The picture above of Porky Pig represents the latest example of how the GOP still hasn’t figured out how to come up with a 2024 election game plan which gets them to stop promoting a Presidential candidate who went on CNN the other night and accused a majority of Americans of being ‘dumb.’
The surveys on the vote ‘fraud’ issue don’t all say the same thing, but what they do say is that a majority of Americans believe the election wasn’t rigged, including a slim majority who claim they voted for the GOP the last time around.
So obviously, what Trump did on CNN earlier this week, if he was consciously doing anything beyond shooting his mouth off the way he always shoots his mouth off, was to make sure that he still controls his MAGA base, because those MAGA shitheads (I don’t know what else to call them) can be the decisive factor in various state primary votes.
And if Trump wants to lead the GOP into the 2024 campaign, he first has to rack up some wins in certain primary states, where he hasn’t competed against other Republicans since 2016.
But in that respect, the reaction of various GOP members to a Supreme Court decision about Porky Pig should give Trump some comfort because if nothing else, the reactions to that 5-4 decision by the Court which allows a compassionate, pig-loving law in California to stand, shows that at least on the GOP side, things haven’t changed all that much.
Back in 2018, voters in California passed Prop 12, which prohibits the sale of pork and veal if the animals aren’t raised and housed in a loving, tender way before they are turned into lunch meat and put out on the supermarket shelves.
This whole movement to prevent cruelty to animals before their heads are lopped off has been growing over the last twenty years, which puts states where animal meats are consumed into some degree of conflict with states where animal meats are produced. Because making life more livable for animals before they wind up in the slaughterhouse means that costs to produce those products go up, which means the sale of those products might go down.
I happen to love a good pork sausage, so I don’t care what the meat costs. I also rarely pass up a Buffalo chicken wing, particularly when I can dip it into a good, hot sauce. But if I lived in California and couldn’t get either of those foods thanks to Prop 12, I’d survive.
On the other hand, the moment the Supreme Court sided with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the Humane Society, both groups opposing the suit to overturn of Prop 12 brought by the National Pork Producers Council, GOP members in the Senate and the House turned the issue into yet another opportunity to take up arms in the culture war.
Joni Ernst, the Senator from Iowa, who has been mentioned as a possible VP pick, tweeted: “Extremists in liberal states like California shouldn’t be allowed to BAN OUR BACON and punish hardworking Iowa pork producers with overreaching policies.” Note ‘extremists’ versus ‘hardworking producers.” Randy Feenstra, who represents Iowa in the House, said this:
“California liberals have no jurisdiction over how Iowa farmers raise our hogs.” Note ‘liberals.’
The primary contests in states like New Hampshire and Iowa will go a lot further to determine who will lead the GOP into the general election than how those state totals determine who will win the national vote on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. Which explains why Trump behaved the way he did on Tuesday night.
I hope the GOP continues its crusade against those Deep State, Soros-backed forces who want to keep consumers from eating Porky Pig. I hope that Porky becomes as much of a concern for the GOP as the concern they have about transgender athletes competing in gender-segregated sports.
Maybe the GOP should consider asking Trump to make Porky his Number Two.