A Party Of One

The musical poet Bob Dylan, in “Times Have Changed,” wrote: “People are crazy, and times are strange.”

No kidding.

The world is completely different from the way it was six months ago, and even though we believe — we hope — that it will bounce back to some sense of normalcy, it is not likely to come all the way back, and that will mean many adaptations. Some differences will be welcomed; some not so much.

One example of striking and fundamental change I’ve been thinking about a lot during the past couple of weeks concerns how we select our candidates for president, and then campaign and vote for them.

In the earliest days of the republic, candidates for president and vice president were selected by the top-tiered members of each party. The candidates might give a few selected speeches, but most of the jawboning was done by surrogates, since getting around the country was often perilous and always time consuming. Votes could be procured with a nickel pitcher of beer, a plump chicken or a couple of greenbacks passed under the table.

Conventions and delegates became more popular pre-Civil War. A number of presidential contenders, especially in the late 19th century, favored a “front porch” strategy; that is, they stayed home, said little, rocked on the front porch, and let their campaign workers advocate for them.

Teddy Roosevelt made the convention into spectacle and popularized the “whistle stop tour.” With the advent of aircraft flight, candidates are able to appear just about anywhere on a moment’s notice, although the COVID-19 virus has changed that, at least temporarily.

Donald Trump still seems to be able to pop up anywhere, though. As one campaign professional said, “He’d go to the opening of an envelope.” Joe Biden prefers (at least so far) to campaign from home: the famous “basement strategy.”

The nominating conventions this year were profoundly different, too. The Democrats put on an old-fashioned variety show highlighted by a clever and visually stunning roll call vote. The Democratic candidates and their supporting speakers seemed to beam and bounce with genuine fervor in a mostly positive mash-up of America and its best ideals with better days ahead.

The Republicans, on the other hand, were gloom and doom, selling fear and loathing for the opposition. One Trump or another seemed to leap up and scream after every commercial break. Even Trump himself became a living jack-in-the-box popping up everywhere, every day of the convention, with some absurd version of himself that he’d like us to believe is true.

All in all, though, the two vastly different conventions without conventioneers, balloon drops, silly hats, and lots of noise were much less chaotic and jarring than the previous models. Maybe this is the wave of the future — and should be, coronavirus or not.

Now we’re on to the campaigning, which has, in my opinion, changed strikingly, but because of the candidates and not the environmental conditions.

This is a campaign without parties. This is not about lining up Republicans and Democrats and trying to persuade a large block of independents to join you. For the first time in my lifetime (which goes back to Harry Truman), this is a campaign about who you like and who you don’t, not members of one party or another. This election is about validating the Cult of Donald Trump — or not. And Trump is over the moon that it’s all about him.

Trump is neither a Republican nor a Democrat. He is an opportunist — a party of one, all unto himself. He is the leader of a cult, and he has his own base. Half of his base is from the “Screw You” sect: These are the believers who have grievances of all types, mostly against authority, minorities, and rules they don’t think should apply to them.

The other half of the base is the “Gimme Mine: sect: These are the malcontents who believe that government is basically corrupt, that all those in the government are breaking the rules to grab what they can. Trump is their guy, their own grifter.

Neither sect gives a damn about who Trump really is, as long as he’s on their side and can help them get their pieces of the federal pie. Graft, corruption, law breaking — none of the old standards matter. The ends are justified by the means, legal or otherwise.

On the other hand, we have Joe Biden. He is a Democrat, of course, but that hardly matters. More importantly, he is the anti-Trump. “Uncle Joe” is up from the grass roots goodness, the least wealthy member of the Senate, the champion of civil rights, the exemplar of fair play. He is the Tom Sawyer of the story and the hope for America’s triumph over the Dark Lord of Trumpdom.

This will be the one election of our lifetimes (most likely) where personality matters more than party. America must make the right choice.

I’ve also been wondering where our congressman, Lee Zeldin, is in all of this. It seems to me he’s in a tough spot. If Trump loses, Donny Trump Jr. is now living in the 1st District. Junior’s best path to his turn at the wheel is to challenge Zeldin in the 2022 primary. There’s enough Trump power out here to make it tough for Zeldin.

If Trump wins (God, please, no!), he’ll force Zeldin to step aside in 2022 to make room for Junior. (Loyalty with Trump only flows one way, Lee.) Maybe Zeldin has to settle for assistant secretary of the Veterans Administration. Not bad, but not what Zeldin’s been striving for, I’m sure. Well, with Trump, you get the crumbs he wants you to have.

Bob Dylan finished with: “Standing on the gallows with my head in a noose/Any minute now I’m expecting all hell to break loose.”

Let’s hope not. Vote for Joe, and it won’t — and you know, of course, that I’m “mostly right.”