If 2016 Was the Flight 93 Election, then 2024 Was the Overkill Election

Anyone reading this already knows the story behind the 2016 Presidential election between Trump & Hillary being referred to as The Flight 93 Election. 2020 never warranted a colorful nickname of its own, maybe the 2020 election*? 2024 was a very different story than its two predecessors, hence the moniker I’ve given it. But first, a bit of background.

As I’ve mentioned previously, I don’t like using profanity, although my Gen-X New Jersey roots come out at times. Cussing takes the focus off of whatever your point is is and gives attention to those words instead. So whenever I write where profanity is needed, and with two or three exceptions over the years, I’d either self censor with a few asterisks or substitute some colorful metaphors. In this case, I have to repeat a phrase so much that neither of those will work here. So I’m going to lift a line from a humor column I read many years ago by (I believe) Dave Barry. He was writing about attending some sporting event with a friend who was taunting one of the players from the stands. What I remember Barry writing here was, The player turned around, looked at my friend, and said two words that rhyme with “Duck Through.” So throughout this column, you’ll be reading the phrase “Duck through”. Everybody got it? Good.

To continue with background, Overkill is a thrash metal band from the Jersey Shore that just missed getting over and taking their rightful place alongside The Four Horsemen of Thrash, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax back in the day. Overkill’s signature song, which they play to close every show, is a cheerful little ditty called “Duck Through”. The song always leads in with the audience chanting “Duck Through!” while giving a certain single digit hand gesture towards the band. And they kick off the song with lead singer Bobby Blitz singing the first few lines from the song’s chorus with the band joining at the end with “We don’t care what you say Duck Through!” That phrase summed up America’s attitude in 2024 when Donald Trump went full Grover Cleveland and was re-elected.

If you’re scratching your head as to how that phrase matches up let’s dive in a bit further. When Barry O became President after the 2008 election I remember that was when Democrats tasted blood in the water and began their rampage of browbeating and gaslighting. Even the mildest criticism of His Hope Changeyness was met with a charge of RAAAAACISM!!! You don’t need me to recap how things escalated, peaking around 2020 with the summer of the BLAMtifa riots and the LGBTQ+ (Silent P) movement telling us we were horrible people for objecting to creepy dudes dressing like prostitutes and dancing suggestively for preschool children. By 2024 it had boiled over, and Trump was our avatar for the blowback. I don’t need to recap the many ridiculous ways that The Radical Left tried to cut off Trump’s presidential campaign, up to trying to assassinate him. Then came election night, and so began the official turning of the tide. It’s been a while since I’ve written a post like this with a ton of setup before I get to my point, so thank you for staying with me this far. 2024 became the tipping point where we Normals lost patience with playing by the old rules and the response to their ridiculousness can be summed up with the Overkill line:

“This version of Joe Biden* is the smartest Biden* ever! Just ignore those time she fell on the stairs, fell off his bike, faceplanted on stage, wandered off aimlessly at regular intervals, fell asleep in public and pooped himself in front of The Pope.”