Mid Terms in Missouri

Stump Speaking by George Caleb Bingham

Tonight I'll be covering our president as part of his whirlwind campaign tour before the 2018 midterm elections. My coverage will be in Cape Girardeau, MO. This is the last of three stops of the septuagenarian Commander in Chief, and one of dozens made in the weeks before the polls close.



Cape Girardeau is large town, that is passed it's prime by some hundred years now. The cape, of the towns name, was a bluff of rocks that outcropped along the river banks. That prominent feature was completely annihilated by railroad construction.

The earliest recorded European settlers were french trappers who set up a temporary trading fort here. Later French and Indians who would stunningly side against the Americans in the Revolutionary War established a more permanent settlement here, after being granted rights from the Spanish who had acquired the territory after the Seven Years War ended. At the time of Louis & Clark's visit here at the beginning of their expedition the town was run by Louis Lorimier, a horse racing British sympathizing Frenchman, who had married a Shawnee woman and who had seen his settlement attacked and burned by Clark's brother, George Rogers Clark, some thirty years before while attempting to exterminate indian encampments there. During the visit William Clark stayed upriver with the  crew while Lewis travelled to meet Lorimier alone

Cape Girardeau's real heyday would come mid-century 1800's as a way stop for travel between St Louis and Memphis. Mills and shipbuilders no doubt did good business in the town, but there was not even a bridge to span the river in town until 1928. Some called the town the City of Roses for the many rose gardens cultivated publicly and privately around the town particularly along Spanish Avenue. Today a few rose gardens are still maintained around town.  My guess is farmers and millers in the area used Cape Girardeau as the closest port to get their goods to the larger cities up and down the river. At one time the city boasted an impressive opera house, accounting for the time period that is sort of like saying your town has a movie theater in it.

As the interstate highway system rapidly outstripped the river barges in speed and efficiency for moving goods, and as the frontier expanded from the Mississippi River westward the town here began declining and has not looked back. In it's waning days of prominence, post-Civil War, the forward thinking town leaders succeeded in establishing a state funded university in Cape Girardeau. Southeast Missouri State University is now the fourth largest employer in the area, behind several healthcare providers and Proctor & Gamble plant which makes Pampers diapers and Bounty Paper towels at their local plant. A former president of Southeast Missouri State University, William Duncan Vandiver, is famous for saying, "I'm from Missouri, you have to show me." This is of course where the state's Show Me motto comes.

The town is pretty enough. The old city slopes down the hill toward the river. It was a good enough spot to establish a town, as the flood plain on this side is naturally abutted by the hills. Lately floods have gotten more frequent though and the old levee wall has been dangerously close to being topped in 2016, and generally floods have been far more frequent in the past thirty years than ever before.

When Trump comes to speak tonight he will be stumping for Josh Hawley, the Missouri Attorney General. The Stanford graduate and former Londoner, led his state to sue the Federal Government to stop Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare), he has also been vocal in his support for separating children of immigrants coming to America from their parents at the time of their crossing. He is very much a Trump ally and supporter.

The painting above was done by a Missouri politician, George Caleb Bingham, and depicts how stumps of his era worked. The painter is actually in his scene, the man seated on the platform directly behind the speaker, he is dutifully scribing notes to counter-point during his upcoming turn at the podium. It's a by-gone era being shown where both candidates would take the same stage at the same time to address the voting public. Bingham believed very mightily in democracy, and the republic. He believed it could be hard work to keep up with the candidates and their views, but it was hard work that the American people were up to doing, and must do in order to maintain their freedoms.

 Certainly the people in the audience will feel the gravity of the election they are going to participate in, and understand the importance of their vote. I am not sure that they will appreciate that where they live is a place founded by people many different cultures who held many different beliefs and because of those differences, not in spite of or ignorant of, those differences they made a place to live where they and their future generations could prosper. The ideals of those bygone men included some despicable views on race and gender, and those concepts should be thrown to the side by right thinking people. At the same time, those men knew the importance of staying progressive in their stewardship of the local economy and environment. I am less sure that the audience tonight will be as thoughtful when recollecting those olden-times.

Inauguration Day 2017: My View

I attended my third inauguration Friday. The day was warm, for January, but overcast and a light rain fell off and on throughout the day, though mostly off. It did notably rain just as President Trump began to speak. The crowd was not large, and I saw many protesters, which I document here. The protesters slowed the attendees from entering the gates. Whether or not you agree with the attendees or the protesters it is great to see people active in democracy, even if that activity is as small as bearing witness to the swearing in of a new President. Most of these pics are from Third & D St NW around the Blue Gate.

Internet Sensation Sikh Captain America

The Captain with the PG version of their sign

As noted elsewhere I love Captain America, so no surprise that I found two Caps in the crowd. Sikh Captain America has been a mainstay at large political events this election cycle. I saw him in Cleveland at the RNC and he has made the rounds at other events too. I also found this more anarchist leaning Captian. Who modeled his costume off of the briefly worn design when Captain America was replaced by a mentally unstable but easily manipulated stooge, appropriate.



The highlight of my news gathering was somewhat accidental. While taking a break from shooting near a group of rather vocal jeering protesters, a Trump supporter started verbally mixing it up. Out of growing frustration he threw his Trump signature red "Make America Great Again" hat at the protesting group. Around this time I figured I should stop resting and get back to shooting, so I rolled camera on the protesters in time to see them light the hat on fire. It went up pretty quickly.

There was lots of chanting and good activism. I had left before the black bloc took to the streets across town. In all not a terrible day, though it was lackluster compared to the two Obama inaugurations. The speech was a particular let down. It was not at all about unity and painted a ridiculously bleak picture of the country. I found it insulting really, from the anti-Washington nonsense to the grime portrait of America as a whole. It was not forward looking or optimistic, and feeds directly into the same tired narrative that things are horribly wrong. To quote our new president, "Sad."

Firing everyone including no longer relevant for twenty years Rosie O'Donnell 

Trump Portsmouth, NH

We have returned to the campaign trail, and once again I find myself in New Hampshire. With the Democratic field so small the story to be told is coming out of the Republican camps. While the number of cadidates has dwindled over the summer and fall there are still a number of strong contenders and early polls are tightening showing this race could go in many directions. Even third and fourth place finishers in Iowa and New Hampshire may be able to hold on past South Carolina and into Super Tuesday. I won't jump too far ahead though, as everyone still needs to get through the Granite State's "First in the Nation Primary."

Way back in 2013 I began covering Ted Cruz fundraising speeches in the White Mountains. Back then the story was Jeb Bush's Republican Ascendancy to the Nomination. Two years later the story is quite different. Jeb is in the cellar, and last season's joke candidate is this season's front runner. TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP! is here to "Make America Great Again!"

Even as a member of the target audience, I don't see the appeal. Taking extreme stands is fine with me, but Trump feels too ridiculous. I sometimes wonder if he isn't a Democratic patsy. A sort of bizzaro Manchurian Candidate created to make Hilary appealing. Her campaign must see him as her best opponent by far.

Surely the Republican Party, once the hallmark of the unified message, is only tolerating him until they can sort out their own most electable guy or gal. They allow Trump to absorb the blows of the mainstream press, and keep the pressure off of their true #1. A classic D&D style brick character, not skillful or even strong but with hit points to spare while the wizard preps the spells.

The trouble with my theory is Trump is, as far as we know, doing very well. He is drawing a crowd and poll respondents are saying his name again and again. Time will tell, as election results and poll numbers have found themselves in oddly different corners of the room when the sun rises the day after election day. Could Trump be a paper tiger or is he the real mccoy?