One neighbor told Mike he was not going up to the states this week, period. He doesn't care for the way it feels...like something bad is going to happen. We had to go up yesterday then need to return again on Friday, then the following Tuesday for doctors appointments. Maybe I should take off the Biden bumper sticker.
At any rate here's the scoop from the big Walmart out in Eastlake: No paper towels, no dish detergents, no windex, no organic milk, no coffee creamer, no Kevita pro-biotic drinks, no seedless pistachios, no organic orange juice . At some point I said, 'I feel like I'm in Russia !'... a man in the paper towel department said that it was the same way at Costco (I've never been to Costco); further he said that people were panicked and buying everything off the shelves because they felt something weird is going to happen after the election, like riots.
I don't know if this is a rumor to keep people who haven't voted away from the polls, or a reaction to the violence over the weekend with the aggravated assault on the Biden campaign in Texas and subsequent tweets by Trump condoning his followers.(Not to mention voter suppression all around the country) It sounds like a rumor Trump would start, then again on the other hand...Trump has declared he has an "Army".
Just in case you missed the video, here is where I first saw it with a smashing essay.
I'm headed for another knee soaking, so here are some links, hope you have tons of popcorn:
From AP:
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Update / edit 9:41 pm:
If you are watching the election results, at this hour Trump is taking rural America but importantly, the Black Men and Latino Men's support...well, we haven't moved out west yet where this trend may prove to be different. Surprised?
This article explains parts of the puzzle, not everything . Aside from the Macho Strong Man Symbiotic Mutualism which most of us can easily recognize, what astounds me is that even with extreme increased wealth and acquired materialisms (which I believe both groups are fundamentally most interested in and they really think that Trump will provide to them) what members of these two groups do not realize is that even with that brand new 5K dollar suit, they will never be accepted at Mar de Lago or any other Trump establishment or golf course, which have been designed exclusively for the white eyes.
~ From the Atlantic: (More on this subject go to the link...on the right hand sidebar)
What Liberals Don't Understand About Pro-Trump Latinos
They all have one very important thing in common.
October 29, 2020
Updated at 8:55 p.m. ET on November 3, 2020.
"Abraham Enriquez speaks with the clarity of a levelheaded TV anchor. The 25-year-old Latino from Lubbock, Texas, was the first in his family to be born in the United States, after his grandparents immigrated from Mexico in the 1980s and brought his then-2-year-old mother with them. He visits his family across the border at least once a year for service trips with his grandparents’ church. When we talked recently about the state of American politics, I recognized the air of authority I had heard in clips of his eponymous web show and his public speeches rallying Latinos in Texas to vote—for Donald Trump.
Enriquez is one of millions of Latinos casting a ballot for Trump this year. Nearly a third of Latinos routinely vote for Republicans in American elections, and the Trump campaign’s appeals to them show an understanding of their unique worldview, one rooted in deeply held beliefs about individualism, economic opportunity, and traditional social values. Across nationality, class, immigrant experience, and age, Trump-voting Latinos have one thing in common: a different vision from other Latinos of what it means to be American—and they believe their liberal counterparts and the broader public just don’t understand that.
Liberals may accuse these Latinos of voting against their own interests, given Trump’s mishandling of the pandemic, attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and restrictions on immigration—all issues that affect millions of Latino lives. But many pro-Trump Latinos told me they simply define their interests differently than their more progressive cousins do. They don’t necessarily feel solidarity with Latinos as a whole, and many identify themselves as American first. (Some reject “Latino” or “Latinx” labels as well.) Many are lifelong Republicans not eager to abandon their party, and Trump’s economy-first message and opposition to abortion rights resonate with them. Democrats shouldn’t be surprised if Trump matches or improves on his 2016 showing among Latinos, or if their votes help him hold battleground states. Republican Latinos have always existed, and the Trump campaign has dedicated significant resources to winning over more of the Hispanic community this election cycle.
Election-year conversations tend to flatten voters into stereotypes, but there is no one kind of Latino voter: They aren’t all of Mexican or Cuban descent, nor are they all Catholic or connected by a shared immigrant experience—even though these subgroups dominate national attention. Though 60 to 70 percent vote for Democrats, according to the Pew Research Center, Latinos aren’t a reliably partisan voting bloc and need to be persuaded, in culturally competent ways, to vote. Their differences in national identity, immigrant background, experiences with discrimination, and religious beliefs make Latinos just as complicated as any other demographic group, though they aren’t always portrayed that way.
Take immigration, an issue commonly identified as the central Latino priority because many Americans assume that all Latinos hold the same pro-immigration view. The first time Enriquez heard Trump speak about politics was during the future president’s campaign-launch speech in 2015, when he said Mexico was “sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime.” Enriquez told me he could forgive the president’s comments. “I know exactly the status of Mexico, and how crime has completely just taken over the beautiful country that is Mexico. So when President Trump was talking about what Mexico is sending, I immediately knew—I understood [what he meant],” Enriquez said. “Did he word it correctly? No, but he did emphasize that, you know, it wasn’t all Mexicans.” (Enriquez told me that he first learned about Trump when he wrote a paper on The Art of the Deal in ninth grade.)
Some pro-Trump Latinos told me they understand why immigrants seek new lives in America, but they want them to come to this country “the right way.” They don’t necessarily identify with the plight of Latin American immigrants today. “You can’t really compare immigration in 2020 or 2016 to immigration like when my grandparents immigrated to America,” Enriquez said. Some support Trump’s border wall, some support limits on immigration generally, but almost all pivoted to the economy when the subject came up, arguing that unregulated immigration could have a negative effect on their own well-being.
“We recognize that open borders would not be good for the economy, for our families,” Ray Baca, the founder of the El Paso–based activist group Border Hispanics for Trump, told me. “Illegal immigration hurts employment as far as wages are concerned. And who are the people that get hurt? People at the bottom … and many times that is still the Hispanics.”
For these voters, Trump has done a good job of encouraging Latinos to start new businesses, seek employment, and advance their education—they’re not as focused on his immigration agenda. “We take pride in being self-sufficient. We don’t want a permanent handout,” Barbara Carrasco, a Latina businesswoman from El Paso who ran for Congress in 2012, told me. “President Trump really wants everybody to have an opportunity to succeed.”
Enriquez noted that young U.S.-born Latinos find messages centered on economic mobility and entrepreneurship especially appealing. Indeed, Trump’s pitch seems to be working for a subset of U.S.-born Mexican American men, which recent polling suggests would especially help the president in the Sun Belt. Overall, Trump has attracted higher levels of support among Latino men in swing states than he did in 2016.
Even after the coronavirus hit and Republicans could no longer tout record-low unemployment figures among Hispanic men, the Trump campaign kept its attention on messaging to Latino voters. One week in July captured the clumsy but potentially effective drive to win them over: A meeting on Wednesday, July 8, at the White House with the Mexican president signaled Trump’s commitment to border security and what he considers fair trade. Thursday’s signing ceremony for the Hispanic Prosperity Initiative reaffirmed his stated commitment to school choice and increasing educational opportunities for Latinos. (At the event, the CEO of Goya, Robert Unanue, said he was “truly blessed” to have Trump as president.) Also on Thursday, the president gave an interview to the Spanish-language news show Noticias Telemundo in which he said he backed an executive action to protect Dreamers, muddying the waters of his immigration agenda. And on Friday, he visited Florida for a briefing on drug trafficking and border control, which was designed to make a tough-on-crime appeal to the state’s famously conservative Hispanic voters.
This strategy is a dramatic shift from Trump’s approach in 2016, but it’s not new: It’s similar to the Republican Party’s traditional playbook to activate its Latino base, and it takes advantage of the starkly different values that liberal and conservative Latinos hold. Public reaction to the week’s events clarified Latinos’ differing priorities, Geraldo Cadava, a professor of history and Latino and Latina studies at Northwestern University, told me. Liberals zeroed in on Unanue’s statements, advocating for a boycott of Goya and arguing that Latinos supporting Trump are hypocrites because of his anti-immigrant policies and rhetoric. But Latino Republicans saw Trump embracing the economic, educational, and cultural priorities that many of them share.
“That week was about so much: free trade with Mexico, charter schools, easier access to loans for Hispanic business owners—but the whole week was focused on Goya and identity politics,” said Cadava, who has written a book on Hispanic Republican identity.
Enriquez attended the Hispanic Prosperity Initiative ceremony, representing his conservative-Latino voter-education nonprofit Bienvenido. He told me the event was further evidence of Trump’s dedication to Latino prosperity. “I have heard this president stand behind the mic and boast of how proud he is of Hispanic working Americans, how we’re the backbone of the economy of this country,” he said. Trump “has really put Hispanic voices on the table and let us talk to America about the issues that we face, and the things that we need.”
end edit.
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Stay Safe Y'all and avoid "Trump Trains" at all cost. This however is a very cool train ride...a blast from the past....