They Lie A Lot

The Republicans have an agenda, which differs, somehow, from a platform.

The Democrats, on the other hand, are currently riding a wave of good feelings and elation over having an energized ticket and a resonating vision for the country. I’m not convinced their joy is sustainable or genuine, but it’s still preferable to the gloom and doom Republicans insist on peddling.

Initially, Tim Walz seems like a good choice. He’s personable, practical, plain-speaking, and he exudes a certain confidence. We’ll see what the coming days bring. The contrasts can’t be lost on too many, though—the differences between the candidates themselves, and their plans for America are night and day.

They (the differences) are so stark that it sometimes amazes me that Trump supporters don’t stop to ask themselves what they’re doing. The current iteration of Republicans brings nothing to the table except an ugly, inept candidate, oppressive and regressive policies—literally a retracing of steps, following a trail of breadcrumbs that lead deeper into the woods, with an insistence on biblically inspired nonsense and a tearing down of the institutions that have sustained us since our founding.

They refuse to honor trends and the writing on the wall: America is changing. It is bursting at the seams with people of all different colors and cultures and sexual orientations who wish to make a go of it here, and have every right to do so. Republican strategy can single out Kamala the Border Czar, but that would be a fabrication precipitated by Trump himself, when he somehow put the kibosh on the bipartisan bill that was being worked on—solely so he could have the immigration issue to run on and use as ammunition! They don’t get to have it both ways.

Anyway, the next 90 days are going to be hectic: attacks, counter-attacks, balls-to-the-wall campaigning and breathless coverage we can choose to watch or take a break from. The tickets are set. The differences are stark.

From where I stand, it is no contest. The Republican party has nothing to offer. It has been co-opted. They’ve chosen poorly. They deserve to be crushed in November—if only to ensure that Trump loses again (once and for all?), and their nefarious and cowardly infiltration of election boards cannot succeed. But beyond that, they cannot win because their “vision” for America, such as it is, is evidence that they’ve given up, and they sadly believe that going the route of Mussolini and Hitler and Orban and Putin and the rest is somehow preferable to the messiness of movement toward that more perfect union.