Thursday, October 17, 2024

THE ENEMY WITHIN

 

How can it be so close? That question is on the mind of so many people I know, and yet no one has a good answer.

There’s no logical, rational way that the Orange One can win. If he actually does, however, it will destroy my entire world view, one that’s always been based on logical reasoning and rational thought.

Harris and her people have, after all, conducted a pitch-perfect campaign. She’s doing everything exactly right. Saying all the right things, going all the right places. Her campaign’s timing and momentum are perfect. She has all the bi-partisan support, and all the money, that she could ever hope for.

Meanwhile, there’s dementia-addled Trump – buffoon, ignoramus, pathological liar, conman, rapist, malignant narcissist, and all-around despicable human being – blathering nonsense. But wait, there’s more, say his former generals: he’s fascist to his core, incompetent, a grave threat to our democracy.

Every day he displays for all to see his deepening lunacy. His rambling trains-of-thought are so constant that he had to give them a brand – “the weave” – to try to explain away his pathology. He can’t speak for five minutes without veering into incoherence and fantasy.

And every day I ask myself again, how can it be so close? How can nearly half of all the people I see around me – driving down the freeway, pushing shopping carts in Walmart, going to football games – how can nearly half of those normal-appearing people want this lunatic to be in charge?

There are all his well-publicized issues to fear: reproductive rights, immigrant roundups, Project 2025, tariffs, abandoning Ukraine, and on and on. Not appreciated are the less-visible administrative actions that will wreck havoc on progress of the Biden-Harris administration on environmental regulations, climate change, Native American rights, and protections of natural resources, marine sanctuaries, and wilderness.

As bad as Trump is, he surrounds himself with evil, nutty people who are capable of implementing his moronic agenda. People like the Pillow Guy, Stephen Miller, Corey Lewandowski, Roger Stone, Steve Bannon, Mike Flynn.

Does the man actually believe his fantasies and lies? Once a pronouncement passes his golden lips, does that make it true? At least to him? A genuinely new non-fact-based reality for him and his acolytes? He won the 2020 election. January 6 was about peace and love. He left in a peaceful transition of power. In Ohio, Haitian immigrants are eating cats and dogs. In Colorado, Venezuelan gangs are out of control. Does he really, deep down, believe that bullshit?

I used to think it was all a con, that he was as phony as his fake university, watches, and coins. Lately though, as we all watch his mental deterioration before our eyes, I’m not so sure. Like a dealer getting high on his own product, it’s possible that his brain is so far gone that he believes his own con.

I have distant friends and relatives who, I’m pretty sure, will be voting for this asshole. I’ve heard all the justifications from such naifs, and it’s all balderdash. How can any issue – taxes, abortion, immigration – take precedence over the clear and present danger to our democracy that he presents? How can people explain away the warnings from Dick Cheney, Mark Milley, Mike Pence, and all those other Republicans who worked for Trump and know him best?

Of course I’m voting for Harris. For me, it’s not that complicated. She’s brilliant. And she’s not Trump. That’s enough.

We’re less than three weeks from the climax of this crazy story. Trump’s going to lose, and I predict it won’t be as close as the polls now suggest. Of course, that won’t be the end of it, since there will be myriad challenges and charges of voter fraud and cheating. But like the last time, he will lose. Then we’ll see if President Harris and Vice President Walz can deliver on their promise to turn the fucking page.

  # # #

Wayne’s Blog – Index