Bestowing fanciful, pointed presents to Kentucky public figures at Christmastime, through the lens of current events, is a 45-year-old tradition for this column – inaugurated by the late Ed Ryan, continued by his successors at the Courier-Journal’s Frankfort Bureau, and by your humble servant for most of that span. This year, with some help from anonymous elves, we start in Frankfort and move on to Washington.
Gov. Andy Beshear: Two weeks in California, to better understand Gov. Gavin Newsom, perhaps his leading rival for Democrats’ 2028 presidential nomination. I always thought a smart-ass such as Newsom couldn’t be elected president, but Donald Trump has lowered the bar for presidential behavior.
Secretary of State Michael Adams: In rejecting Justice Department demands for private data on Kentucky voters, the Republican qualified for a JFK Profile in Courage Award, but he got that one for real last year, so he gets a knock-off of the Heisman Trophy for giving Trumpers a stiff arm.
Former attorney general Daniel Cameron, U.S. Senate candidate: A copy of Fundraising for Dummies. Cameron’s no dummy and has led in polls, but has had trouble raising money.
Businessman Nate Morris: A Trump Casino Hotel bag, to signify baggage that he (or any winner of the Republican Senate primary) may carry if the president keeps spiraling downward in so many ways.
U.S. Rep. Andy Barr of the 6th District, the primary’s betting favorite: A bottle of Canadian whiskey, which seems to have overtaken bourbon as Canadians’ drink of choice due to Trump’s tariffs, which Barr supported “100%” in April.
5th District Rep. Hal Rogers, who is running for a 24th term, will turn 88 Dec. 31, and votes pretty much the way his Trumpy district wants though he’s long been in the Chowder and Marching Club of Republican traditionalists: A framed photo of the late Sen. John Sherman Cooper, his fellow Somerset townsman, to remind him of his roots.
4th District Rep. Thomas Massie: A good-luck charm in his primary race with Trump-endorsed Ed Gallrein of Shelbyville. Massie gives voters of all stripes plenty to disagree with, but is perhaps the greatest example of independence from the executive branch that we need in Congress to maintain our democratic republic. His libertarian soulmate, Sen. Rand Paul, has done much of that, too.
3rd District Rep. Morgan McGarvey: A holiday gift basket to pass along to his former colleagues in the state legislature, who seem to have resisted pressure from the Trump White House to carve up the Louisville district of the only Democrat in the state’s congressional delegation, like Tennessee gerrymandered Nashville.
2nd District Rep. Brett Guthrie: A model of a Ford F-150 Lightning, which the company will stop making as it cuts its losses on electric vehicles and its huge new battery plant in Guthrie’s district. Beshear, looking to shift blame for a bad bet, pointed at Guthrie and Trump, citing Guthrie’s vote for the Trump bill that passed the House by one vote and cut EV subsidies. Guthrie replied, “Mandating everybody buy an electric car is not what the American people want.” That was a mandate in Europe, not the U.S.; Joe Biden did allow such a mandate in California, which has great market influence.
1st District Rep. James Comer: An Autopen signature machine, like the one he accused the Biden White House of misusing, so he can get more familiar with the device as he aims toward his 2027 goal of becoming governor – an office in which the Autopen is frequently used.
Sen. Mitch McConnell: As he and wife Elaine Chao contemplate retirement, a cannabis sativa plant to practice the horticulture needed to keep it under 0.3 percent THC, the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. That’s the limit set for hemp products by his 2018 legislation, which opened a loophole for producers of concentrated cannabinoid products – which McConnell and others closed recently, while delaying the change for a year to allow the issue to be fully lobbied and negotiated.
All members of Kentucky’s delegation: A district-by-district, county-by-county list of the numbers of Kentuckians (more than 100,000 overall) who have used extra Biden-era premium subsidies to buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act and the impact of their expiration. Comer, whose district would be hit hardest, has said the subsides should be extended a year or two, but Guthrie, chairman of the House committee that handles health care, has been quiet.
Our readers: Wishes for reliable information in order for you to cast your votes wisely. That sort of info comes from independent news outlets like this one, not from partisan or social media, now polluted by artificial-intelligence fakery. Fact-based journalists have a discipline of verification; they tell you how they know something; social media have no discipline and little if any verification. We verify so you can trust.