Lucid Dreams And Real Delusions

It's your Sunday show rundown!

Every 2024 GOP presidential candidate when new polling results are in

The Republican Party marches onward to the inevitable conclusion of Donald Trump as their 2024 presidential nominee, despite multiple indictments and an insurrection. Meanwhile, delusional candidate flail around in fear of twice-impeached former president while somehow still hoping they can beat him in the upcoming primary.

And this Sunday was no different.

Schrödinger's January 6

Mike Pence, the former vice president and potential gallows quality assurance tester, appeared on CNN’s “State Of The Union.”

Continuing his quixotic quest for the presidency, Pence still believes there is a constituency that is simultaneously both MAGA and yet would vote for the guy who wouldn’t help their MAGA deity steal an election. When asked host Dana Bash asked him about Trump’s potential third indictment regarding his actions on January 6, 2021, Pence defended Trump with his usual sycophantic zeal.

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BASH: But I just want be clear. If the Justice Department has evidence that he committed a crime related to January 6, you do not think he should be charged?

PENCE: Well, look, I — I know I did my duty that day under the Constitution. […]
And I have said many times that the president's words were reckless that day. I had no right to overturn the election. But while his words were reckless, I — based on what I know, I'm not yet convinced that they were criminal.

I obviously wasn't there for every meeting. I was busy trying to help reopen the government and the country after the COVID pandemic. I was spending a fair amount of time in Georgia, Dana, as you remember, in those special elections. […] And I think one more indictment against the former president will only contribute to that sense among the American people.

Pence never fails to congratulate himself for doing the bare minimum on January 6. It’s his own version of Rudy Giuliani’s A Noun, A Verb and 9/11! I am glad, however, he mentioned his “leadership” of Trump’s failed Covid-19 task force and his amazing results in the 2021 Georgia special elections that gave us TWO Democratic senators. It’s an unintentionally effective argument for his overall ineptitude.

Pence kept dodging Bash’s questions regarding whether he thinks Trump should be prosecuted if there’s evidence he committed crimes.

PENCE: […] President Trump was wrong on that day, and he's still wrong in asserting that I had the right to overturn the election. But what his intentions were — and, as you know, criminal charges have everything to do with intent, what the president's state of mind was. […] And I don't honestly know what his intention was that day, whether — as he spoke to that crowd, as he tweeted during the riot itself.

He’s confused about Trump’s intentions?! He literally wanted Pence to overturn the result of an election! It wasn’t much of a secret before, during, or after January 6. Pence has no confusion about his unwillingness to go with this plot and had a front row seat for the violence caused by his followers after Trump riled them up.

But Pence’s political cowardice hit an all-time low when, after Bash played an audio clip of Trump hinting his voters would use violence if he’s indicted again, Pence minimized the threat he was in on January 6 and now from people he delusionally wants to vote for him.

BASH: Does that kind of rhetoric worry you?

PENCE: Well, it doesn't worry me because I have — I have more confidence in the American people and in the people in our movement. […] But I don't — I'm not concerned about it beyond that.

BASH (slightly laughing at the absurdity): That's pretty remarkable that you're not concerned about it, given the fact that they wanted to hang you on January 6. […]

Pence then tried to feign offense with that old trick where if you call out insurrectionists/deplorable assholes within their party, it must mean you are insulting ALL Republicans.

That trick, much like Pence himself, is stale and obsolete.

Stop Trying To Make Ramaswamy Happen. It’s Not Gonna Happen.

Tech bro douche and reactionary Vivek Ramaswamy was on “Fox News Sunday” still using his 15 minutes of fame and attention.

Host Shannon Bream shared these polls showing how delusional he (and the other GOP hopefuls) are about being the 2024 Republican nominee.

Nikki Haley and Tim Scott lose their home state by over 30 points.

Even if they combined their points like a GOP Voltron, they still lose to Trump

But what else is there to say about Vivek Ramaswamy that rival Republican campaigns didn’t say already in a Semafor profile, which Bream directly quoted to his face?

“Vivek is like the fajitas that go by you at the restaurant,” one advisor on a rival campaign told Semafor. “They make noise, look exciting, and come on the fun plate. But if you order it, it’s too much, too annoying to assemble, and you wish you just ordered tacos.”

Another advisor on a rival campaign noted that Ramaswamy has “barely raised any money outside of what he donated himself,” and predicted the 37-year-old’s campaign “will fizzle out” — adding he’d ultimately see success in the form of “increased book sales and inflows into his investment products.”

Sounds like an accurate summation of Ramaswamy to us.

Have a week.