Donald Trump
I’m sitting here on election night, watching the blue wall fall and feeling dejected, but not as “taken off guard” as I felt in 2016 after Hillary Clinton lost her much-vaunted race against Agent Orange.
I am convinced that Donald J. Trump (and cohorts) have bought the presidency (Thanks, Elon!, she said ruefully) and misogyny, racism and incompetents in office are going to be the order of the day. Think about RFK, Jr. running Health Care. No, don’t think about it, if you can put that aside, which any sane, thinking individual cannot. It will just depress you further.
At least Vance is ostensibly a smart guy and has certainly learned how to suck up to power. He will be the future of the GOP/Trump Maga cult. Eat your heart out, Ron DeSantis!
FEARS
Donald Trump
I never felt that Harris had it “in the bag.” I sent a copy of a very insightful article about why not to a friend, which was pulled from a book that was written by Democratic strategists in 1970, pointing out where the Democratic party had lost its way, as far as determining the mood of the country. Just showing up at my local gym, run by young Black athletic types, told me how they viewed the geriatric Trump as way superior to Biden (then the candidate), and they definitely would not have been keen to vote for a woman to be Boss—even though it is past time.
I would not put anything past Donald Trump. He would order “hits” on people if it meant keeping himself out of jail and that is what this election meant to him. If Kamala Harris had been able to prevail, DJT would face consequences for his crimes and misdeeds, but now he’s going to be like a bull in a china shop. I wonder if I can take up a hobby that allows me to transport myself to another dimension in order to forget that we might face 4 years of DJT (unless he is successfully impeached, which looks unlikely now that Republicans are seizing the Senate) or worse.
DISGUST
I don’t feel sad so much as I feel disgusted. How dumb is the average rural voter that they can’t tell that the man is a congenital liar and you can’t believe a word he says? It seems to be rural voters who have prevailed to place him back in office. (Shame on you, Iowa!) Now we U.S. citizens will have to hang our heads in shame, worldwide. Richard Gere sold his house in the U.S. just in time. He is moving to Spain with his Spanish wife. [Good move, Richard!]
Many more savvy analysts than me will be analyzing this election for years, but I will just give you some thoughts off the top of the head of the woman who was named Yahoo Content Producer of the Year for Politics in 2008. I knew that Obama was going to win in 2008 because I traveled all over following him. He represented change. We were sick of Bush and company and endless wars. The pendulum has a way of swinging and it has swung. I was not traveling the country with this year’s candidates and, therefore, had no “gut” feeling for who would win this thing. In fact, after 2016, I was concerned. As it turns out, I was concerned for good cause.
CHANGE
Barack Obama
People saying that “change” (even if it is change from an honorable person to a convicted criminal) is a powerful vote getter at all times. You had a man who lied constantly during his appearances and ranted on about how “bad” the country was doing—even though it wasn’t. He failed to mention what a terrible manager he was for Covid, but talked about higher grocery and gas prices (When did things NOT go up over time?) He failed to mention that we need to address climate change and, instead, called it a hoax. Good luck to us during this period of climate catastrophes brought on by people like DJT and good luck to the Ukraine!
Obama’s win represented change. The backlash to a Black man being elected to the White House is part of the racism that has now propelled a man (convicted way back in the 70s of refusing to rent to Blacks) into office again.
So, Change, Misogyny, Racism, and a guy who was literally running for his life, because if he lost, he probably could have gone to jail for his incitement of the January 6th coup.
MONEY TALKS
Let’s not forget the Big Money Donors (Elon Musk, anyone?) who got behind DJT. Or those like Jeff Bezos who did not have the courage to try to help the better candidate prevail (even though she is a woman. That, in and of itself, is difficult to overcome). Get ready for rich people to get richer, and poor people to get poorer.
DAVID AXELROD & VAN JONES
Photo by Lauren Gerson.David Axelrod
“She handled herself well. She tried to appeal to the better angels of people’s nature.” (from David Axelrod) He went on to say that her debate performance was one of the best ever and that was why Trump did not want to debate her a second time. My sister and I agreed, noting how the Democrats way back in 2000 showed the gracious way to behave during an election, even one that was probably handed to the opponent by the opponent’s Governor brother. The Trumps of life fight dirty and have no compassion or empathy or respect for science. “Drill, baby, drill!” is not the rallying cry that will save the planet, but rural America did not like the thought of giving up their gas-guzzling vehicles in favor of electric ones.
Van Jones thinks that Kamala’s own words beat her and mentions the phrase “Nothing comes to mind” used by the GOP in their attack ads. That WAS a bad ad. Van also brought up the Israel issue, which I felt was going to lose Harris the Michigan vote. “I can’t think of anything offhand” was disastrous, says Axelrod. She should have just said she was grateful to him and talked about the future and not criticized her mentor. I agree.
The Republican on the debate says that the “green new deal” was not what the American public wanted to buy. (“They were selling what the American public did not want to buy.”)
TRUMP’S REMARKS
West Palm Beach, Florida at 2:31 a.m.
“I’m proud to be an American” is playing in background. (Lee Greenwood)
Melania looks like the cat that swallowed the canary.
J.D. Vance is smiling smugly.
“Incredible movement….a movement like nobody’s ever seen before. The greatest political movement of all time. Never been anything like this before in this country. Help our country heal. We have a country that needs help and needs it very badly. We’re going to fix everything about our country, We overcame obstacles that nobody thought possible Look what happened. Is this crazy? It’s a political victory that our country has never seen before,” from Trump.
“I will fight for you and your family. Every single day I will be fighting for you. I will not rest until we have delivered the strong, safe America. Will truly be the Golden Age of America. It will allow us to ‘make America great again. ’“We’re going to make you very happy and proud of your vote.”
North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Predicting 315 electoral votes for himself. Also glad to have won the popular vote.
Unprecedented and powerful mandate: control of the Senate.
Right now, 266 to 195 (Trump to Harris).
“What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up, like a raisin in the sun?” When Al Gore failed to fight for the position in 2000, we lost 25 years of preparation against the catastrophes of climate change. We are now reaping that poor election choice, 25 years later. I can only assume that climate change will get worse, under Trump, before it gets better, because he has called climate change a hoax.
Good luck to us all.
First, Barack paid tribute to Joe Biden, mentioning their “common Irish blood.” To wit:”His empathy and his decency and his hard-earned belief that everyone in this country deserves a fair shot impressed me. And over the past 4 years those are the values that America has needed the most. At the time when Americans were dying, we needed a leader with empathy and a leader who led the strongest economic recovery in the world. At a time when the other party had turned into a cult of personality we needed a leader who did the rarest thing in politics: putting his own ambition aside for the good of the country. History will remember Joe Biden as a man who, in a moment of peril for this country, did the right thing.”
Kamala Harris Accepts Democratic Presidential Nomination; DJT Phones In on Fox
By Connie Wilson
On August 23, 2024
In Books, Editorial, Essays on Politics: Best Political Essays & Ideology, News, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Politics, Television
I had planned to write a piece commenting on Kamala Harris’ acceptance speech on the final night of the DNC in Chicago, Then, (following the dry cycle of my laundry), I moved to the bedroom to change the now clean sheets and put them back on the king-sized bed. In the bedroom, Fox News was carrying the DNC.
While I changed the sheets, I listened to Donald J. Trump phone in and rebut Kamala Harris’ speech. I will insert the complete 37-minute content of Kamala’s acceptance speech (in case you missed it), but I have to assume that most of you were watching it, so suit yourself. Unlike Trump, who rambled his way through a basically unlistenable litany of untruths at the RNC, Harris hit most of the issues and delivered her speech with sincerity and enthusiasm. She looked and sounded presidential (because she IS presidential.)
Then I watched 8 voters in Allentown, Pennsylvania say that her speech had sold her to them (auto workers all) and they would be voting for her (they had been unsure in a previous meeting). One woman retained the right to decide later. One Black male (in real estate) said he’d vote for Trump. Listen to Trump’s remarks about how the auto workers are all supporting him in the phone call above. [*Apparently not the 8 that just spoke to a reporter in Allentown, PA.]
Trump’s illusion that he is “strong” (Macho Macho Man) was consistent with why Black males were supporting DJT over Biden before July 21st. It also explains why Black males find it difficult to get behind the idea of a female president, even if she is half Black (and half Asian).
CHANGE
People want change for the better. This was emphasized by John King, Chief National Correspondent for CNN, who has been traveling the country gauging the temperature of the nation. Coming into the convention, Trump had 55% of voters selecting him on the economy versus 43% for Harris and 53% on the immigration issue versus 44% for Harris. Harris led only on the abortion issue (55% to 40%.) [This was from the New York Times Siena Poll. ] In the next 75 days Harris and Walz must change these perceptions.
CONVENTION BUMP
There are 75 days during which Kamala has to convince voters that she, the current vice president, represents change for the better. That will not be simple, since Harris has been in office as Vice President for 4 years and the GOP will attack her on that basis. (as DJT already did in the phone call above).
The Siena poll showed that 56% of voters disapproved of Biden. Only 41% approved of Biden in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and the other swing states. Now, the Republicans are going to try to give Kamala “Biden Baggage.” It started tonight with DJT phoning in to Fox & Friends. (*Did Fox & Friends, who claim to be so “fair and balanced” offer Kamala Harris the opportunity to phone in and rebut DJT’s RNC acceptance speech? No.)
John King, who has been doing political reporting for 40 years, says that Kamala did well. I agree. He pointed out, however, that in 1988: Bush won over Dukakis, but Dukakis had left the convention enjoying a convention bump that put him 17 points ahead in the polls. Despite the post-convention bump, Dukakis lost “bigly” to George Herbert Bush. This was partially because people wanted change and partially because of the Willie Horton dirty tricks that depicted Horton as practically Dukakis’ running mate. (*For those of you who don’t remember Willie Horton, he was a convicted murderer and rapist, who was released on a weekend furlough from a Massachusetts prison in a trial program and committed a rape and murder while temporarily free. Dukakis was the Governor of Massachusetts. The Bush campaign used Horton’s case to tar and feather Dukakis in a textbook example of what is known as “dog whistle politics,” which is what Harris and Walz are about to encounter, if I were to take an un-wild guess.)
John King was born in 1963, which means he is 61. I haven’t followed politics for as long as John King, but I am close to 20 years older. I go back to every President since Truman. I’ve also written 3 books on politics (the campaign of 2008) and was named the Content Producer of the Year for Politics by Yahoo in the wake of my coverage of the 2008 election of Barack Obama. (See my books on that topic, “Obama’s Odyssey: The 2008 Race for the White House.”)
Taken during a McCain rally at the Cedar Rapids Municipal Airport during the 2008 presidential campaign. Cover of Volume II of “Obama’s Odyssey: The 2008 Race for the White House.” (Available on Amazon in paperback and e-book).
LIKEABILITY
I agree with the white-haired CNN commentator with the 40 years following campaigns, and I agreed with Geraldo (whom I watched on News Nation) who stressed that “likeability” was key to electing anyone. It was likeability that doomed Hillary Clinton and, to a certain extent, John Kerry, who always seemed a little bit too patrician. We’ve all heard the remarks about how “W” seemed like a guy you would enjoy sitting down and having a beer with (*I don’t drink beer, so that’s a no for me.)
TAX INCREASES
Bogus. Tax increases on the rich, yes. On the middle class, not so much. Trump’s point on companies taking their business to another country (increasingly Mexico, not China) is fair, but THAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING FOR DECADES. Companies moving to cheaper countries is not a Kamala Harris thing; to say it is is unfair. It is far likelier that DJT will raise taxes on the middle class to give tax breaks to people like himself.
BORDER
Trump said, of the bi-partisan border bill, “It was a horrible bill. It was a joke.” It was a bi-partisan bill that was said by those who worked on it long and hard to be quite good. Trump told his allies not to vote for the bill, because it was to be his border issue. If you really don’t know what was in the bill, click on the link above and it will tell you. Don’t just trumpet things that either candidate says; research it. (Anthony Fatone: that is for you, Dear Heart. And thanks for saying I’m “smart as a whip” because that should tell you that, if I’m saying you need to do more “reading up” on these things, maybe I’m right.)
MARXIST ACCUSATIONS
First of all, as our old friend Wikipedia tells us, “There is no single, definitive Marxist theory.[1]
It is likely that the “Marxist” accusations are a legacy from Kamala’s economics professor father, who taught at both Stanford and the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He has advised his country (Jamaica) on economic issues and some aspects were derived from Marxist writings of various sorts, but her father has remained completely out of Kamala’s career, refusing to be involved in her 2020 campaign and making a rather brusque rebuttal to a lighthearted comment that Kamala herself made (about smoking pot) on a radio show. She said something about smoking pot to the effect of, “Are you kidding? Half of my relatives are Jamaican.” Dad did not like it much, issued a rather public reprimand (Kamala did not respond) and has not had much involvement in his daughter’s career (or her life before that) since the couple split when she was in elementary school.
Jamal Simmons, political commentator on CNN, compared DJT to Midnight Elvis, calling in to talk shows, rambling around in Mar-A-Lago. Jamal mentioned Trump’s recent appearance in Howell, Michigan. White supremacists held a march there recently and voiced support for Trump, Hitler, Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan. So, Trump’s strategy is to cater to THAT demographic. Roger Stone, a big Trump supporter, has a yearslong relationship with Proud Boys leaders, Enrique Tarrio in particular, and would regularly use members of the group as his personal security detail at political events.
Roger Stone.
I seriously doubt that DJT has much of an idea what Marxism is (and, quite frankly, it is difficult to pin it down as there are many offshoots.) There is actually a book on Amazon entitled “Marxism in Plain and Simple English.” It’s 62 pages. If Donald J. Trump really thinks that Kamala Harris is a Marxist simply because of her estranged father (a professor of economics), that is really reaching. I think The Donald needs a copy of that book. (*After all, Steve Bannon, his brain trust, is currently in jail until 2 days before the election, so the Wizard of Odd is having to rely on people like The Mad Hatter, Roger Stone, for intellectual guidance.) Another thing that his insult brings to mind are recent put-downs that DJT has made about Kamala Harris’ intelligence; she is quite obviously the child of two very bright people (while Trump’s own intelligence is often questioned, despite the supposed expertise and education that led to multiple bankruptcies.)
Here’s a snippet from “How to Compare Marxism to Capitalism.” It is quite clear that Kamala Harris is no Marxist. To wit: “Marxism, oftentimes interchangeable with communism, emerged from the writings of Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels in the 19th century, and is based on the theory that class conflict will eventually result in the establishment of a society where the public owns the means of production. The two theories are historic enemies, and their differences are most acute when examining their attitudes toward individualism, private property and profits.”
At no time has Kamala Harris sounded like she is not supportive of capitalism simply because she has argued for everyone in our society having a fair shake and an equal chance at making a life where they each of us has the freedom to make choices for themselves (as, for instance, in reproductive rights.) Trying to paint Harris as a Marxist or Communist is a page right out of the “dirty tricks” playbook of the GOP going back to 1988.
REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham (D. New Mexico), commenting after Harris’ speech, said she “showed us tonight what leadership looks like.” It is up to every woman of voting age in America to ask themselves whether they want the freedom to decide about their own health care and to decide if they do (or do not) want to have a child. Women need to mobilize like our grandmothers to gain us the right to vote. Only, this time, it is the right to live free (and not die) under an autocratic ruler who simply wants power for himself and his cronies.
IN CONCLUSION
As D.L. Hughley said at the convention, “The only way that Trump can keep Kamala out of the White House is if he buys it and refuses to rent to Black people.”