Seinfeld aficionados who watched Donald Trump sleepwalk and meander through his final weekend of doomsday forecasting and pornographic pantomime will remember the character Kenny Bania, the wannabe comic who was never good enough to "kill" on stage—could never think of anything funny but knew "gold" when he heard it.
It is easy to imagine Trump, more deluded and confused by the day, explaining to his handlers and caretakers how he killed this weekend, and though it must have been difficult for anyone in his campaign to agree, his tribe of sycophants no doubt assured him that he did, in fact, kill.
And he did kill—what he usually kills—the truth. His ceaseless whining over the 2020 election, which he lost by eight million votes, has degenerated into the tired rambling of a man of limited and diminishing abilities. In recent weeks he has done little more than call to mind Joe Biden's damning performance at last summer's presidential debate—the evening that led even the president's most ardent supporters to call for his withdrawal from the race. Predictably, Biden still honors his oath of office by working the job he was hired to do, while Trump seems lost in a miasma of bewilderment and incoherence. Not much gold. When will his supporters begin falling away and asking for his withdrawal?
Trump is an old man, and he's tired. Speaking from some experience, I get that: I sometimes decide which mall stores to visit based on their distance from where I'm standing. But I don't aspire to be the person who stands between peaceful equilibrium and planet-wide armageddon or represent America on the world stage.
The evolution of Donald Trump from an angry and bitter agitator to a stupefied and addled buffoon has been striking—playing out in real-time and worsening by the day, the hour, and the minutes of each particular performance. "That's Trump being Trump" no longer applies, explains, or justifies. He used to be mean-spirited to play on the worst instincts of his audiences; now, he's mean-spirited because he can't help himself. One would think a man who has escaped two assassination attempts would be more reticent when it comes to crime, but yesterday he declared journalists to be targets, unprotected by bulletproof glass.
Also, after last week's Madison Square Garden curse-fest and tribute to vulgarity, I wondered how many children were present and how their parents explained why it was okay to refer to women as bitches and worse, and why the words that kids are never to utter are an acceptable part of a presidential candidate's vernacular. He has only worsened since.
In 2016, many referred to Trump's candidacy with a mixture of amusement and curiosity—"Maybe it's time for something new," they said. I didn't agree at the time, but I understood the sentiment. But he is no longer a novelty, nor can we be curious or amused by his recent displays.
I don't expect everyone to agree with everything Kamala Harris says: candidates make promises they cannot keep since checks and balances and the very idea of democracy rein them in. This election is more than a battle of platforms—it is a struggle to maintain America's integrity. Trump audiences nod in affirmation when he portrays this country as a collapsing failure. Still, these same people are free to attend or not attend that rally—free to support or not support Trump—and ultimately free to vote in an election where their vote counts—all of which flies in the face of Trump's gloomy assessment. He doesn't even know the country he wants to lead, nor is he proud to be an American, despite that tune pumped out at every rally.
Kamala Harris will lead with goodwill, and she will honor the office of president. She won't produce miracles, nor has she promised them, for the policies that divide us will not disappear overnight. But Harris will try to diminish them rather than worsen them. And most important, she will never embarrass the country or serve as an opponent of the Constitution or democracy itself.
Some claim she doesn't have the experience to lead a country. Many of these critics are the same ones who, in 2016, glibly turned the country over to a failed businessman, then watched him foment a mob that resulted in numerous deaths, turn a blind eye to a pandemic, undergo two impeachments in which only a craven party saved him, and sit through a trial that led to 34 felony convictions. Experience? In one way, they're equal—Donald Trump has spent his life committing crimes, while Kamala Harris has spent hers jailing people like him. It's probably fitting that they run against each other: America can decide if they want to live in a country of laws or lawlessness. It's a democracy—so far—we get our choice. If we can honor those democratic principles tomorrow, we can continue to maintain an America that is more than just a myth.
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