2 weeks Ago
Well, I was wrong. Again. Back in the presidential primary season of 2015-16 (the “seasons” do tend to run long), I sincerely hoped that Donald Trump would win enough of the primaries to be the Republican nominee.
Because I thought he would make a good President? Hardly. It’s because I believed enough of my countrymen would listen to the invective and name-calling, the belligerence and hubris of a businessman/TV pitchman with no governmental experience and dismiss his candidacy out of hand. I was wrong.
In 2020 I was greatly worried that Donald Trump would be re-elected in spite of what I and many others felt was a mishandling of Covid pandemic (remember injecting bleach?) as well as a dangerous pulling back from our leadership on the world stage. I was wrong. But joyfully wrong.
So joyfully wrong that I joined the throng celebrating in downtown Chicago on that warm Saturday when Joe Biden was called as the winner of that election. And this year. I was worried about the prospects of another run by Trump for the presidency.
Even though he actively tried to subvert Biden’s election by undermining the Constitution which he took an oath to uphold, and then inciting a mob to attack the citadel of our government, our capital, to overturn the results of the largest and fairest election in our history. I was resigned to another Trump presidency after watching the painful performance of an obviously befuddled Joe Biden against the endlessly lying Donald Trump in the “debate” from hell. Polls began to show that Biden would be toast in the election.
Joe Biden decided (was helped to decide?) to step out of the race and endorse his vice president Kamala Harris for the job. Listen now and subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS Feed | SoundStack | All Of Our Podcasts Having been wrong about Trump before, I took some action. Besides my column and postings on Facebook, I did give some money to the Democratic party.
And on three occasions, I did, or tried to do, some phone bank calling on behalf of Kamala Harris to North Carolina and Georgia. My ineptness with most all technology came into play as I messed up Zoom, disconnected myself several times, or couldn’t get connected at all, and in general, felt uncomfortable and frustrated with the process. I did learn with my calls to North Carolina, that there was a general tiredness, bordering on anger with the calls and the election process as it was playing out.
Numerous folks told me either that they didn’t live in North Carolina, or that they were tired of the calls, or wanted off the call list. Anyway, as the election drew near, I was cautiously optimistic that Kamala Harris would win the election. I felt so largely because I believed that integrity and the moral character of the country’s leader would make enough difference to disqualify Donald Trump.
Sadly, wrong again. It seems to me that the fear and anger stoked by Donald Trump prevailed. A pervasive distrust of government prevailed.
A desire to tear apart or greatly alter elements of that government prevailed. The idea that Biden/Harris caused inflation prevailed. The idea that lawless, criminal migrants were mindlessly let into the country prevailed.
The idea that crime runs rampant in our streets prevailed. The idea that maybe we don’t need to be the leader of the free world prevailed. Fear and anger seems to have won.
I really don’t know. Donald Trump has vowed to be retribution for people who feel wronged. He certainly has attacked those who disagree with him.
How will that look now that he’s regained power? Many people in high level positions in his first administration have warned about him being in the Oval Office again. He has vowed to use the levers of government to end his legal woes, to attack perceived enemies. His antipathy toward NATO endangers that decades long bastion of post WW II stability.
There are some dark omens. I fear for my country ..
. But I’ve been wrong before. Thanks for reading.
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