This article appears in the October 2024 issue of The American Prospect magazine. Subscribe here.
“Donald Trump is an unserious man. But the consequences of putting him back in the White House are extremely serious,” said Vice President Kamala Harris at her DNC speech in Chicago. It was a good line, and one that begs a much bigger question: How the f*** are we here again? How are we a handful of swing-state voters away from giving head-wound Hitler another shot at the Oval Office? How are we here, when everything about this man is both unserious and dangerous?
Trump and J.D. Vance prove week after week just how unserious they are about this election. Their answers to policy questions are at best mere slogans and at worst nonsensical. Trump told a bearded biker concerned about housing affordability that they were going to “drill baby drill,” and said that his proposal for lowering the cost of child care is to impose tariffs on foreign nations. I’m sorry, what?
More from Francesca Fiorentini
Meanwhile, Vance is just an upcycled Mike Pence with more venture capitalist money. He is pathologically obsessed with the idea of somehow making women have more babies, but when actually asked about child care, says that states should lower regulations for day care providers. Doesn’t he represent the party that alleges groomers in education are harming children? Yes, let’s take down the guardrails for day care providers. CPR certification is woke!
Look, we know the Trump campaign has been in hysterics ever since President Biden did something they could never fathom doing—relinquishing power—and now they have to actually try. But this level of negligence on basic policies is both dumbfounding and terrifying. It’s clear that if elected, their administration will just be a cipher for libertarian billionaires and religious theocrats. Maybe they think they don’t need to do more given the new MAGA state election board in Georgia and new voter ID laws in Nevada? None of it resonates with the American electorate and yet somehow, somehow this election is still close.
And therein lies my real issue with this election. Once again I am asking, once again I will continue to ask, from now until November 5: How?
How in the gReAteST DEmoCraCy on EaRth, how is Trump still running for office? How have the courts, the media, and our electoral system allowed a convicted white-collar felon and sexual abuser, a man with dozens of criminal charges hanging over him, who time and again abused the office of the presidency to do things like blackmail the government of Ukraine, weaponize the DOJ, and oh yeah, advocate for a DIY coup of ex-military boat dads to attack the Capitol, to take a shot at becoming the most powerful man in the world, again? And on top of that, how is every judge and prosecutor too chickensh*t to sentence the guy for the crimes he has been convicted of before November, out of fear of politicizing the election? Heaven forbid the election becomes TOO POLITICAL!
“But whatever could we do about it?” the centrists coo in their calmest NPR voice. Let’s pause and take a look at another democracy in the Americas: Brazil. Former President Jair Bolsonaro, the “Trump of the Tropics,” also denied the election results of his 2022 loss. He also summoned a mob to attack the nation’s legislature. But because Brazilian democracy stipulates elections are overseen by a federal electoral court rather than a state patchwork, Jair Bolsonaro was ruled ineligible to run for president for eight years. Brazilian law says that any elected official who abuses their power is temporarily barred from seeking re-election. Meanwhile, about a dozen states in the U.S. have tried, and failed, to disqualify Trump from the ballot for inciting an insurrection against the government because *NPR voice* “Would that merely embolden the president?” Yes, wouldn’t the criminal be emboldened to commit more crime if they were held accountable for their criming? Are we hearing ourselves?
To function in American democracy is to perpetually paper over the feeling that you’re going crazy. And to treat this election as normal is to agree to be gaslighted over and over again in the service of “balance,” “respectability,” or any of the other meaningless traits we use to characterize ourselves like a bad cover letter for our country. America is proficient in racial unity and ballot access. Also Microsoft Excel!
But anyway, back to the horse race. Oh look! Another poll!
