Buckeye State Beat-Downs

By Zamboni

We cats are normally pretty circumspect when it comes to intraparty squabbles, because we recognize that the true enemies of democracy are on the Republican side of the aisle. But it was very satisfying to see Jill Stein's would-be 2016 running mate Nina Turner get her butt handed to her in Ohio's 11th district Congressional primary last night.

We don't know what happened to Nina. It's perfectly fine, although not thrilling, for her to have switched from Hillary to Bernie Sanders in 2016. After all, people change their minds. What we don't get is Turner declining to endorse Clinton against Trump, later saying that she voted for Stein, and comparing support for Joe Biden in 2020 to eating a bowl of merde. Lyndon Johnson was generally right about his preference for keeping dissenters inside the tent, but we long ago decided Turner was one Democrat who didn't need to be in ours.

(Any doubts can be erased by Turner's sore loser-y concession speech last night.)

In the other special Congressional primary yesterday, in Ohio-15, Benedict Donald's preferred candidate won comfortably — the opposite result from the recent special election in Texas, and after some in the media breathlessly (and it turned out, ridiculously) speculated what it might mean if another Trumpster went down to defeat. Mike Carey is an energy lobbyist and as "ugh" as you'd expect. And although he's favored in the fall, all is not lost. Carey's win:

• Means that Trump remains dominant in the party, preventing any sane voices from tentatively stepping out.
• Will help ensure brutal GOP primaries for everyone on Trump's enemies list, thus squandering valuable resources.
• Further freezes the Presidential field, limiting any potentially reasonable Republican's ability to build a big-donor network or a grassroots fundraising base, or to put together a credible campaign organization.

Republicans may pledge fealty to Benedict Donald in public, but in private they really wish he would just go away — in some form or fashion that would keep them in MAGAts' good graces, financially. Sorry, GOP, it's not going to happen. We cats PURR.