The Foolish Notion of Inevitability
No, the election is not over, no matter how much Republicans behave as if they have it locked up. November 5 is still 109 days away.
Donald Trump has the heart of a lion, the excited Republicans say. He will fight, fight, fight for America, they say, with fresh evidence provided by a 20-year-old shooter who was a registered Republican. He is now about unity and healing the nation, they swear. The world has irrevocably shifted, they assert, and the future of Donald Trump, the Republicans and America could not be brighter.
Joe Biden and the Democrats, meanwhile, are leading the country to ruin, they claim. Everything that is wrong in your life—the prices, those millions of illegal refugees who need to be deported, the crumbling bridges, the violent crime—are Biden’s fault. He has done nothing to make your lives better. “All hell has broken loose in America, and it’s impossible to hide anymore,” Trump’s namesake and emergent GOP kingmaker Don Jr. told the cheering crowd at the Republican Party’s national convention.
In the false, upside down world of this convention, the Republicans are for the working man. They are the ones who create record numbers of manufacturing jobs, low unemployment and high wages for working people. They are the ones who produced the greatest economy in history and will save the American project.
Note newly crowned Vice President nominee, J.D. Vance, who delivered a convention speech last night in which his desire for a total national ban on abortion, even in cases of rape and incest, was not heard. Nor was his belief that women should stay in abusive marriages for the good of the children, American support for Ukraine’s war against Putin’s Russia should end, and the lifespan of the American republic is nearly over. Nor, by the way, were any of his previous condemnations of Trump, including worrying that he might be “America’s Hitler.” No, that’s all forgotten now. Project 2025 is ascendant here.
Rather, Vance told his fellow Republicans and a national TV audience that Donald Trump is “America’s last, best hope.” And, “we need a leader who’s not in the pocket of big business, but is for the working man.” Never mind that several months ago Trump promised Big Oil executives whatever they wanted if they gave him a billion dollars. Never mind that he gave the richest Americans a $2 trillion tax cut when he was in office and wants to cut corporate taxes more. Never mind that, after President Biden joined striking autoworkers’ picket line a year ago, a first of its kind, Trump staged another “union” event with non-union workers.
Vance also shared his personal story growing up in an impoverished southern Ohio with a mother who was a drug addict and a tough-as-nails grandmother who he thanked for raising him. How tough was Vance’s “Mamaw”? Well, after she died, they found 19 loaded handguns around her home “to protect herself,” Vance said. “That’s American spirit,” he proudly asserted as the crowd began chanting “USA, USA, USA.” This triumphant tale about guns was delivered after last week’s AR-15 shooting in Butler, Pa., that left a firefighter dead and two others critically injured.
The world of this convention—combined with the still-intensifying battle among many elected Democrats to oust Biden from the race—might lead viewers to believe that the election is already over, save for the voting, of course. More than one speaker said they expect a landslide; final tallies in November will just be proof that a landslide victory was inevitable. Perhaps they are convinced it’s true. But we can expect they will deny the legitimacy of any other outcome if actual voters fail to fulfill their confident presumption.
Note how MSNBC anchor Chris Hayes described the attitude on the convention floor and behind the speakers’ podium. “They think this is done,” he said. “They’re acting with the kind of swagger and confidence like ‘we have this in the bag.’”
But here’s the thing: None of this is inevitable. We are nearly four months from the actual election. The fate of the country is not up to a deeply troubled attempted assassin who shot at Donald Trump or, for that matter, leading media who think they can demand Biden’s exit.
Trump is still a convicted felon, a business fraud, an adjudicated rapist, a pathological liar and a hateful, divisive demagogue who wants to be a dictator and employ only loyalists to impose the fascist promises of Project 2025 on all Americans. His desire for vengeance and retribution against his perceived political enemies and plan to round up millions of undocumented immigrants and deport them without due process hasn’t suddenly evaporated. The majority of voters will not suddenly embrace a future that they strongly opposed a week ago. That includes rejecting a corrupt Supreme Court bent on stripping away freedoms and turning the country backwards
In a month from now, Democrats will have the opportunity to remind voters what they stand for during their national convention. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will have the chance to describe their achievements and articulate their agenda for the future, assuming that newly reported meetings between the incumbent president and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries don’t cause Biden to change his mind. Polls showcasing voters’ fears and causing panic among some elected Democrats will shift after the four-day convention in Chicago and the typically positive bump as previously disengaged voters begin paying attention.
That doesn’t mean anyone can sit back and relax. Nothing is inevitable here, including a Democratic victory. But that will require us all to push back against the cascade of lies and misinformation—and to refuse to fall victim to the understandable fears about the consequences of losing in November. There are still 109 days—a lifetime in politics—to achieve a positive outcome and ensure the survival of the American democratic experiment. Think how sweet that will be.
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Totally agree. It’s sickening how the mainstream media has normalized this convention, as if it’s something out of the Eisenhower or Reagan era, instead of a fascist takeover of a major political party by those willing to overthrow free and fair elections and end American democracy if that’s what it takes to gain power for themselves and impose their will on the American people. The media is complicit in this assault on American democracy and the Constitution.
Considering the sophisticated mind bending being paid for by billionaires, we need to work a lot harder to keep our country. Thanks Steven.