"Why"

Probably because it's an appointed position ~ not elected ~ and not all FBI Directors are lucky enough to have a non-interference President like Joe Biden.

And there is always the danger of ending up like James Comey.

GAL

It's not that odd. Trump has been working on this strategy to influence the certification process since 2022. His master plan this time is to coerce some election supervisors to actually refuse to certify a Harris win.

So part of your post needs to be repeated in bold. And I think you for bring it up. It's a very important point that's not getting much attention.

Trump thanked three of the Georgia State Election Board's members specifically for their efforts to change Georgia's certification rules.

AU

Tim Walz ~ not a bad choice. And Minnesota has 15 electoral votes. Still, it's a state with a history of voting Democratic. So, I wouldn't trade Pennsylvania for it, for reasons already stated ~ Trump's desperation for PA and the difference between 15 and 19 electoral votes.

It doesn't take much to lose that 270 marker by one vote.

And there's no shoulda, coulda, woulda in a presidential cage match to 270.

Was thr word "paranoid" mentioned in her decision. If not, it should have been.

I've never heard of it being done but someday some judge is going to remand Trump into custody pending a thorough psychological evaluation for repeatedly abusing the justice system with his wild unsubstantiated imaginings.

And then make an example out of his attorney with a big fat fine and a sanction.

If Republican voters are put off by anything it wouldn't be his candidacy. They expected that. It would be his weirdness.

Blame it on the fact that a black woman is sinking his battleship.

CORIOLANUS

"If Senators Chuck Schumer or Bernie Sanders couldn't talk sense to that desperate Likudnik, what chance would Josh Shapiro have?"

Simple.

Senators don't have the binding authority to speak for the President of the United States.

CORIOLANUS

"Why KY Gov. Andy Beshear is not a top contender for the VPOTUS slot is a mystery to me.'

It shouldn't be. Kentucky isn't a swing state and only has 8 electoral votes.

And make no mistake. In spite of all the emotional reasons for this or that choice, electoral vote bean counting is a practical necessity if Harris expects to win.

Harris has to do what is best for the country and right now, she is best for the country.

Pete Buttigieg brings his own anti-baggage with him. He's a nice enough guy and a great spokesman but he has no foreign policy nor executive experience. Harris needs a VP that she doesn't have to raise from scratch during these trying times.

Maybe Shapiro's pro-Israel stance could be another plus for Harris. Send him over to talk some sense into Netanyahu. I know it's not that simple, but the choice of Shapiro could soften the harsh relationship between the U.S. and Israel.

No matter what Harris does, she going to make somebody or some anti-group unhappy. She'll do whatever is overall best for the U.S.A. and democracy.

Which is why I don't think picking Kelly as VP would even give Harris Arizona's 11 electoral votes.

Too much political cut --------- still going on.

Gov. Josh Shapiro and Pennsylvania's 19 electoral votes is a much safer bet and his popularity in Pennsylvania would deprive Trump of a state he desperately needs.

I have to agree with LAMP on this one. Not because I don't have faith in Kamala to pull this off. But rather because I know that Trump hasn't hit rock bottom yet on his list of dirty tricks. IOW, he's still fishing. We already know that there's no depth of depravity to which he won't sink.

His problem is that he's running out of time and America seems to be swinging out of his control. Trump has burned so many candles at both ends of the stick that losing now has become life threatening.

Because when he loses, there's going to be a lot of people after a piece of his hide. And not just in this country.

LAMP

"Speaking personally, I do."

Not me. I wouldn't have any faith in Trump even if he does win the election. He's the one who trapped these people in this predicament in the first place. He'd call them suckers.

Given a choice, I'd pick a soft landing any day of the week.

LAMP

"While 'election fate" is imo too soon to tell."

Agreed. But fear is a great motivator. And who wants to wait until the last minute to find out.

LAMP

I'm still hoping it's Eastman because he's the one who claimed to have a member of the U.S. Supreme Court on speed dial. Which we now know was Clarence Thomas vis-a-vis his wife Ginni.

But it could be anybody, maybe somebody who is just worried about his family and so forth and so on.

LAMP

"But I have to ask, is the seeming Lying-Wall-of-Trump cult adulation starting to crumble?"

Well, we do know that there's been a crack in the dam and cracks don't have a history of getting smaller.

And I'm assuming that some, if not most, of these people don't have the funds to withstand months of trials where they have to testify against each other. And they'd be fools not to notice Trump's sudden change of election fate.

So yeah, I'd say that "crumble" is the right word.

DeSantis got away with that a few years ago. Haphazardly purging names that sounded alike (mostly Spanish speaking) for dual registration, mostly in Georgia.

DANNI

Trump has a whole new scheme to steal the 2024. No more fake electors. This time he's going straight to the election officials in swing states Biden won to coerce/threaten or otherwise (we KNOW where you live) convince them to outright refuse to certify a win for Kamala Harris. That means that state that Harris won will forfeit its electoral college vote.

Trump is so sure his new plan is foolproof that he's admitting publicly that he doesn't need anybody's vote. This time he thinks he's got it in the bag.

We still won't know the name of the first flipper. But we do know that he/she who flips first, gets the best deal.

I imagine there will be a rush now for everyone to save themselves, even if it means fingering Trump as the instigator and perpetrator of the fake electors scheme

So . . who among this motley crew is the most desperate for a get-out-of-jail-free card for blabbing on Trump?

I'm looking at Eastman. But then, I'll admit that I'm prejudiced because I want to see Ginni and Clarence Thomas dragged into this fray as part of the DOJ's special Counsel investigation of the U.S. Supreme Court.

I gave this article a quick read and determined that Sec. of Defense, Lloyd Austin, didn't like the Pentagon accepting a plea deal that 1) took the death penalty off the table in exchange for a guilty plea; and 2) he, Austin, is the only one authorized to sign off on ANY deal, considering all the outside forces in play such as input from victims' families, etc.

In short, The Secretary of Defense thinks the Pentagon people overseeing the prosecution overstepped their bounds so he pulled the plug.

Trump has more to worry about than convictions. If he loses this election, he also has to contend with Mr. Putin's reaction for leaving him in a lurch in Ukraine.

REDIAL

No, guess again. Dropping a ball is the job of the flag guy before the cameras gets there. If Trump lands the ball anywhere near the hole with that swing, it would be because it bounced off something else first.

Left to his own devices, my guess he's really a four or five times putter.

No YAV. I looked closely. If anything at all, he's using his wife's mascara to make his lashes look longer and more full. There's not a single trace of liner on the rims of his eyes.

BTW, mascara always shows a little bit of "caking" on the lashes. I don't see that either.

It could be just natural. Some men are just lucky to be born that way.

BTW, it's not eyeliner, you rim balls. Take it from a woman ~~ It's mascara for his lashes.

Have you seen his fat man swing?

AU

In Trump's new "Constitution for Dictators" I don't expect there to be any role for Vance to play on Day One. Dictators don't usually like to give anyone an excuse for a coup. The title of Vice-Dictators doesn't sound right either.

I'm thinking more along the lines of Assistant Dictator (just for the sake of appearances) with no authority and a small cubby hole of an office in the basement.

BTW

All of Trump's mud-slinging are dog whistles to his base. With their numbers sinking to the mid-30 percent, he can't afford to lose many more.