The Forgotten Story of the ’24 Campaign
By Joseph Catena
History may likely show that the 2024 presidential election featured the wildest, most unfathomable news cycle ever. Americans have witnessed the earliest debate of all time, two attempted assassination of a candidate thanks to a miserably botched detail by the Secret Service and an aborted campaign of an elderly incumbent president, whom many believe is suffering from a neurological disorder (i.e. – dementia) and whom everyone knows was delivered a savage bludgeoning in the aforementioned early debate. Also notable is that the disgraced head of the Secret Service, a DEI hiree, stepped down from her post due to that near homicide on her watch in Butler, Pa.,and might we add that the threat of World War III is a very real possibility. Most of this (minus the second failed assassination attempt), occurred weeks before Labor Day.
But none of those 120-point headlines capture the forgotten story of the election.
What America may not realize is the Democrat party is so woke, it is officially dead. Joe Biden’s presidency put the party in the malignant stage, but it was still breathing, albeit barely. Even when Biden called it quits and handed the baton to Vice President Kamala Harris to represent the team, the breathing became more labored, and the donkey was barely alive. In many ways, her choice of running mate would determine the future.
The Dems ooze of identity (The “I” in DEI) politics. So, it was no surprise when the final candidates were all males to balance out the ticket. They included: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (gay and white); Arizona Senator Mark Kelly (old, bland and white); Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (middle-aged, energetic, Jewish and white); and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (old, odd, woke and white). Political experts and betting odds alike greatly favored Shapiro. A wildly popular governor, he easily would have delivered Pennsylvania – the Holy Grail of swing states to Harris. He likely would have swung a few more undecided moderates in the Democrat column and probably would have settled the angst and secured the support of increasingly disaffected Jewish Democrats.
In reality, Shapiro would have been the most significant vice presidential candidate in many decades. He literally would have balanced the ticket and actually made a difference in a way that his predecessors were never really expected to perform. Did Donald Trump need Mike Pence to deliver Indiana? Did Barack Obama need Biden to deliver Delaware? Did George W. Bush need Dick Cheney to win Wyoming? All are a resounding “NO!” And upon closer examination, Bill Clinton really didn’t need Senator Al Gore to deliver Tennessee. His GOP opponents, President George H.W. Bush (1992) and Kansas Senator Bob Dole (1996) were so establishmentarian, weak and milquetoast that it didn’t matter where Gore was from.
With Shapiro, it did matter.
CNN pundit Van Jones agreed. He suggested Harris choose him because he was Jewish and more moderate. In this case, identity politics would or could halt the rapid momentum of the woke far left, the sect of the party which has shifted to an ardently anti-Israel, pro-Palestine stance. The wokesters openly flirt or outright embrace anti-Semitism. A Shapiro pick would give the radicals a middle finger and open its arms back to its traditional, now shrinking Jewish base. Jones went as far as describing this choice as courageous. A Black woman and a Jewish white man leading the party and the country into the future had a sense of political romance. The optics were amazing.
Harris doused this dream by picking old, odd and woke, leaving Shapiro behind. The choice of Tim Walz cemented the Democrats as radical to the core. Walz’s gubernatorial record and political views shun the middle altogether. His disastrous record says everything.
During the subsequent days of George Floyd’s death, Walz did nothing to quell the riots. He let Minnesota burn for three nights and blamed the lack of inclusion and equity as major symptoms that led to the searing situation. Instead of calling for law and order to protect the good citizens of the Twin Cities, he sat back and let the crazies take over and set hundreds of buildings blazing including a police precinct. Even his wife, Gwen, reminisced about opening her windows and “breathing in the historic moment” as her olfactory senses absorbed the wafting winds of burning rubber and ash. It took five nights before Walz sent in the National Guard.
As governor, he also supported the Minnesota Freedom Fund (as did Kamala Harris). Donations to the fund were used to bail out violent protestors in the riots, along with murder and sex crimes. He also signed a bill that provided free tuition for more than 80,000 illegal aliens as well as giving them the rights to obtain driver’s licenses. He has declared Minnesota a sanctuary state, and Walz also signed a bill allowing gender-affirming care to trans children.
Although he has said little about Israel, the pro-Palestinian progressive wing of the party, particularly Squad member and Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, who gave her congratulations to Walz and appears to have a rather chummy relationship with Walz. The governor has endorsed her in prior elections. Somehow, California Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s assertion that Walz is a “heartland Democrat” who is “right down the middle” is a laughable lie.
It is clear that the Harris-Walz ticket is taking the party into the heart of the fringe. Ethnic voters, working class family people, and yes, Jews don’t appear to be welcome on that journey. It ensures wokeness over pragmatism and radicalism over reasonable. For Josh Shapiro, it is a message without cryptic messaging: “Jews needn’t apply for the big prize.”
The Dems are desperately giving their ticket a moderate makeover. Suddenly, these big government progressives are middle-of-the-road, smaller government centrists. Kamala is a tough-on-crime prosecutor and Coach Tim is the folksy Midwesterner who hunts and wants government to “mind its damn business” on personal issues. Unless, of course, you wanted to breathe fresh air on your front porch during the pandemic. That’s when Coach Tim was more like Fuhrer Walz and ordered police to shoot outdoor civilians with paintballs. He also set up a snitch hotline so neighbors could rat one another out if, God forbid, they stepped outside of their domiciles. So much for minding your own damn business.
These are no moderates.
The donkey has taken its last breath. Gone are the days of moderates and conservatives in the Democratic ranks. Joe Manchin has no home and has left accordingly. Men like JFK, Sam Nunn, Jim Traficant, Gene Taylor, Larry McDonald, Ed Koch and Dov Hikind are pure yesteryear and for that matter, so is Bill Clinton. Strategists like David Axelrod and James Carville are veteran oddballs in today’s strange, new Democrat world.
On the other side, Donald Trump and J.D. Vance received manna from Minny. With momentum suddenly slowing and the race tightening, the GOP team was sure to have a bloody battle with Shapiro on the ticket. This is not to hail Shapiro as King Kong, but he certainly would have caused some late-night recounts in more than a couple purple states. He would have been a tough out. But Shapiro may have a very bright future thanks to this thinly-veiled anti-Semitic omission. He will continue to build his stature as the governor in the all-important state of Pennsylvania. Harris’ chances with Walz will eventually take a nosedive and put Trump back in the driver’s seat. Just let them keep talking. Bad policies and a lack of extemporaneous speaking skills one so desperately must have in a campaign will ultimately haunt Harris. In her last few softball interviews, Harris has revealed her flip-flops and lack of direct answers on the issues.
Shapiro can relax for now and use the time to think of an antidote for 2028. His popularity should continue to flourish compared to his overall party, which should plummet a little more each time an election cycle hits. But, as Trump did to the GOP, perhaps Shapiro can remake his own party and show his bona fides.
He may well be the donkey who knocks some sense into that dead jackass.