Donkeys and Elephants

The Elephants and the Donkeys both send me stuff in my email all the time, and it’s interesting in some ways to compare what they send with each other.

The Elephants sent this one today:

We have seen your strong support for Conservative values and we want to thank you by giving you an exclusive offer…

It’s an offer that’s only for the BIGGEST supporters of Trump’s agenda and Conservative majority.

We are giving you EXCLUSIVE ACCESS to the Presidential Majority Platinum membership. . . And because we know how much you’ve stood with our movement, we also want to give you a FREE American flag t-shirt.

But, we can only do this exclusive bundle today…

What it boiled down to is two things:  A Presidential Majority Platinum Member card that appeared to be made from plastic, and a T-shirt with a small American Flag on the front.  When I clicked on the “order here” button I found that the minimum amount they want is $50, and the maximum is $1,000 or more, with the option to make it monthly already checked for me!  This Limited Time Offer allows me to stand with President Trump and his House Majority today!

The Donkeys, of course, make up in quantity what they fail to achieve in quality, but I will give them this:  Most of their stuff is wrapped around a particular issue or angle.  Today, for example, to just cite a few:

The Legislative Majority PAC wants between $10 and $100 to fight gerrymandering, and they feature a smiling Barack Obama on the page.

Claire McCaskill’s campaign for Senator from Missouri is freaked out that she is now tied in the polls with the Trump guy, so please send money, $5 to $50, anything!  She’ll obviously take money from me in Washington State to run in Missouri, so what does that say about who else she will take money from, and what she will promise them in return?  Sorry, Claire, you will make it or break it in your state.  Stay there and run to them.

Then Bob Casey wants money from me to run in Pennsylvania!  Same answer, Bob, stay home. 

Then the Sanders Institute (a 501 (c) 3 organization, meaning my donations are tax-deductible), wants at least $27, up to $1,000 to boost Solar power companies and take away $20 billion in subsidies for the fossil fuel companies.

Then Patty Murray chimed in, with an offer to add my name to a petition demanding that Republicans do something about Trump, to “Hold Trump Accountable”, whatever that means.  She wanted anywhere from $5 to $250 after I clicked on the “Sign My Name” button.

I won’t bore you with the rest of them, and there are many, but they follow the same pattern.  The Elephants are completely ignoring current events and fishing for money based on a clear cult of personality and an unspecified “agenda”.

The Donkeys are more apt to bear down on one specific issue, which probably gives their data scientists a bunch of analysis of how any particular issue is flying with a given chunk of the electorate so they can fine-tune the message as we get closer to election day.  Clever people, those bit-twiddlers.

They both have one obvious thing in common:  They both have their hands out, and they both are using dollars raised as a measure of the success of any campaign.  The whole thing stinks to me of manipulation, professional image-crafting and corruption.  It’s becoming clear that both political “parties” have been taken over by scammers who are using them to extract money from us, the marks.  I bet they charge by the vote.  :-{)}