Who thought these slogans were OK?

I didn't watch the Jello-wrestling exhibition last night, so some of these remarks may have been overtaken by events. Let's go ahead anyway.

Who dreams up the slogans for the left wing? Don't they care about impact? For goodness sake, the left has all the Hollywood/Silicon Valley/Broadway creative talent in their side, and still they come out with idiotic slogans like "Abolish ICE!" and "Defund the Police!"

Whatever your views on the policy issues involved, and I'm an advocate for humane enforcement of an immigration policy based on economic qualification and, even more strongly, for de-militarizing the police, these chantable memes are divisive, simplistic even by sloganeering standards, and ineffective as political communication.

Divisive. For tens of millions of people--probably hundreds of millions when it comes down to it--the border patrol keeps our borders borders and thus allows us to regulate who comes into the country. This work is generally thought of as necessary and benign and to abolish it is just asinine.

Even more people think of the police as necessary and, other than the occasional speed trap, generally useful keepers of good order and public safety. Defunding the police is thus a horrifying concept, not an attractive one. As much fun as they might be to chant, these asinine and horrifying slogans drive the tens and hundreds of millions away from changing anything.

Simplistic. The problems of policing and law enforcement in general are not going to be solved by taking away money. They probably can't be solved by granting more money either. The first step I'd recommend is to at least stop militarizing the police--no more armored cars, IED-proof Humvees, assault weapons, and the like. Then take some of them away as part of beginning the very complicated road to finding use-of-force policies appropriate for use on the streets, roads, and lanes of America.

Ineffective. Think of the slogan of the winning side in 2016. A gang of hucksters, peddlers, and real-estate scammers create "Make America Great Again." Inclusive, General, Effective. The professional creative talent spews talking points for their opponents. No wonder the shills and touts won and a critical debate on the future of America was FUBAR.

Justice Ginsburg calls for a 4-year vacancy?

Ruth Bader Ginsberg's last wishes included, "My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed." She may not have thought that through; it implies holding her vacancy open longer than 4 years.

I fully intend to vote for Joe Biden. But Donald Trump is going to win this one and there will not be a new President until 2025. I believe this ugly prognosis for the following reasons, ranked from least quantitatively important to the most:

1. Reluctance to change leaders in a crisis. Yes, he has done a horrible job but there is a thin slice of voters that would rather face the known horrors than let a new broom brush up new ones. Overall, I believe this only affects a few Trump leaners who will think of this as permission to vote their leanings.

2. The power of incumbancy is real and alive: events at national shrines from the White House to Fort McHenry to Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills, open the purse strings for Puerto Rico, media must-coverage around the clock, and so on. This was very effectively wielded at the Republican convention. It will certainly have at least its usual impact on the electorate.

3. The staggering political incompetence of the Democratic party. The impeachment fiasco left us with a "not-guilty" defendant. The folly of building a coalition based on racial identity, then excluding the largest racial group. The whinging about the constitutional make up of the Senate and the voting rules for presidential elections rather than buckling down and doing the hard work of building majorities in local elections in unfashionable towns and state elections for dull-sounding offices in states where you can't find decent vegan. Maybe we country-club Republicans are right. The Democrats' classes are unfocused, ill disciplined, and lazy.

And, as a result, there will be another 4 years of this horror show. Vacancy or no vacancy.