Whether it's people or places, to Trump, it's always a name game.

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By Bob Gaydos

Staying in the game, Jimmy Cannon style.

• Maybe it's just me, but: When you're running for the United States Senate and you're debating an opponent, it's probably not smart or wise or politically astute to say, "I'm not that informed on national security." Or to say at a subsequent debate on universal healthcare that you don't support such "woke" ideas because your parents, "if they were sick, they had to get up and go to work." Both her parents died relatively young, as her now deceased brother, Lindsey, wrote about in his memoir. Yes, we're talking about Darline Graham, who apparently dropped her married last name, Nordone, when Donald Trump decided she should get her brother's vacant seat in the Senate, representing South Carolina. Just because name recognition is more important than job qualifications to him. The governor complied and appointed her. Then she won a runoff with a congressman to decide the Republican candidate in November.
• Maybe it's just me, but: I can't decide who's dumber, Darline or the Republican voters who let an admittedly unqualified Senate candidate get as far as a runoff.
• Maybe it's just me, but: As long as we're stuck in South Carolina, I wonder why voters, specifically Republican voters, would cast ballots for an obviously unqualified candidate for the U.S. Senate simply because she's the sister of the now-deceased senator from their state when, on her brother's watch, the state recently ranked: 41st out of 50 for the percentage of families living in poverty; 46th in infant and child mortality rates; 42nd in overall life expectancy; 42nd for overall physical health; 46th for overall safety; 41st in violent crimes per capita; 42nd for overall education quality; 35th for general economic opportunity; 36th in average years of school completed; 45th in affordability; 32nd in unemployment rate; 44th in citizenship and democracy; 37th in productivity; 39th in health and safety and, according to one survey, was the ninth worst state in the union in which to raise a family and, in another survey, conducted by Tulane University, ranked 42nd out of 50 states overall? Nice job, Lindsey.
• Maybe it's just me, but: Lake America? Really? Couldn't Natalie keep Trump away from his Sharpie when the Canadians told him to buzz off? Where were the orderlies?
• Maybe it's just me, but: Isn't Ted Cruz even slightly annoyed or embarrassed at the way Trump is dealing with the country in which the senator from Texas was born? I know Cruz, whose mother is American, renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2014 to prepare for his run for president of the United States in 2016, but still, it's his father's homeland and the Canadians were nice enough to accept his renunciation after 44 years of his enjoying it so Trump (who beat him anyway) couldn't question his birth certificate, a la Obama. Maybe it's like dumping your husband's (and until recently your) last name to run for the Senate. Very convenient. And very Republican.

Authors Website: https://www.blogger.com/home

Authors Bio:

Bob Gaydos is a veteran of 40-plus years in daily newspapers. He began as police reporter with The (Binghamton, N.Y.) Sun-Bulletin, eventually covering government and politics as well as serving as city editor, features editor, sports editor and executive editor. He was also managing editor of the Evening Capital in Annapolis, Md. He retired from daily newspapering in 2007 after 29 years with the Times Herald-Record in Middletown, N.Y., where he was Sunday/features editor and, for 23 years, editorial page editor. He won numerous awards for his editorials from the New York Newspaper Publishers Association and The Associated Press and in 1992 was a finalist for The Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. Gaydos continues to write on a freelance basis, including a column on addiction.