White House Race- September 14, 2024

 52 Days Until Election Day

I never knew a liberal Democrat could make me that happy.

If I really think about it, that is a sad state on the commentary of our current political landscape, but I cannot help it. I enjoyed this past week's Presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump for reasons that go far beyond ideology. I think comedian Stephen Colbert may have said it best. "First, she shook his hand. Then, she handed him his ass."

I think Harris was far from perfect in the debate. She appeared nervous on the first question she was asked and never really answered it in a way that she should be able to do so by now. She was not overly successful in either defending the record of the Biden Administration, in which she has technically been second in command or in differentiating herself from Biden. Harris did not really have a sensible rationale for why she has changed her views on many issues since her boldly leftward pandering attempt to win a Presidential nomination five years ago. However, she was well prepared with a game plan and executed what she wanted to do. She was the alpha on stage and Trump felt it all night.

What we saw was simply nothing less than the deeply indebted psychological and mental deficiencies of Trump. She baited him with precision and he took that bait each and every time. The Vice President basically toyed with him and it did not go well for the former President. None of this should come as a surprise. Her strategy going into the debate was clear and the question was whether Trump could avoid falling into the trap. He could not. He really, really could not.  After all these many years, it was enjoyable to see. Nobody in the history of America deserves to get cooked on a debate stage on national television more than Donald J. Trump. 

Does this mean the election is over? Of course not. Democrats were giddy after and expected a big bump in the polls. At best, there has been modest movement for Harris, but the fact is that our country is so polarized and opinions on Trump are so ingrained that there is literally nothing for him that can move the needle one way or another. It did not happen when he was convicted of felonies. It did not happen when he survived an assassination attempt and it did not happen when Joe Biden imploded on a debate stage more than two months ago. Trump has now had his own "disastrous" debate in which questions about his age and mental acuity should very much be a story but it likely has not moved the needle much either. Trump simply has his cultist followers who will love or make excuses for anything he says or does and even more people that are so afraid of what power in the hands of leftist Democrats could mean to their own lives, especially economically, that they are willing to stick by Trump, warts and all. This is still a thing that Harris and Democrats will have to overcome. Nonetheless, she probably went a long way towards showing that she is not a "dumb person" as Trump tried to set the narrative and that she was tough enough to go right after Trump. At one point in the debate, when she said that Putin would "eat Trump for lunch", I could not help myself from breaking into spontaneous applause. After many previous debates, against candidates of both parties, going back to 2015, Harris was the one who knew how to hurt him most. Then, when the debate was over Taylor Swift, conveniently came out with an endorsement of Harris, which clearly unnerved Trump even more. He seems to have a thing for her perhaps similar to what Osama bin Laden once had for Whitney Houston. Trump chose to console himself with what he believes is the strong support of Brittany Mahomes, a different Kansas City Chiefs WAG. This was like what he did in the debate when he was told that world leaders were laughing at him, he pointed out that autocrat Viktor Orban is a fan. Trump has also pointed out a lot this week that Sean Hannity. Laura Ingraham, Jesse Waters, and Greg Gutfeld defend him, as if that is going to set the voters straight.

"Eat him for lunch", perhaps with Hannibal Lecter as a special guest diner. Maybe like one of those kitties in Springfield, Ohio. For all the things that happened in the debate, this is the one that people will remember the most. MAGA thinks it works to their favor. Common sense says otherwise. At least, I sure hope so. For a couple of days leading into the debate, the Trump campaign and its allies were working on a narrative that Haitian migrants (who are technically in America legally, whether that is a wise policy or not) that have been placed in this city on Ohio, have been somehow stealing ducks and geese or even pet cats and eating them. Local officials have said that this is not true. Ohio Senator JD Vance, Trump's runningmate, who has pressed this story, even concedes that it is likely not true, but he says that is fine because it causes people to pay attention to the immigration issue. I think this means that people should feel free to make calls to Vance's office saying they saw Bigfoot in Ohio and see what he is prepared to do about it. Vance's leaning into an urban legend like this and encouraging it to be spread further also pretty much negates any hesitation that would have existed as it relates to him and couch memes.

Would Trump actually talk about this in the debate, especially if not asked directly? Most people thought he would resist the temptation, but no, when he felt cornered, he went for it right away. "They're eating the dogs. They're eating the cats." Nobody was even mentioning dogs in this cockamamie but Trump had to make it sound even better than it was. Harris started laughing. I do not know if that was the best reaction, but how could you not? Millions of Americans probably started laughing or cringing right away. When the moderators pushed back on the truthfulness of the claims, Trump stood by them and said he "saw them on television." Once upon a time he said he saw thousands of Muslims in the United States celebrating 9/11 on television as well. It was at that moment, I knew he was pure scum.

There may be legitimate issues regarding what so many migrants could mean to a place like Springfield, Ohio, but let us be clear. This focus on Haitians is pure racism. It is designed to scare Americans about "the others" and in relation to an opponent who is also black. These charges are legitimately putting the safety of Haitians and perhaps others in Ohio at risk and such a thing is purely disgusting. Honest Republicans will say, at least privately, that Trump never should have embraced this story, but MAGA seems to believe it and love the fact that he is pushing it. The emergence of certified nutjob Laura Loomer as a traveling partner for Trump is leading to a lot of speculation. He seems to be embracing her conspiracy theories at every turn when trying to win over swing voters. It appears that Corey Lewandowski and Loomer may have supplanted Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles as the people who are truly running the Trump campaign.

As is the case every week, I could go on and on. It was just a remarkable debate (complete with split screens) for many reasons. The next day, both candidates, who had just met in person the night before, were at 9/11 gatherings in New York City, in which 9/11 Truther Laura Loomer, had also accompanied Trump. It was pretty amazing though to see Trump and Harris shake hands once again in the front-row. He even seemed to tell her, "you did a good job." What? Trump and Pence were there standing right next to President Biden and Harris with only the dimuniative former Mayor of New York City (and no friend of Trump) Michael Bloomberg between the two Presidents.and facilitating the Trump-Harris handshake. The audio of this event seemed to have people in the crowd yelling words of support for Trump, which Biden and Harris obviously had to hear. Later on, Biden went to a firehouse in Pennsylvania, that seemed to be filled with Trump fans. At one point, he bantered, somewhat in a  good-natured way,  with a Trump supporter and agreed to briefly put on a Trump hat, in either a joking way or in the spirit of the bipartisanship that existed 23 years ago. Biden clearly knew what he was doing, but many online MAGA folks took this incident to claim that Biden was definitely senile or was actually supporting Trump now. They are a bunch of idiots after all.

 

Whatever brief courtesy existed at Ground Zero with the Trump-Harris handshake and apparent nice words exchanged was very short-lived. Trump has been bitching and moaning about the debate non-stop since. Polls of debate watchers show that people think he lost it by just about the same margin that people thought Biden lost the first debate. Harris quickly said he wanted another debate. Trump though declared victory, ridiculously claiming that unscientific internet click surveys on sites like Newsmax proved that he won the debate "96-4" or things like that. I remember when he first started those claims back in 2015 after Republican debates. I could not believe he would actually that that shamelessly dishonest about what a "poll" is, but now, I think he actually believes it. Trump has insisted that since he won the debate easily, (just as he did against Biden), that there will not be a "third debate." He looks scared. His campaign probably does not want him doing another debate after what happens, but he will be goaded and called a coward, and we will have to see if he changes his mind. Otherwise, the final debate will wind up being the VP showdown at the beginning of October.

 

Needless to say, Trump is pissed beyond belief at ABC, and has vowed to never watch David Muir again, even attacking his hair. Linsey Davis, the African-American co-moderator was of course deemed "nasty" by Trump who said she looked at him with blood in her eyes, similar to what he said once about Megyn Kelly after a debate, long before she joined the Trump cult herself. It is true that the ABC moderators fact-checked Trump more than anybody has ever been fact-checked in a Presidential debate before, and that they did not really do the same for Harris, when at times they could have. However, Trump lies far more than anybody in debate history also, so they sort of were justified. Of course, his supporters are convinced it was three against one and "totally unfair." They are also insisting, without evidence, that Harris somehow colluded with ABC News to have the questions in advance. On debate night, there was demonstrably false memes stating that Harris was somehow wearing a secret earpiece on her earrings that had people telling her what to say. I have said for weeks now that the Trump/Vance campaign is eerily similar in many ways to the 2004 Kerry/Edwards campaign when backers of those candidates (though not the actual candidates) insisted that President George W. Bush had some sort of secret listening device during a debate (in which Dubya did poorly anyway.) This time though, Trump himself is publicly going along with these conspiracy theories. Now that Dick Cheney has endorsed Harris, I think JD Vance will borrow yet another page from Edwards in the VP debate and point out over and over again that Cheney has a lesbian daughter.

 

From a very high above the ground perspective, this race remains very close. The chronically online from both partisan tribes will say differently. They think their candidate pretty much has it in the bag. The one difference I think is that Harris herself is probably taking a more realistic and sober look at the race than Trump is. I think whomever wins Pennsylvania will win the election. If Harris falls just short for that reason, passing up the state's popular Governor Josh Shapiro is going to look like a horrible decision. I may have more to say about that in the weeks ahead, but I do think that Harris has at least a slight advantage as we approach the final 50 days.

Looking back, the last two major party nominees who knew for days before Election Day that they were going to not win were Senators Bob Dole and John McCain. Both men campaigned until the end and presented contrasts with their opponents, but they also knew they had an obligation, both to the country, their party, and also to their own legacies and sense of self to "lose with dignity." Donald Trump will never lose with dignity, not before or after the votes are cast. If he is to lose, he will lose with disgrace. He is a desperate man who is not well who will act increasingly more desperate as this campaign winds up. Just watch him this week. Trump will double and triple down in the way he mispronounces her name.. He was so unhinged by Harris's claims that people left his rallies early out of boredom and frustration, that he started doing new, even crazier bits at his rallies. Surely, it is going to win over swing voters to talk at great length about demonstrably proven falsehoods spread about female boxers in the Olympics, or a new obsession that Kamala Harris somehow lied about working at McDonald's as a teenager. Apparently, they are convinced she lied because she left it off her law school application. Who in their right mind would put a McDonald's job on a law school application, unless you are applying to represent Mayor McCheese himself?