July 15, 2024

• The so called "Trump Trade" is gaining momentum as investors see Trump good for profits
• Bitcoin (and other crypto) is up this morning
• Betters increase odds of a Trump victory
• Flash polls have Trump's approval rating increasing
• Markets are pricing in a Trump win (at least in the short term)
• Right-wing billionaires have used this opportunity for announcing full support
• Independent voters tend to be swayed by non-economic factors

Pundits are all in with the nearly open acknowledgement that American politics are a spectator sport in which policy barely matters in the end.

Gun violence is so normalized in the USA that the fact that a young conservative shooting at a politician with a consumer copy of the M-16 rifle is not even considered odd. Neither are the heavily armed Secret Service and police visible in every direction at a political rally.

People say they are "shocked" in comments to the press, but their banal tone betrays them.

The news is awash in stories of how the communications and propaganda teams have to adjust their programs in response to the growing "sympathy vote".

The only real answer is to continue to call out the Republican's ridiculous social and economic program and push for a clear alternative.

The Republican National Convention is being held this week. It will be a celebration, but will also paint a picture of economic reality that is designed to trick people.

When Trump was getting shot at, the image in the background was a digital presentation slide showing a massive increase in the number of "illegal immigrants". A presentation that was given in overwhelmingly white rural Pennsylvania.

This should not be surprising. In 2018, cops had a free hand in Pennsylvania to work with ICE to deport undocumented workers. At the time, more than 60% of those arrested had no criminal convictions, compared to 38% nationally.

The aggressive action of these police forces lead to sanctuary city campaigns across the state.

However, these programs undermined farming communities near the location of the Trump rally. Those farms are completely reliant on labourers from Latin America.

It even lead to the state paying out a lot of money for illegal stops.

The state of Pennsylvania has agreed to pay $865,000 to settle a federal lawsuit alleging that its state troopers routinely and unconstitutionally pulled over Latino drivers, demanded their “papers” and held them and their passengers for pickup by federal immigration authorities — a practice that escalated markedly after President Donald Trump took office in 2017. (Propublica)

The nightmarish policies of the far right's vision of America are quickly forgotten after incidents like this. Public support is for "winning", and in America, nothing says winning more than surviving gun violence. The American political elite may come to regret voicing its unity in support of the pro-firearm candidate, as this only promises more gun violence as the most likely outcome.