Trump-types at Wrigley; so apropos

The Republicans, particularly that faction of the Grand Old Party that actually believes in the ideals of Donald Trump and is willing to spend their own money to try to get him re-elected in 2020, will be convening in Chicago this weekend. 

Will Trump-ites invade Wrigley? Or will it feel like usual touristy crowd?

They’ll be at the Four Seasons Hotel, where they’ll be partaking in sessions where they’re supposed to plot just how they go about trying to get a majority of the electorate to cast ballots for Trump.

AND LIKE ANY other batch of tourists, they’re planning on taking a trip to Wrigley Field. They’re taking a chartered bus on Saturday, where they’ll attend a reception at the ball club’s offices across the street from the ball park.

Then, they’ll catch the game against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Not that it should be a surprise. The excessively-wealthy Ricketts family owns the ball club, and also has been prominent Republican backers who have made it clear they don’t have any objections to Donald Trump during his term as president – and certainly wouldn’t object if he manages to get re-elected next year.

Although news reports indicate it’s not exactly like it will be a takeover of Trump-ites at Wrigley Field.

Trump used to claim Yankees-fandom, … 

THEY’LL BE SEATED together in a separate section, which the team is refusing to identify. Perhaps they think it’s possible for the Trump-ites to blend in with the Cubbie crowd.

Although I won’t be surprised to learn that the bulk of the fan base attending Saturday’s game won’t actually be able to identify which of the people there are attending because of Trump – and which actually care about the ball game!

Then again, the stereotype of the Wrigley denizens is of a batch of people who are there to be seen, and probably care less about the activity on the playing field.

So maybe the only way we’ll be able to tell them apart is if the Trump crowd takes it upon themselves to wear those ridiculous red “Making America Great Again” caps – while everybody else will be anxious to wear Cubbie blue.

… just like Hillary Clinton used to do

EXCEPT FOR THOSE fans of the Cardinals who make the trip up to St. Louis. They’ll be in Cardinal red, identified most clearly by the “birds on the bat” logo that St. Louis has worn for decades.

Seriously, what always has struck me about the character of the crowds that attend Chicago Cubs ballgames is how touristy they are.

It’s like people who come in from out-of-town make a point of checking out the Willis Tower, Navy Pier and shopping on Michigan Avenue – and if they really feel like doing something “nitty-gritty,” they take in a ballgame.

In that sense, all the political out-of-towners coming to Chicago this weekend will be able to blend in with the Wrigley Field faithful. No real Chicagoan will be seen anywhere near 1060 W Addison St. (which cinematic fans automatically know is the alleged humble abode of one Elwood J. Blues).

SO I FIND it humorous to know that some people are getting all outraged about the ballpark presence of Trump-type people at Wrigley this weekend. Personally, I find it quite fitting. The Wrigley scene is exactly where I’d expect them to show up on those rare occasions they’re in Chicago.

As for the rest of us who’d rather not think of anything political when we venture out to the ballpark, perhaps we’ll find a reason to check out the Chicago White Sox. They’re in Kansas City on Saturday, playing a weekend series against the Royals.

Odd how many different outlets mis-IDed this 'Disco Demolition' photo as 1974's 'Dime Beer Night' in Cleveland

But the Washington Nationals will make an appearance this week, followed up by a four-game series against the New York Yankees. Personally, I’m considering making a trip to Thursday’s game – when the White Sox are holding a promotion remembering the 40-years-ago “Disco Demolition Night.”

Free t-shirts to those fans who want to remember the night when Steve Dahl developed a national reputation, and the White Sox game that night is still remembered – not bad for a promotion of a game between the American League’s two fifth-place ballclubs that season and will be remembered long after Saturday’s Cubbie affair is forgotten.

  -30-

A Rauner-like re-do come 2020?

Those of us paying attention will remember the Republican primary for governor in 2018 – the one where incumbent Bruce Rauner narrowly defeated his challenger, state Sen. Jeanne Ives of Wheaton, but was left so weakened that Democrat J.B. Pritzker easily cleaned his clock come the general election.

RAUNER: Will we relive 2018 GOP primary?

Well, guess what! It seems we’re going to get a replay, of sorts, come 2020. Or at least those people who live in the Illinois 6^th Congressional district will.

THOSE ARE THE people of suburban DuPage County who for many years were represented in Congress by Henry Hyde, and whose district was considered the very base of the Republican Party in Illinois.

But as one of the ultimate bits of evidence that the Illinois GOP is not really the “Party of Lincoln” of tradition any longer, the district picked Sean Casten, a Democrat, to be their Congressman in last year’s election.

Which means Republicans are viewing dumping Casten from office as one of their political priorities, and the list of people willing to use the Republican banner to campaign on is developing.

Rauner’s lieutenant governor running mate, Evelyn Sanguinetti, already has expressed interest in the post. She’s a Wheaton native who once served on the City Council, prior to Rauner tapping her as his potential backup – had something happened to him while in office.

IVES: Rehashing Rauner trashing?

WHICH COULD TURN out to be the campaign where Sanguinetti goes out of her way to claim that Rauner was never fully appreciated by Illinoisans – and how her political victory could be a sign of redemption.

So perhaps it is all too appropriate that Sanguinetti has a primary election challenger she will have to beat before she can get to campaigning against Casten.

It’s none other than Jeanne Ives herself – the woman who repeatedly bashed about Rauner and claimed he was way too liberal for Illinois. Even though the bulk of Illinois voters ultimately voted for governor in ways indicating hey thought she was too conservative for our state.

Does this mean the congressional primary next year will wind up as a replay of the Republican gubernatorial primary? Even though now Ives’ operatives are circulating a poll trying to figure out how she’d stand up against Casten in a general election.

SANGUINETTI: Defending her former superior?

ARE WE GOING to hear a defense of The Rauner Years from Sanguinetti, countered with constant repeats of the Rauner bashing that Ives engaged in last year – with constant reminders that Sanguinetti is little more than a Rauner lackey?

Will Ives think that using the 2020 primary to try to beat Rauner’s running mate is a way of rewriting history – creating the perception that SHE was the real winner in the long run?

I’m sure Sanguinetti backers (are their any?) will try to claim she’s an independent persona in her own right. But her lieutenant governorship was very low key – as are most lieutenant governors. She’s not going to have a lot of independent government achievements to tout.

Making it far too easy for her to be dubbed as Rauner-lite by Ives. Who herself will easily be tagged with a label of just another ideological loon who can’t accept the fact that the majority of Illinois thinks she’s wrong!

THERE IS ONE positive to the idea of a Sanguinetti/Ives matchup in the Illinois 6^th Republican primary – this will be limited to the land of DuPage, rather than the entirety of Illinois as was last year’s gubernatorial primary.

CASTEN: An easier-than-expected re-election in 2020?

We won’t all be subjected to the rounds of nonsense rhetoric a second time. Then again, I suspect the overwhelming majority of Cook County (which accounts for nearly half of Illinois’ population) voters focused on the Democratic primary and didn’t pay much attention to Rauner/Ives to begin with.

Which could make Sean Casten, a resident of suburban Downers Grove, the ultimate winner.

The Sanguinetti/Ives primary could get so vicious rhetorically that they beat each other silly. Leaving each other all bloodied politically to the point that Casten doesn’t get anywhere near as intense a challenge for his re-election as Republican political operatives dream of giving him next year.

  -30-

How politically vulnerable will Underwood be come the '20 elections?

I have no doubt that Rep. Lauren Underwood, a Democrat from Naperville, is going to face one of the most aggressive political challenges when she seeks re-election in 2020.

UNDERWOOD: Already being challenged

She is, after all, a black woman Democrat who ran in last year’s elections for a Congressional seat representing one of the most intense Republican districts in Illinois. Meaning I expect GOP political operatives will think of her as THAT WOMAN who had the NERVE to take a seat away from their ranks.

TRYING TO REGAIN the Illinois 14^th congressional district post may well be one of the priorities for Republicans nationwide in the next election cycle.

Yet I can’t help but admit that I’m wondering if Republicans are going to be their worst enemies, and that they won’t be able to overcome the advantages of incumbency that Underwood will have as she seeks a second term in Congress.

As the Capitol Fax newsletter reported Monday, documents were filed with the Federal Elections Commission that would have state Sen. James Oberweis, D-Sugar Grove, as a candidate for the U.S. Senate from Illinois.

Except that Oberweis has no intention of actually trying to depose Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill, who would be running for a fifth term in the U.S. Senate come that election cycle.

Oberweis couldn't even win in '02 … 

IT SEEMS A campaign aide for Oberweis marked the wrong box in filing the forms for his boss. He’s going for the House of Representatives seat – making him one of three Republicans thus far with an interest in taking on Underwood.

Should we really think that highly of a candidate whose staffers are inept enough to misfile their candidate’s forms? They can’t even tell which office he wants to run for? Unless they’re really amongst the few deluded enough to think Oberweis is worthy of one of Illinois’ top political posts?

… against Durkin, how could he think … 

It’s certainly obvious enough that the voters don’t think much of him. He’s run for U.S. Senate and Illinois governor. In fact, he would have been the candidate who tried to take on Durbin way back in 2002 – except that Oberweis couldn’t even win the Republican primary that year.

It wound up being Jim Durkin (now the Illinois House Minority leader) who won that primary, only to get his behind whomped by Durbin’s desire for a second term in the U.S. Senate (he’s now on term four, and would be seeking a fifth if the 74-year-old Springfield resident actually makes it all the way through the process).

… of beating up on Durbin

MY POINT BEING that if Oberweis truly is the best the Republicans can come up with for the 2020 election cycle, they may well be handing Underwood a victory already.

Because despite his multiple election campaigns throughout the past three decades, the only post he’s ever been able to win is that Illinois Senate seat from DuPage County.

He may be just the local jamoke who’s incapable of taking on anybody bigger – particularly if the Democrats are able to build up Underwood’s national reputation to any degree.

Ocasio-Cortez younger by three years

Because she is the woman with a medical professional background who currently has the so-called title of the youngest African-American woman (age 32) to be elected to the House of Representatives.

SHE’D ACTUALLY BE the youngest woman ever if not for Alexandra Ocasio-Cortex from New York, whose victory last year came at age 29.

Admittedly, Underwood doesn’t have anywhere near the mouth that Ocasio does – the one that manages to offend Republican partisans so intensely that they usually wind up managing to put their feet in their own mouths whenever they try to attack her.

STAVA-MURRAY: Dem really faces tough times

But I have to admit, Underwood is going out of her way to respond to just about every issue and put herself in the mix of what is happening in D.C. I’ve literally lost count of the number of statements she has issued that wind up in my e-mail box.

And if it turns out that she has challengers as inept as Oberweis, she could wind up being the favorite – particularly since I get the impression that Naperville political operatives are going to be more focused on causing the political defeat of Anne Stava-Murray, the Democrat with a mouth who says SHE wants to take on Durbin come 2020.

  -30-

Last-minute partisan acts so common

Wis. GOP trying to keep Walker spirit alive

I’ve been hearing many people complain about the politicians in Wisconsin, where the voters dumped Republican Gov. Scott Walker and a GOP-leaning attorney general.

All of which has the still-Republican-leaning General Assembly inclined to use its authority to impose limits on the kind of powers those two positions will have in the future.

Ill. GOP would do the same, if possible

IT’S AS THOUGH the one-time Party of Lincoln has truly been taken over by this Age of Trump we now live in – they want to make sure the Democrats who now hold those two Wisconsin state government positions can’t do anything to undermine the kind of things that Republicans imposed on the Badger State in recent years.

Sleazy? Authoritarian? Un-Democratic, if now outright un-American? All very definitely true. But also not the least bit surprising.

If anything, I’d be surprised if Republican partisans weren’t trying some sort of measures meant to penalize the kinds of people who (in their minds) had the unmitigated gall to vote against them.

For it could be said that Wisconsin voters, by dumping Walker, engaged in the same kind of sentiment we here in Illinois did by voting Bruce Rauner out of office. In many ways, Walker was exactly the kind of governor that Rauner wanted to be here in Illinois.

BUT WHILE WALKER gained national attention for the conservative measures he was able to enact into Wisconsin law during his eight years in office, Rauner’s national attention was for the way in which he was thwarted by the Democratic Party leanings of the Illinois Legislature.

I suspect Democrats in Illinois will go out of their way to erase any traces of the Rauner years. Similar to how Republicans are using the fact that they still control the Legislature in Wisconsin to force the continued existence of their way of doing things.

Wisconsin's progressive spirit merely history?

To hell with the will of the voters! It’s as though modern-day Republican partisans want us all to think they are the natural order of things, and that it was only the opposition's delusions that took away their authority to impose their will upon us all.

Yes, I believe the Republican actions are ignorant, overbearing and border on corrupt. But I’ve seen enough political people to know they’re not surprising.

THEY ACTUALLY REMIND me of the final days of 1996 – which is when the Republican domination of Illinois government that resulted from the November 1994 elections came to an end.

For the 1996 elections saw the return of Michael Madigan as Illinois House speaker. Which caused the soon-to-be no-longer Republican majority to engage in one final act of overbearance on their part before Madigan regained a say in the legislative process.

Remember back a couple of decades when state officials were determined to oppose then-Mayor Richard Daley’s desires to turn Meigs Field into a public garden of sorts? Which caused the Legislature to vote for a state takeover of the city-owned airport.

Which was little more than a “screw you” to Democrats and to city government officials (who are, by and large, the same thing). Which is why I always got a kick out of the eventual outcome of the Meigs debacle – with city officials sending in the bulldozers to demolish the airport (and carve giant “x’” into the runways to make them unusable) in the middle of the night.

IT MAKES ME wonder if Wisconsin officials will come up with some equally-diabolical means of getting back at their Republican counterparts for trying to limit the powers of future governors.

Meigs Field gone, despite last-ditch GOP efforts to try to preserve it

Which I don’t doubt in the least that Republican legislators would be more than willing to fully restore when the day comes that cheese heads re-elect a Republican to fill the post of the state’s chief executive.

This is all petty and ridiculous, and certainly not in the spirit of a government looking out for the best interests of its citizens.

But it is the reality we have devolved into in this 21^st Century – that of governments that think they can only operate if everything is rigged in their own ideological favor!

  -30-

EXTRA: Rauner, forever bitter?

“I am very scared for the people of Illinois. I believe that the folks who put Illinois into a financial quagmire are now back in complete control of the government. The policies that have created the financial mess for the state of Illinois are now the policies that will be dominating completely without any resistance whatsoever.”
--Bruce Rauner, Illinois governor, 2015-19

  -0-

RAUNER: Still peeved about electoral loss

Bruce Rauner let it be known this week that he’s not about to take the high road politically with regards to his Election Day loss earlier this month.

While Rauner wasn’t ready (still) to say much of anything about how President Donald Trump and his presence impacted the soon-to-be-former governor politically, he’s going to forever go about trashing the Democrats whom he seems to want to believe have a whole lot of nerve for challenging him in the first place.

PERSONALLY, I’M INCLINED to view the issue as one where a whole lot of Illinois people voted the way they did to replace Rauner because they saw all his politically partisan actions as the reason why our state’s financial problems got exacerbated into a calamity of historic proportions. They were “very scared” of “four more years” of partisan-motivated nothingness within our government.

Not that the actions of Rauner should have been shocking. This was a man who campaigned back in 2014 on the idea that he wanted to undermine the influence of organized labor in our government, and that IT was to blame for not kowtowing to the self interests of business and corporate America.

Of course, considering the fact that we in Illinois have a state Legislature with leadership who are protective of working people and their interests, the activity of the past few years shouldn’t have been at all surprising.

The only real shock, if you think about it, is that Rauner (who had never before held political office) ever got elected in the first place. Although that’s most likely due to apathy felt about then-Gov. Pat Quinn, and a not-so-realistic thought that ANYBODY who replaced him would be better.

NOW, WE KNOW that we were deluded in our political apathy, and took the first chance we could get to remove Rauner – regardless of what we truly think of Gov.-elect J.B. Pritzker.

I don’t doubt that Republican partisans are peeved about the Election Day results in Illinois, although I suspect what really bothers them is the fact that back in 1994 when the GOP managed to take control of all the state constitutional offices and General Assembly, the Republican period of domination only lasted two years.

ROGERS: Not organized, just Democrats

By comparison, this modern-day Democrat domination of Illinois government lasted 12 years, became one of Democrat control for four years, and now has been restored to Democrat domination. It sounds more like political jealousy to me!

And to those people I know who have fantasies of Ronald Reagan-like resuscitation in Illinois, I say to keep in mind the words of Will Rogers, who once said, “the difference between a Republican and a Democrat is the Democrat is a cannibal they have to live off each other. While the Republicans, why they live off the Democrats." Perhaps a majority of us were tired of Rauner trying to enrich himself and his business colleagues at the expense of the rest of us.

  -30-

Who’s the boss (and I don’t mean that old television program) of Illinois?

Will new governor have to take marching orders … 

J.B. Pritzker has been governor-elect for a week now and has already created a team of advisers (including Republicans such as former Gov. Jim Edgar and former Illinois Senate leader Christine Radogno amongst them) to advise him on how to go about actually running Illinois government.

Yet there are those who are persisting with such political rhetoric as to say the only person who’s really going to influence him is the guy who will actually run the state.

… from Mr. Speaker himself?

NONE OTHER THAN Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago. As though they can’t let go of all the trash talk that they tried to use to tie everybody in sight to Madigan so it would cost them re-election.

It didn’t work. Yet we’re still hearing the trash talk.

I got my kick out of the Daily Herald newspaper account where Jeanne Ives, the ideologue who tried (but failed) to beat Bruce Rauner herself, said she thinks Illinois is safe from any sort of progressive tax hike.

Although state government certainly could use the money to make real progress toward paying off all the bills it accumulated during Rauner’s partisan efforts to undermine organized labor’s influence, Ives said she believes Madigan won’t let the Democrat-dominated General Assembly approve any such thing.

Radogno and Edgar (below) … 

SHE SAYS MADIGAN is political astute enough to realize a large segment of the population would disapprove, possibly even revolt, and would start electing Republicans again if Democrats get to brazen.

“I think Mike Madigan will still run the state,” Ives told the suburban-based newspaper. “He is savvy and knows the state can’t withstand another tax increase.”

So is J.B. really nothing more than Madigan’s puppet; expected to sign off on whatever bills Madigan (with state Senate President John Cullerton’s cooperation) allows to get as far as the gubernatorial desk?

… are among those advising J.B. these days

Or is Ives, the state senator from Wheaton (no longer a bastion of the Republican Party) merely trying to maintain a semblance of relevance in today’s Illinois political age?

THIS IS A debate I have heard often – trying to figure out who’s really in charge these days! Because it is likely (if not downright predictable) that there will be a falling-out between Pritzker and Madigan. A rivalry will develop within the party over who ought to be listening to whom. Which is why people used to think Illinois would never have Democrats as governor -- Madigan wouldn't permit anyone who could undermine his influence!

Pritzker may well adopt the attitude that the people picked HIM to be governor, while Madigan may well feel J.B. is a political amateur who’s never run NOTHING and who ought to leave the governing to the big boys who have been doing this for awhile.

I’ve even heard it said that Pritzker is in a unique position to challenge such incumbent thought because he’s so wealthy. Similar to how Rauner tried to buy the Republican Party political structure to support his own desires, Pritzker has the kind of money to where he could be the guy that Democrats turn to for political support, instead of having to rely on Madigan’s labor connections to raise their political funds.

Particularly since within the Democratic Party structures across the nation, there are splits between establishment types supporting the current structure, and those who want a more politically progressive structure.

AFTER ALL, WHAT’S the point of having a not-so-liberal Democratic Party? You might as well be a Republican, is their attitude. Madigan himself is most definitely of the party’s establishment – a guy who backs the Democrats because of his support for organized labor and its interests.

IVES: Trying to retain relevance

There are times when he seems to dread having to deal with more liberal elements and social causes. Only backing them when he can figure a way to turn them to his own interests. But that may be the relevant point – Madigan is a political mastermind who can figure ways to use issues for a greater good, so to speak.

We all saw how Rauner’s efforts to use his money to buy a political party for himself failed to the point where some now wonder if the Illinois Republican Party has anything left worth use! Could Pritzker be just as inept without Madigan’s mindset on his side.

Could it be in everybody’s interest that the two men figure out a way to cooperate? Which could mean the true threat to the people of Illinois is that Democrats are not really the united force for liberal causes in the way that elements of the modern-day Republicans have become the party wishing to force conservatism down all our throats.

  -30-

Could partisan political “trade-off” be detrimental to Illinois’ future as state?

Does Bost's congressional victory ...

Some might wonder how President Donald Trump can be delusional enough to think his political interests succeeded on Election Day. Yet if one looks at the political maps in a certain way, it becomes apparent.

For it would seem the parts of Illinois that were already Republican are now moreso.

THOSE AREAS MIGHT well be the parts of the state that lie outside the Chicago metropolitan area. But those are often areas that think of themselves as an entity to their own.

… console Republicans for Roskam's loss?

Which means I’m not surprised many of those people are feeling thankful they have so thoroughly chased Democratic Party interests out of their portion of the state. They may think they now have domination of the only portions of Illinois that matter.

Then again, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn a similar sentiment exists within the Chicago area that isn’t all too concerned about these political losses, because they managed to take portions of the outer suburbs that oft were represented by Republicans in the past, but have now swung over to the Dems. Heck, Illinois Republican Chairman Tim Schneider couldn't even win re-election to his post on the Cook County Board!

The bottom line is that Illinois’ congressional delegation come January will consist of 13 Democrats and only 5 Republicans – a two-seat gain for “da Dems.”

Are Underwood and Casten (below) … 

RANDY HULTGREN AND Peter Roskam will be gone, replaced by Lauren Underwood and Sean Casten. Throughout levels of government, the Republican Party became irrelevant throughout the Chicago-area.

Yet for those anxious to wear the Republican-tinged glasses to view things, Tuesday was the night that Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., fought off Democrat Brendan Kelly and Rep. Rodney Davis beat Democrat Betsy Dirksen Londrigan.

Albeit the latter was by a narrow voter margin of 50.51 percent to 49.49 percent.

But Davis is a member of Congress from the Champaign-area representing a swath of central Illinois, while Bost is from around Carbondale and is the lone representative on Capitol Hill of that region of Southern Illinois that thinks of itself as “Egypt.”

… gain, or losses, for Illinois?

THE FACT THAT Roskam and Hultgren will be gone? I’m sure the ideologues will think it was more important to keep Davis and Bost.

Heck, let’s note that when President Donald Trump felt inclined to come to Illinois to campaign on behalf of Republicans in general, he went to Bost’s district for a political “fly-in” rally. The president himself said earlier this week that Roskam’s defeat was because the two-decade political incumbent “didn’t want the embrace” of presidential support.

Although I suspect if Roskam had actively touted himself as a “Trump Man,” he would have had his political clock cleaned by an even bigger margin than the 52.84 percent to 47.16 percent tally he actually lost by.

What caught my eye in looking at the congressional district map for Illinois is that there is one point right down the middle of the state where one could go straight through from the Wisconsin border all the way to where the Mississippi and Ohio rivers converge (a.k.a., Cairo) and never set foot in a Democratic-represented area.

THE SAME WOULD apply if you traveled from the east edge of Illinois around Danville to the far west around Quincy. Nothing but political “red” on the map.

Too easy for Illinoisans to ignore other party

You’d be passing in between the Chicago and Quad-Cities areas, and also skipping over the Illinois portions of the St. Louis area – which, if you think about it, are the portions of Illinois that comprise nearly three-quarters of the state’s population.

Which is how Democrats were able to gain Illinois House seats in suburban portions of Illinois to once-again have a 60 percent “veto-proof” supermajority, while allowing Republicans to feel like they still kept control of the rural parts of the state. We in Illinois may come out of this year’s election cycle thinking our region prevailed, even though we’re progressing to the point of becoming two separate regions. 

Let’s hope Gov.-elect J.B. Pritzker wasn’t just paying lip service when he said this week Chicago will “have no more special a role” than other Illinois cities, because having us work together as a state is how we’ll be capable of accomplishing anything of significance in the future for all our benefit.

  -30-

How lacking we are in a legitimate comprehension of our very own history

Major ideologue shift from "Honest" Abe … 

It is an argument I often hear from ideologues about how the Democratic Party (although they usually leave off the “ic” out of a lame attempt to diminish the Dems image) is the one that gave us segregation and bigotry.

The ones who argue that the Republican Party is the so-called “Party of Lincoln” that freed the slaves and is the one that has done far more for black people than the open hostility they have received from Democratic politicos.

… to "Fake News" Donald

BUT IT IS one I heard again Tuesday from someone who felt compelled to turn to Facebook to say that that, “a vote for a Democrat is a vote for the party that fought a war to keep my ancestors enslaved.”

That same African-American individual also felt compelled to write, “even an illiterate, newly-freed slave knew not to vote for a Democrat.”

Writing as one who just over a week ago went to an early voting center in Cook County and cast a ballot that deliberately went against every single Republican option as a way of undermining President Donald Trump’s influence for the next two years, I’d have to retort that some people truly are dangerous in the way they try to use historic allusions to defend nonsensical historic claims.

Figures such as FDR, along with … 

Yet this woman’s Facebook ramblings are not unique. I’m sure I will hear similar nonsense-thoughts expressed again even after “Election ‘18” is long over-and-done with.

NOW I’M NOT about to deny that the original Republican Party that our state’s very own “Honest Abe” was a part of was eager to maintain the “union” of our nation, and was the opposition to the segregationists who were more than willing to engage in war to preserve the “Southern Way of life” that included chattel slavery.

… JFK and LBJ (below) influenced Dems shift … 

After our nation’s (very un-)Civil War, it was the structure of the Democratic Party that elected government officials who tried to evade the spirit of the 13^th, 14^th and 15^th amendments to the Constitution that essentially granted equality to all regardless of race by giving us the policies of “Jim Crow” throughout the South.

… away from segregation ways, … 

But anybody who thinks that’s the extent of the story is spewing nonsense more fake than anything Donald Trump has tried to proclaim as truth.

The reality is that the political parties began to shift back in the days of Franklin D. Roosevelt as president – who expressed some support for more progressive ideals and made them a part of the Democratic platform. Although one could honestly say FDR’s support for such ideals were more the doing of first lady Eleanor who got him to do things he might not otherwise have bothered with.

THEN CAME THE Civil Rights years of the 1950s-60s, which John F. Kennedy gave lip service to, but became reality with Lyndon B. Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act into law in 1964.

… so naturally, Trump admires Jackson

That act passed with an off-beat combination of Democrats and just enough Republicans who didn’t oppose integrationist ideals to overcome those political people who seriously thought there was truth to the slogan, “Segregation now. Segregation tomorrow, and Segregation forever!”

As for those who thought there was legitimacy to the “old ways,” they were the ones who made the shift from the Democrats to the Republicans, led largely by the influence of Richard Nixon and later by Ronald Reagan who made the "seggies" feel welcome to the point where their grandchildren now run the GOP and make it quite less grand every time Trump opens his mouth.

Which means those people who try to claim that Democrats are the party of segregation and the old horrid ways are ignoring the massive transformation that occurred in our political structure.

NIXON: Won on a 'Southern' strategy

WHAT MAKES IT more ridiculous is when those same people try to argue that the reason the Democrats no longer represent what they view as “real” people is because of this shift. As though Dems gave up public interests to focus on these racial issues.

I also find it odd that Trump himself has often tried to claim a bipartisan nature of his own political ideology by claiming support and admiration for the presidency of Andrew Jackson. That early 19^th Century figure who was one of the first Democrats to be elected president and who often was backed by those who saw a sense of legitimacy to the old segregationist ways of our society.

Personally, I think people are entitled to vote how they want to. I comprehend that some black voters find a sense of hypocrisy in backing Democrats who seem more concerned with their own self-interests than anything involving the electorate.

So if this woman doesn’t want to vote for Democrats, that’s her business. Just realize that I (and just about anybody who’s ever read a history book of any type) are going to disregard her thoughts as the nonsense-ramblings of an ideologue – which actually is what she has in common with our incumbent president.

  -30-

Racial lawsuit against Pritzker a lame attempt at political misdirection

What kind of world is it where a political aspirant can put $88 million of his own money into his electoral campaign, and be grossly outspent?

PRITZKER: Under fire from own staff

That’s the case these days for Bruce Rauner. The Illinois governor tried the same tactic that worked in 2014 when he first ran for office – he invested his own money into winning.

BUT NOW THAT he’s seeking re-election, it doesn’t seem to be enough. It’s now plainly obvious why Democratic establishment types were eager to have J.B. Pritzker as their gubernatorial nominee. He has put $146.5 million of his own money into an opposition campaign – which is a record for political spending.

So the Republicans who want to avoid becoming politically irrelevant in Illinois following the Nov. 6 elections are now behaving like magicians – to whom the secret of their acts isn’t any real magical powers, but a strong ability to misdirect.

Get people to focus their attention on one issue or aspect – and not notice some action that really explains their trick.

In this election cycle, it seems that “discrimination” will be the issue that Rauner-backers will want us all to pay attention to.

A LAWSUIT FILED late Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Chicago tries to make it claim that the Pritzker gubernatorial campaign is discriminating against its workers who happen to be black, or of Latino ethnic origins.

RAUNER: Can this lawsuit help him?

“J.B. Pritzker for governor has a serious race problem,” the lawsuit states. As though we’re supposed to believe that all non-white voters ought to cast ballots for Bruce in order to look out for our interests.

It seems that the bulk of non-white campaign workers are used by the Pritzker campaign in non-white neighborhoods. The campaign supposedly has but one actual field office based in such a neighborhood, and it supposedly is so unsafe that Pritzker himself has yet to visit.

All of this may actually be true. But it strikes me as being a batch of hooey, rather than any kind of legitimate campaign issue.

IF ANYTHING, I’D be surprised if the Rauner campaign has any stronger physical presence in similar neighborhoods. Or actually, if ANY Republican running for office is bothering much to campaign in ways to try to appeal to non-white voters.

OBAMA: His old staffers amongst those suing

I suspect the Republican strategy in general is to make electoral politics as unappealing as they possibly can to non-white voters. If not many actually bother to vote, then the GOPers can focus on their preferred element of the electorate – and it could possibly be large-enough to win an election.

In this case, stirring up some doggie poop to try to build resentment against the Pritzker campaign won’t get any significant number of votes for the Rauner re-election bid. But I’m sure he hopes it will make his hard-core GOPers a large-enough faction to prevail on Nov. 6.

So when I read the statement from Illinois Republican Party executive director Travis Sterling that says, in part, “Pritzker’s actions don’t back up his words. Here we have his own staffers, seasoned political operatives, alleging racial discrimination and harassment,” I can’t help but be skeptical.

AND WHEN HE says, “It’s finally time for J.B. Pritzker to answer for his actions,” I have to cackle sarcastically.

How many lawsuit fans are also Trump backers?

For many of these Republican operatives are the same kinds of people who are desperately trying to ignore so many of Donald Trump’s inane comments and actions that are nothing more than appeals to the bigoted nature of a segment of the electorate. In large part because they have little objections to such ideals themselves.

Now I’m not going to be naïve enough to claim J.B. Pritzker is high-minded and moralistic; although I have noticed that throughout the years of his political financing, he tends to give his money to candidates who do fight for such ideals.

We can only hope that gives him some sense of what is right and what he should strive to achieve if he actually wins political office himself. Irregardless, we still need to dump Rauner, who can’t even appease the ideologues amongst us and still has all those anti-labor hang-ups that brought about his stubborn actions that have made a total mess of Illinois’ government in recent years – a fact that no amount of money can cover up.

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