Every presidential election anticipates some kind of October surprise. It can be devastatingly scandalous, or a simple opportunity to reframe an opponent, putting them off message and on defense. Yes, it happens in every presidential election except perhaps this one. Odd, because this is the election. Right? We really haven’t seen a surprise. Maybe it’s because there are few surprises at all in a world dominated by social media. Perhaps it doesn’t matter.
In that spirit, the Harris campaign’s final argument is simple, nothing surprising, nothing more than “Trump will be Trump, Trump will be unhinged, Trump won’t have guardrails, Trump the dictator, Trump at his worst. Vote for Harris or vote for an undetermined future.”
It’s dogma that “2024 Trump” is not an updated version of “2016 guy.” Yes, he was always anathema to Democrats, our worst nightmare – no matter the year. But to his supporters Trump used to be funny (He actually was funny), he was a character, he was kind of charming to them, he promised to upset the apple cart but only in a good way, he promised all those things and did it with a wink, one nobody needed to see. Yes, he was “that guy” but he wouldn’t upset things “that much.” He would gather “the best people” around him – things would be okay, not too bad, almost fun.
But this Trump, the 2024 Trump, is no such thing – the opposite. This guy is furious. He hates Democrats. Supporters love him for promising that things won’t be “okay” for half the country and if he wins he’ll bring glares of grievances, not humorous winks – an angry militant wanting to sic the military on anyone dissenting.
And then there is Kamala Harris and her final message: A center-left Democrat with impeccable credentials, an attorney general within the biggest state, a U.S. Senator, and Vice President, one of the most qualified candidates in decades (Joe Biden being the only one more), and a traditional candidate at that. She is someone for whom Dick Cheney can vote. You should, too.
Harris frames the choice as that between a very well qualified normal person versus the dictator-in-waiting, the humorless, the dangerous, the 2024 Donald Trump – the guy who proudly won’t have the best people, only the most loyal. There will be no guardrails. As Politico just wrote of Kamala Harris’s argument:
Her remarks, coupled with Kelly’s bombshell warnings that Trump meets the “definition of a fascist” and would govern as a dictator if reelected, injected new urgency into the closing argument Harris and her allies have been pushing in recent days: that Trump is not just “unfit” to serve a second term but is increasingly power hungry and “unhinged.
Many argue that Trump’s mind has slipped with age and he’s more confused than lucid during speeches. But it’s also entirely possible that he is so full of rage, so wanting to hurt so many people, all so that he really can’t articulate much of anything other than “attack, attack, attack.” Power hungry and increasingly unhinged. This guy who has been quoted as talking about the “extreme power” of the presidency is also this guy, again from Politico:
[H]e has framed those who oppose him as the “enemy from within” and threatened to weaponize both the military and judicial system against them. He has claimed he did “nothing wrong” on Jan. 6, 2021… [H]e has described migrants in increasingly dehumanizing and racist terms, an escalation in language that experts in political rhetoric, fascism and immigration say is a strong echo of authoritarians and Nazi ideology.
This is the Harris campaign’s frame for the final argument. Yes, she has the same impeccable Democratic credentials, ideas and issues, yes – she is so overly qualified it’s stupid. But the final frame is her impeccable normality against an unhinged danger. The final argument is not the economy, women’s health, immigration, no – it is simpler: Traditional Democracy versus Undefined authoritarianism – TBD, “no guardrails.”
Yes, it’s been there all along but so was the economy. This is it, this is now – the final dozen days, Harris wants this background music as voters walk into the booth. Almost hilariously, the Harris campaign wants the first woman president to carry the flag for all that is normal.
It is no surprise. Nothing else really fits. Everything said to this point feeds into the final question, “Is this really what you want? Because Donald Trump circa 2024 isn’t the fun one. This one is dangerous because even you don’t know what is coming…” Everything, the economy, women’s health, immigration, all of it is up in the air to his impulses, the guy who talks about unleashing the military on Democratic opponents would otherwise be there… without guardrails.
Right. No October surprise, indeed. It would be surprising if an overwhelming majority of Americans voted to preserve normal democracy. We could wave October away with a scary Halloween, one that ushers in a terrifyingly undefined month, one that is anything but normal, sure to bring some version of “November Surprise.”
God Bless: I can be reached at [email protected] and @JasonMiciak
the voters will have the November surprise up their sleeves when Kamala wins by a landslide!
May you be right…
I think the ramp up in his dementia increases the darkness in him. I’m seeing it in my sister as at times she goes all negative and dark. She’s nowhere at tRump’s level, of course, but it’s a side of her illness, as it’s a side of his. Something we sure as hell don’t want in the White House!
I lived in GA for twelve years. Much of Trump’s appeal to his followers is simple; he hates the same people they. College grads who don’t get their hands dirty. Religious people who interpret the Bible more liberally and believe that helping others is the core message of the Gospel. Anti-racism volunteers . Basically anyone the least bit different from them.
For me the biggest difference is in photos. Trump always looks angry, unhappy, hateful. Harris is smiling, enjoying meeting voters,joyful.
The difference is between voting for someone with an enemies list, or someone with a to do list.
Murder, envy, and hate have dogged humanity from the jump. Apparently we, as a species, are slow learners. A friend told me today he saw a stat where 50% of college grads haven’t read a book since they graduated. Well…there’s your problem right there…willful stupidity. If the kids smart enough in reading and writing to graduate from college aren’t reading…well…I guess there’s no hope for the rest of the populace sitting at home watching sports, talk shows, and ‘reality’ tv. Welcome to the new show: Hell Comes To America.
Early voting began a week ago yesterday in my state (NC). I’ve been watching and we’ve averaged over 300,000 voters daily making their choices. Yesterday we topped 2 million, which comes to about 26% of our registered electorate of 7.8 million. I hope this is a sense of urgency we’re seeing, because the biggest thing on the ballot is our democracy. This past Monday night, the dotard apparently appeared at a faith-based event in Charlotte, and told the assembled audience that God “had anointed him for a second term”. That, my friends, is the definition of blasphemy. But there IS a Christians Against Trump tour, and they are chasing him all over NC and PA with the help of local pastors, so gotta love that!
Not sure how you would arrive at that 50% figure, but who knows. I hope you’re aware that 87.6% of statistics you read online are made up.