have a great rest of week and a good weekend.

See you next week.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Tuesday, June 24, 2025. I forgot to mention in yesterday’s blog that today is New York’s mayoral primary where polls have closed at 9. Where the city was still gripped in 98-degree heat, but that didn’t stop Elliot and me from voting earlier than usual since I woke up at 7:40 which is not the usual time when I wake up. So by 9, we trundled off to the elementary school where Elliot volunteers for a remarkable kindergarten teacher at P.S. 196. Before we voted downstairs, Elliot paid a visit to this teacher on the first floor and I could hear her kids say to Elliot, “Hi, Mr. B.” Then he walked in and hugged his colleague, “Irma.” I followed Elliot into the room and hugged and kissed Irma and was immediately greeted by a young girl who asked how I was related to Elliot. Boy, was she curious. She first inquired if I were a cousin, I believe, then asked if I were a friend. I thought it was easier to say the latter and leave it at that.

Actually, temperatures reached a high of 100 today and I went out at least four times. The first time was to vote; the other times had to do with going to the bank, getting a pedicure, and then going out and having dinner at a local Chinese restaurant since no one was cooking today. I even had to drive to Staples to buy a whole new set of cartridges since my printer warned me yesterday that two cartridges were depleted. I even stupidly sat outside for a very brief spell to read my new book on the Astor family, written by Anderson Cooper, but bounced up as the temperature got sultrier and sultrier. I had just called my friend “Harvey,” whom I was supposed to have met in the city, but this get-together I canceled because of the heat. I was not going to stand on a subway platform where the temps might have been over 100 degrees. And I’m sure they were!

I have not been personally engaged in the mayoralty race because of obvious concern of what’s happening on the national level with this current fascistic regime, so excuse me for not writing about it. An online article in the Mirror provides some early results of the race for mayor and they are quite interesting. The article is written by Falyn Stempler and it’s entitled “Zohran Mamdani leading in early NYC mayoral race exit polls followed by Andrew Cuomo.” As I said, these early results are quite intriguing.

The article states in the first paragraph that Mamdani is currently leading in early exit polling for New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary race. This candidate is a democratic socialist and he has been endorsed by such progressive figures as Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and former DNC Vice Chair David Hogg (formerly a survivor of the Parkland high school shooting in Florida on February 14, 2018), who currently leads with 43.8 percent of the votes, followed by former NYC Governor Andrew Cuomo (35.8 percent), NYC Comptroller Brad Lander (11.7 percent), and NYC Council Speaker Adrienne Adams (4.1 percent), according to the Associated Press.

These results reflect approximately 84 percent of votes cast, totaling over 866,000 voters. I’m not sure if that’s an impressive number, considering how many registered Democrats there are in the city.

These results will only reflect the voter’s first choice, including mail-in ballots processed by June 20. The full ranked-choice tabulations will not be available until the beginning of next week.

In the ranked voting system, if no candidate is the first choice on a majority of ballots, then the election will advance to ranked voting.

If Mamdani wins, his would be a historic feat for the progressive wing of the Democratic Party as it challenges establishment figure Cuomo who led the city through the horrific COVID-19 pandemic. Cuomo, 67, also faces nearly a dozen accusations of sexual harassment.

Mamdani, 33, is currently a New York State Assembly member who is a registered democratic socialist. He was born in Uganda to a Muslim-Indian family and raised in New York City.

He champions working-class causes and has focused his campaign on the cost-of-living crisis. Among his other progressive proposals are creating affordable housing and free childcare, raising the minimum wage, offering free public bus transit, and creating city-run supermarket stores, according to his website.

If elected, he will be this city’s first Muslim mayor and it highlights the split within the Democratic Party’s older entrenched faction and a new, younger one, as embodied by Mamdani and other young progressives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Oops, an update: Cuomo has indeed lost the primary and he has conceded to Mamdani. Very interesting. Maybe this young man’s victory has all the earmarks of a fucking backlash to Chump’s supposed victory in November.

Today we heard an actual sitting president use the F-bomb in comments he made to reporters in which he condemned both Israel and Iran for the unraveling of the ceasefire that he supposedly brokered between the two warring nations. But now both Israel and Iran said they will not break the ceasefire unless the other does first, after the two countries traded accusations of truce violations. So Dump lashed out at both parties, saying, in fury, “They don’t know what the fuck they’re doing.” This was heard around the world, as parents will now have to explain to their children how their president can stoop to such vulgar language like everyone else. Maybe this toddler was responding to the reports that those military strikes he deployed on three of Iran’s nuclear facilities did not destroy the country’s nuclear program and likely only set it back by months, not years. The assessment was done by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon’s intelligence arm. But we all know that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said earlier that Iran’s nuclear ambitions “have been obliterated.” Maybe they were obliterated – but only in his head.

Tomorrow I was going to see my Long Island friend “Jake” and not write my blog since I usually spend at least 12 hours with him, always ending up coming home past midnight generally. But my friend called me to cancel because of the expected heat and other reasons I won’t mention here. “But I already bought my train ticket,” I told him. Jake responded that it is still good for several months; he’s right – I checked. So we rescheduled to get together in two weeks: on Wednesday, July 9. That’s fine with me; I didn’t really want to ride the subway to the Jamaica LIRR train station. So I can now go to my comic book store as planned.

I should see you tomorrow then if nothing else arises out of the blue.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Wednesday, December 11, 2024. If this story can be accepted as true – which you really always can’t do these days since everything is suspect if it appears in the news – it seems that most Americans actually expect president-elect Donald Chump to do a good job upon his return to the White House next month (54%) and a majority approves of how he’s handling the presidential transition so far (55%), according to a new CNN Poll conducted by SSRS. This hard-to-believe story appears online for CNN in an article written by Jennifer Agiesta entitled “CNN Poll: Most Americans approve how Trump is handling his return to the White House.”

I will just write some of the more striking delusional things that most Americans think this incoming president will accomplish, mainly that almost 7 out of 10 Americans in the new poll think Dump will be able to bring change to the country (68%), though only about half (48%) say they think it will be change for the better. Those who think Drumpf will bring change to the country really are in for a shock when they realize just how bad that change will be. They have no idea!

As expected, it’s only repugnicans who have grown more positive about the state of the country postelection: 30 percent say things are going well now (wait until 2028), up from 14 percent at the start of 2024 and higher than at any point during Biden’s time in office. Independents are also more bullish on the country’s direction: 43 percent say things are going well, 56 percent say badly. That’s the largest share of independents to say things are going well since January 2020, before the COVID pandemic began.

Among Democrats, though, positive feelings are on the decline following their party’s loss of both the White House and control of the Senate in the November election, with just 40 percent saying things are going well now. (I’m surprised it’s even that high!) That’s down from 62 percent at the start of 2024 and the worst since the summer of 2022, following a Supreme Court ruling which overturned Roe v. Wade and upended federal protections for abortion.

One particular area in which most Americans show how truly deluded they are is in the area of the economy, in which more Americans say they have “a lot” of confidence in Dump’s ability to handle the economy than those who said so about George W. Bush (29%), Bill Clinton (20%), or Ronald Reagan (26%) during their transitions. All I can say about this is just wag my head in stupefaction and declare that most voters are really stupid.

One of the measures found in the poll that closely mirrors how Americans now think of the ridiculous band of rogues being considered for Dump’s cabinet are the low numbers associated with confidence in the incoming president to appoint the best people to office that is notably down compared to 2016 (26% now compared with 32% in 2016).

Even among repugnicans, just 56 percent express deep confidence in their Golden Idol to appoint the best people to office, lower than on the other six items tested in the poll, and down from 72 percent in 2016. At least this jibes with the collective grim sentiment here regarding Dump’s reckless cabinet choices.

Now three-quarters (75%) of Americans say they would rather have Chump “mostly choose people who have the best experience and qualifications for each role, even if they may not always support his positions.” This is a chimera, given that Dump is not normal in any sense of the word. To me, this reflects how too many people normalize this convicted felon – even at this late date.

I can’t believe the results of this poll, which is that most of us – not you or I – have clearly forgotten Dump’s record of pure shit during his first term in office and are going through the beginning of his second term with blinders on. It’s like a majority of citizens are now experiencing collective amnesia with regard to Chump.

As for me, I do expect the worst from this guy and there were hundreds of signs that a second term would be more than disastrous, it would almost assuredly verge on the cataclysmic. And I’m not being pessimistic here; I’m being just realistic. So let’s see what will happen over the course of the next four years. I don’t think I’m wrong at all; if I am, I promise to stop writing.

And so it went!