Assume Nothing

There are bad reasons to vote for Donald Trump; very bad reasons to vote for Donald Trump; and extremely bad reasons to vote for Donald Trump. This is the worst, and a tweeter whose timeline clearly indicates that he is on the left side of the political spectrum has it exactly right until the end:

Why do you keep policing how families behave?
Who cares if he took his wife's hand and gave her an "awkward" hug? It was an awkward situation, on stage in front of millions of people. They're not rehearsed politicians, they're just normal people.

— KO Murphy (@klcmurphy) August 11, 2024

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The essential problem, as this liberal tweeter recognizes, is policing how families behave. Vance has been guilty of this, with CNN noting his "childless cat ladies" assessment and

In November 2020, Vance said on a conservative podcast that childless Americans, especially those in the country’s “leadership class,” were “more sociopathic” than those with children and made the country “less mentally stable.” Vance added that the “most deranged” and “most psychotic” commentators on Twitter – now known as X - were typically childless.

In August 2021, one month after launching his candidacy for the Senate, Vance’s campaign sent fundraising emails referring to the “radical childless leaders in this country” following his appearance on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” where he made comments deriding “childless cat ladies” and leaders running the country. The comments sparked a widespread backlash against Vance when they resurfaced on social media following his nomination to the Republican presidential ticket.

(Little did we know before Vance's remark that childless George Washington was radical.) 

Handshakes? How 20th century. If emotion is not exhibited, most Americans evidently believe, the sentiment cannot be authentic.

Relationships among people- especially within marriages- are difficult to evaluate accurately and depth of devotion to a person or a cause cannot be assumed by the degree of fervor publicly demonstrated. At the Democratic National Convention in 2000, Al and Tipper Gore seemed to share a moment of joy and love

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Ten years later, they were divorced. Perhaps- perhaps- their marriage deteriorated only following Al's devastating (for him and for the country) loss in the presidential election a few months later. Or maybe it was scripted.  We don't know- and we should assume nothing from a handshake instead of a kiss, its sincerity or what it symbolizes.. 

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