Decision Time

People still attending Trump’s rallies, albeit in diminishing numbers, who aren’t among those walking out while he’s still speaking, will love every lie, every grade-school-level personal attack on Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. History confirms that humanity includes a plentitude of terrible people; still, it’s jarring to hear the cheers and laughter when Trump says, “Joe Biden became mentally impaired. It’s sad, but lying Kamala Harris, honestly, I believe she was born that way.” That’s an unsubtle combination of racism and misogyny, which explains the joyous crowds’ reaction. And it’s projection: lying is his lifelong m.o., his raison d’etre. That it’s become the expected call and response at all Trump rallies speaks ill.

In Georgia, Trump added to his intra-galactic record of consecutive days with at least ten lies by claiming, a day after Governor Kemp had said he’d talked with President Joe Biden and received everything he’d asked for, that Kemp had been unable to reach Biden. Each of the governors of the four states most affected by the hurricane said the same: they’re getting what they need.

Trump’s visit was a photo-op to show how much he cares, in contrast to President Biden and Vice-President Harris who, by implication, don’t. That appearing amid rescue efforts distracts personnel from those efforts, and that the governors had asked them to stay away for now, mattered not to Trump and to his fluffers on Foxian media. His and their shamelessness knows no end. At least he didn’t toss paper towels this time. Nor did he mention Project Trump 2025’s intent to end FEMA and the National Hurricane Center. Funny, that.

For shamelessness, though, and evil, Trump hit an all-time low, directly accusing Kamala Harris of murder, blaming her personally for “letting in” a migrant who murdered someone. She may as well have had the gun in her hand, he said. “Lock her up,” chanted his delighted pawns. Suddenly it’s vice-presidents who make policy; who are responsible for inflation (but not its decline?), for border crossings (but not the reduction in same?), and whatever else Trump and MAGA Republicans would have us believe. Like rising crime which is falling. Puzzlingly, none of them credit Mike Pence for what Trump claims as accomplishments. He was, after all, hanging around.

The Constitution assigns one and only one job to the Vice President: breaking ties in the Senate. Which Kamala Harris did on several occasions, to the benefit of us all. Weirdly, it didn’t come up in the VP debate.

Made clear, though, is that JD Vance is a much more talented liar than Trump. He definitely won on style points, solid as a Yale padlock. And Governor Walz struck out looking as several fat, hanging curveballs floated by; a better debater would have knocked them out of the park. Like the whopping fabrication that Trump “saved” Obamacare. What saved it was the thumb heard 'round the world. 

The programmed stuff is now over. Trump not only refuses to debate Vice-President Kamala Harris again, but he just backed out of appearing on 60 Minutes. Maybe it’s because, at a speech in Wisconsin, he looked and sounded weak and defeated, speaking barely above a whisper. And the smallifying crowd was all but silent. Even his lies about “bare cupboards” when Covid hit got nothing. Not mentioned was the fact that one of his early “presidential” acts was to disband the pandemic preparedness group established by President Obama. Probably just an oversight.  

For all but the inexplicably remaining “undecideds,” minds are made up. A few “conservative” pundits are cynically demanding more “specifics” from Kamala Harris, despite the fact that she’s provided many and Trump’s have mainly been about economy-destroying, inflationary tariffs, imprisoning his enemies and, hot off the depresses, an unconstitutional day of wilding by police in which bad guys like shoplifters would be “roughly” taken out.

By now, we know who Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump are. It’s time to stop being distracted, as hoped by Team Trump, by squirrels; like almost non-existent transgenderizing of incarcerated criminals. An exception might be noting that when Trump just said that “eighteen years ago” San Francisco was the greatest city in the US, Kamala Harris was its District Attorney. History isn’t among his strong suits, evidently. Or arithmetic. Unless the curiously-timed longshore strike, led by their union president who’s a prominent pal of Trump, has an impact, there’s not much left to decide.. 

Which is another way of saying this column, written on an aging laptop by a man a month from 80 years old, sitting in a recliner with no commentary credentials, read by tens of people, is inconsequential. Maybe the best approach, for now at least, is to let things play out and remain silent. Let the cow chips fall where they may.