The Witness Chronicles, 11/3/25

Defeat is looming over Donald Trump

Photo by camilo jimenez on Unsplash

Iowa, Really? And a Stark Reminder of Why Trump is in Panic Mode

He is not running towards something, he is running away

For Donald Trump this election is not about his ego, not about any belief in any of the stuff he says, and not about ‘fixing’ the country. It is about avoiding prison.

I know this is pretty unimaginable but for a minute imagine you are Donald Trump. Your mind is a tangled mess and you’re flailing about trying to pull the rabbit out of the hat and win this thing, but behind all the bragging is a terrible, debilitating fear.

This man is accused of committing horrendous crimes against America, crimes that killed his fellow citizens and may have compromised national security. On the latter a handpicked judge in Florida has so far protected him but her legal logic is severely flawed and there is a pit bull special prosecutor waiting to destroy it, the same man prosecuting both cases.

And, later this month, Trump faces sentencing for the 34 felonies he is already convicted of. That sentencing may be relatively mild but it is still sentencing for felonies.

These legal problems underlie everything we are seeing in the public Trump persona as we near the election, which it appears he is losing as it also appears he is falling apart mentally and physically. The timing for his madness is spectacularly bad.

Apparently he had a sit down in September with his campaign managers that was designed as a Hail Mary attempt to get him under control and to get the organization of his campaign back on track. Trump had brought in former campaign manager Cory Lewandowski, a known troublemaker, and Lewandowski was trying to grab control using Trumpian tactics of division and insults. The result was impending chaos.

That was way back in September, an eternity ago in this bizarre election calendar and things did not get better, they went totally off the rails. No one but Trump is running the campaign at this point and he is in reactive mode. Think about the notorious Garbage truck photo op a few days ago, his attempt to make hay out of President Biden’s garbage gaffe.

First, is dressing up as his idea of a garbage man with a garbage truck emblazoned Trump in massive letters a good idea? And then barely being able to open the truck door in a display of his beautiful body and beautiful health, in front of national tv, a good look?

While we are told this is a dead heat and anyone could win this thing, it sure looks like we are seeing a meltdown unfold in front of our eyes. Think about it. A doddering old man trying to open the door of a truck while wearing heavy orange makeup and a blaze orange vest, then riding around in circles on an airport tarmac.

That’s pretty loony. But that is a fraction of the crazy we’re seeing.

Now, three days before the election, a poll comes out showing Kamala Harris ahead in Iowa. Iowa? There has never been any question of Trump losing Iowa and it still seems unlikely, but I can imagine that poll scaring the crap out of half the Republican Party this morning.

Personally, as my readers know, I think polling is meaningless, but politicians live and die for it. I’m certain Don is in panic mode and pretty certain his campaign is there too. They went with a haywire strategy of attack and fear and it looks like it is backfiring with an out of control candidate desperately lashing out at everything.

Meanwhile Kamala Harris shows up on Saturday Night Live looking relaxed and having fun, again on national tv. Iowa and her appearance on SNL are the two major political stories in my feed this morning, one very bad and one showing a smart human being enjoying herself while making jokes.

Today we returned to Standard Time after enjoying the later daylight for months. It will be dark here by five o:clock this afternoon, normally a problem for me, but somehow the existential dread I’ve felt in recent days is fading. We might just pull this thing off.

Of course that won’t mean the end of the madness. This is the end game for Donald Trump and he simply cannot lose, not in his own mind. The fight will be vicious and ugly but he will not win because his team is losing faith and frankly, is not very competent.

Speaker Mike Johnson apparently does not understand that these days a public figure is always on the record and being recorded. In a supposedly private setting he said he would kill Obamacare, the popular healthcare program, then had to walk back that statement in a display of the incompetence that seems to have infected the entire Trump Republican Party.

While they stew over Biden’s ill-considered garbage remarks no one is taking credit for hiring the ‘comedian’ who started it all with calling Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage. And as they tried to distance themselves from that insult to millions of Americans, no one will admit to copying his planned jokes onto a teleprompter.

Basically, someone thought they were funny and that they would somehow bolster Trump’s status with Latinos, votes he desperately needs. And somehow that action feels to me like the beginning of the end.

As they say, garbage in, garbage out.

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