Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are rising in the polls.
New New York Times polls have Vice President Harris leading Trump 50-46 in all three blue wall battleground states: Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Thousands of people are waiting in long lines to Harris and Walz at rallies, millions of people are elevating their campaign on social media, millions are donating huge sums of money, and thousands are volunteering to canvass and help their campaign. This is a whole new political world. Harris and Walz have the potential to rise beyond their current support. But because of who he is and how offensive he has been lately (he even insulted the wife of Sheldon Adelson, one of his biggest donors), Trump is not likely to be able to grow his level of support beyond the current 45%.
Trump is feeling the heat. This is causing Trump to decompensate. (To lose the ability to maintain normal or appropriate psychological defenses, sometimes resulting in… delusions.) Trump seems to be getting delusional. Here is his tweet about Harris lying about how many people were in her crowd:
“She’s a CHEATER. She had NOBODY waiting, and the ‘crowd’ looked like 10,000 people!” Mr. Trump wrote. “Same thing is happening with her fake ‘crowds’ at her speeches. This is the way the Democrats win Elections, by CHEATING – And they’re even worse at the Ballot Box. She should be disqualified because the creation of a fake image is ELECTION INTERFERENCE.”
The Harris campaign understands how to respond to him. It’s not: When they go low, go high. It’s: When they go low, don’t be afraid to poke the bear.
Ms. Harris’s campaign went on Mr. Trump’s social network to mock his wild accusations, replying to one of his posts by sharing a video of Air Force Two arriving in Detroit to an enormous crowd and her exiting the plane with Mr. Walz.
“In case you forgot @realdonaldtrump: This is what a rally in a swing state looks like,” her campaign wrote.
The Harris campaign is helping Trump to unravel by mocking him. The worse he gets, the more Americans will see him for what and who he really is. This man is too crazy to get anywhere near the nuclear codes ever again.
Here is another very nutty post from Trump:
“What are the chances that Crooked Joe Biden, the WORST President in the history of the U.S., whose Presidency was Unconstitutionally STOLEN from him by Kamabla, Barrack HUSSEIN Obama, Crazy Nancy Pelosi, Shifty Adam Schiff, Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, and others on the Lunatic Left, CRASHES the Democrat National Convention and tries to take back the Nomination, beginning with challenging me to another DEBATE,” he wrote.
This post of his is evidence of some very bizarre, really pretty cuckoo thinking. Trump is imagining that Biden will show up at the Democratic Convention and try to wrestle back the nomination and then challenge Trump to another debate. Really?! What planet is Trump living on these days?
In Trump’s fantasy Biden shows up at the Convention Hall in Chicago like the evil witch in Sleeping Beauty who, furious she wasn’t invited to the party, appears at the christening of the royal baby to put a curse on the child. Trump imagines Biden trying to take back the mantle of power at the Convention- something Biden would never do because Biden lives in the real world. Only an unhinged narcissist would even imagine this could happen much less tweet about it.
Trump’s Trumpster Fire
Commentators are writing about how Trump is unraveling before our eyes.
“This is what you would call a public nervous breakdown,” Matthew Bartlett, a GOP strategist and onetime Trump administration official, told Politico. “This is a guy who cut through the Republican primary like a knife through butter. This is a guy who pummeled a semiconscious president in a debate and literally out of a race. And now this is a guy who cannot come to grips with a competitive presidential race that would require discipline and effective messaging. And we’re seeing a candidate and a campaign absolutely melt down.”
In reality, of course, this is all a disturbing reminder that Trump is a deeply unwell person who is not fit to be the commander in chief, and that should he return to office, other Republican officials cannot be counted on to protect the nation—especially Vance, who reveals himself daily as every bit the intellectual lightweight and political fraud his critics believe he is. (The Atlantic – Tom Nichols)
WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?
Even with Biden as president, Trump dominated the political conversation. More recently he has terrified Americans with his scary Project 2025, his crazy tweets and his dark pronouncements about how awful America is and how he is the solution.
Democrats, moderate Republicans, and many independents have been in an agonizing period of fretful worry, defensiveness, and fear. They understand the threat from Trump and the MAGAs. They understand that Project 2025 is a 920 page manifesto for turning America into an authoritarian country. America’s mainstream media is finally covering this threat in the news and Harris and Walz are also talking about it at their rallies. If the MAGAs win, Americans now know that they will deconstruct and gut our government, our health care, our freedoms and our democracy. They will install crazy Trump at the helm of a ship of fools.
Most Americans do not want that.
I believe this new Democratic ticket of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz is not just a political campaign. It is the rise of the answer to Trump’s fascist, anti-democratic movement. This is a pro-democracy, pro-freedom movement that has been waiting for its charismatic leaders to emerge. Now they have. Kamala Harris is a strong, articulate Black and Asian woman who is a far sassier version of Barack Obama and with heels no less. Tim Walz is a more feisty, rural version of plain speaking Joe Biden.
Like Sleeping Beauty after a magical kiss, a formerly depressed electorate has sprung back to life. Harris and her team are conquering Trump and Trumpism the way other pro-democracy groups have done it in other countries. Don’t play their game. Offer a better alternative. Be clear and articulate about why your vision of the future of the country is better. Have fun, laugh. Help people remember how good it feels to be inclusive and have good will towards our fellow Americans. Offer shared goals of connection, empathy, and fairness. Empower the idea of common good. Address every lie the Trump campaign puts out by telling Americans that it is a lie and tell them what is true. Don’t wait for the media to do it. They won’t. You have to do it yourself. Mock the narcissist to get him to decompensate and show his true self in all of its ugliness.
No wonder Trump is stumped. How does he stop a pro-democracy, anti-MAGA movement that has found its footing?
And how HAS Trump responded? By decompensating more.
I bet there’s a bunch of broken plates and lots of ketchup on the walls at Mar-a-Lago.
THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THESE TWO PARTIES IS HUGE
When it comes to their vision for America the contrast could not be greater.
Trump/ Vance = old. Harris/Walz= new.
Trump/Vance = self-centered. Harris/Walz =working to help all Americans do better.
Trump/Vance=hate. Harris/Walz= love.
Trump/Vance= tear down America. Harris/Walz= uplift America.
Trump/Vance=take rights away. Harris/Walz= more freedom.
Trump/Vance= weirdos. Harris/Walz= normalcy.
Trump/Vance=take America back in time to give white guys more power. Harris/Walz= move America forward to empower the rising multicultural majority.
Trump/Vance= hopeless. Harris/ Walz= hopeful.
Trump/Vance= grim and menacing. Harris/Walz= joyful and empowering.
Trump/Vance= deadly and mean spirted. Harris/Walz= exciting and fun.
Trump/Vance= divisive. Harris/Walz= inclusive.
Trump/Vance= help the rich get richer. Harris/Walz= help the average American do better and have the rich pay their fair share.
Trump/Vance= creepy government telling you what you can and cannot do with your own body. Harris/Vance = freedom to make your own personal choices.
TRUMPTY GRUMPTY
Trump has been lying about how bad everything is going in our country, dissing the military, dissing our government agencies, dissing our legal system and constitutional order.
With Biden, Democrats had a great president but let’s face it, Biden was not the best communicator. He was not able to lead with joyfulness and was not able to describe that vision of America that could dispel the curse put on our country by Trump and the MAGAs. Biden didn’t counter attacks and lies from Trump and punch back. Biden relied more on creating fear about what Americans would lose if they voted for Trump, which felt like an acceptance of the dark dystopian nightmare we were trapped in with the MAGAs. Biden played Trump’s game too much. Trump bred hate and division which is the perfect petrie dish for fascism and white supremacy.
Truth be told, our country is the envy of the world for our strong economy, a legal system that provides rules that companies can rely on, a good standard of living, freedom to be who you are and love who you want to love, and a constitution that requires fairness for all. Look at the power of our multicultural athletes who competed at the Olympics and won way more medals: 126 which was much more than every other country on planet earth. China was next closest with 91 medals. A multiracial country is stronger especially when we empower everyone to reach their potential.
This is a change election. Harris and Walz embody the change we need in their own personal stories- rising from the middle class and overcoming challenges with the help of the social safety net we have in America. That safety net works. It was expanded in the pandemic by Joe Biden and that helped our country emerge from the pandemic in better economic shape compared to every other country in the world. Harris and Walz want to maintain and grow that support system to help all Americans, not just the 1% that Trump protects.
The Harris/Walz campaign feels like a gigantic champagne bottle that just got uncorked. The sense of relief is palpable.
IS THIS JUST A SUGAR HIGH?
Some people, mostly Republicans, believe (hope) that the Harris/Walz ticket is experiencing a sugar high that will pass. What I see is a pro-freedom pro-democracy movement rising up to counter the MAGA/fascist movement that has divided and traumatized our country. We saw something similar recently in Europe. The recent election in Great Britain favored the Labor Party, for example, surprising pundits who anticipated that the right-wing would gain ground.
TIRED OF TRUMP
I think many Americans are also sick of his schtick: the endless whining, the grievance, the self-pity, the self-centeredness, the arrogance, the stupidity. I think more Americans are ready to move on from his dark vision of our country.
That has set up a backlash to the extreme MAGA movement that captured the GOP.
MAGA NIGHTMARE NOT OVER
This MAGA nightmare is not over, however. Harris and Walz have to win the presidential election against a team that cheats in every way possible to win even when they lose. The MAGAs have been positioning election deniers in key positions in battleground states so that if the election is close, they can claim victory and get the support for their claims from their secretaries of state and/or their election officials. They will try to create chaos by refusing to certify the election in districts with election deniers or by sending a slate of fake electors to Congress. They have a lot of dirty tricks up their sleeves that they will try to deploy them all.
Here’s the thing, though. Most of these dirty tricks depend on a close election. If the election results are clear and irrefutable, the dirty tricks get harder to pull off.
Right now polls show an election that could still go either way.
GET INVOLVED RIGHT NOW
We need to work hard in the run up to the election, right now, doing these things: canvass, register voters, write postcards to swing states, volunteer to be a poll watcher or judge of elections and get trained to do that job, help people get to the polls, give at a level that you can to support candidates, remind everyone to vote, and help them to make a plan for how they will vote, help people know where their polling place is located, check online to be sure you or your friends have not been purged from the voter rolls, and after the election, volunteer to cure ballots.
If we have learned anything in the past nine years since Trump came down the escalator, it’s that our democracy is fragile. The more we do to support it, the stronger our democracy becomes.