Are Republican Endorsements of Kamala Harris The Proverbial Double-Edged Sword?

While Democrats are giddy about recent establishment Republicans endorsing Harris, the political distillation therefrom may prove perilous.

The Trump effect is a baleful binary political phenomena. The first part of this manifestation is a shift in paradigm for both parties. Trump has so seismically remodeled the political landscape to the far right that the same Democrats that demonized war criminal, draft dodger and coward Dick (and I do mean Dick) Cheney now find him an object of liking instead of loathing. Same with Mitt Romney, Jimmy McCain, Alberto Gonzalez and Cheney, Jr. (as in Liz). Democrats are hearkening back to the days of Goldwater and applauding mass murderer George “Dumbya” Bush. I understand the prevailing rhetorical political schtick but what does this really mean?

The second component of the Trump effect is something that I identified the moment Trump announced his candidacy in 2015 and is its most dangerous aspect. I will somewhat simultaneously both gloat and mildly digress in stating that I immediately, at the time of his announcement in 2015, told all who would listen that he would be become president. It is written. Few listened and I was repudiated, pilloried and scoffed at. I will forever be perplexed as to how the multitudes refused to see the obvious.

Oh well.

The Trump effect comes full circle with its second part, which is a lot of people are going to vote for Trump that will not openly acknowledge it. The same thing happened in 2016 and 2020. There are various reasons for why these individuals remain mute publicly, but there are a great many of them. Trump is so revolting, crude and piggish that the more craven voters skulk in the sociopolitical shadows. They are, literally, in the closet. This is a political wildcard that must not be underestimated.

I’ve said it before and I’ll nauseatingly say it again, racism is the cornerstone of U.S. society and politics. Especially Anti-Blackism. Donald Trump embodies, exemplifies and satiates this societal reality. It is powerful and it is virulent. Failure to acknowledge it is the turnpike to perdition.

If you knew where you were, you would know where you are at.

Triskaidekaphobia

Since today is the dreaded “Friday the 13th,” I thought I might merge it into the subject matter of this piece. For those unfamiliar with the term triskaidekaphobia it is a fear of the number 13, and it is a widespread one. Like the invisible Trump supporters, people that have this phobia don’t readily admit to it but there are a lot more of them than you might imagine.

To give you an example, have you noticed that trains, planes and buses almost never are “number 13” or end with 13? Have you noticed that when you get on an elevator in a high rise structure the floors jump from 12 to 14? Or, alternatively, what is actually floor number 13 is called the Garden, Roof or Promenade floor (or some other innocuous term)? Oddly enough, there were the original 13 colonies and there are 13 “pales” (the red and white stripes) on the U.S. flag. Spooky, ain’t it?

‘Tis a pity you cannot hear my demonic laughter at this moment.

Speaking of demons aside from Trump and my previous sinister giggle, Evagrius Ponticus wrote “What is it the demons wish to excite in us? Gluttony, unchastity, avarice, anger, rancor, and the rest of the passions so that the intellect grows coarse and cannot pray as it ought.” Pastor William Ramsey said “One of the most striking proofs of the personal existence of Satan, which our times afford us, is found in the fact, that he has so influenced the minds of multitudes in reference to his existence and doings, as to make them believe that he does not exist.” The devil’s greatest trick, indeed.

In the final analysis, have the Democrats made a deal with the Republican devil? By suddenly lauding the very people that they scorned in years past, have they compromised their principles? Have they sold their proverbial political souls to demons to avoid a different cacodemon? These are not rhetorical queries because I, truly, do not have the answers to them but I think they need to be considered.

Someone once told me “the devil that you know is better than the one you don’t.”

In litigation, especially civil litigation, there is an unspoken philosophy that even if I lose, I win. In other words, if I file suit against you and lose I still won because you had to respond to the suit. You had to take time off of work to go to court. You had to answer the complaint. You had to spend hours in depositions. You had to answer interrogatories (which I have seen number in the hundreds). You had to incur the costs associated with these activities and, in a sinister way, that is exactly what Trump has done. Win, lose or draw, Trump has altered the political landscape in the United States for decades to come. The supreme court is but one example. Even if he loses, he wins.

The Republicans are saying the Democrats “aren’t your father’s Democrats.” The Democrats are saying the Republicans “aren’t your mother’s Republicans.” I don’t know if either should be, but I do know that for them to both be spouting the same indictment is a very, very ominous sign. The duopoly is bad enough in and of itself, the fact that it is now inbreeding I find distressing for a plethora of reasons. Everyone knows when siblings fornicate the resultant offspring is a deformed mutant.

This political merging may or may not prove to be a double-edged sword, but it might be an Achilles heel.

Downrange.