It is primary day in South Carolina. The day to Take a Stand is finally here. It is the time when Democrats in this state choose who they believe will defeat Donald Trump. And we were up bright and early, along with many others, to cast our ballots.
While I won’t reveal who received our votes, (my wife and I both agreed on one candidate), I will hint that the person had a ‘B’ in their name. See my earlier blog for the “big reveal”.
When we arrived at our polling place, there were already cars there; some, like us, just arriving, and others leaving. We were pleased to see we were numbers 35 and 36 among those who were out and about, doing their civic duty before 8 AM.
We presented our IDs, along with our voter registration cards, to the women at the desk. One was careful to remind us, in very pointed terms, that this is a DEMOCRATIC primary.
Apparently there had already been several Republicans who showed up to cast their ballots. They were either uninformed (BIG shocker there!) that Republicans chose to opt out of the primary in this state, giving Trump a “victory” usually reserved for totalitarian governments where the one and only candidate ran unopposed, but wanted to give the illusion of a fair election, or they were part of the Rush Limbaugh supported, and Trump endorsed Operation Chaos, where Republicans voted for the candidate least likely to defeat Trump.
We were both guided to the machines and instructed as to how to use them. I inserted my blank ballot, made my choice on the touch screen and the ballot spit out my card, with my choice imprinted. I checked to be certain my choice was indeed imprinted on the ballot before sliding it into the machine that actually recorded my vote.
Easy peasy.
Meanwhile, several more people where already in line waiting to exercise their civic duty, including one with a red baseball cap emblazoned with “Trump 2020”. Whether he was among those who would be turned away, standing there for intimidation purposes (he was a rather large, imposing figure)or trying to take part in the aforementioned “Operation Chaos”, I did not know.
I simply shook my head and snorted my derision as we walked past.
Since we were already out, we decided to stop for breakfast. Now Republicans have always presented Democrats as filled with hate. Which is why I had to laugh when we walked past a closed “Vape” store on our way to breakfast.
The store had several printed signs stating, “We are closed due to “President” (my quotes) Trump’s ban on flavored e-cigarettes.” Someone strategically placed duct tape over “President Trump”.
It would appear the thin-skinned Republicans can broach no criticism of their “fearless leader”.
I peeled off a section of duct tape as we walked by, revealing the “offensive text”. Yeah, we are the party of hate…right!
Of course, no Democratic event would be complete without the compulsory Trump distractions. Despite not even running, he held a fact-flawed rally in Charleston. It was an attempt to draw attention away from Democrats, the Coronavirus and the plummeting stock market, while simultaneously trolling Democrats to provide meat for his base.
During this event he repeated the claims of Don Jr., that Democrats wanted people to die to harm Trump’s re-election bid, and the Mick Mulvaney’s comment that the Coronavirus was a media hoax aimed at hurting Trump.
Yeah, despite not being on the ballot, Trump hates not sharing the limelight.
So, we await the results and move on to Super Tuesday. Frankly, November 3rd can’t come soon enough!