Biden didn't drop out, while Trump is celebrated as a martyr
84) I’m not sure how frequently we are living through history as it happens, but it’s certainly happening now
I’m not sure what there is to say that hasn’t already been said by everyone else…
But, I’ll try my best.
BTW - For those reading this via email, for optimum viewing/reading of this post, plus any updates/edits to prior or existing posts, it is highly recommended you go to the Josh off the Press website/main page.
The very violence this political culture is inciting manifested itself in a very real assassination attempt against our former President. The fact that it was a conservative, a registered republican from Western Pennsylvania, doesn’t really matter much. This is especially true given the toxic political climate we all have been living in.
In early to mid-June this election cycle appeared boring to me with Sleepy Joe v. Crazy Donald. These guys sounded more like your eccentric/weird distant relatives you saw maybe once a year at Thanksgiving, not people you’d necessarily want to run your country.
But, then the debate happened. And Democrats lost their minds. And Biden continued to look weak, and Democrats lost their minds some more. Then Biden was continuously asked to drop out, and this publication *predicted he’d make his announcement to drop out last Thursday on the 11th of July.
*Obviously this prediction fell just a little flat.
When the post went out to my email subscribers, I stated it as a fact that he’d drop out. This obviously was completely false, and I actually edited my headline almost immediately after the email went out, as I was aware the headline was somewhat misleading. Obviously, if Biden did drop out, I’d be considered a Nostradamus of sorts, but it was not to be.
Instead of Biden dropping out, Trump was shot at and nearly killed at a rally 48 hours later.
I have a hard time predicting what’s going to come next, as we have not seen a sitting or former President come this close to getting murdered since Ronald Reagan was shot and nearly died 43 years ago, on March 30, 1981.
If you go back to November 22, 1963, that was the last time a sitting President was assassinated, radically changing our country in a fundamental way, and cutting short the Presidency of John F. Kennedy.
JFK was a transformational figure who in many ways was our first President to represent the modern era, where color television, and live images were the overwhelming medium from which people get their news.
The Kennedy v. Nixon debates represented not only a major turning point in American History, but World History.
From Kennedy’s Presidency onward, we have expected our Presidents to not only be the most uniquely fit for politics, but even more fit for the television camera.
“In 1960, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon squared off in the first televised presidential debates in American history. The Kennedy-Nixon debates not only had a major impact on the election’s outcome but ushered in a new era in which crafting a public image and taking advantage of media exposure became essential ingredients of a successful political campaign.” (History.com Editors)
https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/kennedy-nixon-debates
It’s incredible to think that over **50% of all Americans weren’t even born** when Reagan was shot. This also means that most Americans weren’t even alive when Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. Most Americans weren’t even alive when JFK’s younger brother was assassinated (June 05, 1968) while running for President during the infamous *1968 Presidential Election.
*1968 a year that saw Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated two months prior to RFK on April 04, 1968, and ushered in Richard Nixon’s Presidency, and the belief in the conservative “Silent Majority”.
**The median age for Americans was 39, as of 2022. This means that in 2022 half the US population was born after 1983, while the other half was born before 1983. As for the primary author of Josh off the Press (he was in utero on March 30, 1981)**.
The day after the assassination attempt I found Andrew Bustamante of Everyday Spy and his emergency podcast episode highly informative. It was only eight minutes long.
Bustamante really broke things down in such a compelling and concise way, showing how galvanizing this is for the Trump campaign, especially in comparison to how flat-footed and in how much disarray Biden and the Democratic party is in.
The prospect of another Trump Presidency is still deeply concerning to me. I’m not resigned to another Trump term, even though it almost seems as if various outside sources are conspiring to make sure he is re-elected.
I recognize the photo with Trump’s fist raised in defiance, shines him in the most positive of lights. While that was never my intention, I still can’t help but marvel at how compelling and iconic that photo is.
Ever the show-man, Trump was masterful at capturing the moment after the moment.
It’s hard to say how much of a boost it will give Trump, but it clearly enhances his dynamism, as opposed to dwindling it.
What happened on July 13th was deeply concerning to me. I can’t help but think of this sewer of political dialogue young people are growing up in. Children I teach, ages 11-14 years old, are going to be in a position I am in 30 plus years from now, where they are 41-44, and they are going to have a lot of influence over the direction of this country.
The amount of crazy stuff young Americans have witnessed at such an impressionable age, and that has been happening in politics in this century alone, is just a lot to comprehend.
I still can’t get over the Capitol Riot. I can’t get over how Trump had a complete and total falling out with his former Vice President, Mike Pence, all because Pence did his civic duty and certified the 2020 election. I’m still left baffled by how January 06, 2021, capitol insurrection is still completely downplayed and appears to have no bearing on this election.
How this country has gotten to the point where political violence is no longer so strange, is very disturbing to me. I’m disappointed and concerned in the unraveling I am witnessing here in America.
It’s really sad. For people that wondered why I wasn’t so quick on this story, it is partially because, it’s the summer, I’m a teacher and am just enjoying family time now.
But, also, it's hard for me to weigh in on an event that I think is altogether too tragic for our country, and that also weaponizes the whole MAGA community into now fervently believing they have some sort of moral high-ground.
Keep in mind the mere assassination attempt on Trump is the worst thing that could have happened to this country. It might be the best thing that happened to Trump’s attempt to win back the White House in 2024, but I don’t see very much good coming from this in the years that follow.
This is especially true for anyone that ever dreams of pursuing public office.
-JPJ
I liked your newsletter 👍 Open flow thought process works. I lived through JFK being assassinated. I was a little kid. My mom made me watch the funeral. When MLK and Bobby Kennedy were killed within months of each other I almost snapped. My generation ( not the fossilized creatures in Congress 😒 they're a whole other group 😵💫) grew up with trauma similar to the young people you speak about. We had the Vietnam war, anti war protests, civil rights fight, multiple assassinations (add Medger Evers and Malcolm X among many others), Kent State, the 68 Chicago convention... It goes on and on. 😢
My heart goes out to these kids. My time we had all these problems and horrors but we also had hope. We need to get people together physically. Dump the isolation (& phone gazing) and start changing things around.
Great Read!