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This Election is About the Personal vs the Political [1]

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Date: 2024-09-08  

The upcoming election is one of the most pivotal in our history, with many existential aspects of our country at stake. How we function, how we see ourselves and others, how and whether we continue to evolve “a more perfect union” will all be tested in November (and in the weeks between the election and the inauguration). Rarely if ever have the choices been as starkly clear — and as absolutely opposite — as they are today.

We’re going away on a 3-week trip in a few days, so I’ve been thinking lately about a way to distill the election down to its basics. There are a number of ways to do this, but the one that I am satisfied with is this: It’s about politics versus personality.

Trump does have a number of policies, but they all stem from his personality: his misogyny, his racism, his bullying, his love of money and especially his love of self. Any number of commentators lately have speculated whether it is possible for MAGA to survive, much less thrive, after Trump finally leaves the scene, and most think it unlikely — because it’s all about Trump.

And this is why Harris can beat Trump while Biden could not. Biden was — correctly — angry about Trump policies, and he attacked his politics. That wasn’t going to work. Harris and Walz attack Trump’s personality, and it’s working. Trump cannot deal with being called “weird” because it mocks him, and he cannot stand to be mocked.

Harris is about policy; her ideas — and they are relatively mainstream and well within the orbit of Democratic policies overall — are what drive her candidacy. She wants what is best for the country, which is a political goal, while Trump wants only what is best for himself, which is a personal goal.

But Trump cannot be beaten purely on policy — which is why this is an existential crisis for the nation. Too much of the nation actually likes the policies he’s chosen, and that’s because he chose them largely because a large slice of the country actually wants a theocracy, an oligarchy (the “temporarily distressed millionaire” people), an autocracy. They find the modern world too scary and too complicated, and they see Trump as the man on the white horse who will rescue them, rules and laws be damned.

Trump requires a world full of things to fear — Blacks, immigrants, diversity, secularism — while Harris promotes joy. She’s not saying there is nothing to fear; she is urging people not to let fear rule them. (Think of FDR’s Four Freedoms.)

There can be only one Trump; he will not permit anyone to be better than him, smarter than him, more successful than him. Harris doesn’t have those flaws; she chose a vice president who is her equal, who can succeed her if necessary. Trump chose someone who made it clear he knows his job is never to overshadow or challenge the boss.

Harris is the essence of and the defender of this country’s commitment to democracy, to rule of law over the rule of man. Trump is the essence of the opposite. The last several elections have seen us heading toward this choice, and now it is upon us. We are now at the crux of the direction we will go from here, and each candidate represents that choice in the purest possible way: Harris for the path of reason, of law, of rational policies, or Trump for the path of whim, of fear, of personality.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/story/2024/9/8/2268739/-This-Election-is-About-the-Personal-vs-the-Political

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