Huether Press Conference Tomorrow: Is Political Theater Afoot?

This tweet came across my Twitter feed a few minutes ago.

Former Sioux Falls mayor (and Yankton native) Mike Huether has announced he is holding a press conference Wednesday afternoon. The subject of the conference is unknown at this time.

— Kelly Hertz (@kelly_hertz) September 3, 2019

I honestly don't remember if Huether held a press conference to announce his little road show, so I am going to go with some insight provided when he announced he was leaving the Democratic Party and registering as an independent:

The mayor announced his decision to switch from Democrat to independent at a Monday news conference. He did not address his political future, but Northern State University political scientist Jon Schaff told the Argus Leader that people who don’t have political ambitions don’t call public press conferences.

If it is indeed "political ambitions," that would indicate a run against either Representative Dusty Johnson or Senator Mike Rounds in 2020.  When he announced his party switch, Huether "compar[ed] his own business-centric approach to running City Hall with Trump’s methodology."

Mike Rounds votes with Trump 92.1% of the time, and Dusty Johnson votes with Trump 88.4% of the time. That leaves Huether the option of running as Trump-lite or going full anti-Trump. Given the South Dakota electorate neither option seems to open a road to victory.

UPDATE: Guess I was wrong; people do hold press conferences for next to nothing, in this case a self-published book.

The Summer Of 1957 Wrecked Castles: What I Learned On My Summer Vacation.

I have spent good portions of the summer making eight hour car trips and reading books and articles written by people smarter than I am. The latter activity caused me to play too many hours of Castle Wreck on my phone as I tried to think through some subtle points. Here's what I concluded.

Conclusion 1: Populists may be correct that the educated elites who have run the nation's public and private institutions have failed. HOWEVER, the fact that intelligent educated folk have failed does create the corollary that poorly educated folks who dislike thinking or who are unable to think will succeed.

Conclusion 2: Fear dominates the national zeitgeist.

Conclusion 3: In The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck writes that there's fine line between fear and anger. The current era points to a fine line between fear and languor.

Conclusion 4: Public debate was formerly dominated by disputing the implication of facts; it's now dangerously dominated by disputation of what constitutes a fact.

Conclusion 5: Personal stories still retain power, but shortened attention spans and listeners' desire to have personal biases confirmed makes people less likely to share their stories honestly.

Conclusion 6: The weaponizing of Christianity in the service to Trump has less to do with glorifying God than it does in justifying the practitioners' preferred sins.

Conclusion 7: Too many now view politics as a religion or power as a god. Those that have those attitudes increasingly view people outside of their circle as threats or evil. I doubt any democratic republic can survive once a plurality holds those views.

Conclusion 8: If being created in the image of God or endowed with inalienable rights means anything, humans should not be treated as pawns by employers or governments.

Conclusion 9: I have never been to Mt. Sinai, so I don't need ten conclusions.

By the way, Castle Wreck drains phone batteries quickly.