Impromptus

One man’s Election Day, &c.

By
Voters cast their ballots at a polling station on Election Day in Falls Church, Va., November 7, 2023. (Kevin Lamarque / Reuters)
On voting, GOP politics, a Malcolm X opera, an aircraft carrier, and more

In the old days, we got junk mail — I mean, in our mailboxes. Non-virtual mailboxes. There is still such mail. But other means of communication are more important. At some point, we got junk mail in our e-mail — dubbed “spam.” In the last few years, I’ve been getting junk mail in my text messages, which I find extra-annoying. Extra-intrusive. This mail, these texts, are all of a political nature. They are almost always MAGA.

Here is a recent example:

 


More in Voters

Here’s another one:

 

Like clockwork, I delete these texts and “report” them, but the texts keep coming, from different numbers.

Before I continue, let me sneak in a point I have made many times: When the MAGA fever breaks — if it does? — I hope that conservatives can reclaim the concept of patriotism. A true patriotism. Also the concept of manliness. A true manliness. And other concepts . . .

In the last week of October, I began getting spam texts from a strange source: a local candidate, here in New York City. I did my “delete and report” thing, of course. But I kept noticing a word in her texts: “e-bikes.” She wanted to do something about them. What, I’m not sure. But something.

I have ranted about e-bikes before, in this here column. (This one in particular, for those interested.) These bikes are a menace in New York City. Not the bikes per se but the human beings riding them. Menaces.

Well, when Election Day rolled around — November 7 — I decided to go vote for my spamming candidate.

I arrived at the school that is my polling place about midday. There was a bake sale going on: Students, parents, teachers, et al., take the opportunity of Election Day to hold a bake sale. I eyed the cookies as I went to vote.

At the first table, two ladies told me which other table to go to. At that second table, a woman asked me for the first two letters of my last name (I thought). I answered, “I’m afraid it’s not a very nice word: n-o.” She said, “No, I said first three letters.” I said, “Ah — well, that’s not a lot better: n-o-r.” Then a man at the table asked me about my first name. There was some confusion about whether I was saying the letter “j” or the name “Jay.”

Not quite Abbott & Costello — “Who’s on first?” — but in the ballpark.

I went to a third table to fill out my form. My ballot. I filled in the oval next to my candidate’s name.

Frankly, I miss pulling the lever. In fact, I used that as a synonym for “voting,” and still do: “to pull the lever.” “There are some things I like about that candidate, but not enough to pull the lever for him.”

Exiting the polling area, I waved goodbye to the ladies at the first table and said that I was hitting the bake sale, to get some cookies. One of the ladies observed, wisely, “I know that’s right.”

Among the cookies were sugar cookies, star-shaped, that said “VOTE.” They came in red and blue. A little girl said, “Which do you want? Red or blue?” I said, “One of each.”

It is possible to be sentimental or corny about democracy. But such things as voting, in free and fair elections, with genuine choices, are very important. (I wrote an essay about democracy last August, here.) This week, it felt good to vote.

I checked the results. My candidate lost by 60 points. (Seriously, like 80 to 20.) Story of my life . . .

• For decades, I have listened to commentary about elections, and I have engaged in a fair amount of it myself. Here is something not often enough said: “Candidate quality” counts. Who’s runnin’? This matters a lot, parties and issues aside. But the quality of candidates is not very sexy to political analysts or those who like “big-think.” It is also not very sexy to partisans.

In 2022, Senator Mitch McConnell spoke of “candidate quality”: “Candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome.” A lot of Republicans — not just in politics but in the media — freaked. But McConnell was right, of course.

(Just for the record: I’m not saying that my candidate — the one I voted for this week, in a local election — was a bad candidate. Her problem, I think, was that she was a Republican in Manhattan . . .)

• A lot of people hated it when people said that Ronald Reagan won two elections, by landslides, because people liked him. No! said National Review (for example). It’s that they are with him on the issues! They share his principles! He has won the arguments! Etc.

To be honest, Reagan’s likability had a lot more to do with his victories than we issues-based, or ideas-based, conservatives cared to admit. I have written about this on many occasions. I have a lil’ speech on the subject. But I will not detain you now.

Oh, hell, one anecdote. In 2007, I was talking with a friend of mine — a corporate lawyer, very well educated. He brought up the 2008 presidential cycle, which was then underway. He said he was interested in two candidates. He liked two of the candidates: Romney and Obama.

But they’re as different as night and day! I thought. But that was only because of the kind of political creature I was (and am). My friend was more “normal.” And listening to him taught me something about politics. It helped me be a better electoral analyst.

One more thing: The Democratic vice-presidential nominee in 1984, Geraldine Ferraro, pleaded with a union audience, “You can still like him, you know.” (She was speaking of Reagan, and I am paraphrasing her.) “But you don’t have to vote for him. Because, on the issues, you agree with us.”

Moving on . . .

• The Republican presidential candidates — minus the probable nominee, Donald Trump — participated in a debate on Wednesday night. Vivek Ramaswamy was so nasty, so graceless, I’m surprised he isn’t doing better in the polls.

• Here is the senior senator from Utah:

“Based” Mike Lee thinks Ramaswamy is a “badass.” If that does not encapsulate today’s GOP, and today’s conservative movement, I don’t know what does. A tragedy.

• Ramaswamy is calling for the ouster of Ronna McDaniel, the chairman of the Republican National Committee. (Not his worst idea, by a long shot.) I wonder: Once she is out of formal politics, will she reinstate her middle name? Before Trump came along, she was always “Ronna Romney McDaniel.” (She is the granddaughter of George and the niece of Mitt.)

• While his rivals — is that the right word? — were debating, Trump was rallying. Here is a taste of him:

Probably, Trump was referring to Xi Jinping, not Kim Jong-un — China has a population of 1.4 billion, North Korea a population of 26 million. But it doesn’t matter: Trump talks the same way about all of them.

The thing about an absolute dictator? “There’s no doubt about who the boss is,” as Trump says. How could it be otherwise? Every North Korean knows that Kim Jong-un is the boss — trust me.

While he was president, Trump said this about Kim: “He’s the head of a country, and I mean, he’s the strong head, don’t let anyone think anything different.” (No one would think anything different.) “He speaks, and his people sit up at attention.” (Oh, yes. Not to do so could be fatal.)

In October 2020, before the presidential election, I wrote a long and detailed piece called “Trump and Dictators.” That piece is here, for those interested.

• A simple truth: If Republican voters want to nominate Donald Trump for president — for a third time — they will. Nothing and no one can stop them. Not Nikki Haley, not the Democrats, not “the media,” not the weather. Nothing. And that, to me, says something grotesque about my erstwhile party — the “Party of Lincoln.”

• Let’s have a little language. In a meeting the other day, Richard Brookhiser used a word I hadn’t heard in a long time — or ever, possibly: “bogosity.” Merriam-Webster says: “informal: the quality of being bogus.” Nice. (Not the quality, I hasten to say. Rather, the word.)

• A little music? In 1986, Anthony Davis composed an opera called “X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X.” It is now playing at the Metropolitan Opera. For a quick review from me, go here.

And this leads me to some language — more language. A couple of things in the opera’s libretto reminded me of our political language today. For example, Malcolm X says that the white man needs to “know what time it is.” You hear that phrase from the Trump Right (roughly speaking) today. The old Reaganites don’t know what time it is; but the Trumpistas — and the Orbánistas and worse — do.

Also: There are people who long for the Middle Ages, or, if those are too recent for you, the Bronze Age. Premodern times: when men were men, there was no sissy computer work, etc. A common criticism of these people — the longers — is that they always assume they would be lords, not serfs. They assume they would be in charge — that they would belong to the 1 percent, so to speak.

In the Malcolm X opera, people say, “We were once kings” (in Africa). “We were kings of Mali.” Well, a handful of people were kings. Millions were subjects.

• I should let you get on with your weekend? I should indeed. Maybe one photo, to close. There used to be Bomb Pops — those red-white-and-blue popsicles. Probably still are. I haven’t seen one in a while. Anyway, the Intrepid, at night, always reminds me of a Bomb Pop:

Catch you later, everybody. Thanks so much for joining me.

If you would like to receive Impromptus by e-mail — links to new columns — write to jnordlinger@nationalreview.com.

Exit mobile version