The debate between Trump and Biden was less than three weeks ago as I write this missive. In that short time, everything in politics has changed. Since that debate, Biden’s cognitive deficiencies have gone from being “deep fakes” according to the regime media, to being undeniable. What was a unified Democratic Party has splintered over whether Biden should run again or even resign as president and, if he did one or the other, over who would replace him. On the other hand, a deeply divided Republican Party has totally unified behind the Trump/Vance ticket. Speaker Mike Johnson no longer faces any credible threats to throw him out, and he is able to pass almost any legislation he wants with only a two seat majority.

That said, if Trump wins (increasingly a likely probability) , the Republican Party will cement its transformation from the NeoCon, business conservative party of Goldwater, Nixon and Reagan into a new America First Populist party. On the other side, the Democrats will do some soul searching to see if they need reinvention as well.

Let’s look a bit deeper into all of this.

You have not heard from me in two weeks. A lot happened in those two weeks. The Captivating Mrs. Campbell is very adept at pointing out when I am wrong, which does occasionally happen. Some of you readers are nearly as adept in highlighting my errors.

I said I thought the debate between Trump and Biden would not be a “pivotal point” and that no one would land a “knockout punch.” Boy, I could not have been more wrong. Although I can’t imagine that anyone thought one candidate (Biden) would deliver a knockout punch to himself!

The last two of our five areas of chaos are culture and society. What is the difference between the two? Society is how we interact with each other. Culture is the atmosphere in which we interact. I once heard culture described as similar for we humans, as the water in which fish swim. Put fish is bad water and you will have bad fish. But them in fresh, sparkling water and the fish will prosper. Let’s take the culture first:

So, the economy and the world are pretty big topics. But hey, we are not shrinking violets here and we take on the hard stuff. Here goes the status of two more of our five areas of chaos.

International: We are all very much aware of the wars in Ukraine and the middle east and how those have the potential to spread beyond their current boundaries. We also know the tension between Taiwan and China and how that could erupt. Or how the “cold war” between China and the U.S. could move into a “hot” war. These are all significant risks on the world stage. But those are not the only places where chaos could deepen.

Yes, I am back with the blog after a brief respite. No more podcasts for reasons I articulated previously. But there is still a lot to do and a lot to analyze and a lot to say as the chaos around us ramps up. This week and next, I think it is time to take a look again at our five dimensions of chaos (political, international, economic, societal and cultural) and assess where we stand currently.

First, because it affects many of the others, let’s take a look at the political landscape in the United States.

The horrors on display by students and faculty at the formerly elite institutions of Yale and Columbia continue to unfold.