The hangover is worse than the reality

The Republican National Convention was a strange high for the Grand Old Party. The president had just (barely) survived an assassination attempt, Democrats’ lawfare had collapsed in on itself, and the incumbent was facing a messy public coup. There was talk about winning New Jersey. Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan’s historic landslides were ready for a sequel.

The optimism was so foreign to conservatives that most knew the shoe was going to drop. But still, when it finally dropped, in an eminently predictable fashion, those same conservatives plunged into despair. “How could the polls be tightening?” “How could corporate media bury a deadly assassination after just a week?” “Can they actually gaslight us all into thinking Kamala Harris is super cool? That she’s super smart? That she’s brat?”

None are immune to hangovers, and Monday’s DNC 'disaster' might just be the start of Democrats’ own brush with that big, hard sun.

The term “black-pilled” was bandied about to describe the hopeless nihilism erupting on the American right, but is reality that bad? Of course it isn’t. The polls now reflect the simple reality of a deeply divided country.

Sure, it’s depressing that roughly half of American voters are busily cheering on decline, but it’s the same old sun that rose yesterday and the day before that. If the sun burns particularly hard after a weeklong high, well, that’s the hangover — not the reality.

You got a glimpse of that when conservative Twitter suffered a meltdown over former President Donald Trump’s convention speech. Sure, it was long, boring, and started too late, but it's a political convention — and he’s a 78-year-old man who often goes on in his rambling, spoken-word comedy style, and a ton of people like it. After the high of the week, his most devoted supporters were ready to see Trump ascending from the stage in a golden crown with a flaming sword. After the party, a mediocre speech was a “disaster!”

The narrative only fed on itself after Harris took the nomination, the gaslighting began, and the polls shifted. But none are immune to hangovers, and Monday’s sloppy Democratic National Convention might just be the start of Democrats’ own brush with that big, hard sun.

The week began with puff pieces about how unified a party beset by tens of thousands of protesters really is, diary entries about how cool it was to get to Chicago, and a New York Times email about how patriotic the Democrats are, despite polling suggesting the opposite.

By Tuesday morning, the reporters were angry about a shortage of seats and electrical outlets, Hillary Clinton had reminded the world how annoying she is, and the defrocked incumbent had been relegated to a midnight speech delivered hours after the Eastern battleground states had gone to bed. In the lead-up, angry activists attacked security fencing, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) delivered her best Eva Perón impression (and the Democrats’ sizeable pro-Hamas contingent is super ticked about the contents, too).

The momentum is movie magic. It’s fake; vaporous. Offering interviews with your dog is well and fine if you’re Barack Obama or some other magnetic personality with a genuinely devoted following, but Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz ain’t that, and Wednesday’s heavy dose of Obama nostalgia doesn’t change that so long as he’s not back on the ticket. After weeks of fawning press, the polls are tied. That’s a real cause for concern to thinking Democrats, like Van Jones. James Carville, too.

We learned Tuesday morning that J.P. Morgan's economists expect the government to revise its March job growth statistics down by 360,000 on Wednesday. Goldman Sachs thinks the number could go down as many as 1 million jobs. Reality is harsh, despite the propaganda barrage. Each day this goes on, the “joy” campaign looks more and more like just another “Jeb!”

The Independent: Harris super PAC president says internal polling numbers ‘are much less rosy’

Return: Is the presidential election a simulation?

The Daily Caller: ‘Stop being giddy’: Carville warns that Trump ‘overperforms his polling average’

The Daily Caller: Van Jones distraught Harris hasn’t pulled away despite ‘positive press’

The Washington Examiner: ‘Unprecedented’ positive media for Harris, 89% negative for Trump

Blaze News: Dana Bash asks what ‘voters should think when [Harris has] reversed herself on several issues just in the last four years?’

Blaze News: Vance rips into ‘disgusting’ Democrat’s suggestion about pregnancies from rape: ‘What the hell is this?’

CNBC: RFK Jr. campaign ‘looking at’ joining forces with Trump, running mate Shanahan says

Blaze News: Walz apparently lies about his personal story again, this time about IVF treatments his wife never received

Blaze News: Multimillionaire Democrat bashes JD Vance in DNC speech for rising above poverty

Sign up for Bedford’s newsletter
Sign up to get Blaze Media senior politics editor Christopher Bedford's newsletter.

IN OTHER NEWS

While the chaos unfolds in Chicago, I’ll be heading to Dallas to hang with the team at “Blaze News Tonight.” You can also tune in Thursday to “Off the Record,” one of our fantastic BlazeTV+ subscriber exclusive shows. If you haven’t signed up yet, use the code BEDFORD for $20 off your BlazeTV+ subscription. All the cool kids are doing it.

THE FIRE RISES: Blaze News: Columbia University didn’t expel a single a student over the pro-Hamas campus takeover

Flags were burned, staff assaulted, classes canceled, Jewish students harassed and intimidated. But did any of the rich kids playing revolution get in trouble for their lawlessness at Columbia University? Nope. The lack of consequences for violent left-wing extremism isn’t just unfair — it’s a serious threat. I mean, why not start a revolution when there are no consequences for you? Candace Hathaway reports:

According to information provided by Columbia University to the committee, 40 students were arrested by New York Police Department officers on April 18 for allegedly participating in the unauthorized encampment. The police ultimately dropped the charges. The university allowed 18 of the students to remain in "good standing" in exchange for signing an "alternative resolution." As of early August, 38 were in good standing, with some waiting for a hearing and others on conditional disciplinary probation.

On April 29, 35 students were initially placed on interim suspension after they were accused of refusing to leave the makeshift encampment despite multiple warnings from the university, the panel analysis found. However, those suspensions were lifted for 29 students, and charges were dismissed, citing "not enough information to substantiate participation." Thirty-one of the students who were accused of participating are in good standing with the university.

Only four of the 22 students who were arrested on April 30 after locking themselves inside Hamilton Hall are "not in good standing" with the university, the report read. Three of those students are facing interim suspension, and one is "currently on disciplinary probation from a prior hearing."