WITNESS TO A GREAT POLITICAL CRUSADE |
 SO WHAT? if Nibi, the rescued beaver, were forced to return to the woodlands this winter. |  SO WHAT? If Donald J.Trump, defendant, were returned to the White House this winter |
IN ELECTIONS, as in life, what really matters often boils down to this short, but loaded question: “So what?”
With Election Day now down to just one month away, Nov. 5 – 30 days, to be exact – “So what?” is profound, because it’s the answer that matters.
"So, what?" if there’s an election a month from now. Well, for one thing, it could mean whether American democracy will continue to evolve or will die – that’s what.
"So what?" comes in two flavors. It can force us to considers how deeply we care about something; or it can be a thoughtless remark about to something that should matter.
The question popped up recently in a legal filing by Jack Smith, the special counsel prosecuting criminal case Number 23-cr-257, “United States of America v. Donald J. Trump, defendant.”
That’s the indictment about Trump’s “scheme to overturn the 2020 election.”
The legal memo recalls the chaotic events of Jan. 6, 2021, when rioters broke into the Capitol to halt Congress’s certification of the election. Enraged by a Trump Tweet criticizing Vice President Mike Pence for not cooperating with the scheme, the mob chanted for Pence’s death.
“One minute later, the Secret Service was forced to evacuate Pence to a secure location in the Capitol,” the legal memo says. An aide rushed to tell Trump what had happened, hoping he would protect his vice president.
Instead, “the defendant looked at him and said only, ‘So what?’”
IN NORMAL TIMES, “So what?” can have an easy answer, as in the matter of Nibi, a beaver, who had been found two years ago as a kit, or infant, by the side of a Massachusetts road.
Nibi was brought to a rehabilitation facility, which tried, but failed to have her bond with wild beavers.
With Election Day now down to just one month away, Nov. 5 – 30 days, to be exact – “So what?” is profound, because it’s the answer that matters.
"So, what?" if there’s an election a month from now. Well, for one thing, it could mean whether American democracy will continue to evolve or will die – that’s what.
"So what?" comes in two flavors. It can force us to considers how deeply we care about something; or it can be a thoughtless remark about to something that should matter.
The question popped up recently in a legal filing by Jack Smith, the special counsel prosecuting criminal case Number 23-cr-257, “United States of America v. Donald J. Trump, defendant.”
That’s the indictment about Trump’s “scheme to overturn the 2020 election.”
The legal memo recalls the chaotic events of Jan. 6, 2021, when rioters broke into the Capitol to halt Congress’s certification of the election. Enraged by a Trump Tweet criticizing Vice President Mike Pence for not cooperating with the scheme, the mob chanted for Pence’s death.
“One minute later, the Secret Service was forced to evacuate Pence to a secure location in the Capitol,” the legal memo says. An aide rushed to tell Trump what had happened, hoping he would protect his vice president.
Instead, “the defendant looked at him and said only, ‘So what?’”
IN NORMAL TIMES, “So what?” can have an easy answer, as in the matter of Nibi, a beaver, who had been found two years ago as a kit, or infant, by the side of a Massachusetts road.
Nibi was brought to a rehabilitation facility, which tried, but failed to have her bond with wild beavers.
 | Nibi, it turned out, preferred to hang around with humans, while enjoying her quarters at the refuge, which included a large enclosure and her own pond. Alarms were raised when state wildlife officials declared Nibi had to be returned to the Massachusetts woodlands. Her caretakers feared she would not survive the winter. |
As news reports spread word of the plight of furry little Nibi, the question of “So what?” played a major role in what would happen next.
BUT “SO WHAT?” becomes a more consequential question when Election Day is a month away. The polls say the contest is a tie, while skeptics wonder whether it’s actually a landslide - but for whom?
BUT “SO WHAT?” becomes a more consequential question when Election Day is a month away. The polls say the contest is a tie, while skeptics wonder whether it’s actually a landslide - but for whom?
You’d think the answer would be a no-brainer.
Trump not only tried to overthrow the election he lost to Joe Biden four years ago, he’s been convicted, and now awaits sentencing, for filing false business reports to hide hush payments to a porn star; and he’s facing two other cases, one about improperly taking government records and another about election skull drudgery.
He was a terrible president for four years after his upset victory in 2016, but he retains a mystical connection with a cult-like base of voters, who shrug off his lies, his racism and his unhinged campaign orations. Adding to his mystique has been his survival of two assassination attempts, one in which a bullet grazed his ear.
Trump’s only real accomplishment in the current campaign was watching Biden disintegrate on national TV during their only debate, which resulted in the president dropping out of the campaign, replaced as the Democratic nominee by Biden’s vice president, Kamala Harris.
Harris effortlessly took over the race, picked a charmingly down-home running mate in Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota, stage-managed an enthusiastic national convention, and went on to demolish Trump in their only debate.
"So what?"
It would seem to be a no-contest choice.
Harris, an energetic, 59-year-old former prosecutor, California attorney general and U.S. Senator and now a vice president; pragmatic, well-spoken, nimble, multi-racial, the epitome of someone ready to lead the country into an exciting new, chapter.
Trump, 78, increasingly bitter, insulting, and spreading cruel lies at every campaign stop, with dark, authoritarian plans to deport millions of immigrants and turn the Department of Justice into the Department of Revenge to punish his enemies.
“SO WHAT?” haunts the election.
We know a lot of people have answered: Trump’s devoted base remains loyal; and apparently, an equal number of Democrats and others alarmed by Trump, support Harris.
It’s difficult to imagine in the election’s remaining days that very many minds can be changed.
What’s more, there’s not as much time left as it seems, since voting has started in some states, either by mail ballot or in-person early voting. So many votes already are locked in.
The Pew Research Center says that in the 2022 midterm elections, only 43 percent of voters waited until Election day; 36 percent cast mail ballots; 21 percent voted early.
In the face of the stubbornness of Trump’s supporters and the dwindling time that’s left, I’m impressed at how hard people are working to elect Harris, and by the breadth of her support.
Millions of people have donated money, volunteered to knock on doors and make phone calls and send post cards into the battleground states.
I’m also encouraged in the way that some rock-solid Republicans like Liz Cheney, once the third highest leader in the House, have endorsed Harris. And the same goes for her father, Dick Cheney, the former vice president who once was the Democrats’ Darth Vader.
Liz Cheney this week went a step further by campaigning with Harris in Ripon, Wisconsin, where the Republican Party got its start.
Trump not only tried to overthrow the election he lost to Joe Biden four years ago, he’s been convicted, and now awaits sentencing, for filing false business reports to hide hush payments to a porn star; and he’s facing two other cases, one about improperly taking government records and another about election skull drudgery.
He was a terrible president for four years after his upset victory in 2016, but he retains a mystical connection with a cult-like base of voters, who shrug off his lies, his racism and his unhinged campaign orations. Adding to his mystique has been his survival of two assassination attempts, one in which a bullet grazed his ear.
Trump’s only real accomplishment in the current campaign was watching Biden disintegrate on national TV during their only debate, which resulted in the president dropping out of the campaign, replaced as the Democratic nominee by Biden’s vice president, Kamala Harris.
Harris effortlessly took over the race, picked a charmingly down-home running mate in Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota, stage-managed an enthusiastic national convention, and went on to demolish Trump in their only debate.
"So what?"
It would seem to be a no-contest choice.
Harris, an energetic, 59-year-old former prosecutor, California attorney general and U.S. Senator and now a vice president; pragmatic, well-spoken, nimble, multi-racial, the epitome of someone ready to lead the country into an exciting new, chapter.
Trump, 78, increasingly bitter, insulting, and spreading cruel lies at every campaign stop, with dark, authoritarian plans to deport millions of immigrants and turn the Department of Justice into the Department of Revenge to punish his enemies.
“SO WHAT?” haunts the election.
We know a lot of people have answered: Trump’s devoted base remains loyal; and apparently, an equal number of Democrats and others alarmed by Trump, support Harris.
It’s difficult to imagine in the election’s remaining days that very many minds can be changed.
What’s more, there’s not as much time left as it seems, since voting has started in some states, either by mail ballot or in-person early voting. So many votes already are locked in.
The Pew Research Center says that in the 2022 midterm elections, only 43 percent of voters waited until Election day; 36 percent cast mail ballots; 21 percent voted early.
In the face of the stubbornness of Trump’s supporters and the dwindling time that’s left, I’m impressed at how hard people are working to elect Harris, and by the breadth of her support.
Millions of people have donated money, volunteered to knock on doors and make phone calls and send post cards into the battleground states.
I’m also encouraged in the way that some rock-solid Republicans like Liz Cheney, once the third highest leader in the House, have endorsed Harris. And the same goes for her father, Dick Cheney, the former vice president who once was the Democrats’ Darth Vader.
Liz Cheney this week went a step further by campaigning with Harris in Ripon, Wisconsin, where the Republican Party got its start.
KAMALA HARRIS, Democratic nominee for president, and Liz Cheney, arch Republican, on the same stage, united in their determination to defeat Donald Trump
Cheney, who served on the House committee that investigated the 2021 insurrection at the Capitol, said:
“Donald Trump was willing to sacrifice our Capitol, to allow law enforcement officers to be beaten and brutalized in his name, and to violate the law and the Constitution in order to seize power for himself.”
“I don’t care if you are a Democrat or a Republican or an independent,” she said. “That is depravity, and we must never become numb to it.”
Will all of this be enough?
I have no idea – I swing back and forth between recurring daytime nightmares of a Trump return and late-night fantasies of the celebrations that would follow a Harris landslide.
But more and more, the campaign certainly will come down to whether enough people reach deep within their souls for the answer to “So what?”
EPILOGUE
If we don’t yet know the power of “So what?” in the election, we do know how it played out for Nibi, the abandoned beaver in Massachusetts.
There’s nothing like a photogenic furry face, plus the talent of operators of a wildlife refuge for public relations, to stir the collective conscience.
“Donald Trump was willing to sacrifice our Capitol, to allow law enforcement officers to be beaten and brutalized in his name, and to violate the law and the Constitution in order to seize power for himself.”
“I don’t care if you are a Democrat or a Republican or an independent,” she said. “That is depravity, and we must never become numb to it.”
Will all of this be enough?
I have no idea – I swing back and forth between recurring daytime nightmares of a Trump return and late-night fantasies of the celebrations that would follow a Harris landslide.
But more and more, the campaign certainly will come down to whether enough people reach deep within their souls for the answer to “So what?”
EPILOGUE
If we don’t yet know the power of “So what?” in the election, we do know how it played out for Nibi, the abandoned beaver in Massachusetts.
There’s nothing like a photogenic furry face, plus the talent of operators of a wildlife refuge for public relations, to stir the collective conscience.
As reports of Nibi’s life-and-death crisis spread, a lawsuit delayed Nibi’s return to the wilds of Massachusetts, and 25,000 people signed an on-line petition to support the beaver remaining at the only home she'd ever known.
Next came a demonstration of government at its best – responding to the public’s (aka voters') “So what?” moment.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey decreed that Nibi could remain at the Newhouse Wildlife Rescue refuge in Chelmsford, to enjoy her own enclosure and personal pool.
Along with her reprieve, came an official assignment for Nibi.
Healey said the beaver’s new duties would be “… to educate the public about this important species.”
“So what?”
It’s the positive thing that can happen when people of good will - and not the defendant, Donald J. Trump - choose to answer one of life's most profound questions.
Next came a demonstration of government at its best – responding to the public’s (aka voters') “So what?” moment.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey decreed that Nibi could remain at the Newhouse Wildlife Rescue refuge in Chelmsford, to enjoy her own enclosure and personal pool.
Along with her reprieve, came an official assignment for Nibi.
Healey said the beaver’s new duties would be “… to educate the public about this important species.”
“So what?”
It’s the positive thing that can happen when people of good will - and not the defendant, Donald J. Trump - choose to answer one of life's most profound questions.
POSTCARDS:
To the voters who count
POSTCARD PLEA - One of the cards I've been sending to potential voters in swing states. The illustration is by Frank Gerardi, a Newport artist
ALL SUMMER, and now into Fall, I’ve been sending postcards to places I will never visit, writing to people I will never meet.
Some of my hand-printed postcards have landed in exotic-sounding places like Fishtail, Montana; Surprise, Arizona; and Sparks, Nevada.
A number of the recipients have terrific-sounding first names like Destiny, Freedom, and Zoica; and others are somewhat ironic, like “Brian,” meaning that the addressee and addresser have the same name (“Dear Brian,” . . . “Thanks, Brian”).
The postcards are aimed at Democratic voters in the seven or so battleground or swing states, the ones that will determine whether Kamala Harris or Donald Trump will be president, and whether Democrats and Republicans control Congress.
The recipients are thought to be folks who have voted previously, but who might not have followed the current campaign very closely and might not vote this time.
The hope is that they can be nudged gently to the polls on Nov. 5, Election Day, and better still, prompted to vote ahead of time by mail or to drop by polls open for early, in-person voting.
I HAVE NO IDEA if postcards will do the job.
The theory is that if many millions of cards are sent, some thousands of voters will indeed vote, and in close elections, those will be enough to make the difference.
So far, I’ve mailed 315 cards, which may be a lot, or pathetic, depending on how you look at it. I’m hoping to mail 250 more before Nov. 5.
It’s better than doing absolutely nothing while the cloud of a second and more destructive Trump presidency hangs over the nation.
And in my best moments, I’m thinking that the cards will arrive at places I can’t go to; that they’ll end up in Apt. 3, North 102nd Blvd., and 36 Hacker Dr. – actual homes, with real people in them.
THE IDEA is pretty smart.
Phone calls are annoying. And so are political (aka “junk”) letters that go directly to a wastebasket, unopened.
But a postcard has a fair chance of at least being flipped over and possibly read, maybe in its entirety. In my wildest dreams, one or two get attached to refrigerators with red-white-and-blue magnets.
The downside is that under the rules, I can’t write what’s really on my mind to people in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Fishtail, Billings, Surprise and Sun City West.
I’ve been working with a group called Activate America, one of a number of voter-contact organizations, and its brain trust has rock solid instructions for its volunteers:
Print, don’t use cursive handwriting, which no longer is taught in many schools; leave at last a half-inch below the address block in case the Post Office attaches a bar code sticker; sign your first name or initials; don’t include your return address. Oh, yeah - provide your own postcards and stamps.
Most of all, volunteers MUST use Activate’s scripts. The messages, we’re told, have been vetted with local groups, have proven effective in past campaigns and are carefully worded to appeal to the potential voters, whose names and addresses have been culled from voter records and methodically sorted.
Bland is too bland a description of many scripts:
“Democratic Congressman So & So stands with union and workers. He’s brought millions of federal dollars to our state to fund construction of affordable housing.”
I’m skeptical that’s compelling enough to inspire a maybe-voter to fill out a mail ballot, much less get him or her out of the house and to the polls.
I once got into an e-mail argument over one script that I thought violated all sorts of communication rules. It began:
“Dear _____: Your MAGA Republican Congressman puts his extremist agenda above the needs of our families.”
It seemed to me that the first thing you should do is to catch a recipient’s eye with the the name of our candidate. Just as bad, the wording about “YOUR Maga Republican.” That seemed to blame the recipient for putting the MAGA Republican into the House seat.
I suggested a brilliant rewrite, and to the credit of Activate’s postcard program director, I got back a long explanation of why the script read the way it did, a gracious way of saying “Our way or the highway.”
Which makes sense: the Activate folks have done the work, analyzed and refined their approach, and of course, figured out to whom we should write. At the very least, we should respect the process.
BUT WHAT IF we could write from the heart?
First of all, I’m pretty sure I would like a lot of the people I’ve been writing to if I met them – door-to-door canvassing being the best way to talk with potential voters.
After all, they’re Democrats, meaning that, it’s likely most of us aren't bullies; we don’t look kindly at the Capitol insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021; we don’t support book bans; don’t want women dying in hospital parking lots; we’re worried about the collapsing environment; and we don’t teach our children to lie, cheat, swear or to call people insulting and cruel nicknames.
Some of my hand-printed postcards have landed in exotic-sounding places like Fishtail, Montana; Surprise, Arizona; and Sparks, Nevada.
A number of the recipients have terrific-sounding first names like Destiny, Freedom, and Zoica; and others are somewhat ironic, like “Brian,” meaning that the addressee and addresser have the same name (“Dear Brian,” . . . “Thanks, Brian”).
The postcards are aimed at Democratic voters in the seven or so battleground or swing states, the ones that will determine whether Kamala Harris or Donald Trump will be president, and whether Democrats and Republicans control Congress.
The recipients are thought to be folks who have voted previously, but who might not have followed the current campaign very closely and might not vote this time.
The hope is that they can be nudged gently to the polls on Nov. 5, Election Day, and better still, prompted to vote ahead of time by mail or to drop by polls open for early, in-person voting.
I HAVE NO IDEA if postcards will do the job.
The theory is that if many millions of cards are sent, some thousands of voters will indeed vote, and in close elections, those will be enough to make the difference.
So far, I’ve mailed 315 cards, which may be a lot, or pathetic, depending on how you look at it. I’m hoping to mail 250 more before Nov. 5.
It’s better than doing absolutely nothing while the cloud of a second and more destructive Trump presidency hangs over the nation.
And in my best moments, I’m thinking that the cards will arrive at places I can’t go to; that they’ll end up in Apt. 3, North 102nd Blvd., and 36 Hacker Dr. – actual homes, with real people in them.
THE IDEA is pretty smart.
Phone calls are annoying. And so are political (aka “junk”) letters that go directly to a wastebasket, unopened.
But a postcard has a fair chance of at least being flipped over and possibly read, maybe in its entirety. In my wildest dreams, one or two get attached to refrigerators with red-white-and-blue magnets.
The downside is that under the rules, I can’t write what’s really on my mind to people in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Fishtail, Billings, Surprise and Sun City West.
I’ve been working with a group called Activate America, one of a number of voter-contact organizations, and its brain trust has rock solid instructions for its volunteers:
Print, don’t use cursive handwriting, which no longer is taught in many schools; leave at last a half-inch below the address block in case the Post Office attaches a bar code sticker; sign your first name or initials; don’t include your return address. Oh, yeah - provide your own postcards and stamps.
Most of all, volunteers MUST use Activate’s scripts. The messages, we’re told, have been vetted with local groups, have proven effective in past campaigns and are carefully worded to appeal to the potential voters, whose names and addresses have been culled from voter records and methodically sorted.
Bland is too bland a description of many scripts:
“Democratic Congressman So & So stands with union and workers. He’s brought millions of federal dollars to our state to fund construction of affordable housing.”
I’m skeptical that’s compelling enough to inspire a maybe-voter to fill out a mail ballot, much less get him or her out of the house and to the polls.
I once got into an e-mail argument over one script that I thought violated all sorts of communication rules. It began:
“Dear _____: Your MAGA Republican Congressman puts his extremist agenda above the needs of our families.”
It seemed to me that the first thing you should do is to catch a recipient’s eye with the the name of our candidate. Just as bad, the wording about “YOUR Maga Republican.” That seemed to blame the recipient for putting the MAGA Republican into the House seat.
I suggested a brilliant rewrite, and to the credit of Activate’s postcard program director, I got back a long explanation of why the script read the way it did, a gracious way of saying “Our way or the highway.”
Which makes sense: the Activate folks have done the work, analyzed and refined their approach, and of course, figured out to whom we should write. At the very least, we should respect the process.
BUT WHAT IF we could write from the heart?
First of all, I’m pretty sure I would like a lot of the people I’ve been writing to if I met them – door-to-door canvassing being the best way to talk with potential voters.
After all, they’re Democrats, meaning that, it’s likely most of us aren't bullies; we don’t look kindly at the Capitol insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021; we don’t support book bans; don’t want women dying in hospital parking lots; we’re worried about the collapsing environment; and we don’t teach our children to lie, cheat, swear or to call people insulting and cruel nicknames.
| Dear Zoica, Your vote counts. I mean REALLY. You’re in one of those states that could elect the next president. Whereas, I live in Rhode Island, a state so ridiculously small it shouldn’t even be a state; and it's so Democratic, my vote is taken for granted. But you’re in a “battleground” state, where the outcome may be VERY close. Zoica, my vote barely counts. Yours can change history. Thanks, Brian – a volunteer. * * * Dear Freedom, Every day, I wake up scared out of my mind. I have panic attacks at the supermarket and walking down the street. The reason is Donald Trump. He lies. He abuses women. Calls people names. He tried to overturn the election that he lost. You’re in a battleground state, where a few thousand votes may decide this year’s election. Freedom, you can stop this monster. Thanks, Brian – A volunteer * * * Hello Destiny, We’ve never met. But I know the power of your vote. That’s because just a few states will decide this election. And you live in one. Will America continue as a democracy, led by Kamala Harris; or will it turn into a dictatorship, under Donald Trump? Destiny, your vote can save the country. Thanks, Brian – A volunteer * * * Hey Brian, Let’s speak frankly, Brian to Brian. Brians are not stupid. Many are patriots. But some, like me, live in states where our votes barely count. Others, like you, are in swing states, where your vote, and a few thousand others, could decide who’ll be our next president. So, Brian, stick up for Brians everywhere; for our families, friends, neighbors and all of our fellow citizens. I’m pleading. Vote! Please, Please, PLEASE, P L E A S E! Thanks, Brian - A Brian |
HER DEBATE SUCCESS PREVIEWS HOW SMARTLY HARRIS WOULD GOVERN
I DREADED TUESDAY NIGHT’S DEBATE. I'm not apologizing, since Democrats worry a lot - and we have our reasons.
As it turned out, the debate was unquestionably a win for Kamala Harris. As for Donald Trump, except for of his loss to Joe Biden in 2020, the debate was his worst humiliation since his assault on our politics began nine years ago.
Harris's debate triumph was followed by an endorsement by Taylor Swift, perhaps the world's most popular singer, whose potential influence is limited only by the fact that some of her fans are too young to vote.
The irony of this double-header win is that it remains unclear whether Harris will carry the Nov. 5 election.
In part, this is due to the tenacious, supernatural force with which Trump holds tens of millions of voters.
And it's also because Trump has eluded the kind of justice found mainly in old comic books and Western movies, wherein the villain always gets what's coming to him - at least being sent directly to home confinement without passing Go.
But Trump persists like Long Covid. The polls say the election, which is now just weeks - not months – away, is close. Maybe the polls are right. Or maybe they're missing the lurking landslide that favors one side or the other.
What's for sure is that if Harris hadn’t pulled off a spectacular performance - some observers called it unprecedented in the history of presidential debates - her campaign likely would have stalled and failed.
Instead, she's holding her position in the race, and maybe has even increased the momentum that's defined her campaign since July 21, when she replaced President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee, quickly named Tim Walz as her folk-hero running mate and then stage-managed a joyous Democratic National Convention.
AS LAST NIGHT’S DEBATE ENDED, I, and maybe lots of other Worrier Democrats, realized our fears were unfounded: she hadn't fallen flat on her face or started speaking in tongues.
But what had happened?
If you’d asked me immediately what I thought, I would have been at a loss. That happens sometimes when I watch a sports event, go to a concert, see a movie. It takes time – a long time - to even remember what what happened.
I did feel a tinge of disappointment that Harris had not delivered the “knockout” blow so many people yearn for. Of course, those single, defining moments are rare – Biden’s horrific failure in his June debate with Trump being one of the exceptions.
But I knew after the Harris-Trump debate that something had happened - something big - as if a powerful hurricane had swept into America's living rooms and, just as suddenly disappeared.
I like to think that when I witness something, I don’t need Big Media's analysts and pundits to tell me what I just experienced. But this time, the Know-It-Alls helped explain some of what happened.
TAKE THE OPENING MOMENT. I didn’t make much of it when I saw Harris walk across the stage and force Trump to shake hands.
But some pundits pointed out that was the moment Harris took charge. From the start, Harris forced Trump to say things and act in ways he shouldn't. From the start, she mostly controlled the proceedings.
The Commentariate also pointed out how Harris repeatedly lured Trump into a variety of traps that forced his lizard-brain to show himself at his true worst.
An example was when Harris suggested that voters drop into one of Trump's rallies. Here's what she said, according to the ABC News transcript:
As it turned out, the debate was unquestionably a win for Kamala Harris. As for Donald Trump, except for of his loss to Joe Biden in 2020, the debate was his worst humiliation since his assault on our politics began nine years ago.
Harris's debate triumph was followed by an endorsement by Taylor Swift, perhaps the world's most popular singer, whose potential influence is limited only by the fact that some of her fans are too young to vote.
The irony of this double-header win is that it remains unclear whether Harris will carry the Nov. 5 election.
In part, this is due to the tenacious, supernatural force with which Trump holds tens of millions of voters.
And it's also because Trump has eluded the kind of justice found mainly in old comic books and Western movies, wherein the villain always gets what's coming to him - at least being sent directly to home confinement without passing Go.
But Trump persists like Long Covid. The polls say the election, which is now just weeks - not months – away, is close. Maybe the polls are right. Or maybe they're missing the lurking landslide that favors one side or the other.
What's for sure is that if Harris hadn’t pulled off a spectacular performance - some observers called it unprecedented in the history of presidential debates - her campaign likely would have stalled and failed.
Instead, she's holding her position in the race, and maybe has even increased the momentum that's defined her campaign since July 21, when she replaced President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee, quickly named Tim Walz as her folk-hero running mate and then stage-managed a joyous Democratic National Convention.
AS LAST NIGHT’S DEBATE ENDED, I, and maybe lots of other Worrier Democrats, realized our fears were unfounded: she hadn't fallen flat on her face or started speaking in tongues.
But what had happened?
If you’d asked me immediately what I thought, I would have been at a loss. That happens sometimes when I watch a sports event, go to a concert, see a movie. It takes time – a long time - to even remember what what happened.
I did feel a tinge of disappointment that Harris had not delivered the “knockout” blow so many people yearn for. Of course, those single, defining moments are rare – Biden’s horrific failure in his June debate with Trump being one of the exceptions.
But I knew after the Harris-Trump debate that something had happened - something big - as if a powerful hurricane had swept into America's living rooms and, just as suddenly disappeared.
I like to think that when I witness something, I don’t need Big Media's analysts and pundits to tell me what I just experienced. But this time, the Know-It-Alls helped explain some of what happened.
TAKE THE OPENING MOMENT. I didn’t make much of it when I saw Harris walk across the stage and force Trump to shake hands.
But some pundits pointed out that was the moment Harris took charge. From the start, Harris forced Trump to say things and act in ways he shouldn't. From the start, she mostly controlled the proceedings.
The Commentariate also pointed out how Harris repeatedly lured Trump into a variety of traps that forced his lizard-brain to show himself at his true worst.
An example was when Harris suggested that voters drop into one of Trump's rallies. Here's what she said, according to the ABC News transcript:
| I'm going to actually do something really unusual and I'm going to invite you to attend one of Donald Trump's rallies because it's a really interesting thing to watch. You will see during the course of his rallies he talks about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter. He will talk about (how) windmills cause cancer. And what you will also notice is that people start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom. And I will tell you the one thing you will not hear him talk about is you. You will not hear him talk about your needs, your dreams, and your, your desires. And I'll tell you, I believe you deserve a president who actually puts you first. And I pledge to you that I will. |
For Trump, anyone, but especially a woman, moreover, a person of color, making fun of his rallies is probably the severest insult imaginable, worse than the cruel nicknames, profane and racial slurs in which he specializes. And it set off a torrent of boasts, exaggerations, lies and fantasies.
Trump said:
Trump said:
| First, let me respond as to the rallies. She said people start leaving. People don't go to her rallies. There's no reason to go. And the people that do go, she's busing them in and paying them to be there. And then showing them in a different light. So, she can't talk about that. People don't leave my rallies. We have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics. That's because people want to take their country back. Our country is being lost. We're a failing nation. And it happened three and a half years ago. And what, what's going on here, you're going to end up in World War III, just to go into another subject. What they have done to our country by allowing these millions and millions of people to come into our country. And look at what's happening to the towns all over the United States. And a lot of towns don't want to talk -- not going to be Aurora or Springfield. A lot of towns don't want to talk about it because they're so embarrassed by it. In Springfield, they're eating the dogs. The people that came in. They're eating the cats. They're eating -- they're eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what's happening in our country. And it's a shame. As far as rallies are concerned, as far -- the reason they go is they like what I say. They want to bring our country back. They want to make America great again. It's a very simple phrase. Make America great again. She's destroying this country. And if she becomes president, this country doesn't have a chance of success. Not only success. We'll end up being Venezuela on steroids. |
Really, if you had just dropped in from Mars and wanted to know what on Earth was causing so much fuss, that exchange was about all you needed to decide the differences between Harris and Trump.
And, of course, what the visitors from outer space could see with their 16 eyes on the split TV screen was just as important as what they heard with their giant ears protruding from their foreheads:
On their left, a scowling, menacing Trump; on their right, a skeptical, sometimes radiant Harris.
And, of course, what the visitors from outer space could see with their 16 eyes on the split TV screen was just as important as what they heard with their giant ears protruding from their foreheads:
On their left, a scowling, menacing Trump; on their right, a skeptical, sometimes radiant Harris.
ONE OF THE SEVERAL HUNDRED things I had worried about before the debate was whether Harris would show up over-prepared.
I had read that she'd holed-up in a Pennsylvania hotel for days, practicing in a studio-like space, going through all the possible scenarios, so she wouldn’t be caught off guard by Trump’s insults and showmanship or by an actual surprise question from a debate moderator.
Biden had over-prepared in June, and it’s reasonable to think that the sheer volume of materials muddled his already over-taxed mind.
But Harris was once a prosecutor, comfortable with the advanced work that goes into knowing the facts and details of a case, as well as being prepared for the unexpected drama of the courtroom.
So her methodical advance work paid off, and she arrived as a walking, talking, breathing briefing book.
I doubt anything Kamala Harris said Tuesday night was spontaneous or unrehearsed.
Did that make her “inauthentic?”
Absolutely not.
The presidency is an impossible job, almost as daunting as the challenges that a candidate faces in accomplishing the trillion or so things that the experts demand that she “must do” in a single 90-minute debate.
The kind of person we want in the Oval Office is someone who will do everything that they humanly can to perform at their very best. And that’s what Kamala Harris demonstrated in Tuesday's debate.
The debate may or may not change the course of the election.
But surely the debate showcased the stark choices in this election:
A terrifying, wacko and inept president.
An inspiring, rational and capable president.
I had read that she'd holed-up in a Pennsylvania hotel for days, practicing in a studio-like space, going through all the possible scenarios, so she wouldn’t be caught off guard by Trump’s insults and showmanship or by an actual surprise question from a debate moderator.
Biden had over-prepared in June, and it’s reasonable to think that the sheer volume of materials muddled his already over-taxed mind.
But Harris was once a prosecutor, comfortable with the advanced work that goes into knowing the facts and details of a case, as well as being prepared for the unexpected drama of the courtroom.
So her methodical advance work paid off, and she arrived as a walking, talking, breathing briefing book.
I doubt anything Kamala Harris said Tuesday night was spontaneous or unrehearsed.
Did that make her “inauthentic?”
Absolutely not.
The presidency is an impossible job, almost as daunting as the challenges that a candidate faces in accomplishing the trillion or so things that the experts demand that she “must do” in a single 90-minute debate.
The kind of person we want in the Oval Office is someone who will do everything that they humanly can to perform at their very best. And that’s what Kamala Harris demonstrated in Tuesday's debate.
The debate may or may not change the course of the election.
But surely the debate showcased the stark choices in this election:
A terrifying, wacko and inept president.
An inspiring, rational and capable president.
Election Countdown
ANOTHER GOOD MAN WADES INTO THE TRUMP SEWER. WHY?
SPENCER COX, Utah governor. CREDIT: Cox campaign
IT'S WORTH REMEMBERING that there are some really good Republicans, including those who saved democracy when Donald Trump sought to overthrow the 2020 election.
Among the most admirable GOPers has been Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox, whose decency, compassion and willingness to defend the underdog set him apart from his party’s extremists, including Trump.
Until last month.
That’s when something terrible happened.
Among the most admirable GOPers has been Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox, whose decency, compassion and willingness to defend the underdog set him apart from his party’s extremists, including Trump.
Until last month.
That’s when something terrible happened.
| It was sort of a miracle in reverse, if you think of miracles as astonishing, unexplainable events that change people and society for the better. What happened? On July 14, a day after an assassin attempted to kill Trump, Cox declared Trump’s survival a miracle, and that as a result, only Trump could unite the nation. “I will do my best to help and support you,” Cox wrote to the nation’s most dangerous and deranged politician. It gets worse. The following month, Spencer accompanied Trump on his infamous visit to Arlington National Cemetery, where 13 soldiers, one of them from Utah, were to be “honored” for losing their lives during the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. Federal rules prohibit using the burial grounds as a backdrop for political purposes; nonetheless photos were taken of Trump and Cox; later, they were used in Cox reelection fundraising emails. The governor apologized, and seemed to blame staffers for using the materials. |  TWO MONTHS UNTIL NOV. 5 - ELECTION DAY Nothing is certain. Election outcomes in a divided nation are difficult - if not impossible - to predict. Are the polls accurate? If so, they show only that the race is "close." But a landslide is possible for either side. Clearly, Kamala Harris has improved the position of Democrats, since she replaced President Joe Biden as the party's nominee. Inconceivably, Donald Trump remains a strong contender, despite his record as an insurrectionist, a bigot, a liar, etc., etc. Catastrophe looms. But so does the chance for a newprogressive era in American history. Democracy continues at the cliff's edge. |
Cox’s embrace of Trumpism was now complete. Not only did he endorse Trump, he was acting like him. The Salt Lake Tribune described Cox’s fall from grace in a scathing editorial:
| … in a macabre sort of way, a photo of Trump and Cox in a cemetery is appropriate. It was where they came to bury Spencer Cox’s honor. |
 |
WE ARE NOW JUST TWO MONTHS from Nov. 5, Election Day. And once more, we are confounded by the essential treachery of Donald Trump, a psychopath, liar, bigot and criminal who should not even be on the ballot: how does he attract and corrupt decent Americans like Spencer J. Cox?
I became a Cox fan two years ago when he came to the defense of school athletes who had transitioned from their at-birth genders.
The Utah legislature had passed a bill banning their participation. Cox personally explored the issue, then vetoed the bill – knowing that his move would be both unpopular and unsuccessful.
Cox concluded that the proposed ban was a vast overreaction to a small group of young persons, whose struggles with gender identity left some open to suicide.
Here’s what he said:
I became a Cox fan two years ago when he came to the defense of school athletes who had transitioned from their at-birth genders.
The Utah legislature had passed a bill banning their participation. Cox personally explored the issue, then vetoed the bill – knowing that his move would be both unpopular and unsuccessful.
Cox concluded that the proposed ban was a vast overreaction to a small group of young persons, whose struggles with gender identity left some open to suicide.
Here’s what he said:
| Four kids and only one of them playing girls’ sports. That’s what all of this is about. Four kids who aren’t dominating or winning trophies or taking scholarships. Four kids who are just trying to find some friends and feel like they are part of something. Four kids trying to get through each day. Rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few. I don’t understand what they are going through or why they feel the way they do. But I want them to live. |
Many people across the country were astounded by Cox’s courage and common sense. I wrote a blog piece about it, headlined:
We're betting that you'll
Wish to borrow this guy
To be your governor
Here's a link to that essay:
Cox was lionized nationally as one of the rare Republicans willing to stand up to the bullying of MAGA Trumpism. He did not vote for Trump in 2016 and 2020, and earlier in July, said he wouldn’t vote for Trump this year, based on Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection that attempted to overthrow Joe Biden’s election.
Overall, Cox was concerned about the wide political and cultural divisions in the U.S., and as head of the National Governors Association last year, he backed a program called “Disagree Better.”
But on July 13, a would-be assassin’s bullet struck Trump’s ear, and missed his skull. Donald Trump would go on being Trump, but Spencer Cox underwent a drastic change.
Why? Was Cox’s U-turn just one more example of political opportunism? Had aliens taken over his being, as in the old horror movie, “Invasion of the Body Snatchers?”
I HAVE BEEN WARNED against spending even a millisecond worrying about Trump’s effect on his supporters, because defeating Trump and electing Kamala Harris are the only things that matter.
Jody McPhillips, a friend who knows how to focus on the desperate stakes in the election, put this elegantly in a comment she made on one of my recent blog posts:
We're betting that you'll
Wish to borrow this guy
To be your governor
Here's a link to that essay:
Cox was lionized nationally as one of the rare Republicans willing to stand up to the bullying of MAGA Trumpism. He did not vote for Trump in 2016 and 2020, and earlier in July, said he wouldn’t vote for Trump this year, based on Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection that attempted to overthrow Joe Biden’s election.
Overall, Cox was concerned about the wide political and cultural divisions in the U.S., and as head of the National Governors Association last year, he backed a program called “Disagree Better.”
But on July 13, a would-be assassin’s bullet struck Trump’s ear, and missed his skull. Donald Trump would go on being Trump, but Spencer Cox underwent a drastic change.
Why? Was Cox’s U-turn just one more example of political opportunism? Had aliens taken over his being, as in the old horror movie, “Invasion of the Body Snatchers?”
I HAVE BEEN WARNED against spending even a millisecond worrying about Trump’s effect on his supporters, because defeating Trump and electing Kamala Harris are the only things that matter.
Jody McPhillips, a friend who knows how to focus on the desperate stakes in the election, put this elegantly in a comment she made on one of my recent blog posts:
| I don't care why so many continue to support Trump; it's like pondering why we all die or why dogs have such short lifespans when they are so much nicer than we are. If we all keep doing what we're doing to defeat him, we will. We can worry about understanding it all later. |
But I can’t help it. I’d even argue that understanding the Trump Effect may help determine the outcome of the election.
Let’s deal first with the theory there's been mischief by aliens from outer space.
When I read about Cox’s about-face, I was reminded of the 1978 science-fiction film, “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” in which aliens drop down to earth and turn humans into scary pod-like replicas.
It’s a nice metaphor, but of course it’s malarkey, as Joe Biden would say.
Also fiction, but in a more serious way, is the assassination “miracle" theory. Lots of people believe that God intervened, so that the assassin’s bullet struck Trump’s ear, but spared his brain.
Governor Cox buys Big Time into the "miracle." In his letter to Trump, Cox wrote:
Let’s deal first with the theory there's been mischief by aliens from outer space.
When I read about Cox’s about-face, I was reminded of the 1978 science-fiction film, “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” in which aliens drop down to earth and turn humans into scary pod-like replicas.
It’s a nice metaphor, but of course it’s malarkey, as Joe Biden would say.
Also fiction, but in a more serious way, is the assassination “miracle" theory. Lots of people believe that God intervened, so that the assassin’s bullet struck Trump’s ear, but spared his brain.
Governor Cox buys Big Time into the "miracle." In his letter to Trump, Cox wrote:
| I want you to know that I truly believe that God had a hand in saving you. * * * Your life was spared. Now, because of that miracle, you have the opportunity to do something that no other person on earth can do right now: unify and save America.” |
Why didn’t Cox look deeper into the miracle? If God wanted to spare Donald Trump, why did She allow the assassination attempt to happen in the first place? And how come God decided no miracle was needed for Corey Comperatore, the rally-goer, Army reservist and volunteer firefighter, who was killed by the assassin?
The miracle theory is bunk. And for that matter, so is the secular theory that old-fashioned political opportunism was at work: that Cox, like so many other Republicans, was making nice with Trump to help his reelection bid.
A number of news stories cast doubts on that, saying that after an unpleasant, but successful primary, Cox seems safely headed for reelection in November, without need of Trump’s blessing.
Further, Cox’s letter declared it that he didn’t want any favors:
The miracle theory is bunk. And for that matter, so is the secular theory that old-fashioned political opportunism was at work: that Cox, like so many other Republicans, was making nice with Trump to help his reelection bid.
A number of news stories cast doubts on that, saying that after an unpleasant, but successful primary, Cox seems safely headed for reelection in November, without need of Trump’s blessing.
Further, Cox’s letter declared it that he didn’t want any favors:
| Mr. President, I know we have some differences and you probably don’t like me much. And that’s OK. I get it. I’m not writing this letter looking for a position in your Cabinet or a role on your team. |
Instead, he later acknowledged that by supporting Trump, he had a better chance of his long-time goal of unifying the country – concluding that was something he couldn’t do as a Trump skeptic.
That’s what he told McKay Coppins, a writer for The Atlantic magazine, who rushed to Salt Lake City to find out why Cox had veered off course. Coppins talked with the governor for 90 minutes. He wrote:
That’s what he told McKay Coppins, a writer for The Atlantic magazine, who rushed to Salt Lake City to find out why Cox had veered off course. Coppins talked with the governor for 90 minutes. He wrote:
| … Cox was surprisingly transparent about the calculation he was making. He told me that the Never Trump movement had utterly failed, and said he’d come to realize that he couldn’t have any influence on the modern GOP “if I’m not on the team”—that is, Trump’s team. “It’s absolutely a litmus test. I don’t think it should be. I wish it wasn’t that way. But it is.” |
JAMES COMEY Finally, we get to the crux of why otherwise rational people pledge allegiance to Donald Trump, and pay an awful price when they do.
James Comey, the former FBI director, whom most people dislike, but who I believe has a cop’s insight into how the underworld works, outlined the process long ago, in a 2019 essay for the New York Times.
Comey said that well-meaning people – generals, lawyers, fellow politicians - think that despite Trump’s flaws, they can steer him in the right direction. But he noted the risks involved:
James Comey, the former FBI director, whom most people dislike, but who I believe has a cop’s insight into how the underworld works, outlined the process long ago, in a 2019 essay for the New York Times.
Comey said that well-meaning people – generals, lawyers, fellow politicians - think that despite Trump’s flaws, they can steer him in the right direction. But he noted the risks involved:
| You can’t say this out loud — maybe not even to your family — but in a time of emergency, with the nation led by a deeply unethical person, this will be your contribution, your personal sacrifice for America. You are smarter than Donald Trump, and you are playing a long game for your country, so you can pull it off where lesser leaders have failed and gotten fired by tweet. Of course, to stay, you must be seen as on his team, so you make further compromises. You use his language, praise his leadership, tout his commitment to values. And then you are lost. He has eaten your soul. |
I hope that Spencer Cox, who has been a good citizen and an inspiring politician, finds a way to resurrect his honor and reclaim his soul.
He surely has the personal resources and intellect to wake up tomorrow morning and say: “How silly of me. What was I thinking?”
It’s not likely, of course. It’s hard to change one’s mind; and much harder change it again.
That would amount to a miracle.
But it would be the kind of real-life miracle a country needs on the eve of the most important election of our lifetime.
He surely has the personal resources and intellect to wake up tomorrow morning and say: “How silly of me. What was I thinking?”
It’s not likely, of course. It’s hard to change one’s mind; and much harder change it again.
That would amount to a miracle.
But it would be the kind of real-life miracle a country needs on the eve of the most important election of our lifetime.
ASKS THE CAT: WHY HAVE AN INTERVIEW, WHEN EVERY QUESTION WILL HAVE THE SAME ANSWER?
“WHAT’S THE POINT?”
“Who’s asking?” I said.
“What’s the point of that interview Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are scheduled to have Thursday night on CNN?”
The voice seemed to be coming from our living room ceiling, but I couldn’t determine the origin until I spotted Ben, the cat, sitting on the top of a tall step ladder I was using to fix some old windows.
“Are you sure you can get down from there?” I asked. The ladder was so tall that Ben's head practi;cally bumped the ceiling when he sat straight up.
“You’re avoiding the question” Ben scolded. “Sounds like classic deflection to me. You don’t know the answer, so you’ve changed the subject.”
“It’s possible,” I acknowledged. “But really, Ben, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
HUMANS HAVE A HARD TIME figuring out what cats think. Do they like us? Are they hungry? Does Ben relish the dry food that appears in his bowl day after day? What does he make of the rabbits in the backyard, whom he never gets to meet face-to-face, because he’s an “indoor cat,” a status in which he’s had absolutely no say? Will he, one night, murder us in our sleep?
The mystery has become worse since he began talking a few weeks ago. There’s nothing wrong with his diction - he has a slight Southern accent, since he was born in Florida - but when he talks, it only about one thing: the Election.
I suppose that makes sense. NPR and MSNBC play incessantly in our house, along with various podcasts featuring an array of conservative and liberal Never-Trumpers. The New York Times is delivered Monday through Friday. This is unhealthy for any brain, cat or human.
But Ben started talking when J.D. Vance’s comments about “childless cat ladies” surfaced after Trump named the Ohio senator as his running mate.
A lot of people took the comment as an ugly slur against single women. But Ben worried that Republicans were declaring war on an important element of the cat-care ecosystem. Suddenly, politics was personal.
“Who’s asking?” I said.
“What’s the point of that interview Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are scheduled to have Thursday night on CNN?”
The voice seemed to be coming from our living room ceiling, but I couldn’t determine the origin until I spotted Ben, the cat, sitting on the top of a tall step ladder I was using to fix some old windows.
“Are you sure you can get down from there?” I asked. The ladder was so tall that Ben's head practi;cally bumped the ceiling when he sat straight up.
“You’re avoiding the question” Ben scolded. “Sounds like classic deflection to me. You don’t know the answer, so you’ve changed the subject.”
“It’s possible,” I acknowledged. “But really, Ben, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
HUMANS HAVE A HARD TIME figuring out what cats think. Do they like us? Are they hungry? Does Ben relish the dry food that appears in his bowl day after day? What does he make of the rabbits in the backyard, whom he never gets to meet face-to-face, because he’s an “indoor cat,” a status in which he’s had absolutely no say? Will he, one night, murder us in our sleep?
The mystery has become worse since he began talking a few weeks ago. There’s nothing wrong with his diction - he has a slight Southern accent, since he was born in Florida - but when he talks, it only about one thing: the Election.
I suppose that makes sense. NPR and MSNBC play incessantly in our house, along with various podcasts featuring an array of conservative and liberal Never-Trumpers. The New York Times is delivered Monday through Friday. This is unhealthy for any brain, cat or human.
But Ben started talking when J.D. Vance’s comments about “childless cat ladies” surfaced after Trump named the Ohio senator as his running mate.
A lot of people took the comment as an ugly slur against single women. But Ben worried that Republicans were declaring war on an important element of the cat-care ecosystem. Suddenly, politics was personal.
“THE POINT OF THE CNN INTERVIEW is to find out what kind of a president and vice president Harris and Walz might be,” I said, getting back to Ben’s question.
“You mean that Dana Bash will ask Harris and her Veep, after they win this election, whether they will try to overthrow the 2028 election if they don’t win enough votes?” Ben said.
Give Ben credit for knowing that the interviewer would be Bash, the cable network’s chief political correspondent; but the cat gets zero points for suggesting a frivolous question.
“There are lots of important things,” I said, “that voters want to know and deserve to know about Harris and Walz – before they vote on Nov. 5.”
“Should Bash ask whether Harris-Walz are, like Trump?” Ben suggested. “Are they rapists, serial liars, would-be autocrats and dictators, women-haters, Putin poodles? Do they want to round up, detain and deport millions of undocumented immigrants?”
“Respectable journalists have raised big issues," I said. "Take the New York Times’s columnist David Leonhardt; he came up with a list of 25 major questions, the kind Harris and Walz should be able to answer for voters. Here’s one:”
Madam Vice President, your agenda revolves around helping the middle class — such as offering a credit of up to $25,000 for first-time home buyers and increasing the child tax credit. You haven’t said much about some big related issues, though, including paid leave and universal preschool. Will you try to revive President Biden’s plans?
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Pompous, too wordy,” the cat said, “And that's just for starters. What’s the deal about ‘reviving’ Biden’s plans for paid leave and universal preschool? Sounds like a sneaky way of asking whether Harris is going to be a Joe Biden clone.”
“But a legitimate issue,” I argued. “Should voters know whether Harris plans to continue the work of President Biden?”
“Whatever Harris says won’t make any difference,” Ben growled, glaring down from his stepladder perch. “Let’s say she gives one of three possible responses:
"Answer A: Biden belongs in a nursing home, not the Oval Office.
"Answer B: President Biden is the greatest president in our lifetime.
"Answer C. Joe who?”
“So, Ben, the cat, sees no value in knowing what a Harris-Walz administration will do?”
“I know, and you know,” Ben said. “David Leonhardt and everyone else knows what this election is about. There’s only one issue: making sure that Donald Trump is not re-elected president.
“This is a “Yes or No” election.”
“Turn right at the fork; or turn left.”
“On or Off.”
“Forward or Backward.”
“I see what you're getting at,” I said. “This is not an ordinary election. If you don’t like this Harris policy or that Walz position, does that mean you vote for Trump instead? Of course not.”
“It’s just common sense,” said the cat.
“Pompous, too wordy,” the cat said, “And that's just for starters. What’s the deal about ‘reviving’ Biden’s plans for paid leave and universal preschool? Sounds like a sneaky way of asking whether Harris is going to be a Joe Biden clone.”
“But a legitimate issue,” I argued. “Should voters know whether Harris plans to continue the work of President Biden?”
“Whatever Harris says won’t make any difference,” Ben growled, glaring down from his stepladder perch. “Let’s say she gives one of three possible responses:
"Answer A: Biden belongs in a nursing home, not the Oval Office.
"Answer B: President Biden is the greatest president in our lifetime.
"Answer C. Joe who?”
“So, Ben, the cat, sees no value in knowing what a Harris-Walz administration will do?”
“I know, and you know,” Ben said. “David Leonhardt and everyone else knows what this election is about. There’s only one issue: making sure that Donald Trump is not re-elected president.
“This is a “Yes or No” election.”
“Turn right at the fork; or turn left.”
“On or Off.”
“Forward or Backward.”
“I see what you're getting at,” I said. “This is not an ordinary election. If you don’t like this Harris policy or that Walz position, does that mean you vote for Trump instead? Of course not.”
“It’s just common sense,” said the cat.
NOW, IT’S 'BUSINESS,' AS DEMOCRATS WORK TO ELECT HARRIS & BANISH TRUMP
“OKAY, LET’S GET TO BUSINESS. Let’s get to business. All right,” Kamala Harris pleaded, as she struggled to quiet the cheers and applause and whoops as she appeared at the podium on the final night of the Democratic National Convention.
It seemed a strangely pedestrian way to introduce her speech, which was so anticipated, coming after the princes and princesses of the Democratic Party had assembled in Chicago to show off their skills as nation’s most eloquent, seasoned and practiced political orators.
But I thought it really was “business” that Harris had on her mind: there was so much to get done in a very little time in the heart-stopping mission of stopping Donald Trump from destroying the country.
Harris’s immediate business on Aug. 22 was simply not to fall flat on her face.
But the real challenge was not preaching to the adoring choir in Chicago, but convincing election skeptics, slouches and cynics of the seven “battleground” states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina and Georgia, who would determine the outcome to vote Democratic, with less than three months to do so.
She already had established herself as a campaign sorcerer, taking hold of the Democratic Party instantly on July 21, when President Joe Biden finally withdrew from the race after his disastrous “debate” with Trump on June 27, endorsing his vice president to take his place.
The response had astonished everyone. No pollster, pundit or fabulist would have dared predict the explosion of support Harris received, or how confident and happy she seemed as she assumed mantel of instant nominee.
Her winning streak had continued with choosing as her running mate the governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, a political Everyman, who disarmed friend and foe with his Midwestern charm; his biography as a high school teacher, football coach, National Guard veteran and hunter; daring anyone to challenge his embrace of progressivism, which he defined as the dastardly act of offering free lunches to hungry school children.
Would Harris slip on the proverbial banana peel tonight? And then what of the endless carpet of banana peels that would appear the morning after and the one after that?
DEMOCRATS MAY NEVER GET OVER NOV. 8, 2016, the night that Hilary Clinton won the election, but Donald Trump captured the presidency because of the Constitution’s absurd Electoral College system of allocating votes.
Post-traumatic stress disorder has crippled Democrats’ mental processes ever since, not only because the one-time First Lady, U.S. Senator and Secretary of State was so much more qualified than the profane, bigot, liar and business cheat.
But it was the fact that so many neighbors, spouses, cousins and business colleagues had voted for him – an astonishing 62.9 million Americans had betrayed the other 65.8 million.
Many believed that Joe Biden’s decisive victory, winning both the popular and Electoral College in 2020, had driven Trump from their nightmares at last.
But Democrats’ PTSD proved well founded. Despite two impeachments, various court indictments, and an assassin’s bullet missing his brain by an inch, Trump has persisted and so has his appeal.
On the day that Biden left the 2024 race, polls showed Trump beating Biden 43 to 39 percent.
Three days later, presumptive nominee Harris was ahead by nearly 1 percentage point, and her margin has generally increased ever since, so that today according to some estimates, she’s leading Trump, 47.2 to 43.7 percent.
But Democrats aren’t fooled and surely not by polls.
You may see them joyful and dancing in the daytime, but at night, if they manage to sleep at all, they awaken screaming at the terror and mystery of Trump’s hold on so much of the country.
WHICH IS WHY SO MANY SPEAKERS warned the convention choir and the faithful everywhere not to get ahead of themselves.
Michelle Obama, the former First Lady and perhaps the best orator of our times, including her husband, spelled out the “business” in convincingly harsh terms:
It seemed a strangely pedestrian way to introduce her speech, which was so anticipated, coming after the princes and princesses of the Democratic Party had assembled in Chicago to show off their skills as nation’s most eloquent, seasoned and practiced political orators.
But I thought it really was “business” that Harris had on her mind: there was so much to get done in a very little time in the heart-stopping mission of stopping Donald Trump from destroying the country.
Harris’s immediate business on Aug. 22 was simply not to fall flat on her face.
But the real challenge was not preaching to the adoring choir in Chicago, but convincing election skeptics, slouches and cynics of the seven “battleground” states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina and Georgia, who would determine the outcome to vote Democratic, with less than three months to do so.
She already had established herself as a campaign sorcerer, taking hold of the Democratic Party instantly on July 21, when President Joe Biden finally withdrew from the race after his disastrous “debate” with Trump on June 27, endorsing his vice president to take his place.
The response had astonished everyone. No pollster, pundit or fabulist would have dared predict the explosion of support Harris received, or how confident and happy she seemed as she assumed mantel of instant nominee.
Her winning streak had continued with choosing as her running mate the governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, a political Everyman, who disarmed friend and foe with his Midwestern charm; his biography as a high school teacher, football coach, National Guard veteran and hunter; daring anyone to challenge his embrace of progressivism, which he defined as the dastardly act of offering free lunches to hungry school children.
Would Harris slip on the proverbial banana peel tonight? And then what of the endless carpet of banana peels that would appear the morning after and the one after that?
DEMOCRATS MAY NEVER GET OVER NOV. 8, 2016, the night that Hilary Clinton won the election, but Donald Trump captured the presidency because of the Constitution’s absurd Electoral College system of allocating votes.
Post-traumatic stress disorder has crippled Democrats’ mental processes ever since, not only because the one-time First Lady, U.S. Senator and Secretary of State was so much more qualified than the profane, bigot, liar and business cheat.
But it was the fact that so many neighbors, spouses, cousins and business colleagues had voted for him – an astonishing 62.9 million Americans had betrayed the other 65.8 million.
Many believed that Joe Biden’s decisive victory, winning both the popular and Electoral College in 2020, had driven Trump from their nightmares at last.
But Democrats’ PTSD proved well founded. Despite two impeachments, various court indictments, and an assassin’s bullet missing his brain by an inch, Trump has persisted and so has his appeal.
On the day that Biden left the 2024 race, polls showed Trump beating Biden 43 to 39 percent.
Three days later, presumptive nominee Harris was ahead by nearly 1 percentage point, and her margin has generally increased ever since, so that today according to some estimates, she’s leading Trump, 47.2 to 43.7 percent.
But Democrats aren’t fooled and surely not by polls.
You may see them joyful and dancing in the daytime, but at night, if they manage to sleep at all, they awaken screaming at the terror and mystery of Trump’s hold on so much of the country.
WHICH IS WHY SO MANY SPEAKERS warned the convention choir and the faithful everywhere not to get ahead of themselves.
Michelle Obama, the former First Lady and perhaps the best orator of our times, including her husband, spelled out the “business” in convincingly harsh terms:
| ... as we embrace this renewed sense of hope, let us not forget the despair we have felt. Let us not forget what we are up against. Yes, Kamala and Tim are doing great now. We’re loving it. They are packing arenas across the country. Folks are energized. We are feeling good. But remember, there are still so many people who are desperate for a different outcome, who are ready to question and criticize every move Kamala makes, who are eager to spread those lies, who don’t want to vote for a woman, who will continue to prioritize building their wealth over ensuring that everyone has enough. So no matter how good we feel tonight, or tomorrow, or the next day, this is going to be an uphill battle. So folks, we cannot be our own worst enemies. No. See, because the minute something goes wrong, the minute a lie takes hold, folks, we cannot start wringing our hands. We cannot get a Goldilocks complex about whether everything is just right. And we cannot indulge our anxieties about whether this country will elect someone like Kamala, instead of doing everything we can to get someone like Kamala elected. |
Governor Walz described the “business” as a sports metaphor:
| You know, you might not know it, but I haven’t given a lot of big speeches like this. But I have given a lot of pep talks. So let me finish with this, team. It’s the fourth quarter. We’re down a field goal. But we’re on offense and we’ve got the ball. We’re driving down the field. And boy, do we have the right team. Kamala Harris is tough. Kamala Harris is experienced. And Kamala Harris is ready. Our job, our job, our job, our job for everyone watching, is to get in the trenches and do the blocking and tackling. One inch at a time. One yard at a time. One phone call at a time. One door knock at a time. One $5 donation at a time. Look, we’ve got 76 days. That’s nothing. There’ll be time to sleep when you’re dead. |
Kamala Harris defined the “business” as a single mission: confronting Donald Trump, the shady businessman and Constitutional criminal.
| Fellow Americans, this election is not only the most important of our lives, it is one of the most important in the life of our nation. In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man. But the consequences — but the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious. Consider — consider not only the chaos and calamity when he was in office, but also the gravity of what has happened since he lost the last election. Donald Trump tried to throw away your votes. When he failed, he sent an armed mob to the U.S. Capitol, where they assaulted law enforcement officers. When politicians in his own party begged him to call off the mob and send help, he did the opposite — he fanned the flames. And now, for an entirely different set of crimes, he was found guilty of fraud by a jury of everyday Americans, and separately — and separately found liable for committing sexual abuse. And consider, consider what he intends to do if we give him power again. Consider his explicit intent to set free violent extremists who assaulted those law enforcement officers at the Capitol. His explicit intent to jail journalists, political opponents and anyone he sees as the enemy. His explicit intent to deploy our active duty military against our own citizens. Consider, consider the power he will have, especially after the U.S. Supreme Court just ruled that he would be immune from criminal prosecution. Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails, and how he would use the immense powers of the presidency of the United States. Not to improve your life, not to strengthen our national security, but to serve the only client he has ever had: himself. |
Pundits often instruct this or that politician on what he or she “must do” when facing one particular crisis or that one.
Before Harris’s speech accepting the nomination, the commentators said that she had to “introduce” herself to millions of voters, whom the punditry decided did not yet know who she was; had to “humanize” herself; had to “spell out” what she would do as president; had to present herself as “presidential” and a credible commander-in-chief; all the while trying not to fall flat on her face.
She accomplished all of that and more. The consensus was that Kamala Harris gave one of the best convention speeches ever. One of my friends compared it to John F. Kennedy’s inaugural speech.
THE “BUSINESS’ QUESTION is whether Harris and the Democrats can convince enough voters to vote for her and not Trump.
Stirring as the convention was, it’s hard for me to imagine that many viewers, listeners and readers tuned in if they were not ready to vote for Harris. I certainly didn’t watch a minute of the Republican convention last months.
It’s possible that nationwide more people will vote for Harris than for Trump on Nov. 5, just as they did for her Democratic predecessors in 2016 and 2020. But what will voters do in the seven states that matter in the electoral count this year?
The same tiresome, terrifying question that has haunted us for nearly a decade is still unanswered: why are so many Americans so drawn to Trump? Why has he endured as a political and cultural presence all of these years?
Solving that puzzle is indeed the “business” Harris alluded to at the convention.
What matters now is what she, Walz and the rest of us do in the remaining 72 days.
Oops! I got that wrong.
I was writing this late one night, which predictably turned into the next day.
So, now the count is down to 71.
I look forward to, as well as dread, what the number will be tomorrow.
THE ELECTION HITS CLOSE TO HOME - SORT OF
USUALLY, THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION has seemed both urgent and personal – but always far away.
Then, suddenly, it’s practically in our backyard.
Which was the case yesterday.
Tim Walz - who just nine days earlier was named by Kamala Harris, the Democrat’s presumptive nominee for president, as her running mate - was right here in my hometown, Newport, R.I.
Walz, in fact, passed just a few feet away from my wife and me on his way to a fundraising event, which itself was a mere eight-tenths of a mile from our house.
Our goals were modest. Probably we wouldn't meet Walz. But would we catch sight of him?
Walz, since being introduced to the nation only on Aug. 6, has has added to the excitement that Vice President Harris as stirred among Democrats - including us - since she replaced President Joe Biden as the party’s best bet to keep Donald Trump out of the White House and to keep American free.
It was Walz who labeled Trump as “weird,” which quickly became the party’s favorite word to humiliate Trump. Overnight, Walz emerged as a the embodiment of the down-home favorite uncle, a guy who liked to hunt, who coached high school football, served in the National Guard and wasn’t at all ashamed of defending progressive outrages like serving lunch to hungry school children. One of his old campaign ads, when running for governor, showed him giving advice on a cheap do-it-yourself way of fixing your headlights, all the better to get voters safely to the polls.
So, it would have been great to chew the fat with the neighborly Tim Walz, maybe pick up some pointers on repairing our balky gutters, or probe his views on the best way to protect democracy from the despotic and despicable Mr. Trump.
WHEN WORD FIRST GOT OUT that Walz would be stopping off in Newport, there was a fair amount of mystery to the event. Nobody – at least nobody we knew – seemed aware of what time he would arrive, where he would be and what route he might take to get there.
Walz was in Newport as part of a five-state swing to gather campaign cash as opposed to actually meeting lots of voters.
Unwilling to part with $1,000 for a ticket for the event, much less $10,000 to have our photo taken with the guest of honor, Mr. & Mrs. Jones best hope was for a glimpse of the man, or at least to spot his car.
News stories indicated the event would be in one of the city's former Robber Baron mansions, including some that make up part of Salve' Regina University's spectacular campus, which overlooks the city’s ocean fronting Cliff Walk.
Then, my wife got an email from the Newport Democratic City Committee, suggesting an impromptu welcoming party gather between 12:30 and 1 p.m. at the corner of one of the city’s busiest intersections - Memorial Boulevard at Bellevue Avenue.
Bellevue Avenue is the city’s signature "street," which includes the Tennis Hall of Fame, along with restored mansion/museums like The Elms, Marble House, Rosecliff and Rough Point.
Thirty or so people showed up. No one seemed to know in which direction the Walz motorcade – assuming there would be a motorcade – would be traveling.
But it was a boisterous group – reflecting the mania Harris and now Walz have let loose. Some people brought handmade signs – MIND YOUR OWN DAMN BUSINESS (a popular Walz quote defending abortion rights); DEMOCRACY YES, AUTOCRACY NO, WELCOME GOV. WALZ! And HONK FOR DEMOCRACY.
Then, suddenly, it’s practically in our backyard.
Which was the case yesterday.
Tim Walz - who just nine days earlier was named by Kamala Harris, the Democrat’s presumptive nominee for president, as her running mate - was right here in my hometown, Newport, R.I.
Walz, in fact, passed just a few feet away from my wife and me on his way to a fundraising event, which itself was a mere eight-tenths of a mile from our house.
Our goals were modest. Probably we wouldn't meet Walz. But would we catch sight of him?
Walz, since being introduced to the nation only on Aug. 6, has has added to the excitement that Vice President Harris as stirred among Democrats - including us - since she replaced President Joe Biden as the party’s best bet to keep Donald Trump out of the White House and to keep American free.
It was Walz who labeled Trump as “weird,” which quickly became the party’s favorite word to humiliate Trump. Overnight, Walz emerged as a the embodiment of the down-home favorite uncle, a guy who liked to hunt, who coached high school football, served in the National Guard and wasn’t at all ashamed of defending progressive outrages like serving lunch to hungry school children. One of his old campaign ads, when running for governor, showed him giving advice on a cheap do-it-yourself way of fixing your headlights, all the better to get voters safely to the polls.
So, it would have been great to chew the fat with the neighborly Tim Walz, maybe pick up some pointers on repairing our balky gutters, or probe his views on the best way to protect democracy from the despotic and despicable Mr. Trump.
WHEN WORD FIRST GOT OUT that Walz would be stopping off in Newport, there was a fair amount of mystery to the event. Nobody – at least nobody we knew – seemed aware of what time he would arrive, where he would be and what route he might take to get there.
Walz was in Newport as part of a five-state swing to gather campaign cash as opposed to actually meeting lots of voters.
Unwilling to part with $1,000 for a ticket for the event, much less $10,000 to have our photo taken with the guest of honor, Mr. & Mrs. Jones best hope was for a glimpse of the man, or at least to spot his car.
News stories indicated the event would be in one of the city's former Robber Baron mansions, including some that make up part of Salve' Regina University's spectacular campus, which overlooks the city’s ocean fronting Cliff Walk.
Then, my wife got an email from the Newport Democratic City Committee, suggesting an impromptu welcoming party gather between 12:30 and 1 p.m. at the corner of one of the city’s busiest intersections - Memorial Boulevard at Bellevue Avenue.
Bellevue Avenue is the city’s signature "street," which includes the Tennis Hall of Fame, along with restored mansion/museums like The Elms, Marble House, Rosecliff and Rough Point.
Thirty or so people showed up. No one seemed to know in which direction the Walz motorcade – assuming there would be a motorcade – would be traveling.
But it was a boisterous group – reflecting the mania Harris and now Walz have let loose. Some people brought handmade signs – MIND YOUR OWN DAMN BUSINESS (a popular Walz quote defending abortion rights); DEMOCRACY YES, AUTOCRACY NO, WELCOME GOV. WALZ! And HONK FOR DEMOCRACY.
Now, Newport police began blocking traffic in all directions, a good omen, at least for the welcoming party. But backed-up motorists began leaning on their horns, but probably they were not honking for democracy.
Flashing lights appeared, coming in from the west.
A swarm of police motorcycles grew closer, sweeping through the left-turn onto Bellevue.
They were followed by handful of the kind of big black SUVs favored by politicians and those who guard them. The windows were rolled up, so you couldn’t make out who was who inside.
But one of them HAD to be carrying Walz.
And then they were gone.
Flashing lights appeared, coming in from the west.
A swarm of police motorcycles grew closer, sweeping through the left-turn onto Bellevue.
They were followed by handful of the kind of big black SUVs favored by politicians and those who guard them. The windows were rolled up, so you couldn’t make out who was who inside.
But one of them HAD to be carrying Walz.
And then they were gone.
BACK HOME, I HOPED FOR ANOTHER SIGHTING.
Driving to Salve Regina University obviously would be a lost cause.
But I figured I could walk there from our home in a modest neighborhood that once housed many of the people who worked in the original summer mansions. (My wife wisely took a pass on this venture).
Who would be suspicious of an elderly man, about the age of Joe Biden, stumbling along the side streets clutching his antique camera?
“I know you can’t answer this,” I said to one police person, whose cruiser was blocking one of the streets leading to the university, “but could you tell me when the motorcade will leave?”
“They’ll be there for an hour and 15 minutes. They arrived at 1,” replied the officer, who was surprisingly pleasant, but left me to do the rest of the math.
I headed toward the largest of the side streets, where earlier I'd had seen a smiling woman waving a huge TRUMP banner, and who now, thankfully, had disappeared.
I hiked down to Ochre Point Avenue, where the event reportedly was being held. There was a police person in the middle of the road, which was completely empty.
“I guess I can’t go down the street,” I said.
“That’s right,” the officer said.
“Thank you,” I said.
“Thank you,” the officer said, but in a way that indicated I’d overstayed my welcome.
I headed back toward Bellevue Avenue, passing an intersection where several cruisers were parked, with officers directing traffic away from the university.
“Would I be wasting my time if I waited here?” I asked yet another police officer.
“They didn’t come this way,” the officer said. “They were supposed to, but the route was changed at the last minute.”
As I walked back to Bellevue Avenue, I was thinking how stressful it must be to be part of a security detail like this, especially after the near assassination of Trump, before which the gunman had been spotted, but eluded local and federal officers.
Now, police where holding up traffic in every direction on Bellevue Avenue and its intersections. Again the horns sounded, and not honking for democracy.
A long stretch of the roadway was empty of cars. Tourists visiting the mansions were on the sidewalks, seemingly unaware of what was going on around them.
Someone pushing a wheelchair moved it off the bumpy sidewalk and onto the smoother roadway.
“Get back on the sidewalk," an officer bellowed. "GET BACK ON THE SIDEWALK!”
A man hauling a wagon containing two small children tried the same thing.
“Get off of the road. GET OFF THE ROAD!”
In the distance, the rumble of motorcycles.
A squadron of motorcycles emerged from a side street and roared past. But no SUVs.
Then a second group of motorcycles, followed by the motorcade, raced up the avenue. Had that first group been a deliberate distraction?
I took as many photos as I could with the old camera. Again, presumably Tim Walz was in one of those big, black cars just a few feet away.
He HAD to be in one.
EPILOGUE
Back home, I looked through my text messages.
One was from Walz. It turned out that, despite my failed attempts to catch sight of him, he and I actually were on a first-name basis.
I took as many photos as I could with the old camera. Again, presumably Tim Walz was in one of those big, black cars just a few feet away.
He HAD to be in one.
EPILOGUE
Back home, I looked through my text messages.
One was from Walz. It turned out that, despite my failed attempts to catch sight of him, he and I actually were on a first-name basis.
| Brian, Tim Walz here. I had to text you about an observation that I’ve made. You’ve probably made it too. It’s about Donald Trump and JD Vance. These guys are creepy. And, yes, just weird as hell. Right? If you agree, then I hope you’ll pitch in to defeat them, power Kamala and my campaign, and support Democrats across the country today. https://kamala-harris.us/7x64Pm Let's win this thing, Tim |
The hyperlink leads to a campaign site, suggesting a range of donations, starting at a modest $25.
The election remained so urgent, so personal, and so far away. But it felt right that for an hour or two it really had been close to home.
The election remained so urgent, so personal, and so far away. But it felt right that for an hour or two it really had been close to home.
WITH 3 MONTHS LEFT, THE ELECTION IS A STARK CHOICE – GOOD OR EVIL
 KAMALA HARRIS CREDIT: Harris Instagram |  DONALD TRUMP CREDIT: Frank Gerardi |
I WAS DOING ONE of those really disagreeable political chores last week: telephoning people at suppertime.
I was part of a phone bank where volunteers were calling on behalf of a Democratic candidate, who happens to be well liked for his diligent, often brilliant hard work on critical issues.
Even so, I couldn’t imagine people answering their phone at this most important, precious hour of the day – when personally, I go berserk every time the phone rings, no matter who’s calling.
But the knockout surprise was not hat some people did answer, but they were more than civil: they were excited to hear from a fellow Democrat. In some cases, they were over-the-top ecstatic and eager to talk, at length.
It was the Kamala Harris effect.
By now, this isn’t news to you.
Ever since the vice president replaced Joe Biden as the Democrats’ nominee, Harris has had a phenomenal impact. She raised a huge amount of money in a short time – over $300 million – had thousands of people volunteer for her campaign and drawn big, energized crowds.
Harris has measured up.
She turns out to be a true Happy Warrior. She’s confident, sure-footed, well-spoken, quick-moving and adroit.
As if it were the most natural thing in politics to instantly move from second banana in the Biden administration to the top campaign spot, with a mission of rescuing not just White House, but the entire Democrat Party’s election prospects.
Which is not a bad place to be today, Aug. 5: exactly three months to go until the Nov. 5 election.
THERE ARE TWO WAYS of thinking about the next three months:
Sure she’s holding the spotlight – hogging most of the news coverage, largely positive; receiving spontaneous social media raves; and benefiting from the best sort of recommendations: neighbors chatting up neighbors.
But how many people actually know who she is?
I’m thinking of people who don’t do well in the kind of quizzes that ask them to list the three branches of government, point to California on the map and name the current vice president of the United States.
It’s quite possible that the Harris voice, the Harris image, the Harris presence will not have broken through to the kind of voters who may matter the most on Nov. 5: citizens who could care less.
Political analysts try to be polite about these folks, giving them pseudo technical names like “low-information,” “disengaged,” and “distracted” voters.
In actuality, they are lazy, selfish and negligent slouches, whom I personally think should be stripped of their right to vote. Which is why I’m glad I’m not in charge of anything, because in a democracy, everyone counts, including people who don’t care that they do count.
Simply put, is there enough time for Harris to reach enough of us?
THE OTHER SIDE of the three-month mark is the question of whether there’s Too-Much-Time between where we are now, broiling at height of summer and suffering the chill of late fall?
Imagine all the things that can go wrong, and understand that some of them really will.
Just this morning, for example, the stock market fell sharply as investor/lemmings panicked about a recession.
Other events could easily overtake her, just like Biden’s disastrous performance in his June 27 debate with Trump; or Trump’s truly miraculous escape from an assassin’s bullet.
Harris is sure to say something wrong, to stumble, to disappoint.
The Middle East war could turn nuclear; China could invade Taiwan; gas stations could suddenly billboard astronomical prices as voters stop to fill up on their way to the polls.
Trump, now seeming desperate to find just the right cruel, racist, misogynistic label to slap on Harris, will, in fact, find a nickname that will resonate with his base and beyond.
Maybe, people won’t like the person she selects as her vice president, which is expected today or tomorrow.
Worst of all, maybe Harris will be unable to keep her initial momentum going, and the excitement will go out of the race like a punctured campaign balloon.
Such are the dangers facing a country whose future has been brought unfairly to a cliff’s edge by Donald Trump, a treacherous, malevolent, criminal and cruel presence in American politics, whose enduring appeal baffles both friend and foe.
WHAT IS FOR SURE about the sudden arrival of Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee is that she has sharpened the choices in this race in a way that we’ve never seen, at least in my lifetime.
Ralph Nader, the consumer hero turned political spoiler, once mocked the differences between Republican and Democratic candidates as that between Tweedledum and Tweedledee.
No longer.
The contrast between Harris and Trump couldn’t be starker.
- There’s no-time-at-all until Nov. 5.
- There’s too-much-time left before Election day.
Sure she’s holding the spotlight – hogging most of the news coverage, largely positive; receiving spontaneous social media raves; and benefiting from the best sort of recommendations: neighbors chatting up neighbors.
But how many people actually know who she is?
I’m thinking of people who don’t do well in the kind of quizzes that ask them to list the three branches of government, point to California on the map and name the current vice president of the United States.
It’s quite possible that the Harris voice, the Harris image, the Harris presence will not have broken through to the kind of voters who may matter the most on Nov. 5: citizens who could care less.
Political analysts try to be polite about these folks, giving them pseudo technical names like “low-information,” “disengaged,” and “distracted” voters.
In actuality, they are lazy, selfish and negligent slouches, whom I personally think should be stripped of their right to vote. Which is why I’m glad I’m not in charge of anything, because in a democracy, everyone counts, including people who don’t care that they do count.
Simply put, is there enough time for Harris to reach enough of us?
THE OTHER SIDE of the three-month mark is the question of whether there’s Too-Much-Time between where we are now, broiling at height of summer and suffering the chill of late fall?
Imagine all the things that can go wrong, and understand that some of them really will.
Just this morning, for example, the stock market fell sharply as investor/lemmings panicked about a recession.
Other events could easily overtake her, just like Biden’s disastrous performance in his June 27 debate with Trump; or Trump’s truly miraculous escape from an assassin’s bullet.
Harris is sure to say something wrong, to stumble, to disappoint.
The Middle East war could turn nuclear; China could invade Taiwan; gas stations could suddenly billboard astronomical prices as voters stop to fill up on their way to the polls.
Trump, now seeming desperate to find just the right cruel, racist, misogynistic label to slap on Harris, will, in fact, find a nickname that will resonate with his base and beyond.
Maybe, people won’t like the person she selects as her vice president, which is expected today or tomorrow.
Worst of all, maybe Harris will be unable to keep her initial momentum going, and the excitement will go out of the race like a punctured campaign balloon.
Such are the dangers facing a country whose future has been brought unfairly to a cliff’s edge by Donald Trump, a treacherous, malevolent, criminal and cruel presence in American politics, whose enduring appeal baffles both friend and foe.
WHAT IS FOR SURE about the sudden arrival of Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee is that she has sharpened the choices in this race in a way that we’ve never seen, at least in my lifetime.
Ralph Nader, the consumer hero turned political spoiler, once mocked the differences between Republican and Democratic candidates as that between Tweedledum and Tweedledee.
No longer.
The contrast between Harris and Trump couldn’t be starker.
 |  |
With three months to go, will voters take the country backward, repeating some of the worst chapters of our history; or will they choose to try, once again, to achieve the vision of the founders?
Will the country finally acknowledge that women are 50 percent ore more of the population and deserve a chance to lead the country? Or will we regress into the machismo of a woman-hater, woman-abuser determined to create a second-class cast of breeders and cooks?
Will the country, which becomes more diverse every day, choose a biracial exemplar, or a white bigot?
Will the country choose someone whose career has included enforcing the law and upholding Constitutional values, or a traitor and dictator-in-waiting who tried to overturn an election?
Will the country choose a leader well aware of the country’s and the world’s perils, such as climate change and economic inequality; or will we choose a psychopath unconcerned that our grandchildren will inherit a planet on fire?
In the next three months, voters have a choice far simpler and more drastic than they’ve ever been: between democracy and dictatorship, and between good and evil.
Will the country finally acknowledge that women are 50 percent ore more of the population and deserve a chance to lead the country? Or will we regress into the machismo of a woman-hater, woman-abuser determined to create a second-class cast of breeders and cooks?
Will the country, which becomes more diverse every day, choose a biracial exemplar, or a white bigot?
Will the country choose someone whose career has included enforcing the law and upholding Constitutional values, or a traitor and dictator-in-waiting who tried to overturn an election?
Will the country choose a leader well aware of the country’s and the world’s perils, such as climate change and economic inequality; or will we choose a psychopath unconcerned that our grandchildren will inherit a planet on fire?
In the next three months, voters have a choice far simpler and more drastic than they’ve ever been: between democracy and dictatorship, and between good and evil.
AS THE NOV. 5 ELECTION APPROACHES, A COMMON SENSE CAT SPEAKS OUT
“HE DIDN’T REALLY WRITE THAT, YOU KNOW.”
“Who didn’t?” I asked.
“Bill Clinton. He doesn’t know you from Adam. And he had nothing to do with what you’re reading.”
I had been going through my email, which I do several times a day, and had stopped to look at a message that was slugged: “Now is the time to....” with the sender identified as “Bill Clinton.”
“It’s just fund-raising,” the voice said.
I was about to respond to the comment – which was so incredibly obvious that it hardly deserved a reply - then realized there was nobody to respond to. I was alone at my desk, alone that is, except for Ben.
Ben is our cat.
Ben turned 3 on July 12 and my wife and I forgot his birthday, as usual, and I wondered: Did his snide tone mean that he was still carrying a grudge?
Then I realized that was the wrong question.
“Are you actually talking?” I asked.
“Are you actually listening?” Ben said.
Ben, who joined our household when he was 4 months old, is a handsome Tabby – we like to think of him as Bengal, or Bengal-like. He weighed 3 pounds at the time. Now, like many Americans, he’s struggling with his weight, hitting the scales the last time we were at the vet’s at 15+.
My wife and I have considered Ben unusually communicative, and we’ve had a fair share of cats with which to compare. He’s got a hearty “Yee-Oow,” and if you say something to him, he’ll give you a “Yee-Oow” right back.
“Who didn’t?” I asked.
“Bill Clinton. He doesn’t know you from Adam. And he had nothing to do with what you’re reading.”
I had been going through my email, which I do several times a day, and had stopped to look at a message that was slugged: “Now is the time to....” with the sender identified as “Bill Clinton.”
“It’s just fund-raising,” the voice said.
I was about to respond to the comment – which was so incredibly obvious that it hardly deserved a reply - then realized there was nobody to respond to. I was alone at my desk, alone that is, except for Ben.
Ben is our cat.
Ben turned 3 on July 12 and my wife and I forgot his birthday, as usual, and I wondered: Did his snide tone mean that he was still carrying a grudge?
Then I realized that was the wrong question.
“Are you actually talking?” I asked.
“Are you actually listening?” Ben said.
Ben, who joined our household when he was 4 months old, is a handsome Tabby – we like to think of him as Bengal, or Bengal-like. He weighed 3 pounds at the time. Now, like many Americans, he’s struggling with his weight, hitting the scales the last time we were at the vet’s at 15+.
My wife and I have considered Ben unusually communicative, and we’ve had a fair share of cats with which to compare. He’s got a hearty “Yee-Oow,” and if you say something to him, he’ll give you a “Yee-Oow” right back.
BUT IF BEN HAS SEEMED “TALKATIVE,” we've known that we’re stepping into the Forbidden Swamp of Anthropomorphism if we push too far, and we fully understand that Ben isn’t actually conversive, at least in the human sense.
“I didn’t think cats could talk,” I said, trying to sound calm.
Ben said crossly, “There’s a lot you don’t know.”
“Let’s say that I’m not a crazy old man, and that I’m hearing what I think I’m hearing,” I said. “How come you’ve decided to actually speak?”
“Because all I hear all day and into the night in this house is ‘The Election this; The Election that.’ It’s all you two talk about – especially YOU – and it just pours out of the radios and TVs hour after hour.
“And then there’s all the doomscrolling that you, in particular, do on your computer, checking the same websites over and over and over, and frankly, I’m fed up to here!” he said.
As he said that, Ben made a cutting motion against his throat with one of his paws – I’m not sure which one, because I’ve never noticed whether Ben is right-pawed or left, much less whether, politically, he leans left or right.
“So that means that you can read, too?” I said.
“I try my best not to swear,” Ben said. “But you make it really hard to be civil. Of course, I can read.
Which is why I know that the email you’re looking at is not from Bill Clinton. It wasn’t written by Bill Clinton; Bill Clinton doesn’t know your email address; and for sure, Bill Clinton does NOT know your first name, much less your last.”
“But the email starts out ‘Brian, it’s Bill Clinton,’ “ I said.
“#*@!+?$,” the cat said. “Did you even go to college – at least one that’s anyone’s heard of? It’s a computer-generated-money-raising pitch. Clinton has told someone it’s okay to use his name, and the algorithm does the rest.”
“They start small,” Ben said impatiently. “Scroll down a little and it starts off with a $25 contribution, which won’t buy you much cat food, but it gets their claws into you. You do REALIZE that!”
“Well,’ I said, “I did wonder where Bill gets the time to write to someone like me. I know that he’s not president anymore, but still, I’m sure he’s got a lot else going on, wondering what Monica is up to these days and all."
“Is there anything in there,” Ben asked pointing at my head, “other than a rock?”
Now, I was getting a little put off: “I get a lot of emails these days from important people.”
“You’ll notice, Mr. Smarty Cat, that the next email down from Bill’s is from Kamala Harris. And as you may have noticed, she is one busy person these days. She’s the likely Democratic nominee, juggling her vice presidential duties, picking her own veep, raising missions of dollars. She’s got Democrats smiling again. And, still, Kamala’s sending ME emails.”
“This answers the question about God,” Ben said. “If She did exist, She certainly wouldn’t have sent me to a house with you in it.”
I was searching for a pithy reply, when Ben continued:
“What makes living here bearable is that sometimes you leave the house, and I get to spend time exclusively with someone who actually likes and understands cats. You know whom I’m talking about: the Nice One.”
“She’s that and more,” I said. “At least we agree on something.”
“I didn’t think cats could talk,” I said, trying to sound calm.
Ben said crossly, “There’s a lot you don’t know.”
“Let’s say that I’m not a crazy old man, and that I’m hearing what I think I’m hearing,” I said. “How come you’ve decided to actually speak?”
“Because all I hear all day and into the night in this house is ‘The Election this; The Election that.’ It’s all you two talk about – especially YOU – and it just pours out of the radios and TVs hour after hour.
“And then there’s all the doomscrolling that you, in particular, do on your computer, checking the same websites over and over and over, and frankly, I’m fed up to here!” he said.
As he said that, Ben made a cutting motion against his throat with one of his paws – I’m not sure which one, because I’ve never noticed whether Ben is right-pawed or left, much less whether, politically, he leans left or right.
“So that means that you can read, too?” I said.
“I try my best not to swear,” Ben said. “But you make it really hard to be civil. Of course, I can read.
Which is why I know that the email you’re looking at is not from Bill Clinton. It wasn’t written by Bill Clinton; Bill Clinton doesn’t know your email address; and for sure, Bill Clinton does NOT know your first name, much less your last.”
“But the email starts out ‘Brian, it’s Bill Clinton,’ “ I said.
“#*@!+?$,” the cat said. “Did you even go to college – at least one that’s anyone’s heard of? It’s a computer-generated-money-raising pitch. Clinton has told someone it’s okay to use his name, and the algorithm does the rest.”
“They start small,” Ben said impatiently. “Scroll down a little and it starts off with a $25 contribution, which won’t buy you much cat food, but it gets their claws into you. You do REALIZE that!”
“Well,’ I said, “I did wonder where Bill gets the time to write to someone like me. I know that he’s not president anymore, but still, I’m sure he’s got a lot else going on, wondering what Monica is up to these days and all."
“Is there anything in there,” Ben asked pointing at my head, “other than a rock?”
Now, I was getting a little put off: “I get a lot of emails these days from important people.”
“You’ll notice, Mr. Smarty Cat, that the next email down from Bill’s is from Kamala Harris. And as you may have noticed, she is one busy person these days. She’s the likely Democratic nominee, juggling her vice presidential duties, picking her own veep, raising missions of dollars. She’s got Democrats smiling again. And, still, Kamala’s sending ME emails.”
“This answers the question about God,” Ben said. “If She did exist, She certainly wouldn’t have sent me to a house with you in it.”
I was searching for a pithy reply, when Ben continued:
“What makes living here bearable is that sometimes you leave the house, and I get to spend time exclusively with someone who actually likes and understands cats. You know whom I’m talking about: the Nice One.”
“She’s that and more,” I said. “At least we agree on something.”
“WHICH BRINGS ME TO WHY I’VE DECIDED TO SPEAK OUT,” Ben said. “I’m realizing that this Election is could be a make-or-break event. I mean, forget the stuff about whether “democracy is on the line” and this climate change business and whether the earth will burst into flames if Trump wins.”
“Those ARE big issues,” I pointed out.
“You want to know what’s a BIG issue?” Ben said with his little feline sneer. “It's all this stuff we’re hearing about ‘wilderness cat ladies.’ “
“I think you mean ‘childless cat ladies,’ “ I said.
“Whatever,” Ben said. “It’s downright super-wild-scary.”
Realizing that I now had the upper paw because we were discussing “facts,” I proceeded to lecture Ben on what Sen. J.D. Vance, Trump’s vice presidential pick, had said three years ago to the notorious Tucker Carlson, then on Fox TV.
Vance had warned about
"... a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too."
"It's just a basic fact — you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC — the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children.... And how does it make any sense that we've turned our country over to people who don't really have a direct stake in it?"
“Worse than worrisome,” the cat said. “Very dangerous.”
“We’re in agreement, again,” I said. “Lots of people don’t have children – although Harris is a stepmom, and Buttigieg and his partner now have twins. But you can’t disenfranchise people who don’t have children.”
“Not my concern,” Ben said. "Who cares about 'the children?' "
“What does bother you?”
“If Trump and Vance win, they’ll go after the cat ladies. They’ll deport the undocumented cat ladies first, and scare the rest into letting their cats loose; ladies simply won’t want the stigma of having us in their homes.”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” I said.
“Nobody has,” Ben said.
Now he was on a roll:
“Cats of America, rise up. Protect the cat ladies. Vote the cat ladies’ ticket. Who will look after, cherish, talk to and most importantly FEED America’s cats if we become a country without cat ladies? Nine lives will no longer be enough to protect us.
“SAVE THE CAT LADIES!
"SAVE THE CATS!”
“In the end," I said, "politics is always personal.”
“It’s just common sense,” Ben said.
“Those ARE big issues,” I pointed out.
“You want to know what’s a BIG issue?” Ben said with his little feline sneer. “It's all this stuff we’re hearing about ‘wilderness cat ladies.’ “
“I think you mean ‘childless cat ladies,’ “ I said.
“Whatever,” Ben said. “It’s downright super-wild-scary.”
Realizing that I now had the upper paw because we were discussing “facts,” I proceeded to lecture Ben on what Sen. J.D. Vance, Trump’s vice presidential pick, had said three years ago to the notorious Tucker Carlson, then on Fox TV.
Vance had warned about
"... a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too."
"It's just a basic fact — you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC — the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children.... And how does it make any sense that we've turned our country over to people who don't really have a direct stake in it?"
“Worse than worrisome,” the cat said. “Very dangerous.”
“We’re in agreement, again,” I said. “Lots of people don’t have children – although Harris is a stepmom, and Buttigieg and his partner now have twins. But you can’t disenfranchise people who don’t have children.”
“Not my concern,” Ben said. "Who cares about 'the children?' "
“What does bother you?”
“If Trump and Vance win, they’ll go after the cat ladies. They’ll deport the undocumented cat ladies first, and scare the rest into letting their cats loose; ladies simply won’t want the stigma of having us in their homes.”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” I said.
“Nobody has,” Ben said.
Now he was on a roll:
“Cats of America, rise up. Protect the cat ladies. Vote the cat ladies’ ticket. Who will look after, cherish, talk to and most importantly FEED America’s cats if we become a country without cat ladies? Nine lives will no longer be enough to protect us.
“SAVE THE CAT LADIES!
"SAVE THE CATS!”
“In the end," I said, "politics is always personal.”
“It’s just common sense,” Ben said.
BRIAN C. JONES
I'VE BEEN a reporter and writer for 60 years, long enough to have learned that journalists don't know very much, although I've met some smart ones.
Mainly, what reporters know comes from asking other people questions and fretting about their answers.
This blog is a successor to one inspired by our dog, Phoebe, who was smart, sweet and the antithesis of Donald Trump. She died Feb. 3, 2022, and I don't see getting over that very soon.
Occasionally, I think about trying to reach her via cell phone.
Mainly, what reporters know comes from asking other people questions and fretting about their answers.
This blog is a successor to one inspired by our dog, Phoebe, who was smart, sweet and the antithesis of Donald Trump. She died Feb. 3, 2022, and I don't see getting over that very soon.
Occasionally, I think about trying to reach her via cell phone.
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