Running For What?

     Indiana's 2024 Gubernatorial election is a hot contest.  Not for the Democrats, who have only the slimmest of chances if that, and are running one (1) candidate (the optimistic Jennifer McCormick), but at least six Republicans are wild for the plum job at the top.  Incumbent Lieutenant Governor Suzanne Crouch appears to be favored by her outgoing boss, and the state could certainly do worse.

     One of the other primary contenders has managed to run ads so offensive and askew that I'm not even sure he understands the office he's running for.  And he's not some kook from the margins, though he certainly sounds as if he's got a bird in his head.

     He's promising to make Indiana "safer."  And as Governor, he says he will do so by "solving the fentanyl crisis," (unlikely, but enforcing the state's drug laws is certainly part of the Governor's job), which is illustrated via side-by-side maps of Indiana and....China.  I'm pretty sure getting China to stop exporting dangerous drugs and their chemical precursors to anyone who can pay no matter how shady is a Federal task.  But this guy is specifically promising, in his own voice, to "hold China accountable." Good luck with that.  I love my state, but we're not a nuclear power.

     He's promising to "destroy the cartels," with video showing what appear to be south-of-the-(national)-border drug ops and "deport criminal illegals."  Indiana can arrest and charge them here if they commit crimes in the state, but deportation and securing the border would be a, you guessed it, Federal job.

     And here's the kicker: the guy making these promises is an incumbent U. S. Senator from Indiana, Mike Braun.  He's already in a job that does have power over these issues, and was when his party held a majority.  He didn't manage to do a thing about them then, and if he becomes Governor, he won't have the ability to anything at all about them.

     He's topped that, though.  His most recent ad also promises to stop the "woke transgender ideology," over scarily-processed video that shows two athletes (a swimmer and a bicyclist) and an airhead social media influencer.  None of them live in Indiana.  Indiana does not control the sanctioning bodies for either sport.  And our state doesn't regulate social media.  Are those three weirdos?  Yep, they sure don't look like the church lady down the street.  But we live in a country where it's supposed to be safe to be freaky and if it creeps you or me out, well, we don't have to invite them home.  We live in a country where things like sports mostly have their own regulatory bodies and they set their own rules, and if people don't like it, they can go raise a fuss with those organizations instead of clamoring for the heavy and often fickle hand of government to interfere.  What he's done is essentially a threat, as much as any campaign ad featuring crosshairs over a person's face or name, and it's not a threat against criminals, political opponents or even Indiana citizens, but three people chosen specifically to make hackles rise.  At least Willie Horton had been convicted of (multiple) crimes before his star turn in a campaign ad, and even that was widely condemned as a disgraceful use.

     Mike Braun appears to have some strange fixations.  And he clearly thinks the voting public are a bunch of easily-stampeded morons, who have no idea what the powers are of a U. S. Senator or the Governor of a state.  There are five other Republicans on the primary ballot.  If that's your party, any of them would be a better choice.