“I am hoping for one outcome and dreading the other. I think that describes most of the country.”
This quote comes from a column posted on election night BEFORE the returns started coming in. So, it aptly applied to voters for both Trump and Harris as we all awaited the result.
My candidate lost. I’ll learn to live with that. But what I need is some perspective, and I got help from a prominent political writer and three parody masters who turned serious for the occasion.
David Von Drehle Perspective: The quote that began this post came from a column written by David Von Drehle, a Kansas City-based writer/editor at the Washington Post and author of the wonderful best seller from last year, The Book of Charlie.
David gained some of his perspective on presidential elections from his wife, Karen Ball, who he met during the 1992 Clinton/Bush campaign. Karen was on the Bill Clinton beat for the AP (below, on the phone and at her typewriter on the campaign trail).
After 1992, David and Karen went through seven more presidential elections together, but that would not extend into 2024. Karen, whose full-time reporting career was cut short by multiple sclerosis, died a year ago this month.
But memories of Karen’s “sharp perception” buoyed David as he watched the campaign in 50/50 America that featured apocalyptic rhetoric about the end of democracy, the world’s garbage can (“even the pets aren’t safe”), etc. As he viewed the “dark, dark, dark” landscape, he drew on this…
“Karen understood that politics in the United States — even at the presidential level — is not about one huge decision on the part of The People; it is about tens of millions of individual decisions by regular folks. She knew a multitude of people, and, unlike a lot of reporters, she found them all interesting. She liked to talk with them and (can you imagine?!) listen to them, and she often found that their politics, however baffling or strange to her, did not define them. She had neighbors and friends who voted for Vice President Kamala Harris in this election and others who voted for former president Donald Trump. Same with loved ones and family. What she saw in them was something fundamental to America’s nature: that who we choose as president is important — but it is not the only important thing. The president does not determine our future; we make that for ourselves…Politics is how we live together. And that’s not an every-four-years question.”
As for this being the most important election in decades, David says his sidekick (Karen) would say what’s most important about it is what comes next.
David’s signoff: “The election is over. It’s only the end of the world if we choose to make it so.”
[I urge you to read all of David’s eloquent piece. Click here.]
A brief take with a similar message came from President Barack Obama in his farewell address after the 2016 election, “This is not a period, this is a comma in the continuing story of the building of America.”
We are having another comma in 2024, just not comma la.
Andy Borowitz Perspective: The Borowitz Report is known for its laugh-out-loud headlines and spot-on parody of our political world.
But soon after the election, Andy Borowitz pivoted to a serious message (click here for the full column).
Trump won all seven swing states and won the national popular vote (excluding the nominal vote for third parties, 50/50 America voted 51/49). The electoral vote count: 312 to 226.
Many pundits are treating this as a landslide and seem to believe that the Democrats are in a doomsday scenario for the future. So, Borowitz asks, “Could Tuesday’s election results be any worse?”
Well, yes. Take 1972. Nixon got 60.7% of the vote in his race against McGovern (520-17 in the electoral college). You know what happened to him. And his successor Gerald Ford lost to Jimmy Carter in 1976.
In 1984, Regan beat Mondale with 58.8% of the vote (525-13 in the electoral college; Mondale got his home state of Minnesota and D.C.).
How long did that juggernaut carry over? Two years. In the 1986 mid-terms, the 53-47 Republican Senate majority went to a negative 45-55. The Republicans held on to the White House in 1988 with George H. W. Bush, but he was a one-termer knocked out by Bill Clinton in 1992.
What happened? Borowitz colorfully says that Nixon and Reagan “were up to all manner of autocratic shit – until they got caught.” Key highlights: Watergate and Iran-Contra. “The hubris engendered by both men’s landslides propelled them to reckless behavior in their second terms – behavior that came back to haunt them. Nixon was forced to resign the presidency; Reagan was lucky to escape impeachment.”
Democrats are not immune. Borowitz could have gone back further to Lyndon Johnson’s victory over Barry Goldwater in 1964 (61.1% for LBJ, with an electoral edge of 486-52). How long did that Democratic dominance last? Johnson’s championing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 cost him his support in the Deep South, and his Vietnam actions cost him the country. LBJ dropped out of the 1968 race, and Nixon beat Humphrey.
Borowitz’s parting thought:
“Post-election, the mainstream media’s hyperbolic reassessment of Trump – apparently, he’s now a political genius in a league with Talleyrand and Metternich – has been nauseating…the game’s far from over and there’s plenty to play for. If we want to stem the tide of autocracy and kleptocracy, restore women’s rights and protect the most vulnerable, we don’t have the luxury of despair. The work starts now.”
Jon Stewart Perspective: The Borowitz history lesson from decades ago was echoed by Jon Stewart, but Stewart proved his case using the elections of 2008 and after. In his signature style, Stewart warned that we should ignore the pundits declaring the finality of civilization and other certainties of what will happen going forward. His conclusion about those pundits, “They will be wrong!”
And he makes his case in a persuasive three-minute video. Click here.
I don’t mean to downplay the rough ride we will have in a second Trump presidency. There will be valid worries about autocracy, plutocracy, kleptocracy and kakistocracy (the poster child for the latter is Matt Gaetz for attorney general). But it is democracy that will endure. That’s my certainty.
TheTweetOfGod Perspective: The day after the 2024 election, TheTweetOfGod reminded me of Karen Ball’s lesson. Life and politics are more than just election day.
Following up on that perspective, you know where I’m going first. After all, this is Hot Stove.
WE STILL HAVE BASEBALL
The Royals made the playoffs in 2024. The team had one of the best starting rotations in baseball, and with Michael Wacha’s recent signing, the top four will be back for 2025. The relief pitching improved in the final half of 2024 and that will hopefully carry over. Bobby Witt Jr. was the AL batting champion and won a Gold Glove. Bobby and Salvy Perez got Silver Slugger awards. Now, if we can just get a few more good hitters in the lineup.
I’m still hoping for a downtown stadium.
Rita and I have two stadiums remaining on our bucket list of 30 MLB stadiums. We have booked a bus tour for next April that will take us from Atlanta (where we have already seen the stadium) to Florida to see our final two: Tampa Bay and Miami. Whoops, the roof blew off the Rays’ stadium in St. Petersburg, and they will be playing the 2025 season in a spring training facility in Tampa. Our trip is still on. We are not purists, a home game for Tampa Bay anywhere meets our bucket list regulations.
WE STILL HAVE MOVIES
Rita and I were regulars at the Telluride Film Festival from 2011 to 2023. This led to annual movie reviews and Academy Award coverage in Hot Stove. We did not make it to Telluride for 2024, so no reviews this year. But we are keeping our eyes on the predictions for the Oscars and plan to see as many of the nominated movies as we can. Below, some early predictions of possible nominees…
WE STILL HAVE KANSAS CITY
In 2004, Mayor Kay Barnes was making the case for an extended definition of “Downtown,” which she was calling River-Crown-Plaza, a six-mile stretch from the Missouri River to the Country Club Plaza, a Mid-American equivalent of the Champs-Elysees in Paris.
Barnes did her part to get it started. The Power and Light District and the T-Mobile (nee Sprint) Arena provided the spark for a revitalized downtown. The connectivity of the River Market, Downtown, Crossroads and Crown Center to Midtown and the Plaza will soon be a reality with the streetcar line.
The World Cup. Women’s soccer at CPKC Stadium. New Plaza ownership with ambitious development plans. A proposed park over the south loop. And a lot more. The city is hopping.
Oh, one more thing. I repeat myself. A downtown baseball stadium would be nice. Petula Clark agrees.
WE STILL HAVE THE PLAZA LIGHTS
On Thanksgiving, the Plaza Lights will be turned on. We get a good view from our condo. Below, from last year.
WE STILL HAVE THE CHIEFS
My answer. Yes!
WE STILL HAVE MUSIC
Which means we still have…
Lonnie’s Jukebox – Karen Ball Edition: At the moving celebration of life last year for Karen Ball at Kauffman Stadium, the program included a Spotify link to a playlist of her favorite songs (posted as “mama’s favs” by daughter Addie). It’s quite an eclectic mix with a total of 58 selections. Click here.
“Doctor My Eyes” by Jackson Browne. Karen must have really liked him. He has seven of the 58 songs on the playlist.
“American Girl” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
“Drive” by the Cars.
“Brown Eyed Girl” by Van Morrison. Note: Rita has brown eyes.
“I and Love and You” by the Avett Brothers.
“You Really Got Me” by the Kinks.
“Paint It Black” by the Rolling Stones.
“Stuck in the Middle with You” by Stealers Wheel.
“Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash.
“California Dreamin’” by The Mamas & The Papas.
I saved this one for the finale…
“Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac. Beware of landslides. Elections and otherwise.
Walk-Off Story – Walter Shapiro: I know of two other journalists who traveled on buses and planes with the 1992 Clinton campaign entourage. One is Maureen Dowd who wrote this touching note after Karen died:
The other is Walter Shapiro who wrote to me after Karen died to say he knew and liked her from their days together on the 1992 Clinton campaign. When I sent him the photo of Karen seated on the ground with her typewriter, Walter said that was exactly how he remembered her.
Rita and I met Walter the week before the Bush/Gore election in 2000. He was in Kansas City visiting his friend, Congresswoman Karen McCarthy. The four of us had dinner at Lidia’s, and I still have the follow-up email exchange I had with him on election day, November 7. Here was his take before any polls closed:
“I had a great time with you and Rita. And, as I hope I make clear in the next installment of Slate, I have never spent an election day when I was so puzzled as to the outcome. Over the weekend in Michigan, I did detect a slight swing to Gore, but I don’t know if it’s real. As for myself, I’m spending the afternoon boning up on the nuances of the Electoral College.”
He was right to be puzzled. The election was not decided until December when the U. S. Supreme Court acted to stop the vote count in Florida, giving Bush the electoral victory (271-266).
Walter and I kept in casual contact over the years, and the correspondence picked up during the 2014 and 2015 pennant races. His baseball fandom included many years in a rotisserie league. He and I were both Yankee fans as young boys, but he had gravitated to the Orioles, while I had moved on to the A’s and then the Royals. Walter’s second team was the Royals – he had been to Kauffman Stadium for a game. When Hot Stove launched after the 2015 season, he was an inaugural subscriber and frequently commented on the posts.
I continued to follow his journalism and tweets. Walter had been covering presidential campaigns since Reagan/Carter in 1980. Below, a promo for a podcast in 2022.
In the early stages of the 2024 campaign, Walter wrote to me, “I’m delighted you’ve been following my forays into what is indeed my 12th presidential campaign.”
He was a regular contributor at the New Republic and Roll Call. Soon after the Biden/Trump debate for the 2024 election, Walter wrote in both publications about the Democrats panicking, but not doing anything. On July 7, in Roll Call, he finished his article with this:
“The issue is not what Biden has done as president. The issue is what Biden can do in the months ahead to turn this train wreck of an election around. And, alas, I think the answer is to withdraw, because the stakes are too high for continued heedless defiance of reality.”
On July 21, Biden announced his withdrawal from the race. On that same day, Walter Shapiro died at the age of 77 from complications of cancer.
I was stunned. I will so miss Walter’s writing talent and wit. And his baseball talk.
RIP Walter.