The Irony of It

Last week's our post headlined "Nothing New to Report - Except This." The "Except This" had nothing to do with the attempt on Trump's life late on Saturday. But that attempt proceeded according to plan nonetheless.

The irony of it - the headline, that is.

But let's dig a little deeper. While Trump survived, another individual did not. Most of us were made aware of the gentleman who leaped in front of his wife and daughter and took a bullet from the assassin. He gave up his life to protect his family.

While much drama infuses Trump's story, the deeper aspect of the happenings of that day lie with this supreme sacrifice.

Despite the assassination attempt, the Republican Convention proceeded as planned. And Trump - the survivor - emerged (as expected) as the nominee. He looked pretty fit, although he did seem to understand the gravity of what happened - especially of what almost happened - to him. With that, the events of that dark Saturday began to recede.

To his credit, Trump did note the supreme sacrifice. Not simply with word, but by kissing the former fire chief's helmet which, we presume, was the actual gear of the guy who died. Nice touch.

In this election year, it's no surprise that we've "moved on" so quickly. After all, Trump's wound was superficial. He basically only had to pause in mid-stride, then pick up where he left off when the shots rang out.

As for the guy who gave up his life, there was no pause - unless you believe that our life in this world is really a temporary gig, designed to bring us upon death to eternal life. For the victim, perhaps his death was indeed that sort of pause. If so, he did not pick up where he left off. We don't really know much detail about that eternal life he may have entered. But it was certainly something quite different. 

What of his surviving family? Their lives will eventually pick up - but not where they left off. They will have to continue their daily struggle with the world, the flesh, and the devil without the strong presence of their now deceased husband and father. It won't be easy. If you've lost loved ones - especially those closest to you - you know all about this. If you've lost someone suddenly, you know even better.

So with the continuation of the election campaign, it behooves us to take a moment to recall what turned out to be a truly terrible result of the assassin's malice. Remember the man - a hero, in a real sense - and his wife and child. 

As for the election campaign, it's really up to you how much attention you pay to what will transpire now. And with the continuation of the Trump campaign, we now face the ramped up calls for his opponent to exit the race because of his...well, you know that story there.

Meanwhile the markets shrugged off the whole affair - at least at first. Nothing of consequence transpired there. And, as you might expect, the death of one ordinary person - even a hero as was the case here - simply does not move the needle. 

As for those other persons, they say much is at stake. Who you vote for will move the needle. Is that true? Perhaps. But think back. Haven't they been saying this for what seems forever? If you vote for A things will be much better/much worse. If you vote for B things will be much better/much worse.

And while things can be impacted by an A or a B, is that impact ever at the level promised by either?

Not only that, but one might even conclude that the overall slope for the last, hmmm, 4, 5 decades or so has been in a downward direction.

If that's true, one has to wonder what vote - at least at the national level - really matters, or at least how much it matters.

With that, there's no suggestion to skip election day (or the extended time we now have to vote in our frankly dysfunctional election system). That's a decision of us must make.

The markets - dysfunctional as they've been for quite some time now - will chug along, we suspect. Having shrugged off the assassination attempt, some of us may figure they're impervious to any and all events, economic conditions, valuations, and all the rest of the factors that we once learned and used to pursue prudent investing, we can only put our money in places that won't all go down together if a day of reckoning ever arrives.

For the election, however, barring some unimaginable catastrophe, there will be some sort of reckoning - for better or for worse.