For starters, Trump is almost 80. I don’t know too many dictators who get started at this age. Assuming he wants to rule forever, he isn’t going to last long beyond his four years. At his age, he may not even last beyond his term. I also don’t see him being able to keep it going beyond the grave. He does have a cult of personality hold on many Americans, but they only worship him. Once he’s gone - his movement is over. That might be why there have been two assassination attempts on his life during this campaign. Even the nuts believe it all ends with him.
As for January 6th, he stirred up the crowd no doubt, but he was not the only one surprised by the lack of security at the Capitol that day. For all the rightful reexamination of the expected protest, the media and the government have shone little light on why the Capitol Police were so unprepared that day. No, that doesn’t get Trump off the hook, but it was a significant factor in creating the chaos that unfolded.
The part that does rankle me with Trump is his inability to admit he lost. Some wrongly believe that he is delusional or just too stupid to see the facts. Ones holding that view make the same mistake of underestimating him. He’s not a wise old owl, but he is smart like a fox. He knows he lost the election, but humility and giving in to his adversaries are not in his DNA. For reasons that escape me, I don’t know why the media has never set him up for the following question.
“If you truly believe the 2020 was stolen from you by corrupt state election officials, why would you run now and lose again? I mean really Don, if the system is rigged why run again, especially since you’re not even President now. You are now on the outside - looking in and can’t rig it yourself.”
Why would he risk his reputation again and be labeled the very thing he mocks - “a loser”. There would be no point if he truly believed the entire system was rigged against him. No, he ran again because he believes the process is fair and because he thought he would win easily against Joe Biden. He was right on both counts, but now with a formidable opponent - all bets are off.
What I will bet on, if he does lose, is that he will play the victim card again. It will be 2020 all over, but this time it has the potential to be much worse. I will defend Trump policies and criticize the partisan attacks, but one fatal flaw that I find unforgiveable for a leader is his inability to put the country above himself. At the end of a hard fought election, you call off the dogs and concede. Even if you think the election was stolen, like perhaps Al Gore did in 2000, you fight like hell, but in the end you wish your opponent the best and thank your supporters. You understand your power and influence over your followers, so after you thank them, you tell them to go home. You don’t rile them up as he did on January 6th. I have no reason to believe he won’t do that again this time. It is why I am more concerned about what happens if he loses, then if he wins. That however, has no influence on my vote.
It is still policies over leaders for me. It is why I still believe it is a tough call for classic liberals. I loathe the identity politics of the democrats. Their progressive policies of late have been anything but. I do believe if Harris has full reign in office, she will damage the country economically in profound ways. I never felt that way with Biden. He was the stubborn old man holding back the radicals in his party. Now that they have tossed him aside I don’t see Harris governing anywhere close to the political middle, no matter what she says on the campaign trail.
The other factor that makes choosing difficult - is the mainstream media pressure. Until 2016 I had never experienced such blatant bias in the media. The thinly veiled scorn and shame thrown at Trump supporters was at first shocking, but then it got me suspicious. Why are they so blatant in their support? Was Trump so bad? Yes, he does appeal to deplorables, but they're not all like that. As a classic liberal I was taught not to generalize and to judge individuals on their own merits - regardless of what the us vs them crowd might say. In 2016, I did believe the media push to shame Trump voters backfired. Just ask the self righteous British what happens when you ridicule Americans. In 2020 and now in 2024, the message seems to be to shame harder. I used to believe the left was the side of civility and decorum. Perhaps that still holds true for Democratic political leaders, but certainly not their supporters.
So where does this bias come from? I’m old enough to remember when former VP Dick Cheney was labeled Darth Vader and it was the Republicans who were thought of as warmongers. While that script has certainly flipped. Now Trump is the pacifist, and Cheney endorses Harris. Maybe there is something to that left wing conspiracy that the military industrial complex always gets what it wants, Kennedy or Trump be damned. I do support Ukraine, but as I have stated before that stalemate needs to end. Strange, the only one talking peace now is a Republican. That war machine sure does have the perfect war now that they can perpetually profit from, and not have any American casualties. As for the Mideast, does anyone believe that Harris who is seeking more justice in the Mideast, is going to get it without more war.
So perhaps, you can now see how a person who cherishes peace and lived through a lifetime of American politics is having a tough time understanding this one. I still think I know who I would vote for, but I believe there’s still another shoot to drop during this campaign. So I will save my own October surprise till then.
By Gregory Cawsey
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