LIVING WITH DONALD TRUMP: LESSON 2 |
Over the past eight years, I have been tested and challenged more than any president in our 250-year history, and I’ve learned a lot along the way. Those who wish to stop our cause have tried to take my freedom and, indeed, to take my life. Just a few months ago, in a beautiful Pennsylvania field, an assassin’s bullet ripped through my ear. But I felt then and believe even more so now that my life was saved for a reason. I was saved by God to make America great again. |
Frank Bruni, a New York Times columnist, pinpointed this part of his address as more important perhaps than sending troops to the bordered, proclaiming the U.S. as a two-gender nation and renaming the Gulf of America.
“That’s the keeper this time around,” Bruni wrote. “Trump’s trademark narcissism and usual grandiosity, along with an unsettling measure of theocracy, in one profoundly disturbing sentence.”
That one statement took us back centuries, to the divine right of kings. The monarch knows all, can make no mistakes, everything he does and says is a Heavenly mandate.
THE PARDONS
God, it turns out, has been troubled by the American system of justice.
On Inauguration Day, Her emissary moved to abolish justice, at least as we’ve come to know it, as a system of laws, impartially and fairly administered by the courts.
Trump used his Constitutional powers to commute and pardon the insurrectionists who attacked the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
As described by the Times:
Trump, “in one of his first official acts, issued a sweeping grant of clemency on Monday to all of the nearly 1,600 people charged in connection with the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, issuing pardons to most of the defendants and commuting the sentences of 14 members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers militia, most of whom were convicted of seditious conspiracy.
“Mr. Trump’s moves amounted to an extraordinary reversal for rioters accused of both low-level, nonviolent offenses and for those who had assaulted police officers.
“The pardons will also wipe the slate clean for violent offenders who went after the police on Jan. 6 with baseball bats, two-by-fours and bear spray and are serving prison terms, in some cases of more than a decade.”
What does this mean for justice overall?
Does it make sense, any longer, to dial 911?
Should police arrest bank robbers, rapists, embezzlers and thieves? Should prosecutors bring cases to grand juries? Should citizens sit as jurors? Should judges pronounce sentences according to established guidelines? Should appellate courts review lower court decisions? Why bother, if crime is to be defined as only whatever Donald Trump, speaking on behalf of God, says it is? Or isn't?
And God help us if the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers and other violent, racist groups come after any one of us. Because maybe the president, chosen by the people and by God, wants them to assault our homes and beat and shoot and hang us. It's all for a reason.
THE HAT
“That’s the keeper this time around,” Bruni wrote. “Trump’s trademark narcissism and usual grandiosity, along with an unsettling measure of theocracy, in one profoundly disturbing sentence.”
That one statement took us back centuries, to the divine right of kings. The monarch knows all, can make no mistakes, everything he does and says is a Heavenly mandate.
THE PARDONS
God, it turns out, has been troubled by the American system of justice.
On Inauguration Day, Her emissary moved to abolish justice, at least as we’ve come to know it, as a system of laws, impartially and fairly administered by the courts.
Trump used his Constitutional powers to commute and pardon the insurrectionists who attacked the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
As described by the Times:
Trump, “in one of his first official acts, issued a sweeping grant of clemency on Monday to all of the nearly 1,600 people charged in connection with the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, issuing pardons to most of the defendants and commuting the sentences of 14 members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers militia, most of whom were convicted of seditious conspiracy.
“Mr. Trump’s moves amounted to an extraordinary reversal for rioters accused of both low-level, nonviolent offenses and for those who had assaulted police officers.
“The pardons will also wipe the slate clean for violent offenders who went after the police on Jan. 6 with baseball bats, two-by-fours and bear spray and are serving prison terms, in some cases of more than a decade.”
What does this mean for justice overall?
Does it make sense, any longer, to dial 911?
Should police arrest bank robbers, rapists, embezzlers and thieves? Should prosecutors bring cases to grand juries? Should citizens sit as jurors? Should judges pronounce sentences according to established guidelines? Should appellate courts review lower court decisions? Why bother, if crime is to be defined as only whatever Donald Trump, speaking on behalf of God, says it is? Or isn't?
And God help us if the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers and other violent, racist groups come after any one of us. Because maybe the president, chosen by the people and by God, wants them to assault our homes and beat and shoot and hang us. It's all for a reason.
THE HAT
I’ve always found it petty to talk about what First Ladies and other celebrities, especially women, wear to events like inaugurations.
But, as many people have commented, it was hard to avoid staring at Melenia Trump’s hat – its wide brim hid her eyes and even interfered with her husband’ attempted kisses, which may have been a good or a bad thing.
But, overall, that hat, which surely was chosen for a reason gave her – and the entire proceedings - a severe, menacing and dangerous look.
Almost as scary, as Elon Musk’s Nazi-style salutes later in the day.
THAT IS WHY THIS IS SO HARD TO TALK ABOUT.
Yes, we knew what was coming. But this does not make it less shocking.
Yes, we knew it would hurt. But this does not take away the hurt or make it hurt less.
The United States, the people who voted for Trump and the people who voted against him, are going to suffer the coming days and years in so many ways.
We will be sicker, less safe, more frightened, less apt to get justice. We will be discriminated against, unfairly taxed, defrauded, lied to, detained, assaulted, insulted, and our homes will be destroyed by floods and fires.
“My life was saved for a reason,” Trump said
That was an applause line at the inauguration.
And today, it’s among the many reasons it’s so hard to talk about.
But, as many people have commented, it was hard to avoid staring at Melenia Trump’s hat – its wide brim hid her eyes and even interfered with her husband’ attempted kisses, which may have been a good or a bad thing.
But, overall, that hat, which surely was chosen for a reason gave her – and the entire proceedings - a severe, menacing and dangerous look.
Almost as scary, as Elon Musk’s Nazi-style salutes later in the day.
THAT IS WHY THIS IS SO HARD TO TALK ABOUT.
Yes, we knew what was coming. But this does not make it less shocking.
Yes, we knew it would hurt. But this does not take away the hurt or make it hurt less.
The United States, the people who voted for Trump and the people who voted against him, are going to suffer the coming days and years in so many ways.
We will be sicker, less safe, more frightened, less apt to get justice. We will be discriminated against, unfairly taxed, defrauded, lied to, detained, assaulted, insulted, and our homes will be destroyed by floods and fires.
“My life was saved for a reason,” Trump said
That was an applause line at the inauguration.
And today, it’s among the many reasons it’s so hard to talk about.
IS THIS DEMOCRACY’S LAST WEEKEND?
HERE'S WHAT WE ALL HOPE:
Democracy will survive the return of Donald Trump.
Not since the Cold War, with its shadow of nuclear annihilation, and World War II, with Hitler’s campaign of global domination, has the future of the United States been under greater threat.
Trump is a psychopath, an authoritarian, who has promised to use the power of his office to undermine justice, compassion, innovation and all of the other aspirational hallmarks of the country.
If Trump is successful, this may be America’s last weekend as a democracy.
It’s a weekend that I wish we could preserve forever – in our memories and in our prayers - as a reminder of how good our lives have been, and as an inspiration of how fruitful our lives could be again.
THE WEEKEND CONCLUDES at noon, Monday, which will be a day of contrasting dreams, one a nightmare, the other a poem.
It’s a day on which that Trump will outline his inaugural vision for the next four years, sure to be darker and more divisive than the one he first outlined eight years ago.
Monday is also a national holiday, celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. and invoking his great “I have a dream” speech in Washington, promising inclusion, caring and hope.
In a sense, we have a choice about how we think and what we do: Do we let Trump have his way? Or do we continue King’s vision?
I’ll tell you straight up that I’m struggling to figure out the practical solutions, both personally and as a citizen. I don’t have many answers, and can’t vouch for the ones I do have.
But I believe we have to try. Here's more ideas about how to do this:
BE A DEMOCRAT.
I mean the partisan kind, with uppercase “D,” and not just the generic, lowercase “d” democrat.
It’s not an attractive proposition these days. The Democrat Party doesn't have, at first blush, inspiring national leaders. The party suffers the indignity of being the loser in a hard-fought election. And some Democratic office holders seem unsure of themselves, with many flirting with right-leaning words and actions.
But democracy depends on a strong, enduring liberal, left-wing and progressive movement, and no more so than when the country’s power center is in the hands of a tyrant.
Let’s not demand perfection of Democrats, only passion.
Over the long haul, the Democratic Party has promoted the policies and crusades that have been the best of America: economic equality, civil rights, environmental progress, education and justice.
And stop with this "I'm an Independent" nonsense. You either agree with the core concerns of the Democrats or you allow the Republicans to degrade the country with policies that are mean, stupid and destructive.
There’s no middle ground.
CHAMPION WOMEN.
Next to the restoration of Donald Trump, the most distressing theme of the 2024 election was the Republican war against women.
You would have thought that the impact of the Supreme Court’s reversal of abortion rights – which introduced unequal medical care for half the nation's population – would have inspired both men and women to take to the streets, and then onward to the voting booth.
But then came JD Vance’s sneering description of “childless cat ladies,” promoting a diminished role for women, centered on child-bearing, not leadership or success in business, science, the military, athletics and scores of other activities.
We’re left with an incoming president, who has a history of sexual abuse against women, who has nominated a secretary of defense, who believes women are not fit to be soldiers.
Men and women alike should stop this backward movement and, instead, promote the full citizenship of women, something you’d have thought had been settled in 1920 with the right to vote.
DON’T QUIT, OPT OUT OR UNSUBSCRIBE.
Institutions are imperfect, and there’s no better posterchild for a troubled organization than the Washington Post.
It’s owner, Jeff Bezos, has been shameless in his attempt to get on the good side of Donald Trump, axing an editorial that would have had the paper endorse Kamala Harris and later contributing to Trump’s inauguration.
Some of the paper’s top staffers are jumping ship, the latest being the excellent columnist, Jennifer Rubin, who has started a new enterprise on Substack, Tens of thousands of subscribers have quit, deepening the paper's financial losses.
I hope subscribers will reconsider, and continue to support the paper (digital subscriptions are relatively cheap; mine is $60 a year) and that the remaining readers will stick it out – at least for a little longer.
I was cheered earlier this week at reports (from outside the Post) that 400 staffers had written to Bezos, asking to meet with him about their ideas and hopes to improve and sustain the paper.
Quitting sounds noble. But once you’ve left, you no longer have a voice, either as a journalist or reader.
In the Post’s case, I can’t imagine anyone happier to see the newspaper’s best and brightest journalists walk out the door than Donald Trump.
A continued outflow will have two possible outcomes: hastening the paper’s death; or furthering its diminishment, as the people leaving are replaced with less talented and morally compromised journalists.
It might be that Bezos’ embrace of Trump has doomed the Post, and it cannot be saved as a journalistic force equal to the New York Times.
But I believe that our most treasured and irreplaceable institutions need to be defended and sustained. Quitting should be a last – not a first – resort.
I COULD BE WRONG.
Maybe the Democratic Party will do just fine without any extra commitment. Or that its shortcomings mean that it should atrophy.
It could be that a homegrown Taliban isn't coming for American women after all.
Perhaps it’s naïve to ask journalists and others to reform their institutions from the inside rather than voting with their feet.
On this final weekend, we don’t know what the Trump nightmare will be like.
The only certainty is that it will be crueler, more harmful and far more extensive than we imagine today.
Just as unclear is what to do during the next four years, except that we have little choice to do everything we can.
We must limit the harm, care for the victims and most of all, to survive, both as individuals and citizens.
Meanwhile, here’s wishing you a nice weekend.
Democracy will survive the return of Donald Trump.
Not since the Cold War, with its shadow of nuclear annihilation, and World War II, with Hitler’s campaign of global domination, has the future of the United States been under greater threat.
Trump is a psychopath, an authoritarian, who has promised to use the power of his office to undermine justice, compassion, innovation and all of the other aspirational hallmarks of the country.
If Trump is successful, this may be America’s last weekend as a democracy.
It’s a weekend that I wish we could preserve forever – in our memories and in our prayers - as a reminder of how good our lives have been, and as an inspiration of how fruitful our lives could be again.
THE WEEKEND CONCLUDES at noon, Monday, which will be a day of contrasting dreams, one a nightmare, the other a poem.
It’s a day on which that Trump will outline his inaugural vision for the next four years, sure to be darker and more divisive than the one he first outlined eight years ago.
Monday is also a national holiday, celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. and invoking his great “I have a dream” speech in Washington, promising inclusion, caring and hope.
In a sense, we have a choice about how we think and what we do: Do we let Trump have his way? Or do we continue King’s vision?
I’ll tell you straight up that I’m struggling to figure out the practical solutions, both personally and as a citizen. I don’t have many answers, and can’t vouch for the ones I do have.
But I believe we have to try. Here's more ideas about how to do this:
BE A DEMOCRAT.
I mean the partisan kind, with uppercase “D,” and not just the generic, lowercase “d” democrat.
It’s not an attractive proposition these days. The Democrat Party doesn't have, at first blush, inspiring national leaders. The party suffers the indignity of being the loser in a hard-fought election. And some Democratic office holders seem unsure of themselves, with many flirting with right-leaning words and actions.
But democracy depends on a strong, enduring liberal, left-wing and progressive movement, and no more so than when the country’s power center is in the hands of a tyrant.
Let’s not demand perfection of Democrats, only passion.
Over the long haul, the Democratic Party has promoted the policies and crusades that have been the best of America: economic equality, civil rights, environmental progress, education and justice.
And stop with this "I'm an Independent" nonsense. You either agree with the core concerns of the Democrats or you allow the Republicans to degrade the country with policies that are mean, stupid and destructive.
There’s no middle ground.
CHAMPION WOMEN.
Next to the restoration of Donald Trump, the most distressing theme of the 2024 election was the Republican war against women.
You would have thought that the impact of the Supreme Court’s reversal of abortion rights – which introduced unequal medical care for half the nation's population – would have inspired both men and women to take to the streets, and then onward to the voting booth.
But then came JD Vance’s sneering description of “childless cat ladies,” promoting a diminished role for women, centered on child-bearing, not leadership or success in business, science, the military, athletics and scores of other activities.
We’re left with an incoming president, who has a history of sexual abuse against women, who has nominated a secretary of defense, who believes women are not fit to be soldiers.
Men and women alike should stop this backward movement and, instead, promote the full citizenship of women, something you’d have thought had been settled in 1920 with the right to vote.
DON’T QUIT, OPT OUT OR UNSUBSCRIBE.
Institutions are imperfect, and there’s no better posterchild for a troubled organization than the Washington Post.
It’s owner, Jeff Bezos, has been shameless in his attempt to get on the good side of Donald Trump, axing an editorial that would have had the paper endorse Kamala Harris and later contributing to Trump’s inauguration.
Some of the paper’s top staffers are jumping ship, the latest being the excellent columnist, Jennifer Rubin, who has started a new enterprise on Substack, Tens of thousands of subscribers have quit, deepening the paper's financial losses.
I hope subscribers will reconsider, and continue to support the paper (digital subscriptions are relatively cheap; mine is $60 a year) and that the remaining readers will stick it out – at least for a little longer.
I was cheered earlier this week at reports (from outside the Post) that 400 staffers had written to Bezos, asking to meet with him about their ideas and hopes to improve and sustain the paper.
Quitting sounds noble. But once you’ve left, you no longer have a voice, either as a journalist or reader.
In the Post’s case, I can’t imagine anyone happier to see the newspaper’s best and brightest journalists walk out the door than Donald Trump.
A continued outflow will have two possible outcomes: hastening the paper’s death; or furthering its diminishment, as the people leaving are replaced with less talented and morally compromised journalists.
It might be that Bezos’ embrace of Trump has doomed the Post, and it cannot be saved as a journalistic force equal to the New York Times.
But I believe that our most treasured and irreplaceable institutions need to be defended and sustained. Quitting should be a last – not a first – resort.
I COULD BE WRONG.
Maybe the Democratic Party will do just fine without any extra commitment. Or that its shortcomings mean that it should atrophy.
It could be that a homegrown Taliban isn't coming for American women after all.
Perhaps it’s naïve to ask journalists and others to reform their institutions from the inside rather than voting with their feet.
On this final weekend, we don’t know what the Trump nightmare will be like.
The only certainty is that it will be crueler, more harmful and far more extensive than we imagine today.
Just as unclear is what to do during the next four years, except that we have little choice to do everything we can.
We must limit the harm, care for the victims and most of all, to survive, both as individuals and citizens.
Meanwhile, here’s wishing you a nice weekend.
COUNTERING THE TRUMP CATASTROPHE
Three good ideas
HERE ARE THREE EXCELLENT IDEAS – the kind of imaginative thinking that's needed to counter the Trump catastrophe.
- FREE-PRESS DEFENSE SUPERFUND – A massive fund to combat news censorship and intimidation, taking the financial and strategic burden off the shoulders individuals and organizations targeted by Trump.
- WASHINGTON POST RESCUE – In which the country’s troubled, second-best news organization would be converted to non-profit status, and hopefully endure as a major source of reliable information.
- DEMOCRATIC PARTY MESSAGING “WAR MACHINE” - The Democratic Party would create an aggressive communications effort to target destructive Trump policies, contrasting them with Democratic alternatives.
They may be impractical.
But they represent the kind of imaginative, concrete steps that are needed to prevent or mitigate the barbaric political and cultural consequences of the election.
The sweeping nature of Trump’s victory – a clear win of his own, plus MAGA’s takeover of Congress, in addition to an already captive Supreme Court – has left millions of Americans without obvious defenses.
I, for one, remained shocked by the breadth of the election’s outcome, unsure how to proceed in the coming years, and frankly uncertain whether destruction of America can be prevented.
But we have to try. The United States is too great, both as a democracy and as a philosophical concept, to give into despair and bewilderment.
The appropriate cliché, derived from both underdog sports teams and long-shot lottery players, is especially important now:
“You can’t win if you don’t play.”
I wish I was an idea factory. I'm not. But I admire people who try , and I think we should celebrate everyone who makes a good-faith effort to invent what's possible.
In that spirit, these three good ideas.
All have this in common: information. Information will attacked by Trump, because it’s the key to countering his abuses and to reform and recovery.
FREE-PRESS DEFENSE SUPERFUND
One Trump tactic will be to attack the press through lawsuits and government actions intended to crush writers and organizations, not just with the outcomes, but the sheer expense and strain involved in fighting them.
To counter this, Josh Marshall, founder and editor-in-chief of the “Talking Points Memo” website, has written about one possible counter offense.
He notes that there's been discussion about “creation of an organization or fund which would take on the job of defending the various lawsuits, prosecutions and generalized legal harassment Trump will bring to the table in the next four years.”
The effort would require a massive mountain of money and an army of lawyers and other expert staffers.
Whenever a media outlet would be threatened, the Superfund would step in to shoulder the expense and determine the tactics to defend the attack, fighting fire with fire, punishing the perpetrators legally and financially.
It would require both philanthropy by billionaires as well as small-fry contributions from thousands of individuals.
The Superfund would help big outfits, like national newspapers and TV networks, as well as lone bloggers and small outlets like Marshall’s.
“Trump’s retribution may focus on individuals,” Marshall writes. “But it’s a collective harm. So it makes sense to spread the cost of dealing with it.”
Here's the link to how Marshall discussed the idea in one of his columns.
As far as I know, no Free-Press Superfund has materialized.
WASHINGTON POST RESCUE
News organizations on the scale of a major newspaper are still the most important source of reliable, in-depth information, even as the industry itself has withered.
The “paper” part isn’t important. What counts is the hefty "news" resources of a New York Times and a Washington Post.
What has distinguished newspapers in the past has been their enormous newsrooms – staffed with hundreds of reporters, plus editors, photographers, artists, technologists.
And it’s not enough to have just one.
The New York Times appears now to be financially successful, and it IS a great paper. But it has both massive and minuscule faults for the simple reason that it's run by humans. It needs competition.
When Amazon founder Jeff Bezos brought the Post years ago, it seemed that the Times had a needed counter-balance, and, indeed, the Post flourished during Trump’s first term.

But it’s fallen on difficult times and is losing money. Bezos shouldn’t be required to subsidize the paper indefinitely - and he won't.
Further, he’s shown himself to be an increasingly flawed owner, quashing the paper’s endorsement of Kamala Harris just days before the election and shamelessly sucking up to Donald Trump.
Recently, some top reporters have jumped ship to work for The Atlantic magazine, and the Post's top cartoonist, Ann Telnaes quit, when the paper killed a cartoon mocking Bezos' and other billionaires' seeming to buy Trump's favor.
Press critic Dan Froomkin suggests that Bezos turn the Post into a non-profit organization, guaranteeing its independence.
Here's how he put it:
"The good news is that there is a way out of this mess – a way out that would restore the Post’s grand tradition of independence and speaking the unvarnished truth to power.
"It would also reestablish Bezos’s reputation as a great philanthropist.
Bezos must relinquish ownership of the Post to a nonprofit organization, devoted to journalistic independence."
Froomkin suggests that Bezos could get a big tax benefit in the process. I wonder whether Bezos might fund the non-profit with a huge endowment, parting with just a fraction of his Amazon billions.
“We need the Washington Post,” Froomkin writes. “The only way to save it, Jeff Bezos, is to let it go.”
Here's the link to Froomkin's column.
I'm not suggesting we hold our breath for Bezos to adopt the idea.
Which doesn’t mean its not an inspired proposal.
DEMOCRATS’ MESSAGING “WAR MACHINE”
The cruelty, stupidity and impracticality of the coming Trump administration will offer an easy target for critics, especially the Democratic Party.
But so far, Democrats have failed to speak with a strong, persuasive and unified voice.
Indeed, the party’s several factions have seemed more interested in either fighting among themselves over the election loss or finding common ground with Republicans.
U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of my home state – Rhode Island – is having none of that.
Further, he’s shown himself to be an increasingly flawed owner, quashing the paper’s endorsement of Kamala Harris just days before the election and shamelessly sucking up to Donald Trump.
Recently, some top reporters have jumped ship to work for The Atlantic magazine, and the Post's top cartoonist, Ann Telnaes quit, when the paper killed a cartoon mocking Bezos' and other billionaires' seeming to buy Trump's favor.
Press critic Dan Froomkin suggests that Bezos turn the Post into a non-profit organization, guaranteeing its independence.
Here's how he put it:
"The good news is that there is a way out of this mess – a way out that would restore the Post’s grand tradition of independence and speaking the unvarnished truth to power.
"It would also reestablish Bezos’s reputation as a great philanthropist.
Bezos must relinquish ownership of the Post to a nonprofit organization, devoted to journalistic independence."
Froomkin suggests that Bezos could get a big tax benefit in the process. I wonder whether Bezos might fund the non-profit with a huge endowment, parting with just a fraction of his Amazon billions.
“We need the Washington Post,” Froomkin writes. “The only way to save it, Jeff Bezos, is to let it go.”
Here's the link to Froomkin's column.
I'm not suggesting we hold our breath for Bezos to adopt the idea.
Which doesn’t mean its not an inspired proposal.
DEMOCRATS’ MESSAGING “WAR MACHINE”
The cruelty, stupidity and impracticality of the coming Trump administration will offer an easy target for critics, especially the Democratic Party.
But so far, Democrats have failed to speak with a strong, persuasive and unified voice.
Indeed, the party’s several factions have seemed more interested in either fighting among themselves over the election loss or finding common ground with Republicans.
U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of my home state – Rhode Island – is having none of that.
Instead, Whitehouse wants the party to come up with a communications “war machine” that will attack Republicans. Whitehouse made the proposal in a letter to chairpersons of state Democratic parties, a letter reported by Politico, the online news outlet. Politico wrote: "Whitehouse argued that Democrats have no institutional and centralized setup to attack the GOP, writing (that) Republicans 'rapidly and effectively deploy false narratives, while we struggle to bring true ones to bear.' " |
“We in Congress customarily say we’re ‘fighting’ for things when we really mean working or toiling,” Whitehouse said. “A fight means a defined adversary, a battle strategy, and actual punches thrown. Done well, it involves exposing and degrading your adversary’s machinery of warfare.”
I think Whitehouse is on to something. The Democrats’ best hope isn’t to get along with Republicans or imitate them or to abandon long-held ideals, but to present Democrats as an attractive, convincing and inspired alternative to Trump and his acolytes.
Here's the link to the Politico story.
I wasn’t able to find the text of the letter itself – it was written in advance of the national party’s selection of a chairperson on Feb. 1. Nor have I heard whether anyone in the party has seconded Whitehouse’s suggestion.
But it sure sounds like a good approach.
* * *
As I've noted, none of these ideas will bring down the Trump administration.
In fact, none are likely to happen.
But what they have in common is the kind of thinking that is needed to slow, stop and reverse the evil that Trump will unleash when he's sworn in Jan. 20.
Fresh, imaginative, practical ideas - lots of them - are the key to unlocking the puzzle created by the election. It's a puzzle which only seems impossible until it's solved.
I think Whitehouse is on to something. The Democrats’ best hope isn’t to get along with Republicans or imitate them or to abandon long-held ideals, but to present Democrats as an attractive, convincing and inspired alternative to Trump and his acolytes.
Here's the link to the Politico story.
I wasn’t able to find the text of the letter itself – it was written in advance of the national party’s selection of a chairperson on Feb. 1. Nor have I heard whether anyone in the party has seconded Whitehouse’s suggestion.
But it sure sounds like a good approach.
* * *
As I've noted, none of these ideas will bring down the Trump administration.
In fact, none are likely to happen.
But what they have in common is the kind of thinking that is needed to slow, stop and reverse the evil that Trump will unleash when he's sworn in Jan. 20.
Fresh, imaginative, practical ideas - lots of them - are the key to unlocking the puzzle created by the election. It's a puzzle which only seems impossible until it's solved.
THE PERILS OF SUCCESS
* What if Trump's victories, not his misdeeds, advance his downfall?
* Plus: Where have our heroes gone?

WHAT IF WE’VE HAD IT ALL WRONG?
In looking for Donald Trump’s downfall, we’ve been expecting that a heinous self-inflicted episode would be his undoing – that elusive “He’s gone too far” moment: his salacious “Access Hollywood” tape comments;” his traitorous role in the Jan. 6 insurrection; his slurs against military veterans.
But what if it’s success that finally undercuts him?
I’ve been thinking about that possibility since Trump’s stunning victory on Nov. 5, when he won not only the Electoral College count, but the most votes overall – and he didn’t even have to lie about it.
To say nothing of the fact that his MAGA thugs gained control of the Senate and held onto the House.
Too much winning.
I mean, what happens when your luck – which never is an infinite commodity - runs out? What goes up, must go down. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.
Take what happened Dec. 12. The president-elect had what the New York Times postulated as possibly “Donald Trump’s Perfect Day.”
He simultaneously was named Time magazine’s “Person of the Year,” and was given the “honor” of ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, as cries of “USA,” “USA” sang out.
But what if his Perfect Day was actually Peak Trump?
Could this have been the moment when there was no more “up,” and from now on, Trump’s public and private life would be relentlessly downhill and not in a pleasant way.
I’m a believer in life’s perverse physics.
It works this way: things are actually the opposite of what they seem. A victory turns out to be the beginning of the end. Losing is the opening chapter in a story about a promising future.
Understanding that Trump’s lizard brain is uniquely unknowable, I wonder if this is something that troubles him.
Does his massive, far-reaching winning streak - so relentless, so expansive, so unfair, so undeserved and so perverse - begin to prey on him? Does he ruminate in the wee hours, wondering that maybe his number is up, that he’s exhausted his personal supply of close calls, chance escapes and unexpected victories?
Does he worry that, having dodged a literal bullet, he’s now threatened by a virtual one?
WHERE HAVE ALL THE HEROES GONE? PART 1
ONE OF THE LETDOWNS of the current Trump phenomenon is its disappointing dearth of heroes on what has become a bleak and troubled political and cultural landscape.
Christopher Wray did not have to announce his resignation as FBI director, timed to Trump’s assumption of the presidency on Jan. 20.
Wray actually has three years left on his official stint as head of the nation’s premier law enforcement agency. The 10-year term was deliberately set to straddle presidential administrations, an attempt to insulate the FBI from political influence and whim.
A president has a right to fire the FBI chief, and Trump had vowed to do so if Wray had decided not step aside. And there’s little doubt that Trump would do what he said.
But by forcing Trump’s hand, Wray would have stood tall for the FBI, demonstrating that the agency is not a president’s plaything, forcing Trump to challenge its independent traditions.
Wray, at least from the outside view, has been a credible leader, with little to apologize for. He could have let his record speak for itself and the credibility of the agency.
Now, Trump has an unobstructed course in putting a patsy in charge, most likely his designated director, Kash Patel, who is sure to work diligently to corrupt the agency with political investigations and policies.
WHERE HAVE ALL THE HEROES GONE? PART 2
U.S. SEN. JONI ERNST, an Iowa Republican, seemed to have had reservations about a particularly noxious Trump appointment, Pete Hegseth, whom the president-elect nominated as secretary of defense.
Hegseth has said in the past that women shouldn’t serve in combat, and he’s been investigated for, but not charged with, sexual assault.
Ernst is a combat veteran and a sexual assault survivor.
But after she wondered about Hegseth’s qualifications, she was subject to intense MAGA pressure, with threats of being challenged in a primary in 2026.
Later, while not endorsing him, Ernst said she had had an “encouraging” meeting with Hegseth, and that she looked forward to supporting Pete the Creep through a “fair hearing.”
WHERE HAVE ALL THE HEROES GONE? PART 3
IT'S NOT TRUE THAT AMERICA is without modern heroes.
At least we have Luigi Mangione. He’s the suspected assassin of Brian Thompson, the UnitedHealthcare CEO who was gunned down in New York City on Dec. 4.
The killer left behind shells inscribed with “deny,” “defend” and “depose,” part of the vocabulary health insurers use in deflecting patients’ coverage.
Instantly, sympathy bent toward the alleged murderer.
“He took action against private health insurance corporations,” wrote one admirer on the social platform X. “In this house, Luigi Mangione is a hero, end of story!”
The real villain? The Pennsylvania McDonald’s restaurant , where folks told the cops that a man who looked like the fugitive’s photos was eating. Mangione’s arrest prompted online negative reviews of the fast-food outlet, forcing Google to take down the phony notices.
* * *
A FBI chief caves.
A combat veteran retreats.
An accused murderer is lionized.
And 37 days from now, Donald John Trump, a crook, a liar, an abuser of women, an insurrectionist and a bully, will be sworn in as our country’s role-model-in-chief .
In looking for Donald Trump’s downfall, we’ve been expecting that a heinous self-inflicted episode would be his undoing – that elusive “He’s gone too far” moment: his salacious “Access Hollywood” tape comments;” his traitorous role in the Jan. 6 insurrection; his slurs against military veterans.
But what if it’s success that finally undercuts him?
I’ve been thinking about that possibility since Trump’s stunning victory on Nov. 5, when he won not only the Electoral College count, but the most votes overall – and he didn’t even have to lie about it.
To say nothing of the fact that his MAGA thugs gained control of the Senate and held onto the House.
Too much winning.
I mean, what happens when your luck – which never is an infinite commodity - runs out? What goes up, must go down. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.
Take what happened Dec. 12. The president-elect had what the New York Times postulated as possibly “Donald Trump’s Perfect Day.”
He simultaneously was named Time magazine’s “Person of the Year,” and was given the “honor” of ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, as cries of “USA,” “USA” sang out.
But what if his Perfect Day was actually Peak Trump?
Could this have been the moment when there was no more “up,” and from now on, Trump’s public and private life would be relentlessly downhill and not in a pleasant way.
I’m a believer in life’s perverse physics.
It works this way: things are actually the opposite of what they seem. A victory turns out to be the beginning of the end. Losing is the opening chapter in a story about a promising future.
Understanding that Trump’s lizard brain is uniquely unknowable, I wonder if this is something that troubles him.
Does his massive, far-reaching winning streak - so relentless, so expansive, so unfair, so undeserved and so perverse - begin to prey on him? Does he ruminate in the wee hours, wondering that maybe his number is up, that he’s exhausted his personal supply of close calls, chance escapes and unexpected victories?
Does he worry that, having dodged a literal bullet, he’s now threatened by a virtual one?
WHERE HAVE ALL THE HEROES GONE? PART 1
ONE OF THE LETDOWNS of the current Trump phenomenon is its disappointing dearth of heroes on what has become a bleak and troubled political and cultural landscape.
Christopher Wray did not have to announce his resignation as FBI director, timed to Trump’s assumption of the presidency on Jan. 20.
Wray actually has three years left on his official stint as head of the nation’s premier law enforcement agency. The 10-year term was deliberately set to straddle presidential administrations, an attempt to insulate the FBI from political influence and whim.
A president has a right to fire the FBI chief, and Trump had vowed to do so if Wray had decided not step aside. And there’s little doubt that Trump would do what he said.
But by forcing Trump’s hand, Wray would have stood tall for the FBI, demonstrating that the agency is not a president’s plaything, forcing Trump to challenge its independent traditions.
Wray, at least from the outside view, has been a credible leader, with little to apologize for. He could have let his record speak for itself and the credibility of the agency.
Now, Trump has an unobstructed course in putting a patsy in charge, most likely his designated director, Kash Patel, who is sure to work diligently to corrupt the agency with political investigations and policies.
WHERE HAVE ALL THE HEROES GONE? PART 2
U.S. SEN. JONI ERNST, an Iowa Republican, seemed to have had reservations about a particularly noxious Trump appointment, Pete Hegseth, whom the president-elect nominated as secretary of defense.
Hegseth has said in the past that women shouldn’t serve in combat, and he’s been investigated for, but not charged with, sexual assault.
Ernst is a combat veteran and a sexual assault survivor.
But after she wondered about Hegseth’s qualifications, she was subject to intense MAGA pressure, with threats of being challenged in a primary in 2026.
Later, while not endorsing him, Ernst said she had had an “encouraging” meeting with Hegseth, and that she looked forward to supporting Pete the Creep through a “fair hearing.”
WHERE HAVE ALL THE HEROES GONE? PART 3
IT'S NOT TRUE THAT AMERICA is without modern heroes.
At least we have Luigi Mangione. He’s the suspected assassin of Brian Thompson, the UnitedHealthcare CEO who was gunned down in New York City on Dec. 4.
The killer left behind shells inscribed with “deny,” “defend” and “depose,” part of the vocabulary health insurers use in deflecting patients’ coverage.
Instantly, sympathy bent toward the alleged murderer.
“He took action against private health insurance corporations,” wrote one admirer on the social platform X. “In this house, Luigi Mangione is a hero, end of story!”
The real villain? The Pennsylvania McDonald’s restaurant , where folks told the cops that a man who looked like the fugitive’s photos was eating. Mangione’s arrest prompted online negative reviews of the fast-food outlet, forcing Google to take down the phony notices.
* * *
A FBI chief caves.
A combat veteran retreats.
An accused murderer is lionized.
And 37 days from now, Donald John Trump, a crook, a liar, an abuser of women, an insurrectionist and a bully, will be sworn in as our country’s role-model-in-chief .
BIDEN'S BETRAYAL
(Note: This post originally went out as an email because I wasn't able to access the website service. I apologize for using the word “betray” that was the centerpiece of an earlier post – but no other word fits.- Brian Jones)
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN, by pardoning his son, Hunter, has disgraced the presidency, destroyed his legacy and betrayed all who trust in justice.
Biden has cleared the way for Donald Trump to continue his abuse of the presidential pardon powers, which began in Trump’s first term and is sure to accelerate in his second.
If Trump, for example, carries through with his threat to pardon the outlaws who overran the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the excuse should be written large on Washington’s memorial’s and buildings:
“Joe Biden did it, too.”
I’LL NOT GET BOGGED DOWN in Hunter’s crimes and travails.
What counts is that he was convicted by a jury of federal gun charges and pleaded guilty to tax evasion charges.
Beyond those crimes, he traded on his father’s name for years in his business deals.
That the Biden family has been beset by tragedy, a terrible car accident, his Hunter's brother’s death from brain cancer, Hunter’s drug addiction, is truly sad.
It's no excuse for the misuse of the Constitution’s unique pardon authority to keep a family member out of the slammer.
COMPOUNDING THE PARDON DISGRACE is Biden’s version of the Big Lie. He and his spokespersons repeatedly said that he would never use those powers to protect his son his son.
For example, after Hunter’s gun conviction last June, Biden said:
“I abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him.”
The pardon means that we cannot believe a word he says.
About anything.
I BELIEVED IN JOE BIDEN. And maybe you did, too.
I thought he had rescued the United States from the depravity and disgrace of Donald Trump’s first term; I respected the way he returned the country to its normal, if imperfect, function. And all of that eloquent "soul of America" stuff.
Which is now meaningless.
One of the few defenses that the forces of good have had following the Nov. 5 election has been the moral authority against which to measure Trump’s corruption.
Now Biden -- selfishly, hypocritically, faithlessly -- has stripped the country of even that standard.
We are betrayed.
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN, by pardoning his son, Hunter, has disgraced the presidency, destroyed his legacy and betrayed all who trust in justice.
Biden has cleared the way for Donald Trump to continue his abuse of the presidential pardon powers, which began in Trump’s first term and is sure to accelerate in his second.
If Trump, for example, carries through with his threat to pardon the outlaws who overran the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the excuse should be written large on Washington’s memorial’s and buildings:
“Joe Biden did it, too.”
I’LL NOT GET BOGGED DOWN in Hunter’s crimes and travails.
What counts is that he was convicted by a jury of federal gun charges and pleaded guilty to tax evasion charges.
Beyond those crimes, he traded on his father’s name for years in his business deals.
That the Biden family has been beset by tragedy, a terrible car accident, his Hunter's brother’s death from brain cancer, Hunter’s drug addiction, is truly sad.
It's no excuse for the misuse of the Constitution’s unique pardon authority to keep a family member out of the slammer.
COMPOUNDING THE PARDON DISGRACE is Biden’s version of the Big Lie. He and his spokespersons repeatedly said that he would never use those powers to protect his son his son.
For example, after Hunter’s gun conviction last June, Biden said:
“I abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him.”
The pardon means that we cannot believe a word he says.
About anything.
I BELIEVED IN JOE BIDEN. And maybe you did, too.
I thought he had rescued the United States from the depravity and disgrace of Donald Trump’s first term; I respected the way he returned the country to its normal, if imperfect, function. And all of that eloquent "soul of America" stuff.
Which is now meaningless.
One of the few defenses that the forces of good have had following the Nov. 5 election has been the moral authority against which to measure Trump’s corruption.
Now Biden -- selfishly, hypocritically, faithlessly -- has stripped the country of even that standard.
We are betrayed.
THE SEASON OF STUPID
THIS IS THE TIME IN AN ELECTION YEAR when people, myself included, say stupid things.
Summer is history, and if Donald Trump has his way, it won't be back.
This is a time of skeletal tree branches, rotting leafs and four-o’clock sundowns, hinting at what's to come on Jan. 20, when Trump takes over.
There are about two months of official democracy remaining before the avalanche of Trump’s authoritarian winter sweeps across the continent, suffocating whatever is good about the United States.
One of the agonies of this waiting period is listening to lectures about what went wrong – not from the winners, who are still planning their MAGA re-education centers – but from the losers, our own comrades.
How could we have been so witless, the Democratic ask.
How could we have been so deaf, so arrogant, so elitist that we lost our connection to the hard-working working-families, the economic innocents cheated out of a carton of inflated eggs, while their small towns were overrun by pet-devouring immigrants?
Why have we Democrats become so alienated from those authentic Americans, leaving them little choice but to seek guidance from the king of common sense, Donald John Trump?
Summer is history, and if Donald Trump has his way, it won't be back.
This is a time of skeletal tree branches, rotting leafs and four-o’clock sundowns, hinting at what's to come on Jan. 20, when Trump takes over.
There are about two months of official democracy remaining before the avalanche of Trump’s authoritarian winter sweeps across the continent, suffocating whatever is good about the United States.
One of the agonies of this waiting period is listening to lectures about what went wrong – not from the winners, who are still planning their MAGA re-education centers – but from the losers, our own comrades.
How could we have been so witless, the Democratic ask.
How could we have been so deaf, so arrogant, so elitist that we lost our connection to the hard-working working-families, the economic innocents cheated out of a carton of inflated eggs, while their small towns were overrun by pet-devouring immigrants?
Why have we Democrats become so alienated from those authentic Americans, leaving them little choice but to seek guidance from the king of common sense, Donald John Trump?
ONE EXAMPLE OF STUPID came from Seth Moulton, a Democratic Massachusetts congressman, whose star-studded resume includes degrees from Harvard and medals from his service as a Marine during four tours in Iraq. The day after the election, The New York Times sought out Democratic heavies for some quickie insights as to the party’s devastating loss. Here’s what Moulton said: |
Democrats spend way too much time trying not to offend anyone rather than being brutally honest about the challenges many Americans face. I have two little girls. I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat I’m supposed to be afraid to say that. |
Captain Moulton had scouted out the enemy and reported the chilling results to the American people:
Oversized transgender freaks have been roaming America’s athletic fields alongside authentically gendered daughters, whom we’ve left undefended and endangered, because adult enablers from the Democratic left have censored sensible, kitchen-table conversations on this and other hot-potatoes.
If only the Democrats hadn’t been burdened by those gender changelings, to say nothing weighted down by those other pesky issues, like police brutality and climate change, that have absolutely nothing to do with what authentic Americans really care about, like the price of eggs.
In the days following his Times statement, Moulton had a chance to acknowledge the absurdity of laying the blame for Trump’s victory at the feet of transgender children, a fragile fraction of the U.S. population that Trump’s goons traumatized in millions-of-dollars worth of campaign ads.
Instead, Moulton positioned himself as a champion of intraparty free-speech and as a savant-emissary to practical, hard-working-America. In a clarifying statement the next day, he said:
Oversized transgender freaks have been roaming America’s athletic fields alongside authentically gendered daughters, whom we’ve left undefended and endangered, because adult enablers from the Democratic left have censored sensible, kitchen-table conversations on this and other hot-potatoes.
If only the Democrats hadn’t been burdened by those gender changelings, to say nothing weighted down by those other pesky issues, like police brutality and climate change, that have absolutely nothing to do with what authentic Americans really care about, like the price of eggs.
In the days following his Times statement, Moulton had a chance to acknowledge the absurdity of laying the blame for Trump’s victory at the feet of transgender children, a fragile fraction of the U.S. population that Trump’s goons traumatized in millions-of-dollars worth of campaign ads.
Instead, Moulton positioned himself as a champion of intraparty free-speech and as a savant-emissary to practical, hard-working-America. In a clarifying statement the next day, he said:
I stand firmly in my belief for the need for competitive women’s sports to put limits on the participation of those with the unfair physical advantages that come with being born male. I am also a strong supporter of the civil rights of all Americans, including transgender rights. I will fight, as I always have, for the rights and safety of all citizens. These two ideas are not mutually exclusive, and we can even disagree on them. Yet there are many who, shouting from the extreme left corners of social media, believe I have failed the unspoken Democratic Party purity test. We did not lose the 2024 election because of any trans person or issue. We lost, in part, because we shame and belittle too many opinions held by too many voters and that needs to stop. Let’s have these debates now, determine a new strategy for our party since our existing one failed, and then unite to oppose the Trump agenda wherever it imperils American values. |
Notice that Moulton dropped in that line repudiating the thrust his Times' statement: “We did not lose the 2024 election because of any trans person or issue.” But that was overshadowed by his overall charge that lefty purists had squashed honest discussion and therefore distanced the party from mainstream America.
What should he have said? First, he owed transgender individuals – especially youngsters – an apology.
'My stupid. I fell into the Republican trap of picking on a vulnerable group of children, whose desperate search for gender identity can literally cost their lives.'
Secondly, he should have followed that by saying the only thing we all know for certain about why Trump won is that none of us actually knows the answer.
EVIL FORCES WERE AFOOT on Nov. 5, and my best guess now is that nothing could have stopped them. Like Seth Moulton and everyone else distraught by the election results, I have no proof as to why that happened, just sorrow.
Personally, I don’t buy the economic excuse – that, battered by inflation, voters turned on the incumbent party. Nearly as many voters supported Kamala Harris, but I guess they were immune from inflation – maybe coastal elites know where to shop for cheap eggs.
What I don’t understand is why Democrats seem angrier at each other than at the people who voted Donald Trump into the White House and who handed Republicans control of the Senate and House.
The result will be a storm of terror and hate unlike the worst fire and brimstone descriptions in the Bible, and it’s entirely the fault of the Trump voters.
A LITTLE MORE ABOUT TRANSGENDER MATTERS.
I don’t know a lot about the subject. What I’ve read is that a slice of the population is betrayed by a confounding quirk of nature. At some point in their lives, some girls realize their bodies have lied to them, and that they are boys; the same with some males, who identify as females. The journey to balance the scales is fraught and perilous, but can be successful and life-affirming.
Do female athletes face unfair competition from some transitioned males? Maybe, but hormone treatments that they may take, and which some sports associations require, can narrow the differences.
Because the numbers of transgender persons are relatively small, and their athletic cohort is even smaller, the chances that Seth Moulton’s daughters will be run down by such a contestant are small.
But transgender players do show up on female teams – and there is hell to pay when the culture warriors sink their teeth into the actual human beings involved.
What should he have said? First, he owed transgender individuals – especially youngsters – an apology.
'My stupid. I fell into the Republican trap of picking on a vulnerable group of children, whose desperate search for gender identity can literally cost their lives.'
Secondly, he should have followed that by saying the only thing we all know for certain about why Trump won is that none of us actually knows the answer.
EVIL FORCES WERE AFOOT on Nov. 5, and my best guess now is that nothing could have stopped them. Like Seth Moulton and everyone else distraught by the election results, I have no proof as to why that happened, just sorrow.
Personally, I don’t buy the economic excuse – that, battered by inflation, voters turned on the incumbent party. Nearly as many voters supported Kamala Harris, but I guess they were immune from inflation – maybe coastal elites know where to shop for cheap eggs.
What I don’t understand is why Democrats seem angrier at each other than at the people who voted Donald Trump into the White House and who handed Republicans control of the Senate and House.
The result will be a storm of terror and hate unlike the worst fire and brimstone descriptions in the Bible, and it’s entirely the fault of the Trump voters.
- Trump voters put the planet on a death watch, because Trump will accelerate climate change; Trump voters upended the lives of millions of immigrants, their families and their children, who live in fear they’ll be deported – and thousands will be.
- Trump voters dispatched a recovering economy to the tariff poor house; Trump voters abolished the concept of fairness, as a criminalized Department of Injustice will use the law as a club to attack Trump’s enemies.
- Trump voters reactivated the GOP’s enduring dream of taking money from the poor – food stamps and Medicaid – and pass it to the rich as lower taxes; Trump voters set back women’s rights to medical care and equal status.
- Trump voters cleared the way for U.S. soldiers to confront protesters - be they their neighbors, cousins and friends - with deadly force, having left dissenters few options beyond taking to the streets.
A LITTLE MORE ABOUT TRANSGENDER MATTERS.
I don’t know a lot about the subject. What I’ve read is that a slice of the population is betrayed by a confounding quirk of nature. At some point in their lives, some girls realize their bodies have lied to them, and that they are boys; the same with some males, who identify as females. The journey to balance the scales is fraught and perilous, but can be successful and life-affirming.
Do female athletes face unfair competition from some transitioned males? Maybe, but hormone treatments that they may take, and which some sports associations require, can narrow the differences.
Because the numbers of transgender persons are relatively small, and their athletic cohort is even smaller, the chances that Seth Moulton’s daughters will be run down by such a contestant are small.
But transgender players do show up on female teams – and there is hell to pay when the culture warriors sink their teeth into the actual human beings involved.
The Washington Post has a distressing and complicated story this week about the women’s volleyball team at San Jose State University, where one player has been identified as transgender, and the resulting controversy has seen five other teams refuse to play against the squad.
The issue turned so ugly that a San Jose co-captain is part of a lawsuit seeking to have her transgender teammate banned, the filings saying the player had unfairly displaced other players; the captain even claimed the teammate conspired unsuccessfully to injure her.
There are differing views as to the potential danger and competitive disadvantage posed by that player, whom the Post didn't identified because the player hasn’t talked about her background. An official of one volleyball team wrote this about competing against San Jose:
The issue turned so ugly that a San Jose co-captain is part of a lawsuit seeking to have her transgender teammate banned, the filings saying the player had unfairly displaced other players; the captain even claimed the teammate conspired unsuccessfully to injure her.
There are differing views as to the potential danger and competitive disadvantage posed by that player, whom the Post didn't identified because the player hasn’t talked about her background. An official of one volleyball team wrote this about competing against San Jose:
I do think it is important to note, we have played against this athlete for the past two seasons and our student-athletes felt safe in the previous matches. She is not the best or most dominant hitter on the Spartans team. |

The San Jose website lists the player as 6-feet, 1-inches tall, which at first seems male-advantaged; but of the 19 players, seven women are 6-feet or more, including one who is 6-feet, 3-inches.
THE MISCHIEF THAT COMES from exploiting transgender issues has sprung up in the Capitol, where the country’s first elected transgender Congresswoman, Sarah McBride, a Delaware Democrat, has been cornered in one of the GOP’s favorite battlespaces, the bathroom.
GOP Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina has demanded McBride be barred from women’s bathrooms; Speaker Mike Johnson is delighted by the idea of restricting bathrooms, a move that will affect trans Capitol staffers and visitors.
McBride says she’ll follow the House rules. But that’s made her a target of transgender advocates, who say that she has let down the cause, betraying less powerful and more vulnerable people whom McBride should be championing.
ADMITTING THAT I’M AT A LOSS as to why Trump won and what to do about it, here is what I hope, at a minimum, will happen:
I want Democrats to defend vulnerable groups, always, and to reject scapegoating or abandoning individuals as tactic to win the hearts and minds of voters.
Lots of people, like Congressman Moulton, have taken to blaming Democrats for losing the election because they’ve lost touch with voters’ prejudices, which I find to be both unkind and unlikely.
I wish the critics would save a little of their fury for the real villains, the Trump voters.
It’s the Trump voters who have condemned themselves and the rest of us to years of treachery and cruelty that represent America at her very worst.
The Season of Stupid can’t end soon enough.
THE MISCHIEF THAT COMES from exploiting transgender issues has sprung up in the Capitol, where the country’s first elected transgender Congresswoman, Sarah McBride, a Delaware Democrat, has been cornered in one of the GOP’s favorite battlespaces, the bathroom.
GOP Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina has demanded McBride be barred from women’s bathrooms; Speaker Mike Johnson is delighted by the idea of restricting bathrooms, a move that will affect trans Capitol staffers and visitors.
McBride says she’ll follow the House rules. But that’s made her a target of transgender advocates, who say that she has let down the cause, betraying less powerful and more vulnerable people whom McBride should be championing.
ADMITTING THAT I’M AT A LOSS as to why Trump won and what to do about it, here is what I hope, at a minimum, will happen:
I want Democrats to defend vulnerable groups, always, and to reject scapegoating or abandoning individuals as tactic to win the hearts and minds of voters.
Lots of people, like Congressman Moulton, have taken to blaming Democrats for losing the election because they’ve lost touch with voters’ prejudices, which I find to be both unkind and unlikely.
I wish the critics would save a little of their fury for the real villains, the Trump voters.
It’s the Trump voters who have condemned themselves and the rest of us to years of treachery and cruelty that represent America at her very worst.
The Season of Stupid can’t end soon enough.
CATASTROPHE!
The election wasn’t our fault.
What we do about it will be
I WISH I HAD THE ANSWERS.
Just a couple would do.
One insight or two into why Trump won and won so big.
A few profound ideas about what we, the losers, can do.
But like Trump himself, the election is a hideous mystery.
That our friends, neighbors could willingly, purposefully, thoughtfully, soberly and deliberately push the country over the cliff into autocracy and chaos is, and always will be, baffling.
As I write this, I’m still in shock. When I woke up the day after the election, I was amazed that I could still breathe in and out, that my heart continued to beat and my eyes blinked.
So, still dazed, these are my thoughts after talking with my wife and hearing from faraway friends, their dear voices so welcome and comforting just to hear.
I outline a few ideas in the first person, because I feel unworthy and unequipped to write a prescription for anyone else. Maybe you’ll find these useful, if only to advance your thinking.
Just a couple would do.
One insight or two into why Trump won and won so big.
A few profound ideas about what we, the losers, can do.
But like Trump himself, the election is a hideous mystery.
That our friends, neighbors could willingly, purposefully, thoughtfully, soberly and deliberately push the country over the cliff into autocracy and chaos is, and always will be, baffling.
As I write this, I’m still in shock. When I woke up the day after the election, I was amazed that I could still breathe in and out, that my heart continued to beat and my eyes blinked.
So, still dazed, these are my thoughts after talking with my wife and hearing from faraway friends, their dear voices so welcome and comforting just to hear.
I outline a few ideas in the first person, because I feel unworthy and unequipped to write a prescription for anyone else. Maybe you’ll find these useful, if only to advance your thinking.
ABOVE ALL, I MUST BE KIND. If a driver is trying to pull out of a side street, I must stop to let him in. If there’s somebody struggling for exact change at the checkout, I need to be patient. If I pass someone on a sidewalk, smile. Hold the door. Pick up the stray candy wrapper.
If I want the Next America to be more humane, I have to act that way. Instead of being a scowling, grumpy, self-centered creature, I’m pledged to at least try to do the kind thing.
It will be important to remember the beauty and wonder of America – its astonishing landscapes, and its inspired creative and cultural energy.
I want especially to be kind to Kamala Harris and the Democrats.
The virulent post-election Blame-A-Thon now underway is unseemly and unfair. Harris ran a robust, brilliant campaign that culminated in her devastating trouncing Trump in their one TV debate.
Her mastery of the mechanics, decision-making and rhetoric of the campaign in the short, crisis-driven campaign showed that she was absolutely qualified for the presidency.
Her loss was far more than a lost chance to banish the evil of Donald Trump. It squandered a rare opportunity for a the nation to enlist a capable, even great president.
To beat up on Joe Biden, or find fault with Harris’s failure to “understand” the economic pain purportedly felt by the Trump voters, is unnecessarily wasteful and cruel.
The scope and depth of the voters’ embrace of Donald Trump is as bewildering as it is grotesque.
If I want the Next America to be more humane, I have to act that way. Instead of being a scowling, grumpy, self-centered creature, I’m pledged to at least try to do the kind thing.
It will be important to remember the beauty and wonder of America – its astonishing landscapes, and its inspired creative and cultural energy.
I want especially to be kind to Kamala Harris and the Democrats.
The virulent post-election Blame-A-Thon now underway is unseemly and unfair. Harris ran a robust, brilliant campaign that culminated in her devastating trouncing Trump in their one TV debate.
Her mastery of the mechanics, decision-making and rhetoric of the campaign in the short, crisis-driven campaign showed that she was absolutely qualified for the presidency.
Her loss was far more than a lost chance to banish the evil of Donald Trump. It squandered a rare opportunity for a the nation to enlist a capable, even great president.
To beat up on Joe Biden, or find fault with Harris’s failure to “understand” the economic pain purportedly felt by the Trump voters, is unnecessarily wasteful and cruel.
The scope and depth of the voters’ embrace of Donald Trump is as bewildering as it is grotesque.
I’M ANGRY AND MUST STAY ANGRY.
The Trump voters – every single one of them – are betrayers not just of democracy, but decency.
They have a lot to answer for.
They endorsed racism, nativism, corruption, criminality, cruelty and sexism.
The big Trump policies will include massive deportation of immigrants, which will ruin lives, imperil the economy and set the stage for attacks on many other groups and lead to an eventual turnback of civil rights.
One half the population – women – will be recommitted to second-class citizenship, not just in terms of healthcare, but in every sector of society.
Climate change will continue to imperil the planet and all of us who live here.
The economy – the supposed excuse for voting for Trump – will weaken and become more unfair, with all of us “little people” imperiled on a bipartisan basis.
Every aspect of American life will be worse under President Trump than it would have been under President Harris.
What Trump voters have done to us, in other words, is unforgivable and must never be excused or rationalized.
EVERY DAY WILL PRESENT CHOICES. I must make the right one every time.
Do I speak out?
Join this group?
Donate money?
Let this car in line?
Subscribe to this newspaper?
Follow this podcast?
Buy from this company?
Pick up that stray candy wrapper?
The Trump voters – every single one of them – are betrayers not just of democracy, but decency.
They have a lot to answer for.
They endorsed racism, nativism, corruption, criminality, cruelty and sexism.
The big Trump policies will include massive deportation of immigrants, which will ruin lives, imperil the economy and set the stage for attacks on many other groups and lead to an eventual turnback of civil rights.
One half the population – women – will be recommitted to second-class citizenship, not just in terms of healthcare, but in every sector of society.
Climate change will continue to imperil the planet and all of us who live here.
The economy – the supposed excuse for voting for Trump – will weaken and become more unfair, with all of us “little people” imperiled on a bipartisan basis.
Every aspect of American life will be worse under President Trump than it would have been under President Harris.
What Trump voters have done to us, in other words, is unforgivable and must never be excused or rationalized.
EVERY DAY WILL PRESENT CHOICES. I must make the right one every time.
Do I speak out?
Join this group?
Donate money?
Let this car in line?
Subscribe to this newspaper?
Follow this podcast?
Buy from this company?
Pick up that stray candy wrapper?
ACKNOWLEDGE THE CATASTROPHE
I know enough about myself that I will want it all to go away, that I’ll wear out, become exhausted, frightened, and weary of what it will take to get the country back on course.
The only certainty of the next four years is that every aspect of American life will be worse – far worse – than we expect, mirroring the astonishingly breadth the election itself.
The first attack will be on free speech and free assembly. Trump will wage war on all media; he will criminalize demonstrations; he will turn the national security apparatus against all citizens.
I must pay attention, and respond individually, and participate collectively, to counter every assault on the First Amendment. A big part of what otherwise should be “charitable” donations will go to individual media and groups like the American Civil Liberties Union.
The ultimate agenda is breathtaking, because the election was so sweeping, and because Trump’s appetite for malice is so vast.
I don’t know whether I’ll be up to the challenge, only that I want to be.
I know enough about myself that I will want it all to go away, that I’ll wear out, become exhausted, frightened, and weary of what it will take to get the country back on course.
The only certainty of the next four years is that every aspect of American life will be worse – far worse – than we expect, mirroring the astonishingly breadth the election itself.
The first attack will be on free speech and free assembly. Trump will wage war on all media; he will criminalize demonstrations; he will turn the national security apparatus against all citizens.
I must pay attention, and respond individually, and participate collectively, to counter every assault on the First Amendment. A big part of what otherwise should be “charitable” donations will go to individual media and groups like the American Civil Liberties Union.
The ultimate agenda is breathtaking, because the election was so sweeping, and because Trump’s appetite for malice is so vast.
I don’t know whether I’ll be up to the challenge, only that I want to be.
DAY OF DREAD & HOPE: THE ELECTION FINALLY ENDS

THIS IS THE DAY.
I’ve dreaded it for years, and yet I’m glad the final day of voting is here. The campaign had to be finished at some point, and there is much to rejoice in looking back at what has been accomplished.
America is threatened as at no time since the Second World War, and I think the nation has battled back with energy, ingenuity and courage.
Millions upon millions of people recognize that Donald Trump is out to destroy democracy and corrupt our culture.
It is amazing to me that one man could hate the country so thoroughly as he does, turning liberals like me into zealous flag-wavers, the kind of super patriots we used to scorn in the Cold war days.
Some of the most startling counter-Trumpsters have been Republicans like Liz and Dick Cheney and even Mike Pence, who did the right thing at the right time on Jan. 6, 2021.
Some of the sharpest and most insightful commentary has come from conservatives.
Millions of "ordinary" Americans, as if there are such creatures, have donated a billion-plus dollars to Harris, visited battleground states to knock on doors, dispatched post cards, joined Democratic phone banks, argued with relatives, attended rallies, phoned talk shows, listened to podcasts, scoured newspapers and hollered at TV screens.
I have said this before, turning 82 personally has had plenty of downsides, but among the benefits has been the privilege of being around to witness this crusade to defend American democracy.
I’ve dreaded it for years, and yet I’m glad the final day of voting is here. The campaign had to be finished at some point, and there is much to rejoice in looking back at what has been accomplished.
America is threatened as at no time since the Second World War, and I think the nation has battled back with energy, ingenuity and courage.
Millions upon millions of people recognize that Donald Trump is out to destroy democracy and corrupt our culture.
It is amazing to me that one man could hate the country so thoroughly as he does, turning liberals like me into zealous flag-wavers, the kind of super patriots we used to scorn in the Cold war days.
Some of the most startling counter-Trumpsters have been Republicans like Liz and Dick Cheney and even Mike Pence, who did the right thing at the right time on Jan. 6, 2021.
Some of the sharpest and most insightful commentary has come from conservatives.
Millions of "ordinary" Americans, as if there are such creatures, have donated a billion-plus dollars to Harris, visited battleground states to knock on doors, dispatched post cards, joined Democratic phone banks, argued with relatives, attended rallies, phoned talk shows, listened to podcasts, scoured newspapers and hollered at TV screens.
I have said this before, turning 82 personally has had plenty of downsides, but among the benefits has been the privilege of being around to witness this crusade to defend American democracy.
IT’S NOT BEEN PERFECT, of course, the campaign to rescue a country.
The major news organizations have done a fine job letting us know the ups and downs of campaign events.
You and I could not know the terrible threat of a Trump second term without the remarkable journalism of the New York Times and the Washington Post.
Yet, both of these great surviving newspapers betrayed their readers and the country.
The Times has failed to treat the danger Trump represents as an unqualified, unquestionable threat to the country, of the sort you might expect as if an asteroid were headed our way. Instead, it has portrayed a largely normal campaign, airbrushing Trump’s betrayal and downplaying Harris’s emergent leadership.
The Post’s owner, Jeff Bezos, let down his readers and reporters by withdrawing, at the last minute, an editorial endorsing Kamala Harris, an obvious move to curry favor with Trump, should he win.
(My wife notes Bezos's disregard for his reporters' safety, in light of Trump's constant attack on reporters, saying recently he wouldn't mind if would-be assassins turned their guns on the journalists covering his rallies).
My personal nomination for cowardice goes to present-day folk signer-songwriters, offspring of a noble earlier generation that gave voice to the civil rights and anti-war crusades of the 1960s and 1970s. But today’s singer-poets have had nothing to sing about when it comes to Donald Trump.
I’m guessing why: they feared losing half or more of their audiences if they trained their satire and psychic insights toward Donald Trump, and maybe they were scared of Trump's legal attacks and being blacklisted by radio and web-hosting monoliths. Sing a song of shame.
And what to make of the Republican Party “leadership,” and most of all, the Trump faithful, who have been blind and deaf to Trump’s vulgarity, authoritarianism, violence, cruelty and brutality.
The major news organizations have done a fine job letting us know the ups and downs of campaign events.
You and I could not know the terrible threat of a Trump second term without the remarkable journalism of the New York Times and the Washington Post.
Yet, both of these great surviving newspapers betrayed their readers and the country.
The Times has failed to treat the danger Trump represents as an unqualified, unquestionable threat to the country, of the sort you might expect as if an asteroid were headed our way. Instead, it has portrayed a largely normal campaign, airbrushing Trump’s betrayal and downplaying Harris’s emergent leadership.
The Post’s owner, Jeff Bezos, let down his readers and reporters by withdrawing, at the last minute, an editorial endorsing Kamala Harris, an obvious move to curry favor with Trump, should he win.
(My wife notes Bezos's disregard for his reporters' safety, in light of Trump's constant attack on reporters, saying recently he wouldn't mind if would-be assassins turned their guns on the journalists covering his rallies).
My personal nomination for cowardice goes to present-day folk signer-songwriters, offspring of a noble earlier generation that gave voice to the civil rights and anti-war crusades of the 1960s and 1970s. But today’s singer-poets have had nothing to sing about when it comes to Donald Trump.
I’m guessing why: they feared losing half or more of their audiences if they trained their satire and psychic insights toward Donald Trump, and maybe they were scared of Trump's legal attacks and being blacklisted by radio and web-hosting monoliths. Sing a song of shame.
And what to make of the Republican Party “leadership,” and most of all, the Trump faithful, who have been blind and deaf to Trump’s vulgarity, authoritarianism, violence, cruelty and brutality.
UNTIL TODAY, it has been comforting to know that the election was somewhere down the road, with enough time to work and strategize our roles in the campaign, and, frankly, to bask safely in Joe Biden’s democracy.
So, I hated the relentless turning of the calendar, and then to come to the end of October and now the beginning of November.
In our family, November is usually a special month: my wife’s birthday is at the end of election week, my grand daughter’s birthday arrives shortly after that; and capping it all is the best of all American holidays, Thanksgiving.
What are those celebrations going to be like if . . . ?
I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA how this will end.
I have avoided anything about the polls, because early in the campaign they took the focus off the critical issues – democracy versus dictatorship – and also, because common sense says that accurate polling seems impossible.
Who in their right mind answers a phone call from a pollster? And those who do, it seems to me, have an agenda – either to hide their true intentions, or to poison the survey with corrupt answers.
So, maybe the race IS tied. My guess is that the outcome will be anything but close, and victory will be quickly apparent and well-defined. I just don’t know if that imagined big margin will belong to Trump or to Harris.
In my hometown, Newport, R.I., I have yet to see ONE Trump sign, although I'm told there are some, and I've seen only a smattering of Harris posters.
There are plenty of local city council and school committee campaign signs, so it’s not like Newport residents have lost the skill of planting a poster or two or seven on their front lawns, hedges and fences.
So, I hated the relentless turning of the calendar, and then to come to the end of October and now the beginning of November.
In our family, November is usually a special month: my wife’s birthday is at the end of election week, my grand daughter’s birthday arrives shortly after that; and capping it all is the best of all American holidays, Thanksgiving.
What are those celebrations going to be like if . . . ?
I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA how this will end.
I have avoided anything about the polls, because early in the campaign they took the focus off the critical issues – democracy versus dictatorship – and also, because common sense says that accurate polling seems impossible.
Who in their right mind answers a phone call from a pollster? And those who do, it seems to me, have an agenda – either to hide their true intentions, or to poison the survey with corrupt answers.
So, maybe the race IS tied. My guess is that the outcome will be anything but close, and victory will be quickly apparent and well-defined. I just don’t know if that imagined big margin will belong to Trump or to Harris.
In my hometown, Newport, R.I., I have yet to see ONE Trump sign, although I'm told there are some, and I've seen only a smattering of Harris posters.
There are plenty of local city council and school committee campaign signs, so it’s not like Newport residents have lost the skill of planting a poster or two or seven on their front lawns, hedges and fences.
But I take no comfort in the famine of Trump and Harris signs. My guess is that residents simply don’t want their fellow citizens to know their thinking when it comes Harris vs. Trump, and a lack of lawn decorations avoids conflicts, arguments and grudges erupting before and after the election.
LIKE EVERYONE ELSE, I have been amazed at the dynamics of the election.
Who could have predicted that two disasters, the Supreme Court’s abortion decision and Joe Biden’s debate debacle, have given Democrats a fighting chance, with abortion becoming a defining issue and Kamala Harris emerging as an instant maestro of the political orchestra.
I’m disappointed that some of the country’s most challenging issues – climate change, economic inequality, racism and the conflicts in Ukraine and Middle East – have not been central to the campaign.
Still, I think the voters need all they need to know: Trump will ruin America; Harris will advance it.
My expectation is a definitive Harris win.
But that’s just me. I have no insight, special antennae or any way of measuring the pulse of America, scientifically or otherwise.
Like many, I have daily panic attacks about the human catastrophe that would follow a Trump victory.
I am not a brave man. I don’t know what kind of a resistance fighter I would be if Trump wins. Not as fierce and relentless as I would wish. Especially knowing that however awful his regime can be imagined now, the reality will be far worse.
Every day, I allow myself to imagine the relief, joy and celebration of a New America that a Harris victory will unleash.
Especially today, I’m filled with hope.
LIKE EVERYONE ELSE, I have been amazed at the dynamics of the election.
Who could have predicted that two disasters, the Supreme Court’s abortion decision and Joe Biden’s debate debacle, have given Democrats a fighting chance, with abortion becoming a defining issue and Kamala Harris emerging as an instant maestro of the political orchestra.
I’m disappointed that some of the country’s most challenging issues – climate change, economic inequality, racism and the conflicts in Ukraine and Middle East – have not been central to the campaign.
Still, I think the voters need all they need to know: Trump will ruin America; Harris will advance it.
My expectation is a definitive Harris win.
But that’s just me. I have no insight, special antennae or any way of measuring the pulse of America, scientifically or otherwise.
Like many, I have daily panic attacks about the human catastrophe that would follow a Trump victory.
I am not a brave man. I don’t know what kind of a resistance fighter I would be if Trump wins. Not as fierce and relentless as I would wish. Especially knowing that however awful his regime can be imagined now, the reality will be far worse.
Every day, I allow myself to imagine the relief, joy and celebration of a New America that a Harris victory will unleash.
Especially today, I’m filled with hope.
An American Dream
HARRIS WINS!
United States elects its first woman president;
Voters reject Trump’s dark vision of the county.
WE’RE ONE WEEK AWAY from Election Day.
I’ve been thinking about what will happen. Here’s my vision:
Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, wins both the popular vote and the Electoral College count – both by decisive margins.
The headlines and stories reflect astonishment.
The polls, once again, got it wrong.
As did the political soothsayers, who usually opt for pessimism, cynicism, and skepticism - not without reason, since the world is savage place - and because they're scared silly of being wrong.
And surely, the pollsters and experts never want to be accused of the ultimate sin of being soft-headed, sentimental and impractical.
Both the commentariat and the polls had indicated a discouraging outcome, in which the momentum in the final days belonged to Donald Trump.
Even Harris’s supporters, when asked how they were feeling about the election, gave a candid one-word answer: “nervous.”
Many of The Nervous remembered but never recovered from the shock of 2016, in which Trump illogically, and against the best polls and the wisest punditry, gathered enough Electoral votes to become president.
Trump’s presidency had been a disaster, even worse than imagined. Yet, here he was again, with a resume that had more in common with a criminal’s rap sheet than a list of presidential qualifications; more popular than ever; a survivor of twin impeachments and two attempted assassinations; filling auditoriums and stadiums; spewing racism, lies, vulgar jokes and promising a brutal, cruel authoritarianism.
How could so many millions of Americans be enthralled and devoted to such a repulsive figure, who promoted so many un-American beliefs?
THE ANSWER, ON ELECTION NIGHT, was that Harris had upended all of that.
How?
Once again, Americans proved that they believed in the American dream.
It’s a dream often defined by material prosperity – the house with the picket fence, the car(s) and affordable eggs.
But the important part of the dream has always been about more. The American dream, from the beginning, is about hope. Hope that in one country, ideas and ideals count. Hope that things could, would and will get better.
America’s sins are real and lasting. Slavery powered the country's original economy, and its “manifest destiny” was realized by slaughtering and betraying Indians.
But generation after generation, the country sought to better live up to its founding language.
Now, in the election of 2024, all “men” really meant that everyone really was equal; a woman was elected president; finally, the country had doubled its chances of electing a capable leader.
With a mixed background, Harris was more representative of the country America was becoming: mixed-race, mixed faith, mixed origins, all in service of the American dream.
I’ve been thinking about what will happen. Here’s my vision:
Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, wins both the popular vote and the Electoral College count – both by decisive margins.
The headlines and stories reflect astonishment.
The polls, once again, got it wrong.
As did the political soothsayers, who usually opt for pessimism, cynicism, and skepticism - not without reason, since the world is savage place - and because they're scared silly of being wrong.
And surely, the pollsters and experts never want to be accused of the ultimate sin of being soft-headed, sentimental and impractical.
Both the commentariat and the polls had indicated a discouraging outcome, in which the momentum in the final days belonged to Donald Trump.
Even Harris’s supporters, when asked how they were feeling about the election, gave a candid one-word answer: “nervous.”
Many of The Nervous remembered but never recovered from the shock of 2016, in which Trump illogically, and against the best polls and the wisest punditry, gathered enough Electoral votes to become president.
Trump’s presidency had been a disaster, even worse than imagined. Yet, here he was again, with a resume that had more in common with a criminal’s rap sheet than a list of presidential qualifications; more popular than ever; a survivor of twin impeachments and two attempted assassinations; filling auditoriums and stadiums; spewing racism, lies, vulgar jokes and promising a brutal, cruel authoritarianism.
How could so many millions of Americans be enthralled and devoted to such a repulsive figure, who promoted so many un-American beliefs?
THE ANSWER, ON ELECTION NIGHT, was that Harris had upended all of that.
How?
Once again, Americans proved that they believed in the American dream.
It’s a dream often defined by material prosperity – the house with the picket fence, the car(s) and affordable eggs.
But the important part of the dream has always been about more. The American dream, from the beginning, is about hope. Hope that in one country, ideas and ideals count. Hope that things could, would and will get better.
America’s sins are real and lasting. Slavery powered the country's original economy, and its “manifest destiny” was realized by slaughtering and betraying Indians.
But generation after generation, the country sought to better live up to its founding language.
Now, in the election of 2024, all “men” really meant that everyone really was equal; a woman was elected president; finally, the country had doubled its chances of electing a capable leader.
With a mixed background, Harris was more representative of the country America was becoming: mixed-race, mixed faith, mixed origins, all in service of the American dream.
LOOKING BACK ON IT ALL, Harris’s win was all the more inspired and astonishing because it was born out of an unprecedented political crisis.
Joe Biden, an accomplished, and wildly underappreciated president, had been showing his age and/or health as he sought a second term, and when he confronted Trump in a TV debate, Biden disintegrated.
Under immense pressure from fellow Democrats, Biden on July 21 withdrew from the race, leaving his largely unloved vice president – Kamala Harris – as the only viable replacement as the Democratic nominee.
From that moment on, Harris emerged as a confident, competent and capable leader, instantly eloquent and in control, never making a strategic stumble or verbal misstep.
At the Democratic convention a month later, on Aug. 23, Harris succinctly summarized both Trump’s weakness and threat:
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.
More than any policy position or stirring speech, Harris demonstrated that she had what it takes to be a president, and in their single TV debate, she demolished Trump.
But Harris’s personal qualities were not the only factor in her win.
During the three-month, exuberant and desperate campaign, millions of American rose to the challenge. Progressives mostly held their tongues as Harris reached out to conservatives. Conservative icons, like the Cheney family, set aside their ideology for core democratic principles. People from solidly blue states traveled to the seven battleground states to knock on doors. Volunteers made phone calls, wrote postcards and prayed.
On election night, it was too early to tell whether Harris would be among the good presidents; or whether she would be admitted to that rare group, the Washingtons, the Lincolns, and, with my bias is showing here, the Bidens.
But what we did know is that Harris’s election opened a new, promising chapter in the American story.
Now we would be able to confront a brutal economy, which leaves many American impoverished, homeless and hungry. Now we would be able to confront climate change, Russian aggression, deadly conflict in the Middle East and all the surprises and challenges that are the ordinary, everyday elements of American life.
* * *
IF YOU HAVE READ THIS FAR, you may say that my vision of what we’ll be experiencing next Tuesday is a fantasy, born of wishful thinking and spacey sentiment.
Maybe.
But my American dream is based in our country’s difficult, aspirational and inspired history.
And without this dream, we will never have the country that we want for ourselves and that our children deserve.
Joe Biden, an accomplished, and wildly underappreciated president, had been showing his age and/or health as he sought a second term, and when he confronted Trump in a TV debate, Biden disintegrated.
Under immense pressure from fellow Democrats, Biden on July 21 withdrew from the race, leaving his largely unloved vice president – Kamala Harris – as the only viable replacement as the Democratic nominee.
From that moment on, Harris emerged as a confident, competent and capable leader, instantly eloquent and in control, never making a strategic stumble or verbal misstep.
At the Democratic convention a month later, on Aug. 23, Harris succinctly summarized both Trump’s weakness and threat:
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.
More than any policy position or stirring speech, Harris demonstrated that she had what it takes to be a president, and in their single TV debate, she demolished Trump.
But Harris’s personal qualities were not the only factor in her win.
During the three-month, exuberant and desperate campaign, millions of American rose to the challenge. Progressives mostly held their tongues as Harris reached out to conservatives. Conservative icons, like the Cheney family, set aside their ideology for core democratic principles. People from solidly blue states traveled to the seven battleground states to knock on doors. Volunteers made phone calls, wrote postcards and prayed.
On election night, it was too early to tell whether Harris would be among the good presidents; or whether she would be admitted to that rare group, the Washingtons, the Lincolns, and, with my bias is showing here, the Bidens.
But what we did know is that Harris’s election opened a new, promising chapter in the American story.
Now we would be able to confront a brutal economy, which leaves many American impoverished, homeless and hungry. Now we would be able to confront climate change, Russian aggression, deadly conflict in the Middle East and all the surprises and challenges that are the ordinary, everyday elements of American life.
* * *
IF YOU HAVE READ THIS FAR, you may say that my vision of what we’ll be experiencing next Tuesday is a fantasy, born of wishful thinking and spacey sentiment.
Maybe.
But my American dream is based in our country’s difficult, aspirational and inspired history.
And without this dream, we will never have the country that we want for ourselves and that our children deserve.
BETRAYED!
After the Washington Post shamefully bows to Trump, what should readers do? Cancel? Keep footing the bill?
WE ARE BETRAYED.
In a nauseating, abject, obsequious act of subjection to Donald Trump, the Washington Post this week killed its expected endorsement of Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president.
It was a betrayal on many levels: of the paper's extraordinary journalistic history, its talented staff, its readers, and most importantly, of the country, at an unprecedented hour of peril.
It was Jeff Bezos’ doing.
He’s the owner of the Post, the founder of Amazon and one of the world’s richest men. He moved the election’s outcome toward Trump, perhaps only by inches, but closer.
What should those who care about a storied newspaper and its place in our public life do about this shocking, surprising treachery?
Should the paper’s editorial board, which had prepared an endorsement, resign? Should the rest of the staff – the writers, analysts, cartoonists, columnists likewise quit?
Should readers – myself included – cancel our subscriptions?
Tens of thousands of readers, who denounced the endorsement debacle in online comments and letters to the paper, threatened to do just that – quit paying for the Post, and thereby give up reading it.
To all of those possible moves, I say no – please don’t.
In a nauseating, abject, obsequious act of subjection to Donald Trump, the Washington Post this week killed its expected endorsement of Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president.
It was a betrayal on many levels: of the paper's extraordinary journalistic history, its talented staff, its readers, and most importantly, of the country, at an unprecedented hour of peril.
It was Jeff Bezos’ doing.
He’s the owner of the Post, the founder of Amazon and one of the world’s richest men. He moved the election’s outcome toward Trump, perhaps only by inches, but closer.
What should those who care about a storied newspaper and its place in our public life do about this shocking, surprising treachery?
Should the paper’s editorial board, which had prepared an endorsement, resign? Should the rest of the staff – the writers, analysts, cartoonists, columnists likewise quit?
Should readers – myself included – cancel our subscriptions?
Tens of thousands of readers, who denounced the endorsement debacle in online comments and letters to the paper, threatened to do just that – quit paying for the Post, and thereby give up reading it.
To all of those possible moves, I say no – please don’t.
THE STAFF, INCLUDING THE EDITORIAL BOARD, should stay put and continue producing its insightful commentaries. The reporting staff should keep working and writing, turning out some of the country’s best political, investigative and other journalism.
And the readers should keep paying the Post’s bills, galling and infuriating as that might seem.
Newspapers, especially the good ones like the Post, which have survived the near collapse of the industry, are simply too precious and rare to be allowed to disappear, even if, at the moment, it seems that the Post has brought injury upon itself.
As for those of us who are subscribers, withdrawing our financial support is simply a self-inflicted wound, one that’s only momentarily satisfying in the heat of our collective tantrum.
The fact is that newspapers are unique, even in the digital age. The really good ones, with huge, experienced staffs, are the only news outfits equipped to do proper journalism.
So if we undermine the paper’s financial footings, we only hurt ourselves, as well as the country.
It may well be that the Post will not survive, anyway. While it flourished initially after Bezos purchased it and wisely recognized the Internet could make it a national, subscription newspaper, the paper these day seems not to be so healthy, financially or journalistically.
And if Trump wins the election with the help of cowards like Bezos, Trump has promised to include high-quality news outlets among his first targets. It’s just what dictators do.
Then there’s the practicality of the limited responses available to the paper’s staff and to the readers.
Bezos won’t care if reporters and other staffers disappear from his payroll; he won’t miss the readers’ contributions – the fact is the Post's online subscriptions aren’t all that expensive, so a rich man may be willing to lose thousands of readers.
And frankly, now that the paper is struggling, he probably won’t care very much if “his” Washington Post lives or dies.
He is, after all, a traitor to journalism, or he wouldn’t have done what he did in the first place – refused to honor his own writers’ voluminous reporting that showed Trump to be a clear and present danger to the country.
And the readers should keep paying the Post’s bills, galling and infuriating as that might seem.
Newspapers, especially the good ones like the Post, which have survived the near collapse of the industry, are simply too precious and rare to be allowed to disappear, even if, at the moment, it seems that the Post has brought injury upon itself.
As for those of us who are subscribers, withdrawing our financial support is simply a self-inflicted wound, one that’s only momentarily satisfying in the heat of our collective tantrum.
The fact is that newspapers are unique, even in the digital age. The really good ones, with huge, experienced staffs, are the only news outfits equipped to do proper journalism.
So if we undermine the paper’s financial footings, we only hurt ourselves, as well as the country.
It may well be that the Post will not survive, anyway. While it flourished initially after Bezos purchased it and wisely recognized the Internet could make it a national, subscription newspaper, the paper these day seems not to be so healthy, financially or journalistically.
And if Trump wins the election with the help of cowards like Bezos, Trump has promised to include high-quality news outlets among his first targets. It’s just what dictators do.
Then there’s the practicality of the limited responses available to the paper’s staff and to the readers.
Bezos won’t care if reporters and other staffers disappear from his payroll; he won’t miss the readers’ contributions – the fact is the Post's online subscriptions aren’t all that expensive, so a rich man may be willing to lose thousands of readers.
And frankly, now that the paper is struggling, he probably won’t care very much if “his” Washington Post lives or dies.
He is, after all, a traitor to journalism, or he wouldn’t have done what he did in the first place – refused to honor his own writers’ voluminous reporting that showed Trump to be a clear and present danger to the country.
MANY OF THE POST'S past and current writers, eloquent folks that they are, have written on the Post’s own pages and website with far more insight and spirit than I can, about the endorsement disgrace.
Marty Baron, the iconic former editor of the paper, was quoted in a Post story:
“This is cowardice, a moment of darkness that will leave democracy as a casualty. Donald Trump will celebrate this as an invitation to further intimidate the Post’s owner, Jeff Bezos (and other media owners). History will mark a disturbing chapter of spinelessness at an institution famed for courage.”
Look, I don’t hold out much hope for the long-term future of the Post after this traumatic injury.
But I want to be wrong.
Maybe the Post will continue its courageous, remarkable work. Maybe Jeff Bezos will hold a news conference today, apologize for his mistake, read the endorsement out loud and then publish it – thanking the readers for caring so much.
It’s obvious in the real world that the paper can continue only if the staff stays put and readers foot the bill.
At the very least, let’s not do Donald Trump’s dirty work for him.
Marty Baron, the iconic former editor of the paper, was quoted in a Post story:
“This is cowardice, a moment of darkness that will leave democracy as a casualty. Donald Trump will celebrate this as an invitation to further intimidate the Post’s owner, Jeff Bezos (and other media owners). History will mark a disturbing chapter of spinelessness at an institution famed for courage.”
Look, I don’t hold out much hope for the long-term future of the Post after this traumatic injury.
But I want to be wrong.
Maybe the Post will continue its courageous, remarkable work. Maybe Jeff Bezos will hold a news conference today, apologize for his mistake, read the endorsement out loud and then publish it – thanking the readers for caring so much.
It’s obvious in the real world that the paper can continue only if the staff stays put and readers foot the bill.
At the very least, let’s not do Donald Trump’s dirty work for him.
Election countdown - 2 weeks left
TRUMP’S VULGAR FABLE ABOUT A GOLFER’S PENIS WON’T DEFEAT HIM. BUT AMERICAN VOTERS CAN.
I THOUGHT – STUPIDLY – that when Donald Trump told a political rally last Saturday that the late golf icon, Arnold Palmer, had a substantial penis, and, later, at the same event, he called his opponent a “shit,” those would be major developments in the campaign.
Trump’s behavior was so awful and so unseemly that the rally story had to have implications for the election, and at the very least, it would have a longer than usual life in the news cycle.
Because it was profane and vulgar.
Because it showed Trump is continuing to lose his grip. (Or that he's not).
Because it was one of those simple to understand parables that explains so much about why Trump should not be president.
If Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, had done that sort of thing, it would have been the finale act of her campaign – Curtains for Kamala.
As it was, I saw only one really good story about the rally, in the Washington Post, although even in that paper, it never got top billing; the New York Times “explained” it academically as another Trumpian visit to the sewer. And NPR at one point mentioned that Trump had described Palmer’s “anatomy,” without saying which part.
I am embarrassed to say I was surprised and genuinely shocked that he would discuss somebody’s dick and that he would describe his rival as poop.
And at the very least, I expected that the story would be talk of the liberal press, the liberal blogs, the liberal podcasts. But it faded quickly in the ongoing blizzard of other “news.” Did you know, for example, that the next day Donald Trump dished out french fries at a staged visit to a McDonald’s restaurant?
If you've read this far, you’re probably saying : “Where have you been the last nine years? Nothing that Donald John Trump does or says matters. Don’t you know that? By now?”
Even worse, a remote part of my brain involuntarily continues to expect Donald Trump to self-extinguish, so that sooner than later he will go too far, and that suddenly there will be a national consensus that whatever the elusive “too far” is, Trump will reach that threshold, and that will be that.
Of course, that's not going to happen. Donald Trump is not going to bring Donald Trump down. Which doesn’t mean that Donald Trump is invincible – only that Donald Trump won’t be the one to do himself in.
I’D LIKE TO LINGER in the Trump gutter briefly. Both his Long Schlong Story and his Harris-Is-A-Shit assessment tell us much about the man, who, according to the polls, has at least a 50-50 chance of becoming president – as we mark the two week point before Election Day.
I would add this warning: we should not take Trump at his word that Arnold Palmer had an outsized penis. Trump is a serial, pathological liar, and we should always presume he's making up stuff until we know otherwise.
I’m not even sure how you'd begin to fact-check this story, or whether PolitiFact or similar organizations have tried to.
Trump’s behavior was so awful and so unseemly that the rally story had to have implications for the election, and at the very least, it would have a longer than usual life in the news cycle.
Because it was profane and vulgar.
Because it showed Trump is continuing to lose his grip. (Or that he's not).
Because it was one of those simple to understand parables that explains so much about why Trump should not be president.
If Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, had done that sort of thing, it would have been the finale act of her campaign – Curtains for Kamala.
As it was, I saw only one really good story about the rally, in the Washington Post, although even in that paper, it never got top billing; the New York Times “explained” it academically as another Trumpian visit to the sewer. And NPR at one point mentioned that Trump had described Palmer’s “anatomy,” without saying which part.
I am embarrassed to say I was surprised and genuinely shocked that he would discuss somebody’s dick and that he would describe his rival as poop.
And at the very least, I expected that the story would be talk of the liberal press, the liberal blogs, the liberal podcasts. But it faded quickly in the ongoing blizzard of other “news.” Did you know, for example, that the next day Donald Trump dished out french fries at a staged visit to a McDonald’s restaurant?
If you've read this far, you’re probably saying : “Where have you been the last nine years? Nothing that Donald John Trump does or says matters. Don’t you know that? By now?”
Even worse, a remote part of my brain involuntarily continues to expect Donald Trump to self-extinguish, so that sooner than later he will go too far, and that suddenly there will be a national consensus that whatever the elusive “too far” is, Trump will reach that threshold, and that will be that.
Of course, that's not going to happen. Donald Trump is not going to bring Donald Trump down. Which doesn’t mean that Donald Trump is invincible – only that Donald Trump won’t be the one to do himself in.
I’D LIKE TO LINGER in the Trump gutter briefly. Both his Long Schlong Story and his Harris-Is-A-Shit assessment tell us much about the man, who, according to the polls, has at least a 50-50 chance of becoming president – as we mark the two week point before Election Day.
I would add this warning: we should not take Trump at his word that Arnold Palmer had an outsized penis. Trump is a serial, pathological liar, and we should always presume he's making up stuff until we know otherwise.
I’m not even sure how you'd begin to fact-check this story, or whether PolitiFact or similar organizations have tried to.
Palmer’s Wikipedia page makes no mention. I suppose someone could ask members of his family or other golfers, whom Trump claims were witnesses to the phenomenon. It’s possible there are biographies that include a chapter or two. Or, maybe there’s an archival edition of Golf Digest with insights. But for our purposes, size is not the main issue; it’s the rudeness and Trump's obvious delight in telling the fable. Trump’s rally was in Pennsylvania, the most important of the seven battleground states, specifically in the community of Latrobe, which was Palmer’s hometown. Palmer, who won 62 PGA Tour titles, died in 2016 at age 87. |
Here’s how Trump's story played out, and you can see it yourself on a C-Span video by clicking on this link:
Trump spent a good 10 minutes extolling Palmer’s golfing career. But you could tell all of that background was just a long-winded introduction to the story that he really wanted to tell:
Trump spent a good 10 minutes extolling Palmer’s golfing career. But you could tell all of that background was just a long-winded introduction to the story that he really wanted to tell:
So, you know, I've been here before and I've told the story before, not in this kind of detail, because, you know, you have these teleprompters. If I would read it off a teleprompter, it wouldn't be so good, right? And it would be a lot shorter. It wouldn't be as good. And I didn't want to do that. I said when I come here, I'm going to tell the real story of Arnold, but Arnold Palmer was all man. And I say that in all due respect to women and I love women. (Crowd cheers) But this guy, this guy, this is a guy that was all-man. This man was strong and tough, and I refused to say it; but when he took showers with the other pros, they came out of there, they said: “Oh, my God, that's unbelievable.” (Laughter). I had to say it. I have to say we have women that are highly sophisticated here. But they used to look at Arnold (garbled). But he was really something special. Arnold was something special. So I just want to tell you, you're very lucky, the people that live in Latrobe. And it's an honor for me to be here, because of him. And he was actually, he was a great man, and I don't think there would be golf to this, to the extent that you have it today. It probably wouldn't be that way without the great Arnold Palmer. So enjoy it. Everybody enjoy it. And I had to tell you the shower part of it because it's, it's true. What can I tell? We want to be honest, we want to be upfront. It's true. |
Again, you and I don’t know that “it’s true.” What’s also not clear is why Trump or anyone else would want to tell this story in public (or private).
Did he want the people of Latrobe to know an important historic detail? Certainly, the folks at the rally and maybe the nation watching on TV will never be able to “unhear” it. Did Trump want the world of golf to know? Did he want us to believe that long ago golfers took showers and that they made sure they checked out the size of other people's equipment?
Maybe, it's just that an old man, with the brain of a middle-schooler, likes to talk to talk dirty, so that he'll be noticed.
IT WOULD BE UNFAIR to say that Trump limited his remarks to a supposedly legendary body part. His rally went on for more than an hour, and as usual, Trump zigzagged from topic to topic. Immigrants are drug dealers, murderers and mental patients. Joe Biden has been a foreign policy failure. Recently, “Bibi” Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, phoned Trump. Elon Musk is a genius; tariffs will push the economy into high gear.
At one point, Trump apparently caught a glimpse of himself in a TV monitor, prompting this remark:
Did he want the people of Latrobe to know an important historic detail? Certainly, the folks at the rally and maybe the nation watching on TV will never be able to “unhear” it. Did Trump want the world of golf to know? Did he want us to believe that long ago golfers took showers and that they made sure they checked out the size of other people's equipment?
Maybe, it's just that an old man, with the brain of a middle-schooler, likes to talk to talk dirty, so that he'll be noticed.
IT WOULD BE UNFAIR to say that Trump limited his remarks to a supposedly legendary body part. His rally went on for more than an hour, and as usual, Trump zigzagged from topic to topic. Immigrants are drug dealers, murderers and mental patients. Joe Biden has been a foreign policy failure. Recently, “Bibi” Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, phoned Trump. Elon Musk is a genius; tariffs will push the economy into high gear.
At one point, Trump apparently caught a glimpse of himself in a TV monitor, prompting this remark:
I’m looking at my hair up there. Let’s say, “Oh, I don’t like it. I don’t like it. Excuse me. I’m going to recomb my hair.” Do you mind? I’ll leave the stage for five minutes. I’m going to recomb my hair.” |
Trump apparently had second thoughts about ducking the spotlight for the recomb.
Lest anyone forget that he has twice escaped assassination attempts, he noted that his Secret Service protection has increased – and he turned that point into another opportunity to reference Palmer.
Lest anyone forget that he has twice escaped assassination attempts, he noted that his Secret Service protection has increased – and he turned that point into another opportunity to reference Palmer.
They give you a little extra security now. It has, you know, hey, I got more machine guns than I've ever seen in my. Look at these guys. Hey, yay, yay. I got more machine guns. I never saw guns like that. I said to my son, Don, he knows a lot about guns and Eric knows – they are great shots; they really understand. I said, “What kind of a gun is that?” They said, “Dad, you don't even want to know.” They are serious guns. We got more guys than … every one of them is like central casting, too. Holy. I'm looking -they look like Arnold Palmer. They look like Arnold; can't look better than Arnold. |
AND, OF COURSE, TRUMP made many mentions of Kamala Harris. Here’s one, in which he compared her to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and managed to get in a barnyard word:
Bernie is radical left and this one, Kamala, is further left than them. So you have to tell Kamala Harris that you've had enough, that you just can't take it anymore. We can't stand you. You're a shit vice president, the worst. You're the worst. Vice President Kamala, you're fired. Get the hell out of here, you're fired. Get out of here, get the hell out of here. |
If Harris had discussed a man's private parts, that would probably end her chances of becoming the first woman president.
If she said that Trump had been “a shit President,” that would have been big news and reason for much worry, despair and critical editorials.
I don’t know why Trump gets away with it all. He tried to overthrow an election. He’s been convicted of falsifying records to cover up payments to a porn star. He wants to let global warming destroy the planet. He’s a liar, a business cheat, a misogynist and a bigot. He proposes detaining and expelling millions of immigrants. He sent Russia's Vladimir Putin Covid drug tests during the pandemic.
Here’s the bottom line:
The only way we are going to be free of Trump is to defeat him in the election, which ends just two weeks from now on Nov. 5.
Donald Trump won’t rid America of Donald Trump.
But American voters can.
If she said that Trump had been “a shit President,” that would have been big news and reason for much worry, despair and critical editorials.
I don’t know why Trump gets away with it all. He tried to overthrow an election. He’s been convicted of falsifying records to cover up payments to a porn star. He wants to let global warming destroy the planet. He’s a liar, a business cheat, a misogynist and a bigot. He proposes detaining and expelling millions of immigrants. He sent Russia's Vladimir Putin Covid drug tests during the pandemic.
Here’s the bottom line:
The only way we are going to be free of Trump is to defeat him in the election, which ends just two weeks from now on Nov. 5.
Donald Trump won’t rid America of Donald Trump.
But American voters can.
OH, REALLY? THERE'S A DANGEROUS ELECTION HEADING OUR WAY?
WE’VE BEEN HAVING THE BEST WEATHER of the year in Rhode Island. Gorgeous conditions – warm, crystal clear air, drenched with sunshine, piercingly blue skies and the most gentle winds.
And that’s a problem.
You’d think that everything is terrific, and it will stay that way.
It’s not okay, of course, not in North Carolina and Florida and the other states that have been devastated by hurricanes Helene and Milton, with their homicidal winds, sea surges, monsoon rains and sneak tornadoes.
Even more treacherous is the election, now just three weeks away, which will turn the country in one of two directions: toward dictatorship or toward democracy.
And yet, just as with the balmy weather here in Rhode Island, there is remarkable calm about this election, easily the most important in my eight-decade lifetime.
I can’t figure out why.
Kamala Harris promises essentially a New America, one in which the country continues to make progress toward our founding ideals and principles.
Donald Trump will plunge the country into an authoritarian hellscape, probably one from which escape will be impossible.
If a hurricane – or an asteroid - were threatening the entire country, not just part of it, there would be alarms and warnings aplenty.
The airwaves and cyberspace should be filled with announcements; there’d be leaflets, billboards, sound-trucks (Do we still have those?). Volunteers would be spreading the word. We would be filling the equivalent of sandbags, towncriers would alerting us to the coming catastrophe.
We had a terrific street fair in Newport last Saturday. Shouldn’t we instead have been taking to the streets about the election?
And that’s a problem.
You’d think that everything is terrific, and it will stay that way.
It’s not okay, of course, not in North Carolina and Florida and the other states that have been devastated by hurricanes Helene and Milton, with their homicidal winds, sea surges, monsoon rains and sneak tornadoes.
Even more treacherous is the election, now just three weeks away, which will turn the country in one of two directions: toward dictatorship or toward democracy.
And yet, just as with the balmy weather here in Rhode Island, there is remarkable calm about this election, easily the most important in my eight-decade lifetime.
I can’t figure out why.
Kamala Harris promises essentially a New America, one in which the country continues to make progress toward our founding ideals and principles.
Donald Trump will plunge the country into an authoritarian hellscape, probably one from which escape will be impossible.
If a hurricane – or an asteroid - were threatening the entire country, not just part of it, there would be alarms and warnings aplenty.
The airwaves and cyberspace should be filled with announcements; there’d be leaflets, billboards, sound-trucks (Do we still have those?). Volunteers would be spreading the word. We would be filling the equivalent of sandbags, towncriers would alerting us to the coming catastrophe.
We had a terrific street fair in Newport last Saturday. Shouldn’t we instead have been taking to the streets about the election?
SURE, IF YOU ARE TUNED IN to MSNBC or political podcasts, you know what the stakes are.
But for much of America, my sense is that life is proceeding as usual. Yup, there’s an election. But also Halloween. Daylight Savings Time is about to end, drastically shrinking afternoon daylight. But heck, these are things that happen every year.
In one sense, this sense of Everything’s Fine is a tribute to the Joe Biden presidency. He promised to return the United States to normal after the chaos of the Trump years.
And Biden delivered. The country recovered, with exceptions, from Covid; the economy surged, if imperfectly, because a market-system is unfair to the underdog; climate control got its strongest forward push, although still far too feeble. Mainly, the machinery of democracy is working as it’s supposed to.
But the peril of a Trump return to the White House is real and possible.
Trump makes no secret of his awful plans.
He wants to imprison, and deport, millions of immigrants, a crusade of hatred that will have massive spillover into scapegoating other groups and eventual reversal of all civil rights.
He wants local police to crack heads. He’ll appoint political judges and if there are openings in the Supreme Court, he’ll do what he did with his three nominees, who dispossessed women of equal medical care and created unheard of legal immunity for presidents, mocking the principal that “no one is above the law.” Trump lies and lies and lies. The election was stolen. Refugees eat their neighbors’ cats and dogs. The election was stolen. Biden won’t even call governors in storm-torn states. The election was stolen.
Last night, at a “town hall” event in Pennsylvania, after two people apparently collapsed in an overly hot hall, Trump stopped answering questions and spent the next half hour encouraging his audience to listen to his favorite songs played over the sound system, twisting and shifting to the music.
The Washington Post’s headline:
Trump sways and bops to music for
39 minutes in bizarre town hall episode
Why wasn’t this the Post’s main headline, the banner headline on every newspaper, the lead story on every newscast, the talk of the town and the country, a rocking would-be president off his rocker?
Trump will change the culture, and turn it mean, ugly and strange.
But for much of America, my sense is that life is proceeding as usual. Yup, there’s an election. But also Halloween. Daylight Savings Time is about to end, drastically shrinking afternoon daylight. But heck, these are things that happen every year.
In one sense, this sense of Everything’s Fine is a tribute to the Joe Biden presidency. He promised to return the United States to normal after the chaos of the Trump years.
And Biden delivered. The country recovered, with exceptions, from Covid; the economy surged, if imperfectly, because a market-system is unfair to the underdog; climate control got its strongest forward push, although still far too feeble. Mainly, the machinery of democracy is working as it’s supposed to.
But the peril of a Trump return to the White House is real and possible.
Trump makes no secret of his awful plans.
He wants to imprison, and deport, millions of immigrants, a crusade of hatred that will have massive spillover into scapegoating other groups and eventual reversal of all civil rights.
He wants local police to crack heads. He’ll appoint political judges and if there are openings in the Supreme Court, he’ll do what he did with his three nominees, who dispossessed women of equal medical care and created unheard of legal immunity for presidents, mocking the principal that “no one is above the law.” Trump lies and lies and lies. The election was stolen. Refugees eat their neighbors’ cats and dogs. The election was stolen. Biden won’t even call governors in storm-torn states. The election was stolen.
Last night, at a “town hall” event in Pennsylvania, after two people apparently collapsed in an overly hot hall, Trump stopped answering questions and spent the next half hour encouraging his audience to listen to his favorite songs played over the sound system, twisting and shifting to the music.
The Washington Post’s headline:
Trump sways and bops to music for
39 minutes in bizarre town hall episode
Why wasn’t this the Post’s main headline, the banner headline on every newspaper, the lead story on every newscast, the talk of the town and the country, a rocking would-be president off his rocker?
Trump will change the culture, and turn it mean, ugly and strange.
SO MUCH FOR OUR SWEET, GENTLE AUTUMN.
A terrible storm – the most frightening in our history – is headed our way.
Unlike natural disasters, this is ours – the voters – to control.
We can let the storm have its way with our country, ripping apart our traditions, and degrading the lives of every one of our citizens.
Or we can change its course, and send it harmlessly out to sea.
As of this moment, as a country, we don’t seem to care all that much which way the winds blow. Nice weather here in the east. Baseball playoffs underway. Football is getting started. Donald Trump is twisting and lying.
What’s the big deal?
A terrible storm – the most frightening in our history – is headed our way.
Unlike natural disasters, this is ours – the voters – to control.
We can let the storm have its way with our country, ripping apart our traditions, and degrading the lives of every one of our citizens.
Or we can change its course, and send it harmlessly out to sea.
As of this moment, as a country, we don’t seem to care all that much which way the winds blow. Nice weather here in the east. Baseball playoffs underway. Football is getting started. Donald Trump is twisting and lying.
What’s the big deal?
WITNESS TO A GREAT POLITICAL CRUSADE
What I learned during an afternoon of calling Democrats at home
YOU’D THINK THAT CALLING PEOPLE, even for a righteous cause – like saving the country from a dictator – would be rotten work.
We all hate these phone calls; so you’d wouldn’t want to be the one doing it.
Bothering folks at home, interrupting them, spoiling lunch, making them drop the paint bucket to answer a call on the chance it might be the medical lab tests results, or the monthly call from an overseas cousin or the lawyer with news you’re in the will of a rich godmother you never knew existed.
I was on one of those national phone banks last Sunday for the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz campaign, which enlisted hundreds of volunteers to make political calls. I came away, after two hours, inspired.
The excitement, enthusiasm I heard in the people who actually answered their phones – and more than half did – was extraordinary. It made me realize what a crusade we are witnessing – this effort to preserve democracy as the cloud of Donald Trump once again menaces the country.
The people I reached were all-in for Harris . They really, really liked her, admired her and saw in her a hopeful future that is the antithesis of the hellscape Trump has in mind for America .
“I am one-hundred-thousand-and-ten-percent for her,” exclaimed one woman, reaching for a number to adequately measure her support for Harris.
We all hate these phone calls; so you’d wouldn’t want to be the one doing it.
Bothering folks at home, interrupting them, spoiling lunch, making them drop the paint bucket to answer a call on the chance it might be the medical lab tests results, or the monthly call from an overseas cousin or the lawyer with news you’re in the will of a rich godmother you never knew existed.
I was on one of those national phone banks last Sunday for the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz campaign, which enlisted hundreds of volunteers to make political calls. I came away, after two hours, inspired.
The excitement, enthusiasm I heard in the people who actually answered their phones – and more than half did – was extraordinary. It made me realize what a crusade we are witnessing – this effort to preserve democracy as the cloud of Donald Trump once again menaces the country.
The people I reached were all-in for Harris . They really, really liked her, admired her and saw in her a hopeful future that is the antithesis of the hellscape Trump has in mind for America .
“I am one-hundred-thousand-and-ten-percent for her,” exclaimed one woman, reaching for a number to adequately measure her support for Harris.

“I am absolutely voting for her,” said another woman who was walking not one but two dogs at a park, dogs that didn’t necessarily welcome meeting other pooches.
Wrangling the two dogs, which weren’t small, would have made an acceptable excuse for her hang up her cell phone, but she wanted to stay on the line, just to talk about how much she appreciated the campaign.
I reached a woman in Puerto Rico. She had gone there from the mainland to take care of an uncle who was in his 80s. She was a bit younger – in her 70s – but said she was eager to vote.
How eager?
Well, she was planning to return home at the end of October, so she could vote in person, and then planned to fly back to Puerto Rico, to resume her care-taking duties.
“I’m old school, and I want to vote in person,” she said. Then she added, ominously, I thought at first: “I have two cousins in Pennsylvania and Florida – and they are going to vote for Harris, too.”
Another person said that four years ago, there were a few Trump signs in her neighborhood, but that so far, the only signs she was seeing were for Harris and Walz.
“Now, this is anecdotal,” she cautioned me. “You can’t always tell what’s going on with those signs. I’m just telling you what I’m seeing.”
LIKE THE SIGN SPOTTER, I don’t want to give you the wrong signals.
If you are a Democrat, or an Independent leaning left, or a Republican Never-Trumper, you are worried and have been for nine years, "worried" being a euphemism for being scared silly and sleepless.
Most of my friends are nervous in the closing weeks of the campaign. It just doesn’t feel right. Harris should be doing better in the polls. The euphoria that surged when she assumed the nomination this summer seems to have cooled now that it's fall.
I'm sorry that I can’t relieve those fears, based on the feedback I was getting from my calls, which were steered to Democrats.
And we know Democrats are born scared and nervous, it’s in their DNA; and Donald Trump’s 2016 victory is a trauma from which they will never fully recover. Plus, it’s a fact that Trump has a crazed following for whom facts have no meaning.
Most importantly, I wasn't talking with a cross-section of normal Democrats. Mainly, the people I seemed to be reaching seemed plucked fom a data base of super Democratic voters.
In essence, I was calling up the choir. On a Sunday.
The purpose of the calls was to recruit people to do just what I was doing, making phone calls from home, through the wizardry of campaign shoftware linked to me laptop computer. So, maybe the same software was finding people likely to be activists, or, at least might be recruitable, or, as a pollster might put it, “leaning recruitable.”
Indeed, of the 30 or so calls that got through, five or six said they would give phone banking a try – especially after I explained that if I could follow the campaign's instructions, anyone could. (The campaign holds a Zoom learning session before the calls start).
One guy said flatly "No, I can't do it today." But then he said that if I texted him the contact information (the software does it for the volunteers), he might be able to fit a shift into his schedule later - maybe Tuesday or Wednesday .
More than a handful said they already were doing stuff and lots of it: door-to-door canvassing for “down-ballot” state and local candidates, writing postcards, and doing some phone work.
AND THAT'S THE POINT:
There are a lot of people across the country – millions, actually – who are working hard, pulling out all the stops, running scared, but feeling glad and upbeat.
Nobody can tell whether the enthusiasm I sensed will be “enough.”
But it sure is good to know that it is there, and that its real and its powerful.
And without this remarkable enthusiasm, Harris will have no chance.
I’m now 82, and there’s a lot I don’t like about being old.
But I’m grateful for having lived long enough to witness all of this - one of the greatest political crusades the country has experienced in decades
* * *
NOTE: Interested in doing something in the closing days of the election? Here’s a Democrats’ volunteer website: https://events.democrats.org/
Wrangling the two dogs, which weren’t small, would have made an acceptable excuse for her hang up her cell phone, but she wanted to stay on the line, just to talk about how much she appreciated the campaign.
I reached a woman in Puerto Rico. She had gone there from the mainland to take care of an uncle who was in his 80s. She was a bit younger – in her 70s – but said she was eager to vote.
How eager?
Well, she was planning to return home at the end of October, so she could vote in person, and then planned to fly back to Puerto Rico, to resume her care-taking duties.
“I’m old school, and I want to vote in person,” she said. Then she added, ominously, I thought at first: “I have two cousins in Pennsylvania and Florida – and they are going to vote for Harris, too.”
Another person said that four years ago, there were a few Trump signs in her neighborhood, but that so far, the only signs she was seeing were for Harris and Walz.
“Now, this is anecdotal,” she cautioned me. “You can’t always tell what’s going on with those signs. I’m just telling you what I’m seeing.”
LIKE THE SIGN SPOTTER, I don’t want to give you the wrong signals.
If you are a Democrat, or an Independent leaning left, or a Republican Never-Trumper, you are worried and have been for nine years, "worried" being a euphemism for being scared silly and sleepless.
Most of my friends are nervous in the closing weeks of the campaign. It just doesn’t feel right. Harris should be doing better in the polls. The euphoria that surged when she assumed the nomination this summer seems to have cooled now that it's fall.
I'm sorry that I can’t relieve those fears, based on the feedback I was getting from my calls, which were steered to Democrats.
And we know Democrats are born scared and nervous, it’s in their DNA; and Donald Trump’s 2016 victory is a trauma from which they will never fully recover. Plus, it’s a fact that Trump has a crazed following for whom facts have no meaning.
Most importantly, I wasn't talking with a cross-section of normal Democrats. Mainly, the people I seemed to be reaching seemed plucked fom a data base of super Democratic voters.
In essence, I was calling up the choir. On a Sunday.
The purpose of the calls was to recruit people to do just what I was doing, making phone calls from home, through the wizardry of campaign shoftware linked to me laptop computer. So, maybe the same software was finding people likely to be activists, or, at least might be recruitable, or, as a pollster might put it, “leaning recruitable.”
Indeed, of the 30 or so calls that got through, five or six said they would give phone banking a try – especially after I explained that if I could follow the campaign's instructions, anyone could. (The campaign holds a Zoom learning session before the calls start).
One guy said flatly "No, I can't do it today." But then he said that if I texted him the contact information (the software does it for the volunteers), he might be able to fit a shift into his schedule later - maybe Tuesday or Wednesday .
More than a handful said they already were doing stuff and lots of it: door-to-door canvassing for “down-ballot” state and local candidates, writing postcards, and doing some phone work.
AND THAT'S THE POINT:
There are a lot of people across the country – millions, actually – who are working hard, pulling out all the stops, running scared, but feeling glad and upbeat.
Nobody can tell whether the enthusiasm I sensed will be “enough.”
But it sure is good to know that it is there, and that its real and its powerful.
And without this remarkable enthusiasm, Harris will have no chance.
I’m now 82, and there’s a lot I don’t like about being old.
But I’m grateful for having lived long enough to witness all of this - one of the greatest political crusades the country has experienced in decades
* * *
NOTE: Interested in doing something in the closing days of the election? Here’s a Democrats’ volunteer website: https://events.democrats.org/
Election countdown - 1 month to go
"SO WHAT?"
Trump’s callous rebuke, after learning of his vice president’s escape from Capitol rioters, may be the question that decides the 2024 election
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.
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
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?
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.
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.” |

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
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.
FINALLY!
A SAD, INEVITABLE DAY
AS BIDEN QUITS THE RACE
THE NIGHT BEFORE Joe Biden quit his campaign, I was raging to my wife and our cat - who unjustly have had to endure so many political harangues - what a stubborn, selfish man the president had turned out to be.
Trying to cling to his candidacy for a second term, putting the nation – and all of us - at risk of another Donald Trump disaster, but much worse this time. Can you imagine the ego of the man.
But by yesterday afternoon, when Biden finally did “the right thing,” I just felt sad.
Wish came true, yup. But a letdown? Also, yes.
I missed him immediately. I can’t fully explain why, except that I’ve grown to like Joe Biden immensely in the more than three years in which he’s been president, the best president of my lifetime.
Here’s the thing: I’d gone all in on the Biden shtick: the aviator sun glasses, the bike-riding guy from Scranton, car-loving Everyman grinning in the cockpit of his ’67 Corvette Stingray.
He’d done the most important thing anyone could possibly do, saved the country, and all of us in it, from another four years of Donald Trump.
A friend once warned me that's the wrong thing to do, “liking” a politician.
They are not your buddies, he said. Ultimately, they aren’t even nice. The charm they exhibit doesn’t make them a good neighbor. Likeability is political Darwinism, natural selection; it’s impossible for them to get elected if they aren’t fun to be around.
Instead, my friend said, pols, officials, the people in charge, should be judged impersonally, dispassionately on the things they do right, which is rare; and condemned for the what they screw up, which is routine.
SO I GUESS I SHOULDN'T go all weepy about Joe’s exit.
Here’s the thing: it sure took him long enough – maybe too long – and drove everyone crazy waiting for the obvious. And when Joe did do it, it wasn’t out of the goodness of his heart, or because he’s a patriot, or because he loves America.
He did it because he had to. Period. After the disaster of his June 27 debate, fellow Democrats, including his supposed “pals” like Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi, along with the pollsters, the media, rank-and-file voters, the Senate and House creatures of the “down ballot” and even Ben, our cat, they all made it impossible for him to remain in the race.
It's one of the realities of politics: sometimes you can’t do what you want.
Trying to cling to his candidacy for a second term, putting the nation – and all of us - at risk of another Donald Trump disaster, but much worse this time. Can you imagine the ego of the man.
But by yesterday afternoon, when Biden finally did “the right thing,” I just felt sad.
Wish came true, yup. But a letdown? Also, yes.
I missed him immediately. I can’t fully explain why, except that I’ve grown to like Joe Biden immensely in the more than three years in which he’s been president, the best president of my lifetime.
Here’s the thing: I’d gone all in on the Biden shtick: the aviator sun glasses, the bike-riding guy from Scranton, car-loving Everyman grinning in the cockpit of his ’67 Corvette Stingray.
He’d done the most important thing anyone could possibly do, saved the country, and all of us in it, from another four years of Donald Trump.
A friend once warned me that's the wrong thing to do, “liking” a politician.
They are not your buddies, he said. Ultimately, they aren’t even nice. The charm they exhibit doesn’t make them a good neighbor. Likeability is political Darwinism, natural selection; it’s impossible for them to get elected if they aren’t fun to be around.
Instead, my friend said, pols, officials, the people in charge, should be judged impersonally, dispassionately on the things they do right, which is rare; and condemned for the what they screw up, which is routine.
SO I GUESS I SHOULDN'T go all weepy about Joe’s exit.
Here’s the thing: it sure took him long enough – maybe too long – and drove everyone crazy waiting for the obvious. And when Joe did do it, it wasn’t out of the goodness of his heart, or because he’s a patriot, or because he loves America.
He did it because he had to. Period. After the disaster of his June 27 debate, fellow Democrats, including his supposed “pals” like Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi, along with the pollsters, the media, rank-and-file voters, the Senate and House creatures of the “down ballot” and even Ben, our cat, they all made it impossible for him to remain in the race.
It's one of the realities of politics: sometimes you can’t do what you want.
I had an image of Pelosi, the former House speaker and greatest woman politician of our era (so far), descending on his summer home in Delaware, dragging him out, leaping behind the wheel of Stingray, plopping Biden in the passenger seat and driving him far, far away until he “agreed” to leave the race.
None of this is fair to Biden, after all he has done putting the country back to normal after the criminal chaos of Trump’s four years.
But Biden hasn’t been fair, either, being so obstinate, clinging to power, thinking that he could ignore whatever is going on in his body that has made him so frail, his voice too low to be able to make the proper case against Trump.
I DO ADMIT to being surprised by the Republicans in how low and ugly they are, as in how they instantly responded to Biden’s withdrawal. But the GOP playbook is vast, and its chapters go far beyond Rule # 1: Always be a sore loser.
Yesterday’s was # 36 - Never miss a chance to kick a man when he’s down.
Biden leaves the stage and in about a minute and a half later, they’re getting a few whacks into the 81-year-old suffering from Covid, as well as despair.
“Kick him, Mikey.”
“Yeah, Donny, you kick ‘em, too.”
Mikey Johnson, the House speaker:
“If Joe Biden is not fit to run for President, he is not fit to serve as President. He must resign the office immediately. November 5 cannot arrive soon enough.”
The “new” Donny Trump, chastened after God herself brushed an assassin’s bullet away from his brain, displayed his newfound compassion:
Crooked Joe Biden was not fit to run for President, and is certainly not fit to serve - And never was! He only attained the position of President by lies, Fake News, and not leaving his Basement.
FOR A MOMENT, Kamala Harris is looking good, terrific, in fact.
Harvesting endorsements, including one from everyone’s favorite uncle, Uncle Joe Biden; from fellow Democrats; hailed as a 59-year-old youngster and democracy’s best, last hope. But just wait until she starts getting the business from the Republicans, the media, jealous fellow party members who dream at night of walking into that Oval Office themselves and not as a guest.
Can Harris stand up to it? Can she rally the party? Can she beat Donald Trump?
Can a sizable chunk of the electorate even know the answer to this civics quiz question: Can you name the current vice president of the United States?
None of this is fair to Biden, after all he has done putting the country back to normal after the criminal chaos of Trump’s four years.
But Biden hasn’t been fair, either, being so obstinate, clinging to power, thinking that he could ignore whatever is going on in his body that has made him so frail, his voice too low to be able to make the proper case against Trump.
I DO ADMIT to being surprised by the Republicans in how low and ugly they are, as in how they instantly responded to Biden’s withdrawal. But the GOP playbook is vast, and its chapters go far beyond Rule # 1: Always be a sore loser.
Yesterday’s was # 36 - Never miss a chance to kick a man when he’s down.
Biden leaves the stage and in about a minute and a half later, they’re getting a few whacks into the 81-year-old suffering from Covid, as well as despair.
“Kick him, Mikey.”
“Yeah, Donny, you kick ‘em, too.”
Mikey Johnson, the House speaker:
“If Joe Biden is not fit to run for President, he is not fit to serve as President. He must resign the office immediately. November 5 cannot arrive soon enough.”
The “new” Donny Trump, chastened after God herself brushed an assassin’s bullet away from his brain, displayed his newfound compassion:
Crooked Joe Biden was not fit to run for President, and is certainly not fit to serve - And never was! He only attained the position of President by lies, Fake News, and not leaving his Basement.
FOR A MOMENT, Kamala Harris is looking good, terrific, in fact.
Harvesting endorsements, including one from everyone’s favorite uncle, Uncle Joe Biden; from fellow Democrats; hailed as a 59-year-old youngster and democracy’s best, last hope. But just wait until she starts getting the business from the Republicans, the media, jealous fellow party members who dream at night of walking into that Oval Office themselves and not as a guest.
Can Harris stand up to it? Can she rally the party? Can she beat Donald Trump?
Can a sizable chunk of the electorate even know the answer to this civics quiz question: Can you name the current vice president of the United States?
We should be humble about this: there's a lot we just don't know.
We just don’t know, can’t fathom, how a big part of the country has been driven crazy by Donald Trump. He shouldn’t even be in the race, and here he is, literally dodging bullets, getting legal cases dropped, on and on and on, and we all don’t know how he does it. Therefore, we don’t know what can be done about it.
But on Nov. 5, we’ll know almost everything: Did we do the right thing about throwing Favorite Uncle Joe under the bus? Did we wait too long to do that? Do people loath Donald Trump enough? Will we live free or die? All riddles will be solved.
But one question will haunt our generation and history itself, because it never will be answered:
Could Joe Biden have beaten Donald Trump?
We just don’t know, can’t fathom, how a big part of the country has been driven crazy by Donald Trump. He shouldn’t even be in the race, and here he is, literally dodging bullets, getting legal cases dropped, on and on and on, and we all don’t know how he does it. Therefore, we don’t know what can be done about it.
But on Nov. 5, we’ll know almost everything: Did we do the right thing about throwing Favorite Uncle Joe under the bus? Did we wait too long to do that? Do people loath Donald Trump enough? Will we live free or die? All riddles will be solved.
But one question will haunt our generation and history itself, because it never will be answered:
Could Joe Biden have beaten Donald Trump?
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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