By James E. Pogue NEW YORK – Ever since Vice-President Kamala Harris became the democratic nominee for U.S. president, former president Donald J. Trump has found himself in a conundrum. Trump, who appeared blindsided by the Harris bid and her overwhelming popularity, has found himself at a decided loss for words with the exception of his trademark insults. Trump and his cronies are used to people-bashing and name-calling but what he is finding out is that it doesn’t wash with Harris. She is neither phased by it or fearful of it because as Harris told her constituents at her very first campaign rally in Wisconsin, “I know Donald Trump’s type.” True to form, Trump has stepped up his insults to the point of the absurd, the ridiculous, bordering on the insane. Not only have Trump and his running-mate Vance, lied and spread misinformation, but they continueto believe that ‘Kamala bashing’ will win them points with their constituents.
This author begs to differ.
What is actually happening is that Trump is getting backlash from Republicans and those who might have voted for him, precisely because of his remarks that can be likened to some of the most inflammatory and ignorant rhetoric this side of the Mississippi. His comments during his interview with the Black Journalists Association were nothing short of inane, especially Trump’s remark about Harris “suddenly turning black” as if that were actually possible while referring to her mixed heritage of Southeast Asian, Indian and Black. It appears that “The Donald” has backed himself into a corner, his facial expressions with consistent scowls and his palpable level of anxiety, give him away as nothing less than a buffoon.
Perhaps at one time, under very different circumstances and with a very different democratic candidate, Trump”s remarks might have worked but he’s barking up the wrong tree because with Harris’s former experience as a prosecutor and district attorney – he does not have a captive audience. If you listen to his niece Mary Trump, you can get a much better idea of who Donald J. Trump really is and in her words, “he’s extremely dangerous.” Though Trump has been repeatedly encouraged by logically-minded Republicans to stick to the facts when it comes to rhetoric and presidential campaign debate – he can’t. The reason is because he has nothing to say since he has no idea about the way politics works and now his campaign has been hacked.
“The Donald” actually stooped so low last week, as to accuse Harris of manufacturing her overwhelmingly large campaign trail crowds – as if she could just push a button and voila – create the exact type of crowd she wanted. It’s all just plain hogwash that most decent people have begun to see right through. One can only hope that Trump’s desperate attempts to ‘grasp at straws’ and lean in on the nasty vs. the actual facts, will become his sudden downfall. Though it appears that is the fate that “The Donald” is headed for, one just never knows. It’s possible the tides could turn in his favor but this author bets that Trump’s days of mudslinging and hurling insults are about to end because this author is betting on the American people and their indomitable spirit to rise above the petty, the pedantic and the prickly..
The one thing the majority of Americans have going for them this time around, in a very changed 21st century society, is the will of the people to vote for change and to promote equality on all fronts in a society that has been wracked with racism, anti-LGBTQ, anti-semitism and Islamophobia. The problem with Trump’s agenda and his “Project 2025” is that it does not match the current demographic of the American public in any way, shape or form because the majority want a society where they can prosper, have equal rights, equal pay and where women are the ones controlling their bodies and destinies – not white men on high. What Trump and J.D. Vance fail to realize is, they are on a collision course with the face of America that we are NOW. Despite the fact that there are those who live in the past and would prefer to keep the status quo – that is not what most Americans want. And when you wake up to the fact that the American demographic is no longer the homogenous white Anglo-Saxon Protestant that it once was, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that freedom and equality come in a multicolor, rainbow package.
That’s a reality that Trump, Vance and his cronies simply refuse to accept and can’t live with – which is why the Harris-Walz democratic ticket stands to take the Republican constituency by storm on all fronts, at all levels. While Trump is promoting the old inflammatory rhetoric of “stolen” (referring to the previous presidential election) and “fire them” (referring to his previous TV show “The Apprentice”) – the sad truth is that Trump is living in a past that no decent, law-abiding American ever wants to return to. It was bad enough that Trump’s Supreme Court appointees voted out Roe V. Wade, that has now put women’s reproductive freedom and lives at risk. Trump’s “Project 2025” aims to steal the freedom and rights of all Americans, it’s nothing short of inhumane and immoral but luckily the Democrats have a plan to fight back and that’s exactly what they are doing now.
This author’s bet is on Harris and Walz, because for once, we need to bring back a happy ending (think Superman) where good triumphs over evil and where evil is trounced so badly, it has no room to recoup its losses. As long as Trump and Vance sling mud and remain on the fast track to disinformation, there might be a fighting chance as long as those Americans on the voting fence are able to see what’s really going on.
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