Democrats have not yet completely recovered from the moment when they lost faith in their standard bearer. That was on June 27, 2024, when Joe Biden couldn’t get out a coherent sentence during the presidential debate.
The bizarre and fact-challenged ramblings of his opponent seemed almost normal in comparison. We all know what happened next.
I wonder whether the murder of Alex Pretti will have a similar effect, if not on Republicans, then on the independent swing voters who will determine the results of the 2026 midterms. The Republican standard bearer has always lied, but this was a different kind of lie.
We all saw an American citizen who we could plainly see was holding only a cellphone shot 10 times in the back. Our president asserted that the victim was a crazed gun-waving assassin, responsible for his own brutal murder.
That lie was an insult of a different order to the intelligence of American voters. Will this be the moment when the political right finally loses faith in its standard bearer?
I certainly hope so, for all of our sakes.