By Senior Copywriter, D’Anne Witkowski
So how ‘bout that debate, eh? If we define winning by being the most racist, then Trump won the debate hands down. If we define winning as clearly articulating ideas and policy positions while at the same time coming across as someone who actually cares about the country and people besides herself, I’m going to have to give the win to Vice President Kamala Harris.
I just finished A Firehose of Falsehood: The Story of Disinformation by Teri Kanefield with art by Pat Dorian. It’s part of the World Citizen Comics series and should be required reading for everyone. Unsurprisingly, Trump is in it. A LOT. The book, which was published in 2023, ends with the following: “Democracy requires a shared truth and a sense of factuality. Fascism takes root when myth and lies crowd truth from the public sphere. The question thus remains open: Will fascism take root in the United States? Or will enough Americans hold fast to the truth?
We’ll see! (nervous laughter)
Trump’s unhinged debate “performance” aside, let’s look at the Trump timeline:
2015: Trump spends a year demonstrating repeatedly that he is unfit for the presidency and that racism and sexism are his favorite.
2016-2020: Trump spends four years proving that he did not deserve the presidency, could not handle the job, and was using the office for his personal gain. Still sexist, still racist.
2020-2024: After soundly losing the 2020 election, Trump spent the next four years doing everything possible to undermine American democracy, screaming that the election was stolen. It was, of course, not stolen. Sexim and racism game remains strong.
2024: With Trump, once again, fronting the Republican ticket, he’s already saying loud and clear that he will not accept the results of this election, either, unless he wins. And he’s basically promising that there will be bloodshed either way. If he loses, we can expect another “uprising” by his supporters. If he wins, he promises a mass deportation that will be “a bloody show.”
A “bloody show,” by the way, is the term for the blood and mucus that drains from one’s vagina shortly before childbirth. I suspect this is not the kind Trump is talking about.
Then, on Sept. 10, 2024: Trump screamed, “They’re eating pets!” on National television all the while making it very clear how incredibly painful it was for him to share a stage with a woman and listen to her talk, making clear that his whole sexism and racism thing was not a phase (as if anyone had doubts).
Trump is living his truth, which, of course, is based on believing many lies. The question is, will U.S. voters embrace Trump’s vision of the U.S. as a failing country that needs a strongman like Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orbán to stop a little problem called democracy, terrorize and deport as much of the BIPOC population as possible, and control each and every womb?
Or will voters choose Harris, a level-headed centrist Democrat who is clearly capable of leading this country and will not spend her presidency seeking the blood of her enemies?
The fact that this race is even close is a damning indictment of this country.
During the debate, Harris was, no surprise, very strong on the issue of abortion. Trump was, again no surprise, a mess on the issue.
Trump went on again with lies to the point where the moderators had to point out that in no state is infanticide illegal. He also stated, “I believe in the exceptions rape incest and life of the mother.” What a generous position for a rapist to take.
Trump claimed that repealing Roe v Wade was what everybody wanted. “Everybody wanted it to be brought back into the states,” he said. Which is, of course, not true. The majority of the country supported Roe v Wade. And the majority of the country still supports abortion rights. But Trump doesn’t surround himself with people who hold opposing views. So he may very well believe this.
Harris, in the words of my late father, tore him a new one, laying out exactly how we got to the point where abortion is illegal in over 20 states.
“You want to talk about what people wanted?” she asked. She gave examples of miscarrying women bleeding out in hospital parking lots, children who are victims of incest being forced to carry a baby to term. “They don’t want that.”
Trump admitted that it “may take a little time” to get abortion laws sorted across the country. But you know who doesn’t have time to spare? Pregnant people.
Pregnant people don’t have a little time. Especially not those people living in states with 6-week cut-offs, most of whom won’t even know they’re pregnant by then. Not the people who are experiencing emergencies and need care that doctors are scared to provide in this post-Roe world. The woman bleeding out, the pregnant 12-year-old, someone whose baby has stopped developing. They don’t have time to wait for Trump and his buddies to figure out if their lives are worth a damn or not.
Frankly, this country does not have time. Not for Trump’s racism. Not for Trump’s sexism. Not for Trump’s crimes. Not for Trump’s lies. Not for Trump’s complete disdain for the majority of the people in this country. Not for Trump’s ego.
Harris Walz 2024, or bust. Literally.
Love,
The Guerrilla Politic