Governing is hard work - Harris will do it, Trump cannot
11 September 2024
Today is the 23rd anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attack in U.S. history with strikes in New York and Washington, D.C. and a thwarted attack leading to a plane crash in Pennsylvania.
It is also the day after the Harris-Trump debate which confirmed to me, and I think to any objective observer, that Trump is unfit for the Presidency or really any position of responsibility.
Heather Cox Richardson’s blog captures the debate more fully, but these excerpts confirm that nobody who values personal integrity should support Trump:
Then Trump spoke and it was clear he was going off the rails. His first comment was to suggest Harris was lying, and then to insist that his proposed tariffs will solve everything, although he has the way tariffs work entirely backward: they are paid by the consumer, not by foreign countries. As he followed with a long list of his rally lies, Harris started to smile.
From then on, he continued to produce rally stories full of wild exaggerations and attack Harris with lies in what CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale called “a staggeringly dishonest debate performance from former president Trump.” "No major presidential candidate before Donald Trump has ever lied with this kind of frequency,” Dale said. “A remarkably large chunk of what he said tonight was just not true. This wasn't little exaggerations, political spin. A lot of his false claims were untethered to reality." As Harris spoke directly to the American people, growing stronger and stronger, Trump got wilder and angrier and told more and more crazy stories.
And then, about ten minutes into the debate, Harris baited him. She invited the American people to go to one of his rallies, where “he talks about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter, he will talk about ‘windmills cause cancer.’ And what you will also notice is that people start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom.”
Trump lost it. He defended his rallies, said Harris couldn’t get anyone to attend hers and has to bus in attendees (in reality, her rallies are packed and he is the one who reportedly hires attendees), and then, in his fury, repeated the lie about immigrants eating pets. When a moderator fact-checked that story, he fought back, saying he heard it on television.
And from then on, Harris kept baiting him while explaining her own policies directly to the camera, and he took the bait every single time. He ran down every rabbit hole and appeared unable to finish a thought. Notably, he refused to say he would not sign a national abortion ban and admitted that after nine years of promising one, he had no health care plan (he has, he said, “concepts of a plan,” and if they pan out, he’ll let us know in the “not too distant future”).
He threatened World War III and repeated that the U.S. is “a failing nation.” He told a long story about threatening “Abdul,” the leader of the Taliban; in fact, the leader of the Taliban since 2016 is Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada. In response to Harris’s statement that foreign leaders thought he was a disgrace, Trump answered that Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, who destroyed his country’s democracy and replaced it with a dictatorship, says he’s a good leader. New York Times columnist David French wrote: “It's like she's debating MAGA Twitter come to life.” Emphasis added.
Government is hard work. The President should be intelligent, read regularly, think rationally, consult with experts and struggle to find the best responses to difficult problems. It is clear that Trump has none of these qualities and Harris does. The President should have demonstrated a commitment to improving the lives of Americans. Harris has demonstrated this commitment to the middle class. Trump has repeatedly shown he cares only about himself, the wealthy and big business. The President must forge strong relationships with our allies, as Harris and Biden have done. Trump’s closest friends are dictators.
If we want a strong America, we must work harder to ensure a Harris presidency. It has been suggested that “the great thing about democracy is that people get the kind of government they deserve.” This year, we have to work harder to ensure our democracy continues. What more are you going to do?
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