Here we go again

There are a number of games that the political media likes to play – and they usually all float to the surface in an election season. For example, whenever it’s clear who the frontrunner in a presidential primary is, they start to demand who that candidate will select as their running mate. We saw it constantly after Joe Biden won big on Super Tuesday, even though anyone paying close attention the whole time could see that it was more than likely going to be Sen. Kamala Harris from California.

It got even more ridiculous when they started demanding that then-presumptive nominee Joe Biden start announcing his cabinet picks, even before the Democratic National Convention took place at the end of the summer. There are reasons that seasoned politicians don’t announce these things far ahead of schedule, but the main reason is that they’re busy with campaigning decisions and actual policy proposals – as well as the possibility that these decisions take thorough vetting and research rather than just pulling names out of a hat.

Even Donald Trump once understood this, which is why Mike Pence was announced as his running mate after some careful deliberation on how he’d be able to maintain support among the Religious Right. Now, however, he’s taken the bait, which is why he’s told reporters he’s considering Elise Stefanik as his running mate – one of his staunchest supporters despite being from a reliably blue state (and despite Trump not even getting her name right.)

It’s really hard to tell how serious he actually was, but it’s obvious Stefanik took it to heart, and now she’s going to bat for him, defending his latest idiotic remark: conflating Nikki Haley and Nancy Pelosi, and only keeping this headline in the news longer than it needs to be. She’d be absolutely catastrophic for a Republican ticket, but it’s not like there’s anyone who could be much better. We’re about to see how many other right-wing stooges get brought to the front and center before election season is over – and why we shouldn’t trust any of them with power.