30 April—First, most people don’t realize (or care) that tomorrow, 1 May, is Election Day in various Connecticut municipalities. This year the Litchfield boroughs of Litchfield and Bantam are holding elections to fill their boards of warden and burgesses. No positions in either borough are being contested—i.e., there’s only one candidate for each vacancy. And you’ll have to write in the names of the candidates for the BOLBOWAB. 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Litchfield firehouse and Bantam Borough Hall. Minimal voter participation is guaranteed, especially in Litchfield. And for good reason. But it’s worth going out of your way to exercise your franchise anyway. Just to show you care.

On the subject of politics, Bob Englehart, the brilliant political cartoonist at the former (or late—take your pick) Hartford Courant for 35 years, until he left in 2015 with so many other good people, is still doing his thing. One of his recent panels features an old couple walking hand-in-hand by a “Biden in 2024” poster. And the old guy is saying, “Never trust anyone under seventy.”

Take that Nikki Haley, you odious, wicked little Republican termagant!

As things stand at the moment, the only announced presidential candidates are Joe Biden and Donald Trump, both of whom easily qualify for the wrinklies’ trust. The Democrats have no one even near 70 threatening in the wings, as Biden’s maturity—unkindly and unfairly overemphasized as it is by both parties—is the only excuse the Democrats would have for not supporting the incumbent for a second term.

The Republicans, on the other hand, have two grown-ups who have announced their candidacy: 74-year-old John Bolton, George Bush Junior’s interim ambassador to the United Nations and Trump’s short-lived national security advisor, announced his candidacy almost four months ago on Epiphany—a.k.a. 6 January, Insurrection Day. Remember? That’s assuming you even knew. About Bolton’s announcement, anyway.

The other Republican grown-up is 72-year-old Asa Hutchinson, former congressman and Arkansas governor, among other things. He threw his hat in the ring only a couple of days ago, rather less stealthily than Bolton had done.

Harridan Haley is only 51. The less said about her, the better. She’s a was.

Talking heads and asses and other political know-it-alls seem to favor Florida’s autocratic Republican Governor Ron DeSantis as a challenger for Trump and Biden. But he hasn’t officially entered the lists yet.

Frankly, if DeSantis were to decide to run against Trump, I’d vote for Trump in the primary. I’ve never hidden my loathing for the loathsome Trump, to be sure. But DeSantis is far more dangerous, far more treacherous. Like Trump, he’s accustomed to getting his way and has no tolerance for anyone who doesn’t cooperate in any way. Trump is a crude con man. DeSantis is a subtly insidious dictator.

They’re both bullies and neither is to be be trusted. But I distrust Trump less than DeSantis. And Florida’s despotic governor is only 44 and probably still craps his diapers.

The most worthy Republican candidate would be 66-year-old Larry Hogan, former popular two-term governor of strongly Democratic Maryland. Hogan is moderate, intelligent, reasonable, and low-key. That’s why he’d never get the GOP nomination. Given his qualities and qualifications, it’s no surprise that Hogan announced last month that he wouldn’t even seek the Republican nomination.

That in itself tells us he’d be a fine president . . .