Democracy Throws A Party

Andrea and I watched Kamala Harris accept the Democratic Party's nomination for President of the United States. It was a powerful speech that punched hard at Donald Trump, spoke to her hopes and plans for the future and reiterated a positive message on making America better for everyone. 

I felt pride and enthusiasm for her message.   

I also (damn it!) cannot shake my deeper feelings of trepidation.

For the lead up to that speech, the Democratic National Convention had a PARTY!

 

Everybody was feeling good about the chances of putting away the big orange morally deficient, intellectually limited, sexual assaulting, empathy deprived, incoherent convicted felon once and for fucking all!!!

 

The music blasting through the convention center was raucous, new and popular!

 

The political speeches almost bordered on stand up comedy as the sheer weirdness of Trump, Vance and the current state of the Republican Party was shredded by some sharp lacerating humor. 

 

Are we going to be safe at last from the threat of tyranny and the death of democracy posed by Donald Trump?

 

Coming out of this fun as hell free for all and the dynamic powerful speech by Kamala Harris, I firmly believe the answer to that is…

…

…

…

 

Maybe?

Damn it! There's that trepidation!!!

 

Oh my God! What will it take for me to feel confident?  

 

Well, after the polls close in California on November 5th and the news networks call the election that Kamala Harris is going to be the next President of the United States, only then….

…

…

…

I will lean towards maybe feeling confident.

 

Look, when it comes to Trump and his sniveling sycophants, I do not trust these motherfucker fascist wannabes.  

 

The poll numbers for now look good for Harris but damn it, they looked good at this point for Hillary Clinton back in 2016 and this is why I can’t relax.

 

Although there are several fundamental differences between 2016 and 2024.

 

1. Kamala Harris is NOT Hillary CLINTON.  By the time 2016 rolled around, Fox News and other right wing media had spent almost 3 decades talking crap about the Clintons.  There was a lot of baggage associated with the Clinton brand. And essentially, Donald Trump had little of any substance to offer other than to piss all over the Clinton brand and there was a vast built in audience who was more than OK with that. 
2. Kamala Harris is NOT HILLARY Clinton. God bless her, Hillary Clinton was a smart person with considerable experience as a US Senator and as Secretary of State. But she was not the best campaigner. (Remember “Pokemon Go to the polls!”?) Kamala Harris in comparison has a warmer persona that is comfortable with humor and empathy but knows when to turn on the fierce.   
3. 2016 Donald Trump is not 2024 Donald Trump.  Make no mistake, he was a big orange morally deficient, intellectually limited, sexual assaulting, empathy deprived, incoherent moron in 2016 and he sill is today (but add "convicted felon" in 2024.  But in 2016 there was SOME hope that maybe, just maybe, Donald Trump would not be THAT bad. In 2024, there is NO hope and Donald Trump will be THAT bad.  A lot of people who voted for Trump in 2016 have switched from "why the hell not" to "oh hell no, not again".   
4. The mistakes of 2016 will (hopefully) not be the mistakes of 2024.  The Clinton team's failure to shore up Michigan and Pennsylvania were crucial dominoes in how Trump stumbled into power in 2016. The Harris team knows that and the full court press that Harris and/or Walz is on is working hard to not repeat those mistakes.  The attitude is "assume nothing". Walz has  a favorite admonishment from his days as a football coach: "We're down by a field goal but we've got the ball!"  

The polls are in our favor.

The odds are in our favor.

History is in our favor.

And yet...

The trepidation persists.  

On the subject of guarded optimism, writer Jonathan Last posted this prediction: Donald Trump is going to lose. Probably."   Probably?  Click here for more of Jonathan's assessment of the convention and the campaign.  

Democracy throws a party and it was a fun, uplifting affair. 

The case was made against the forces of darkness.

The case was made for those who will bring the light to fight that darkness.  

The case was made against regressing to the past and for reaching towards the future.  

The party is over.

Time to get to work.

Our fate is in the hands of the future.