I firmly believe Trump is a fascist and that his threat to democracy is very real. The claim is based not only on what Trump has already done (which is bad enough, as I argued in my prior column), but on what he has promised to do if re-elected and on his absolute ability and intent to carry out those threats. He will act on them. As The New York Times shouted from its op-ed page yesterday: When Trump says these things, BELIEVE HIM.
I pair this with the vulgar lies — and incoherent rants — he (and his allies) spew at every opportunity — as in his racist hate-filled Madison Square Garden rally last night — and I remain stunned that his candidacy can survive this rhetoric. But somehow it does.
The hard face-slapping truth is that, in the final weeks of the campaign, Kamala Harris has not widened her lead. On the contrary, Trump has narrowed the gap. Like just about everyone, I take polling data with a huge grain of salt. But when almost all of them show the same trends, you have to take notice. I would still rather be Harris than Trump, but not by as much as I had hoped or expected at this point.
Nothing Trump has said or done in the last few weeks should have improved his chances of winning; on the contrary, unless doing nothing more than shoring up your hard-core base with lies and fear-mongering is the way to go, he remains his own worst enemy. That’s why I am reluctantly forced to consider that Harris’ seemingly stalled campaign is more a case of what she is or isn’t doing. Something is not clicking for her. As Robert Reich put it today:
“In more recent weeks, she’s focused mostly on Trump’s particular threat to democracy. Her campaign seems to have decided that she can draw additional voters from moderate Republican suburban women upset by Trump’s role in fomenting the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
That’s why she’s been campaigning with Liz Cheney and gathering Republican officials as supporters. And why she has chosen to give her closing message on the Ellipse — where Trump summoned his followers to march on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Yet when she shifted gears from the economy to Trump’s attacks on democracy, Harris’s campaign stalled. I think that’s because Americans continue to focus on the economy and want an answer to why they are still struggling economically.”
What’s the chicken and egg here? Has her campaign stalled because she shifted her focus to threats on democracy? Or was the decision to shift precipitated by a slowing of progress already happening for other reasons? Or was the shift decision independent of any of these considerations — and was going to happen anyway, exactly as planned. I don’t know. Still, it is a troubling sign. I have argued that the shift was exactly the right thing to do at exactly the right moment. I confess to having some doubts now.
Update: A New York Times article today offers a bit of encouraging news on this front.
Trump, on the other hand, gets by with making no arguments at all — other than “Things are horrible now and I will make them better. Trust me.” It seems pathetic. But it remains a tight race.
It’s apparent that a significant portion of this country is either unpersuaded that Trump is the danger that he clearly is — or they don’t care. I will never understand how such a self-evidently unqualified and vile human being can be even close to winning. But I cannot deny the reality of it.
I’m not sure that any sort of course-correction is needed at this point. The Harris campaign has done — and continues to do — an amazing job overall. And there really isn’t much time left to do any correcting anyway. Still, for whatever it is worth, my recommendation would be to keep hammering on democracy issues. Definitely. It’s critical. But just as importantly, perhaps more so, emphasize why a vote for Harris is a vote to make people’s lives better — economically, socially and every other way imaginable. Because it is! Whatever your problems are — Trump is not the solution!
Harris is still favored to win. I believe she will do so. But it’s going to be a nail-biter. Hang on.