Two significant events have occurred since my last entry. First, a kid with a high-powered rifle eluded the Secret Service and other law enforcement and came within a few inches of assassinating Donald Trump. Second, Joe Biden suddenly suspended his campaign and anointed Kamala Harris as his successor. Several interesting developments have arisen related to these events.
Let’s start with Trump. The Secret Service circled the wagons after the failure in Pennsylvania. The unfortunate result of their slowly releasing information to Congress and the press about what went wrong is that conspiracy theories are starting to fill the vacuum. Famous conspiracy theorist Alex Jones declared that this was a deep state assassination attempt. Proud Boys and other far right blog sites have circulated articles claiming that the Secret Service was complicit and that Biden had authorized the hit. I wish that government agencies like the Secret Service and the Department of Justice would be more transparent in situations like this to help us avoid some of this nonsense.
While Trump, to my knowledge, has not endorsed any of these conspiracy theories, he did do something subtle that I find problematic. He strongly gave credit for his surviving the attempt to “almighty God.” I’m not suggesting that there is no almighty God nor am I claiming that God would never intervene in human events. But Trump seems to me to be more of an opportunist than a man of faith. He and his evangelical followers are painting the event as divine providence – that God has ordained Trump to be the next President. This is problematic on a couple of levels. On a theological level one must believe that God loves Donald Trump more than he loves Corey Comperatore, who died at the hands of the assassin. If God would intervene to spare Trump, why not intervene to save Comperatore? On the political level, suggesting that you are God’s candidate seems a little pre-enlightenment to me. I wrote an earlier blog on a similar topic. While the religious right declared Ronald Reagan to be God’s choice in 1980, Reagan never made that claim himself. Trump seems to be doing that.
Let’s change gears and look at the coronation of Kamala Harris. This has been fascinating to watch. Either Joe Biden was stubborn to the end and made a last minute decision that forced the Democratic National Committee to scramble, or it was planned to let Joe go as long as he could so that his replacement would have less time to be vulnerable to attacks. Either way, Kamala is in a honeymoon period. The liberal press has begun whitewashing Harris’ record and even their own reporting of it. “She was never the border czar” and “She wasn’t rated the most liberal senator” are a couple of examples. The former is a semantic game, like Bill Clinton’s famous “it depends on what the definition of ‘is’ is.” Regarding the latter, GovTrack did rate her as even more liberal than Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren back in 2019. But, like J.D. Vance, she seems comfortable changing her mind on policy matters. I’ll be listening as she reveals her policy positions. Her current boss ran as a moderate in 2020, but governed much more from the left. My guess is she’ll do the same.
I can understand the Democrats newfound enthusiasm. Biden had pretty much guaranteed Trump a victory in November with his horrendous debate performance, unimpressive showing at the NATO summit and subsequent confusing address to the nation. Harris gives them someone younger, with energy and someone who can take credit for the administration’s accomplishments over the last four years while distancing herself from its failures. She struggled to attract any enthusiasm when she participated in the primaries in 2020. We’ll see if the current level of enthusiasm will sustain itself once she starts campaigning. On a side note: It was amazing how quickly Biden, Harris and the liberal media began attacking Trump’s age after Biden’s announcement. I guess age only matters when it’s your guy and not our guy.
What I’ll be watching over the next 30 days, during and after the Democratic National Convention, will be how the sliver of moderate Democrats, real Independents, and the never-Trump Republicans respond to Harris’ candidacy. Will we have a second consecutive candidate elected more because she’s not Trump than her policy positions? I’m on record stating that voters should make their decision based on party platforms and not on the personality of each party’s representatives. Therefore, this dramatic event shouldn’t impact voters one way or the other. Unfortunately, too many voters make their choices on personality and popularity rather than on policy. So it’s a brand new ballgame!