Can palliatives like “I want to be the President of all Americans” be a substitute for platform substance? Are we witnessing the embarrassing current irrelevance of a storied political party that utterly failed to anticipate credible generational succession?Even after insiders knew that failing health was being concealed, they proceeded in the hope that the scam would succeed and bypassed the traditional primary vetting procedure. So much for responsible governance. A professionally produced national party convention featuring a hastily installed candidate slate proved to be entertaining but astonishingly lacking in platform substance. “Trust us” cannot be a credible substitute for policy detail when the opposition has a demonstrable record of notable prior accomplishment and pledges to get the nation back on track if elected. The late-breaking Presidential succession coup continues to benefit from media complicity in obscuring the motivation and ideological predilections of its orchestrators.Now more than ever, the voting public must focus on the media unmentionables – numerous identifiable authoritarian elements of intended change that have yet to be revealed to the general public. Can deliberate secrecy and obfuscation be a winning strategy? Phil Osifer