Part 1: Scott Braddock, Editor of the Quorum Report, discusses national and Texas Politics with us.
Governor Abbott is asking all candidates to make a pledge to not defund the police, although no one has expressed intention for this course of action. This is true of both Republicans and Democrats . Many cities, like Austin, have created their budgets, and while the intention is not to defund the police, simply reducing budgets has the effect of reducing the police budgets, because ALL budgets are being cut back. Trump’s emphasis on law and order is unreasonable under the COVID conditions. Rather, as the Democrats are stressing, by not dealing with COVID, this exacerbates the problem. Much of the revenue that Texas depends on, sales tax and real estate tax, is being lost due to COVID.
Two campaigns are of great interest: Hager is seeking to displace Sen Cornyn. The race between Biden and Trump is close, within single digits. It also interesting to observe that many campaign signs are blue, even for the Republican candidates, and Trump’s name is not being mentioned as often by down-ballot candidates. Many campaign signs for Republicans do not include party affiliation, a tacit admission that Republicans are losing ground?
Part 2: Bill Curry, former advisor to Pres Clinton, and two time candidate for governor of Connecticut. We discuss multiple topics: Why is the Biden/Trump race so close? The US is #28 on the international Quality of Life metrics. What is the role of Christianity and Christians in the presidential race?
We all know Trump’s character now. But, the American electorate is still fascinated by his obvious faults, and still, 40% of voters are still favoring him. Trump is the “Hope diamond” of shiny objects, but few are concentrating on his actual actions. So, the problem for Democrats is packaging for the undecideds among the electorate. The recommendation is that the concentrate on emphasizing what we all agree on: the pandemic ‘s effect on the economy, a livable wage, restructuring taxes. Democrats must develop their policy before they communicate the message. To deal with the pandemic, absent a safe and effective vaccine, our only choice is mask, the easiest and crude vaccine. We must eliminate all the military interventions that don’t work. We must deal with climate change, The US has the best universities, the best medical systems. But….those things are not accessible to all members of the society. This must be rectified.
