Michael McKenna

Nels Schimek ∙ Thomas R. Wood ∙ David A.C. Beck ∙ Michael McKenna ∙ Ali Toghani ∙ Elizabeth Nance

Courtesy of “Monday Night Football,” we got to enjoy yet another victory by the Kansas City Chiefs, and yes, even more shots of Taylor Swift and her entourage.

It is a depressingly safe bet that, irrespective of who wins — or who thinks they should have won — there will be violence in the streets after the presidential election.

I recently read Robert F. Kennedy’s ruminations on the death of his mother, in which he described her devotion to the Roman Catholic Church as “blind.” He didn’t mean it in a good way.

As we approach the end of an election cycle, it is probably time to make some predictions. I have two to offer.

One truly depressing thing about the end of campaigns is that they tend to devolve into desperation and ugliness.

The shambolic, wandering and vituperative remarks from Vice President Kamala Harris in Tuesday's closing argument were, of course, more like a typically dreadful State of the Union address — albeit punctuated by idiocy (I doubt the gentlemen at Normandy and the gentlemen at the Stonewall Tavern in Greenwich Village suffered in equal measure or for the same purpose) — than anything else.

At the end of any campaign, and especially at the end of a difficult and ugly campaign, voters rightfully expect a true accounting of both candidates.

In the wake of any electoral setback, it is tempting for those who voted for the losers to spiral into depression and despair. Similarly, winners usually get carried away and interpret the results as a mandate to do whatever they want. Both should resist those impulses.

Politics MICHAEL McKENNA: Speaker Johnson Is Just What The MAGA Movement Needs House Speaker Mike Johnson speaking to reporters, Sept. 25, 2024. (Screen Capture/CSPAN)