25 years. Gone but not forgotten.

Republiconvention: J.D. Vance Gets His Chance

The second and (thankfully) final night of the Republican National Quasi-Convention was last night, and the star of the show was supposed to be VP J.D. Vance, who is the current heir apparent to the MAGA throne (a status that could change at literally any time, like today by 8:00 a.m. ET).

If you would like to watch Vance's speech, which, at 41 minutes, was practically a sprint compared to Trump's marathon 2-hour speech on Wednesday, you can do so here:

Once again, we strongly urge you to consider if you really want to spend your valuable time in that way. Not to give anything away, but we're about to argue that the speech was entirely inconsequential, and that it will be forgotten by the end of the weekend.

Vance strode onto stage backed by "Long Cool Woman (In a Black Dress)" by the Hollies, which has basically become his unofficial theme song. These Republican politicians certainly make interesting choices when it comes to their personal soundtracks. Donald Trump's theme song, of course, is "Y.M.C.A." which is about cruising for twinks at the local gym. "Long Cool Woman (In a Black Dress)" is about a de facto mass shooting (the "speaker" in the song protects the "long cool woman" when shots are fired at a bar). That may not be the best subject matter for any politician, but it's particularly incongruous for a guy who immediately spent several minutes lionizing Charlie Kirk.

As with Trump, Vance delivered piles and piles of red meat for the folks who showed up to listen to his speech. He had a whole lot of "Democrats are bad people" stuff, some anti-trans stuff, a few nuggets for the MAHA crowd, and plenty of culture wars. The line that seems to be getting the most attention is "We are tired of being called racists." Usually, when someone says something like that, you know what's coming. And indeed, Vance followed with a snotty remark that implied that immigrants are dirty and prone to commit crimes. Later in the speech, he verbally attacked an audience member who was waving a Mexican flag, and told him to get his ass out of the country. If a person is tired of being called a racist, that is a curious way to go about solving the problem. Our approach, by contrast, would be this: Stop saying and doing racist things. Clever, eh?

Vance also endeavored to practice the Trumpian art of bending reality to his will. One of the very first things Vance did in the speech was to talk about how "tired" Americans were 2 years ago (i.e., under Joe Biden), and the things they were "tired" of. And the thing that got the most emphasis was that Americans were "tired of not being able to afford anything." That is a very interesting "accomplishment" to highlight, given the current rate of inflation, not to mention the current price of a gallon of gas. Oh, and by the way, the average price of a gallon of diesel is north of $6, which is the first time that's ever happened in the U.S.

Here's the good news for Vance. The crowd liked the speech. They cheered at all the "cheer" points, and they broke into a chant of "48! 48! 48!" To be honest, our initial thought was that they were encouraging him to hold off on running until 2048. But, of course, what they were really doing is saying that they would like to see him succeed Trump, who is president #47. The other positive note is that he managed to ad lib a couple of decent laugh lines. Nobody will ever confuse J.D. Vance with George Carlin or Chris Rock, but he's funnier than Trump, at least.

And now the bad news. Actually, three bits of bad news. The first is that Donald Trump is congenitally unable to cede the spotlight, for even a single night. So, he came on stage after Vance, and riffed and rambled for about half an hour. You can watch it here, if you must. Structurally, that instantly converts Vance from "the headliner" to "the warm-up act." It also juxtaposes the two men, serving to remind everyone watching that Trump is far better at delivering what that crowd wants than Vance is.

That brings us to the second bit of bad news. Trump says things that are utterly counterfactual, that are laughably misguided, and that are sometimes arguably outright crazy. But we are generally persuaded that he really believes what he's saying, wacky as it might be. Vance, on the other hand, is the phoniest politician in the country (which is saying something), and he doesn't hide it well at all. Virtually nothing he said felt or sounded genuine. And while much of the voting public is not great on the details of policy or civics, nearly all of them can separate "genuine" from "putting on an act."

Then there's the final bit of bad news. We did not believe that people would be interested in this convention, and... we were right. The ratings are in for Trump's speech, and they are abysmal. Fox "News" ended up carrying the speech, and drew 2.5 million viewers. That's actually a shade lower than Fox draws with its regular programming in that slot; Gutfeld averages 2.51 million viewers. In other words, Trump and Vance were just preaching to the choir, and nobody else. It would have been cheaper and easier to just let Fox handle the evening's propagandizing. Probably more effective, too.

And while we have given due attention to the actual event yesterday, the fact of the matter is that the news coverage was actually dominated by what happened on Wednesday—specifically, Donald Trump's promise of a $5,000 check for every U.S. adult if the Republicans win the election. As it turns out, most (or maybe all) members of his administration had no idea that was coming. So, they spent the day scrambling, trying to figure out how to make it work (Pro tip: Can't be done).

There was also a phalanx of Republicans who realize that offering money in exchange for votes is illegal, and who showed up on the news programs to try to spin things so they are back on the right side of the law. The main argument (and really the only possible argument) is that Trump wasn't actually promising payments, he was just suggesting that if the Republicans win, the average adult will be $5,000 richer thanks to Republican policies. The problem here is that is clearly not what Trump said and, in particular, he specifically used the word "check" several times. He also repeated that word during his mini-speech last night.

Oh, and there is also the small matter that people absolutely hate the idea. That includes Republicans. It is certainly possible, even probable, that quite a few Joe Sixpacks are dreaming of what they will do with their Trump windfall. But the people who know policy, and the people who make policy, know that this has "disaster" written all over it. Again, it would blow an even bigger hole in the budget, and would cause the deficit to balloon even further, while also triggering inflation. What's not to like? Anyhow, the proposal was slammed yesterday by many different Republicans of many different stripes.

And so the first ever midterm Republican National Convention is over. We may never see its like again. If we are lucky, that is. (Z)

ElectionWatch 2026: Trump Effectively Concedes D.C. Is About to Get Much Less Friendly For Him

At the midterm convention, Donald Trump pushed hard for Republican voters to turn out in droves in November. At various times he required the crowd to join him in reciting a mass oath promising to vote, he encouraged Republicans to vote if they are registered or not, he said it is perfectly fine for Republican voters to "cheat like hell," and he said that any Republican who does not vote will "go to hell." However, his main pitch, which he repeated many times, was that he wants MAGA voters to pretend his name is on the ballot, and he wants them to turn out and vote as a personal favor to him.

Even Trump himself doesn't have confidence this will work, however. After all, he said the same stuff in 2018, and a lot of MAGA voters stayed home. And in an interview on Fox yesterday, he really made it clear he's not confident, as he struck a very different posture than the one on display at the two nights of the faux convention.

The President actually had a few choice thoughts. To start, he said that he just doesn't feel the same about this election because he's not campaigning for himself. The pretty obvious subtext here is that he just doesn't care as much about the outcome. And later, he shrugged and added that if the Democrats win control of one or both chambers of Congress, "It is what it is." He also promised that "I'll block all their bad stuff for 2 years... It won't be the same, but I will be a blocker."

There is a conspiracy theory, percolating in various places on the Internet, that Trump is deliberately trying to lose the midterms. We really don't believe that's true. Well, at least not on a conscious level. There may be some sort of Freudian thing going on there, maybe. After all, Freud was obsessed with daddy issues, and if there's anyone alive who has daddy issues, it's Donald Trump. (And note that we did not add Sr. or Jr. there, because the sentence is accurate either way.)

What we do believe is that Trump has begun to convince himself that it's not so bad if the Democrats do well in November. First, because even if the Republicans somehow hold on to both chambers of Congress, what exactly is he going to do with 2 more years of trifecta that he hasn't already done in the first 2 years of Trump v2.0? He got a couple of pieces of legislation through Congress, and other than that, he's ruled by executive order and by fiat.

Second, because Trump is not especially good at being for things. His strength is being against things. If the Democrats gain control of either chamber, or of both, they are going to investigate Trump and his underlings six ways to Sunday. But the tradeoff there is that Trump can blame the blue team for everything that goes wrong from Jan. 3, 2027, onward, from the price of gas, to failures in Iran, to the New York Giants not winning the Super Bowl. Much of the scapegoating will be nonsensical, but Trump's base will eat it up.

The bottom line is that Trump is currently projecting a somewhat bipolar mix of resignation and desperation. It's not a vibe likely to light a fire under the voters he needs, we think. (Z)

Fascism 101: Trump Administration Masters the Art of Censorship

The federal government is, of course, forbidden from censoring political speech. Nearly all presidents have honored that rather key civil right—it is, after all, in the very first sentence of the Bill of Rights, which is probably instructive—even if they had to grit their teeth while doing it. The exceptions to the general rule, prior to the current administration, were usually presidents who led the U.S. in times of war, and who clamped down on dissent as a wartime measure.

Donald Trump and his underlings are, by and large, not willing to grit their teeth and honor one of Americans' most important rights. Maybe Trump tells himself that the U.S. is at war with Iran, and so this is the same thing as Abraham Lincoln stifling dissent during the Civil War, or Woodrow Wilson doing so during World War I. Or, maybe Trump tells himself that he and his political party are at war with "the libs," and so this is the same thing as... well, there isn't a great presidential analogue here. But it does bring to mind Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong.

Trump can't exactly send troops to shut down unfriendly media outlets, at least not yet, so we're not quite at the level of Stalin's Russia. However, he and his flunkies, most obviously Brendan Carr at the FCC, have learned how to use the levers of power to achieve a similar result. Readers will recall that Carr, with Trump's blessing, flexed his muscles so as to force Stephen Colbert to move a planned interview with Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico from the over-the-air broadcast to the program's YouTube channel. Well, Carr and Trump have done it again, this time forcing the hated Jimmy Kimmel to move a Talarico interview from over-the-air to YouTube.

In case readers are wondering how this was accomplished, Carr and the FCC threatened to yank the broadcast licenses of ABC affiliates that broadcast the interview, with the claim that they are violating the FCC's "equal time rule." This is nonsense, and could only possibly be valid if Republican Ken Paxton asked for an interview and was denied. Even then, the argument is still shaky, as interviews with political candidates have generally been considered news, and thus not subject to equal-time requirements. That said, many local stations simply cannot afford to fight the mighty federal government in court, even if they are ultimately going to win. Further, many local stations don't want to alienate viewers by taking sides against Trump. So, Kimmel and his team bowed to this reality, and agreed to move the interview to the Internet.

For anyone who would like to watch the interview, here it is:

It is 21 minutes. If you're going to click and watch any of the videos we've linked so far, this should really be the one. It's far less dreary than either the Vance speech or the Trump speech. Shorter, too!

It's a fairly standard political interview, with the caveat that Talarico is pretty charismatic, and so interviews better than, say... well, Ken Paxton. In any event, we remain mystified about the administration's ongoing denial of the Streisand Effect. If Carr & Co. had just left it alone, the interview would have been seen by Kimmel's normal audience (1.8 million people or so), and that would be that. But by turning it into something notorious, it is guaranteed to be seen by an audience two or three or four times as large. It's already up to 1.5 million views on YouTube, and it's also on Instagram, eX-Twitter and other platforms. At the same time, everyone now knows that the administration is scared to death of Talarico. Not a great look, especially for a president who sold himself as tough and macho.

And Trump & Co. definitely ARE scared of Talarico. Again, this is not even the first time they've tried to muzzle a Talarico interview. Further, and we saved this for this item, J.D. Vance's speech last night had a bizarro digression in which he railed against Talarico. That digression ended with some very awkward musing about what kinds of pornography Talarico enjoys. It was strongly implied that he likes trans porn, and possibly trans child porn, and that either way it's sick and wrong.

We don't entirely understand why Talarico has become a white whale for Trump—far, far more so than, say, Sherrod Brown in Ohio or Roy Cooper in North Carolina or Jon Ossoff in Georgia. Maybe it is because a loss in Texas would be extra-embarrassing for Trump, given that it's such a red state, and given that Trump cut the more electable Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) off at the knees. Maybe it is because letting the Democrats get a foothold in Texas would be disastrous for the GOP. Maybe it is because Talarico is young and educated and well-liked by people, and so is everything Trump is not. The only thing we know for sure is that professional politicians have access to polling data that we do not. That Trump, Vance, et al. are trying so hard to undermine Talarico strongly suggests they know something. (Z)

Legal Bytes: Supremes Call Out Missouri SoS on His B.S., Yet Again

Another week with a lot of news that is at the intersection of law and politics:

It's Finally Over... for Now: Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins has managed to piss off just about everyone in his determination to use a 2025 district map that would net Republicans, at most, one extra House seat. Even that outcome was far from a given, since the popular incumbent, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II (D), decided to continue his candidacy in the new district and was running a strong campaign. And now, both the state and federal Supreme Courts have told Hoskins (twice in SCOTUS' case) that he has to use the 2022 Congressional map for the 2026 general election.

The latest in this saga came early Thursday morning when the entire Supreme Court, and not just Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, blocked a federal district court's temporary restraining order, issued on Tuesday less than an hour after Kavanaugh's original rejection of Hoskins' appeal, that had required the use of the 2025 map, contrary to the state Supreme Court's decision. After the Eighth Circuit refused to take action, the folks behind the referendum petition challenging the 2025 map filed an emergency appeal on Wednesday afternoon asking the Justices to put the federal TRO on hold. The Court told Hoskins to file a response by 10:00 a.m. ET Thursday morning, which he did. At 10:16 a.m., the Court granted the emergency request and blocked the TRO. The brief order essentially nullifies the lower federal court's action, which means that the Missouri Supreme Court's decision requiring the use of the 2022 map in the general election is the controlling, and the only remaining, order. To punctuate that point, a few minutes after SCOTUS' order came down, the Missouri Supreme Court held contempt proceedings to determine whether Hoskins should be held in contempt for violating the Court's order by sending an e-mail instructing clerks to print ballots based on the 2025 map.

Our Take: Yikes. This will not end well for Hoskins, but is a really important outcome for our democracy. You can bet that partisan secretaries of state are watching this closely to see just what kind of shenanigans they can get away with. Kudos to the Missouri Supreme Court for doing its job and following the law to protect election integrity and kudos to the U.S. Supreme Court for quickly shutting this down, respecting the Missouri Supreme Court and reiterating that states run elections. Interestingly, Kavanaugh acted alone the first time he was asked to intervene by Hoskins and did not refer the request to the Court. This time he did refer the matter to the Court and it was granted in 15 minutes with no noted dissents. Given that the district court had based its decision on constitutional equal protection grounds, this stay is more significant than Kavanaugh's earlier action. With the usual caveat that trying to read SCOTUS tea leaves is a fool's errand, this could signal that the justices draw a line when it comes to federal interference in a state's electoral processes. If so, that would be very good news for states' rights in the USPS case.

---

Going Postal: Speaking of the USPS case, the 23 states and voting-rights groups who sued to stop the postal rule commandeering mail-in ballots have submitted their response to the administration's emergency SCOTUS appeal of federal district court judge Indira Talwani's preliminary injunction blocking its implementation. California deputy solicitor general Ian Fein wrote on the states' behalf that allowing the rule to take effect would disenfranchise millions of voters and that the justices should be "skeptical" of the postal service's efforts to regulate elections given that it has no experience doing so and "nothing in federal law authorizes USPS to refuse to deliver ballots." Voting rights groups likewise responded that only Congress can deem material "non-mailable" and mail ballots are not on that list.

Our Take: Notably, Talwani did not block the rule from taking effect entirely. Her preliminary injunction only blocked that portion of the rule that makes participation mandatory by the states. Those states that want to voluntarily comply are free to do so. For instance, North Carolina officials claim that their ballot envelope design was approved by the USPS. (Of course, the whole point of a new envelope is allegedly to verify voter eligibility, which can't be done because the database isn't operational, so North Carolina's "compliance" is a bit of an empty gesture.) That distinction, though, makes the Justices' job much easier—they don't necessarily have to opine on the rule's legality, only whether the injunction is appropriately circumscribed. And last night, the First Circuit Court of Appeal denied Trump's motion to stay Talwani's injunction. So, the ball is now completely in the Supremes' court. We should have a decision in the next few days, but the longer the Court waits, the more likely it is that this rule will be put on the scrap heap, at least for the midterms.

---

Strike Two, Donald: It's déjà vu all over again. Donald Trump tried again, in a new executive order, to deny citizenship to a select group of children born in the United States. And, once again, a federal court has blocked that effort. U.S District Court Judge Deborah Boardman in Maryland issued a preliminary injunction in a class action lawsuit brought by immigrant families and advocacy groups. In her ruling, Boardman cut straight to the point: "The Supreme Court has spoken: Children in the certified class are 'citizens at birth.'" Because this is a class action suit, the injunction applies nationwide.

Our Take: It really is a shame that the burden of stopping the worst atrocities of this administration has fallen so heavily on our judges and beleaguered advocacy groups, as well as courageous individuals willing to stand up to Trump. Even a crystal-clear Supreme Court order barely slows him down. At some point, we'll hopefully have a functioning Congress that can rein him in somewhat. But it would be really nice if the people in the party that created this monster and his enablers grew a spine and remembered that the oath they took is to the country and Constitution, not to this man.

---

The Crook Factory: In the case challenging the legality of the slush fund and Trump family immunity from tax fraud and other wrongdoing, a federal magistrate judge has ordered Trump officials to divulge the identities of those who dreamed up the slush fund. This case was brought in Virginia by a former federal prosecutor who claims he was fired for political reasons. His suit claims that the slush fund was purposely created to exclude people like him and only award money to Trump supporters. IRS workers later joined the suit to challenge the immunity deal, claiming that it would require them to violate other federal laws if it is implemented.

Our Take: Well, this should be fun. It doesn't seem like it's much of a secret who took the lead in devising this scheme—looking at you, AG Todd Blanche. But there could be others as yet unidentified, and if there are e-mails brainstorming the plan, including how the funds were to be paid out, that could be the smoking gun the plaintiffs need to prove their case. No doubt the DOJ won't part with that information without a fight.

---

Don't Let the Door Hit You in the Rear End...: During the investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election and Donald Trump's possible involvement therein, former federal prosecutor Joseph diGenova was one of Trump's attorneys. He has long peddled a so-called "grand conspiracy" that led to the investigation, and has pushed to investigate the investigators. That task was given to Trump acolyte Jason Quinones, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. He has aggressively pursued investigations of former CIA Director John Brennan, former FBI Director James Comey and other former officials in pursuit of some as-yet-unidentified wrongdoing. But not aggressively enough, apparently, because in April, diGenova was brought in to take over and promised to bring charges within 30 days. It's been 5 months with nothing to show for his efforts and yesterday, diGenova abruptly resigned.

Our Take: The Russia probe has been examined six ways to Sunday, including by a bipartisan Senate committee, which issued a report finding that there was a sufficient basis for initiating it and for looking into the Trump campaign's involvement in Russia's efforts to undermine the election. Despite multiple subpoenas, countless witness interviews, and enormous taxpayer resources devoted to it, this thing is going nowhere. DiGenova is just the latest head to roll, but no doubt he won't be the last.

And with that, court is adjourned for the week. (L)

I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: Caveman and Associates

"Caveman and Associates" was ostensibly the name of the personal injury law firm led by Keyrock in one of Saturday Night Live's very best recurring bits: "Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer." The name was not uttered in any of the sketches, but in an interview, character creator Jack Handey said that was the name of the firm. For those unfamiliar with the character, the bit was that Keyrock fell in the ice many millennia ago, was found and thawed out by scientists, went to law school, and became a hotshot lawyer. He cynically pretends to be a humble caveman to gain the jury's sympathy, but at the same time drives a BMW, has a house on Martha's Vineyard, and wears bespoke suits made of Italian silk. Eventually, he runs for the U.S. Senate as a Republican, and promises to cut taxes on the wealthy. Why this character would have been on our minds the same night as J.D. Vance's speech (see above), we just don't know.

We had two hints for last week's theme: (1) "Walt Whitman would get this one right off the bat" and (2) "[W]e regret there was no good way to fit 'Ahab' into a headline." And here is the solution, courtesy of reader T.C. in Kirkwood, MO:

With Walt Whitman's poem eulogizing Abraham Lincoln, "O Captain, My Captain!", we look for words that will combine with "Captain" to form a meaningful pair:

• In Congress: Johnson Just Loves This Kangaroo (Supreme) Court—Captain Kangaroo, a famous children's TV entertainer from 1955 to 1986.
• It's the Stupid Economy: Don't Look Now, but There's a Diesel Crunch Underway—Cap'n Crunch, a sweet children's cereal with Cap'n a colloquial form of Captain.
• Midterms: Charlie Cook Is Bullish on Dems' Chances—Captain Cook, famous English explorer of the Pacific.
• Gerrymandering News: Judges Say, "Let America Decide"—Captain America. Marvel superhero.
• I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: Daniel Craig as Mister Fantastic?—Captain Fantastic, a 2016 film featuring Viggo Mortensen.
• This Week in Schadenfreude: Fox Confirms the Obvious, that Bartiromo Is Out—Captain Obvious, common response to one who states, well, the obvious!
• This Week in Freudenfreude: Meet Tuco—Captain Tuco, a character in the Fallout video game franchise and a direct homage to the character in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and hence also to our new E-V staff canine!

Excellent. Captain Ahab, from the Saturday hint, is another, and Captain Caveman, from the headline for this item, fits as well.

Here are the first 60 readers to get it right:

K.H. in Albuquerque, NM R.S. in Milan, OH G.M. in Gaithersburg, MD N.C. in Columbus, MS S.K. in Ardmore, PA M.M. in Dunellen, NJ J.T. in Philadelphia, PA R.G. in Washington, DC M.S. in Canton, NY E.S. in Providence, RI N.S. in Fayetteville, NY J.N. in Zionsville, IN I.H. in Occupied DC E.P. in Windham, CT D.P. in Mt. Rainier, MD D.E. in Ann Arbor, MI R.M. in Summerville, SC M.B. in Albany, NY D.D. in Highland Park, IL J.M.R. in Munice, IN B.R. in Arlington, MA P.D. in Lanham, MD L.B. in Savannah, GA C.M. in Ottawa, ON, Canada T.L.W. in Jackson, MS M.Z. in Sharon, MA A.C. in Kingston MA S.I. in Minneapolis, MN D.W. in Gurnee, IL P.H. in Bozeman, MT

D.K. in Bethesda, MD D.S. in Fort Collins, CO T.K. in Manchester, MO A.F. in Minneapolis, MN M.W. in Altea, Spain H.S.W. in Ardmore, PA E.W. in Skaneateles, NY M.T. in Wheat Ridge, CO D.B. in Pittsboro, NC R.B. in Richmond, VA M.H. in Ottawa, ON, Canada B.B. in Avon, CT M.K.M. in Marblehead, MA D.M. in Grand Rapids, MI M.K. in Long Branch, NJ J.W. in Poulsbo, WA S.G. in Durham, NC E.B. in North Liberty, IA W.S. in Winter Springs, FL D.M. in Lexington, NC J.C. in Carmel, CA S.F. in Pemberton Borough, NJ K.J. in Toronto, ON, Canada A.J. in Huddersfield, England, UK D.H. in Portland, OR K.E. in Peoria, IL D.H. in Waterloo, ON, Canada M.K. in Bothell, WA J.H. in Lake Forest, CA D.M. in Seattle, WA

The 60th correct response was received at 7:47 a.m. PT on Friday.

For this week's theme, there's no perfectly correct way to say how many words per headline it relies on, though we can say it's in the category Career Changes. We always use a real Trivial Pursuit category here, and that was one in the "Celebrity" edition. For a hint, we'll say Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit would have liked this theme, we think.

If you have a guess, send it to comments@electoral-vote.com with subject line September 11 Headlines. (Z)

This Week in Schadenfreude: Even 40 MPH Is a Bit Too Much for Vivek Ramaswamy

(Z) has played a lot of baseball, and has spent a lot of time at the batting cages. And every batting cage facility he ever went to had one cage set to 40 MPH, which is a very slow speed, and is well less than half of the speed at which a major league pitcher throws. Heck, it's less than half of the speed at which a decent high school pitcher throws. The 40 MPH cage serves a few purposes. Primarily, it's there so very young players—those who are 6 or 7 or 8 years old—can take a few hacks. Some older players use the 40 MPH cage to warm up, or occasionally to practice bunting.

Vivek Ramaswamy, the multimillionaire tech guy with absolutely no experience in elective office, decided that he really wanted to show Ohio voters that he's a "regular guy" that they should choose to be their next governor. So, he and his campaign decided to stage a video where he alternates between listing his policy priorities as governor, and swinging at baseballs in a batting cage. There were 10 policies, and thus 11 swings (as there was a swing before the first policy, and one after the last policy).

The video has gone viral, and not in the way Ramaswamy wanted. Here it is:

It's only 30 seconds, but if you don't care to view it, the issue is that Ramaswamy can't swing a baseball bat to save his life. It's amazing that nobody involved with the campaign figured out that he looked ridiculous, and that the video was going to land with a thud. It has now been deleted from Ramaswamy's various social media accounts but once something's released into the wild, it lives forever.

When (Z) saw it, his impression—other than "that's clearly the 40 MPH cage"—was that Ramaswamy is a golfer and not a baseball player. You have to move your feet when you swing a baseball bat, and you have to keep them (largely) in place when swinging a golf club, and he definitely does the latter. The Washington Sun, which until this week was known as NOTUS, went so far as to check in with professional hitting coaches. They said (correctly) that he's putting all his weight on his front foot, which makes it impossible to drive the ball. Their advice: "Stick to politics."

Ramaswamy is an unusually obnoxious fellow; even most of his fellow Republican politicians hate him. And when he stages such a phony, pandering video and it blows up in his face? Well, then it's "Go directly to Schadenfreude, do not pass Go, do not collect $200." (Z)

This Week in Freudenfreude: BNA May Soon Be DPM

Forgive us for running our second item on the passing of Dolly Parton in as many weeks, but it's not often that someone as iconic and beloved as she was passes from the scene. The outpouring of tributes has been impressive, and we thought we would mention a couple of them.

Parton, of course, was not a college graduate. However, she was a big supporter of her home state's most prominent public university, the University of Tennessee. That included the school's educational mission, its arts programs and its sports teams. And on the weekend after Parton passed, the university community decided to use the football game it played against Furman to send her out in style.

The entire day was full of Parton remembrances and tributes, but there were two that stood out in particular. The first of those is that, at halftime, the marching band performed a medley of Parton songs, and they choreographed their formation such that by the end of the performance, they spelled out "Dolly" followed by a heart. Here it is, if you'd like to see it:

After the band left the field, the entire crowd—over 100,000 strong—participated in a singalong of "I Will Always Love You." And, by the way, this is surely the first time we've linked five different videos on the same day.

Another story that caught our attention is one that pretty much everyone was asking for the moment Parton's passing was announced. New Orleans' airport is named after Louis Armstrong, Liverpool's is named after John Lennon, and Salzburg's is named after Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. So, it's really only fitting that Nashville's airport should be named after Parton, since she is as identified with Nashville as those other musicians are with the cities that have honored them.

Gov. Bill Lee (R-TN) has already gotten to work on the project, and says it's a matter of "when" and not if. It does take some time and some red tape, especially since they want to change the airport code, which has to be approved by the International Air Transport Association. It's currently BNA, because it was once Berry Field, and so it's now "Berry Nashville Airport." It might become DPI, for "Dolly Parton International," but DPI is already used in airline computer systems; it's short for Departure Planning Information. So, they might instead go with DPM, which would be "Dolly Parton Memorial."

We try to make sure, at least most of the time, that these last two items each week have at least some connection to politics. And the contrast between the future DPI/DPM, and the recently renamed airport in Florida where the honor was not earned, and where some people are deliberately continuing to use the old name, means that we think this news qualifies as "politics-related." (Z)

Today's Senate Polls

You don't need us to tell you that if today's map comes to pass, the Democrats will have a Fetterman-proof Senate majority, even if the two "ties" (Iowa and Nebraska) don't go their way. (Z)

State	Democrat	D %	Republican	R %	Start	End	Pollster
Maine	Troy Jackson	48%	Susan Collins*	44%	Sep 02	Sep 08	YouGov
North Carolina	Roy Cooper	49%	Michael Whatley	38%	Aug 21	Aug 31	YouGov
North Carolina	Roy Cooper	52%	Michael Whatley	44%	Aug 31	Sep 03	East Carolina U.
Ohio	Sherrod Brown	47%	Jon Husted*	42%	Sep 08	Sep 09	Insider Advantage
Texas	James Talarico	48%	Ken Paxton	44%	Aug 30	Sep 01	Fabrizio + Anzalone

* Denotes incumbent

---

Previous report         Next report

---

If you wish to contact us, please use one of these addresses. For the first two, please include your initials and city.

• questions@electoral-vote.com    For questions about politics, civics, history, etc. to be answered on a Saturday
• comments@electoral-vote.com   For "letters to the editor" for possible publication on a Sunday
• corrections@electoral-vote.com To tell us about typos or factual errors we should fix
• items@electoral-vote.com            For general suggestions, ideas, etc.
• Guidelines for questions (Saturdays) and letters (Sundays)

To download a poster about the site to hang up, please click here.

---

Email a link to a friend.

---The Votemaster and Zenger