OBVIOUS DETERIORATION – DOES IT MATTER?

By Ruth A. Sheets

The polls keep going up and down, but tell us Trump is leading or tied with Harris.  I am sorry so many Americans have decided they would choose a fumbling, deteriorating, old, fascist, bad businessman to be their presidential candidate and a whiny inexperienced white boy Vance for VP.  What are those people missing in their lives?  Is it they like having a man like Trump giving them targets for their frustration, even hatred?  Is it that Trump’s supporters are furious they don't have everything they could possibly want, while others have a little, but not what they think they deserve? 

Donald Trump and crew now spew racism, misogyny, xenophobia, and homo/transphobia  with no apologies because they know they don’t need any.  Their "Jim Crow" style of name-calling, blaming, intimidating, threatening, terrorizing, is designed to do as much arm as possible while hardly getting their hands dirty. And they are getting help.  Over 150 years after Black men and 100 years after women got the right to vote, in so many states of the former confederacy and among confederate wannabees, those votes are regularly challenged, even suppressed by Republican legislatures and governors, on behalf of a man and political party that are falling apart, incapable of governing themselves, let alone this nation. 

White Americans are reminded over and over of their superiority which works well for a lot of frightened white folks and their families and friends.  Encouraging people to believe they have some kind of innate superiority should be unacceptable to everyone, but alas, in 2016, more than half of white women voted for a misogynistic man who was sure he had the right to grab women “wherever.”  I heard some women, white of course, say they would let Trump grab them wherever he wanted.  Why? 

Trump gives Whitedom targets:  women, people of color, and immigrants to malign, blame, fear, even hate.  Such rhetoric should be seen as despicable by everyone, but alas, many cleave to it, and their child-man Donnie Trump is loving the attention.  I bet Trump now has little sense of what he is saying in general, but loves that the crowds (small though they be) are cheering for his offering of the usual mix of lies, whining, and sidetracks.

I continue to wonder if Trump is wearing an earpiece at rallies and interviews, being prompted with the usual targets, the expected vocabulary, taunts, and insults.  I suspect Steve Miller and a pit crew of expert liars who manage Trump’s rallies.  They transmit the necessary/expected lies and misinformation on Trump’s rants.  The “handlers” know well how easy it is to get Trump to spout what they need spouted plus whatever comes into Trump’s mind at any moment.  The recent anti-FEMA rants of late come to mind.  Trump had no clue what he was talking about, but spewed it anyway and the crowds loved it despite that at least some of them may have had homes or property in the storm zones. 

Trump supporters just can't see that that rambling whining toddler-man cares nothing for them or anyone else and it is not he that is running the show.  It is people like Steve Miller, the other Steves, and a bunch of power-hungry privileged mostly white men who have only their own interests and vengeance as guides, as well as their desire to do harm to those who don't bow to them or do it quickly enough. 

Then, there's our mainstream media whom we should be able to depend on for integrity and non-partisan coverage.  We have not seen that non-partisanship in our media for decades.  For some reason, they have cleaved to Trump and his cronies and can't let go even though Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have more productive plans for this nation as Hillary Clinton had in 2016.  We need to find a way to spotlight the corporate-driven assault on our democracy in our media and beyond.  We could start by demanding our media call out the corporations trying to buy our candidates and elections, make it clear that our Supreme Court is responsible for allowing, even encouraging unlimited money in elections (Citizens United 2010), and vote and encourage everyone we know to vote for Harris-Walz and all Democrats on the ballot.  They are the ones who actually do care about us all and stand against the hate, fear, and assault on our democracy.  We have less than 3 weeks.  We could make this election an event for the whole American family to participate in and a chance to really make this nation a better place to live for all of us.  We could!