No reprieve if the American people choose a nightmare for their future

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There are years that stand apart, made famous by the epochal events that unfolded across them and remembered as hinges on which history’s greatest events swung. The years 1776, 1860, 1865, 1939, 1944, 1945 and 1989 are such years. Twenty twenty-four will join their company because by the time it is finished a great question will have been answered that will shape our national destiny — and the world’s future — for the next 75 to 100 years. A decisive moment has arrived. 

Everywhere, there is a cacophony of noise, nonsense, insanity and louder noise. All of it together has reached a pinnacle of absurdism that seems to mock the concept of absurdism. Many people have experienced dreams rooted in anxieties where they feel a sensation of falling, paralysis, or losing their teeth. The good news always comes when the dream ends, and it all fades away into the mist of memories lost. There will be no reprieve should the American people choose a nightmare for their future. 

What is the meaning of this moment? What is the mood of the American people 18 days before a presidential election? 

Let the record show no truer words than these from Mark McKinnon, writing in Vanity Fair, which will be printed in 2024:

In these waning stages of the late Trump era, everything and nothing is a surprise. We’ve become immune. I mean, when you have the nominee of a major political party mentally unplugging during a town hall, stopping answering questions, and swaying along to his own Spotify playlist for 39 interminable minutes—and no one seems to blink—we’re out of surprises.

McKinnon, a close friend and collaborator of the late great Kris Kristofferson, shows off his songwriting chops with this brilliant turn of phrase that captures the madness inherent in whatever event transpires next in these closing days:

Or another hurricane could blow ashore, wreaking havoc—and Category 5 conspiracy theories.

Yesterday, Donald Trump called January 6th, 2021, “ a day of love.” It wasn’t.

Here is how Bob Woodward described the events of that day in his new book, “WAR:”

The FBI later estimated that over 2,000 people entered the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Five people died, 172 police officers were injured, and more than 500 were arrested. The cost of the damage to the historic Capitol building exceeded $2.7 million.

There is no disputing this, just like there is no disputing the truth of what Mitch McConnell said about Trump, according to AP, which reported excerpts from Michael Tackett’s book on McConnell, “The Price of Power:”

He called him “a despicable human being,” a “narcissist,” “stupid” and “ill-tempered.”

Less written about has been what those comments reveal about McConnell, a small and pathetic figure who stands 100 percent behind the movement that has targeted his wife, hijacked his political party, and brought an idiotized version of fascism into the 21st century. He knows how dangerous, vile and indecent all of this is, but he made his moral capitulations a long time ago.  Whatever Trump is, McConnell is worse. There are no further words needed to describe the moment at hand. There is nothing left to learn. 

The United States faces a national emergency because a presidential candidate and former president has attacked the cornerstones of the American way of life, and is trying to topple them for the purposes of taking political power. He is a world-class liar and manipulator who sought to destroy the American government, which he betrayed by rejecting the results of the election he lost and the oath of office he took. He is surrounded by a rogues’ gallery of weirdos, criminals, cranks, conspiracy theorists, sexual predators, and moral deviants of all persuasions. MAGA is a safe haven for militia members, neo-Nazis and their propagandists, who are lawless, violent, corrupt and dangerous. The threat to our way of life is immense. There is catastrophe ahead if Trump wins. He is unstable, incoherent and very angry. Trump will be manipulated by our enemies, and will give his allies free rein to abuse the American people for their gain, so long as they stay politically loyal.  

Kamala Harris must spend every moment of the next 18 days hitting Trump. She must show strength, determination and fierceness against the threat she has accurately identified. She must talk to the whole country about what we face together, while asserting over and over again that there are more of us who love liberty, reality and decency enough than not. She must give courage to the besieged silent majority that they are neither surrounded or outnumbered. 

There is no one who remains undecided. This moment is about calling Americans forward to take an action in defense of their country and for generations of Americans not yet born.  A pestilence has arisen, and it must be dealt with. Simply, how dare Donald Trump travel around this country mirroring the rhetoric of Adolf Hitler in 1938. Truly, how dare he. We should all be enraged over it, and equally ashamed that any American would say what he is saying. 

Donald Trump deserves confrontation and a proverbial fist in his face. It is utterly necessary. There can be no let until the end, which will mark the beginning of an epic crisis. The moment the networks declare Kamala Harris is the president-elect of the United States of America, Trump and some sizable percentage of his cult of personality are going to try and burn it all down. When that moment comes the president-elect will have to help guide the nation through the crisis. This is the warm up. This is the test. Harris must be able to communicate clearly and fearlessly about what is facing us. She has to embrace the country fully to defend it from Trump’s attacks. In doing so, she will become fully the only American candidate in the race where the question is a referendum on wrecking the country. It isn’t possible for her to throw a punch too hard. It’s time to talk more about America and the arsonist with orange hair in the clear language the American people can hear. This last hurdle is all that stands between this day and the end of the Trump era. Let’s end it.

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