Occasionally, I’ll have a reaction (usually a bit snarky) to some irritating political news. More rarely these days, my spirits will be lifted by some positive story. In either case, I am moved to write something about it. The problem is that any resulting post would not be long enough to justify an entire column here. In the past, that’s when I went to Twitter. But now that X is overwhelmed by the foul stench of Elon Musk, I don’t go there anymore. So…instead I thought I would combine several of these brief observations into one column — which I am calling Small Bites. Here’s the first one.
Trump is so not off the hook for his MSG rally. Numerous comments made by the warm-up acts at Trump’s Madison Square Garden debacle were so offensive and so filled with racial hatred, that the Trump campaign was forced to issue “a rare statement distancing itself” from the remarks (especially one comedian’s insult to the island of Puerto Rico). Rare indeed, like this may be the first time an apology of sort has come from the Trump campaign. That should tell you just how bad this all was.
Trump campaign officials can do all the disavowing they want. However, unless and until an apology comes from Trump himself, it means nothing. Trump most certainly approved of these speakers beforehand; he can’t evade responsibility for the consequences of those choices. But more importantly, Trump himself has not said a single word of contrition about any of this. His only comments thus far are to say “Last night, we had a great rally at Madison Square Garden” and boast about (you guessed it!) the crowd size. Trump, as always, is sticking to his Roy Cohn playbook. It’s all he knows how to do. And, at least up till now, it has generally worked for him. Let’s hope it will fail spectacularly next week.
By the way, Trump’s own speech did not shift the tone in any way, but you will never see any apology for that.
Scott Jennings falls flat (again). Speaking of the Garden disaster, when the matter was discussed on CNN yesterday, Scott Jennings (CNN’s resident Trump sycophant) had the rare good sense to not defend Trump. Unfortunately, he couldn’t let it rest there. He had to resort to his inevitable “what-aboutism” and claim that some Democrats have insulted Trump in ways comparable to how the speakers at MSG insulted Harris.
I won’t waste my time arguing whether or not his claim has any validity. It doesn’t have much and it doesn’t matter. The point is that Kamala Harris does not have control over every Democrat, podcaster, and late-night comedian in the country. She’s not responsible for them and couldn’t limit what they say even if she wanted to do so. That’s the big difference. The Garden event was a Trump-sanctioned, Trump-featured major political rally — probably the biggest of his campaign. Everything about it was under the direct control and oversight of Trump and his campaign staff. So what happened there is very much Trump’s responsibility. As usual, Jennings’ lame attempt to paint Harris as no different than Trump fell as flat as a pancake after it’s been run over by a steamroller.
Mass Deportation: the ignorance of Trump and his supporters. One of the pillars of Trump’s rickety platform, touted at the Madison Square Garden rally, is his promise of “mass deportation” of all illegal immigrants, starting on “day 1.” The absurdity and impossibility of actually trying to implement such a policy has now been covered in several venues — including the most recent segment of 60 Minutes. But for my money, the best takedown was from John Oliver. Not only did he clearly lay out just how costly, unworkable and ultimately counterproductive the plan would be (not to mention immoral), he showcased the mindless support that the plan has from Trump’s MAGA-heads. Paraphrasing here, they essentially said: “I support mass deportation. Yes, absolutely, if they are not here legally, we should get rid of them…all of them.”
It’s all so sadly typical. Trump pushes some bit of fear-mongering that he believes will be a good soundbite for his campaign — while giving exactly zero thought to whether it is possible to carry out the idea — or even whether it would be wise to try. He revels in his ignorance. And then, just as surely, like mindless robots, his followers enthusiastically echo everything he says. It’s truly scary to contemplate what will happen if this man becomes President again.
The real “October surprise.” One could argue that John Kelly’s revelation that Trump fits the definition of a fascist was an October surprise. Some in the press have claimed that the Madison Square Rally amounts to an October surprise. But I’m not sure they qualify for the label. The problem is that neither of these things were especially surprising. It’s exactly what you would expect to hear about Trump and from Trump.
Paradoxically, if there was any October surprise at all this election cycle, it is that there was no surprise involving Kamala Harris. I don’t mean that we should have expected some negative story about her. Far from it. But, given that you can be sure that the Trump campaign has spent more money and resources trying to dig up some dirt on Harris than most countries spend in a year — their inability to find anything amounts to a pleasant surprise.
When is enough enough? Years ago, something like the Madison Square Garden rally might have been a determinative event, assuring a victory for Harris. But we don’t live in such times anymore. No one thing seems to move the needle significantly. Everything seems so “baked in.” And events that seem critical one day seem almost forgotten by the next.
Still, I have to ask myself: If not the MSG rally, then what? What does Trump have to do to get persuadable Trump voters (assuming any exist) to say “Enough already. This is a bridge too far. I can no longer support this guy.”? Are they really willing to look the other way at all the crap that comes out of his mouth — all the lies and violent rhetoric and fascist threats— and say: “Yes, that’s the guy I want as President“? Is this really someone they admire? Do they really want such person in charge of the country? Who knows, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe this time, it will make a difference. I can only hope.