“Those overwhelmed by despair seek magical salvations, whether in crisis cults, such as the Christian Right, or demagogues such as Trump, or rage-filled militias that see violence as a cleansing agent.” Chris Hedges
I’m writing this on the morning of the final debate between Trump and Joe Biden. I’ve listened to a number of pundits and political junkies talk about the format, the moderator, and how Trump might react if his microphone is silenced. Can Trump keep his shit together this time and allow Biden to talk without being interrupted? I agree with the pundits who maintain that this last debate is more important for Trump than Biden. The former vice president may be the challenger but the pressure to deliver a “normal” performance rests on Trump’s back. Biden prepped, it’s a certainty that Trump didn’t bother. The lies, as always, will come thick and fast.
Given the way Trump has ranted at his recent rallies, his attacks on the press, and the way he rambled on about low-flow showerheads and toilets at one of the gigs, I wonder if Trump is headed for his Howard Beal moment, a full-on meltdown on national television. It would be fitting if the medium that made Trump is also the medium that brings him crashing down. I don’t imagine this debate will change many minds, any more than I can imagine how any voter can be undecided at this point in the game.
Let’s be clear: if Trump pulling himself together and pretending to be rational for 90 minutes is portrayed as a near-miracle in the media, that’s because the bar is down in the muck and Trump put it there.
American myths -- freedom, liberty, justice for all -- crash head-on into American hypocrisy. For decades the United States painted itself as the gold standard when it came to free and fair elections, and we never shied from lecturing less civilized and sophisticated nations about their election practices even though for most of the 20th century we systematically disenfranchised millions of African-American voters. Voting procedures vary from state-to-state and, since 2010 when John Roberts and his Federalist Society pals opened the spigots and flooded our political system with unaccountable corporate cash in the Citizens United decision, then gutted the Voting Rights Act three years later, making it possible for Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky, Texas, and North and South Carolina to erect new obstacles, resurrect some old ones, and once again render the act of voting difficult for folks of lesser means and darker pigment.
Those in power don’t like to share. The powerful and wealthy make voting difficult for certain segments of the American electorate because they want as little democracy as possible.
LATER. 6:30 P.M.
My wife and daughter are watching the Trump-Biden “debate” behind me, but both are on their phones. I’m plugged in, listening to Fela Kuti at higher than normal volume in order to drown Trump’s voice out. The man sickens me. He is everything that is crass, cruel and crooked in this life. He’ll lie for his life tonight, force Biden to defend, maybe stumble. My phone keeps pinging, another Democratic Party group warning me that Trump will be reelected unless I chip in $25 in the next five minutes. Joe is counting on me. Brian, it’s Kamala...Then, ominously: TRUMP IS KILLING BIDEN...saving his presidency...staging a last-ditch assault for reelection. It’s too much. I need more music, louder... have to keep these voices out of my brain. Twelve or thirteen days until the last day to cast a vote. Feels like an eternity.
Trump is like Dracula. He has an insatiable appetite for power and wealth, to be loved and adored, and the only way to kill him is to drive a stake in his heart, shove a crucifix up his ass, and take off his hairpiece. Trump needs his hair, it’s like his battle armor. The debate should be nearing its merciful end, and then the tea leaf reading can begin, hourly polls, trends, probabilities, what ifs, analysis, the hunt for nuance and secret messages, a clear winner. Like I said this morning, if Trump managed to behave himself and exercise a 12-year-old’s impulse control, he may do his campaign a boost, give it a last spasm of life before the lights dim. How many undecided voters is Trump chasing, how is he going to turn them at this point? Let’s be clear: if Trump pulling himself together and pretending to be rational for 90 minutes is portrayed as a near-miracle in the media, that’s because the bar is down in the muck and Trump put it there. Trump hasn’t acted normal or been coherent in months. If Biden held his own, got in a couple of good licks on the Coronavirus and the economy, he should be fine.
Here’s my mantra: It’s not 2016. This is a different race under very different conditions.
I think the post-game analysis is underway.
No comments:
Post a Comment