No Country for Old Men

Latest on the US Elections

There are years in which nothing happens. And there are weeks in which years happen. What a couple of weeks America has had!

President Biden announced on Sunday that he would not seek the nomination of the Democratic Party for a second term. His “resignation” culminated a fortnight of backroom maneuvering and a public campaign that steadily ratcheted up the pressure on the 81 year old President to step aside. Sometime on Friday night, Biden realized that his opinion, that he could win despite a debate debacle, no longer mattered. Having spent five decades in the thick of often dirty politics, Biden realized that it was best not to ignore the opinions of deep pocketed donors, Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama. He did two smart things. He stepped down and in the same breath endorsed his number two, Kamala Harris, for nomination.

What followed has been nothing short of an amazing turnaround for the Democratic Party, left for dead in a dumpster after the first Presidential debate. Members of Congress, governors, pundits and grassroot voters alike have rushed to endorse Harris. By Monday evening, she had received close to a hundred million dollars in campaign donations, highest ever in a 24-hour period in American political history. With over 2,700 of Biden’s primary delegates already pledged to her, Vice President Harris’ ascent to the party’s nominee for POTUS was swift and is now complete.

Incredibly, Trump did not seem to have planned for this scenario. It is not often that a man voluntarily gives up power. Biden’s capitulation was not expected, but it wasn’t wholly unexpected either. The steady drumbeat calling for his ouster has been unmistakable since the debate. On the other hand, Trump cannot be accused of possessing virtues like a level head or an analytical mind or even subjecting his brain cells to the mildest form of exercise. Trump has been caught flat footed at a time when he believed he had the momentum.

It is possible that Trump was otherwise preoccupied in the last couple of weeks. Someone tried to shoot at him. Or so he says. He described his experience in a speech at the Republican convention. He said that he felt something hit him. He put his hand up to his ear and found that “there was so much blood. So much blood. I have never seen so much blood,” he went on. It is one of the most serious things to have happened in America on live television that many have a hard time believing to be real. The shooter managed to climb unhindered onto a roof only about 150 yards away. The roof offered a clear shot. A slightly industrious policeman of modest intelligence would have noticed a man on the roof with a rifle. And yet an entire contingent of law enforcement and secret service failed to respond even after passers-by alerted them. The shooter missed a shot that was impossible to miss. Trump claimed that the bullet “grazed” his ear. “I shouldn’t be here. It is by the grace of God that I am even here,” waxed Trump, drunk with the attention the moment had bestowed on him. Yet, the next day, Trump was seen golfing with no apparent injuries to his ear. The day after the golf outing, he wore a bandage over his ear to the convention. This week, the bandage is gone. Perhaps, it is true what they say about him. That he is a reptile that can grow back body parts.

We might never know what exactly happened on that day in Butler county in Pennsylvania. But we do know one thing for sure. There is absolutely nothing wrong with Trump’s ear.

It may have been the sham assassination that tipped Biden over, for all we know. Watching Trump bask in the adulation of fawning Republicans and a giddy media, Biden probably decided to nuke it with an announcement. Whatever the reasoning was, it worked. Biden’s announcement knocked Trump off the front pages. The race is back on. The Democrats now hold the advantage.

Trump’s melt down has been extraordinary, even by his own lunatic standards. He accused the Democrats of, among other things, “stealing the election from Biden,” whatever that means. I wonder why Trump is always talking about stealing elections. I really wonder why. He seems like such a sincere, honest and straightforward guy. I wonder why such thoughts occur to him. If you think about it, his reaction kinda makes sense. If I was shot at, lost part of my ear, and then miraculously grew it back, and everyone stopped talking about it in a few days, I too would go batshit crazy.

I must admit that I was nervous when the Democrats turned on their own President, who arguably has one of the best records of any President in modern history. I became even more nervous when they succeeded in ousting him. Look my concerns were not about Kamala Harris. She is the pride of California. I voted for her with much enthusiasm when she ran for the US Senate from California. But America is still a deeply racist and misogynistic country. When nearly every country in the world has elected a woman leader, it is not a coincidence that America stands alone in rejecting such a vision. I wondered if America was ready for a woman President. Was it not safer to stick with a white man, especially when a loss would mean the return of Trump and the end of everything good in America? The stakes are high and I was risk averse.

But I am also a believer that things happen for a reason. Maybe things were meant to transpire in a way that pitted Trump against a black woman. Trump has spent an entire lifetime vilifying black people. Remember the Central Park Five? Trump took out full page ads in the New York newspapers accusing the five black teenagers of murder. They were imprisoned, then found to be innocent and released 13 years later. Trump exulted after the guilty verdict. He denied their innocence when they were released. Remember his nonsense after the first Black president of the United States was elected? He accused Barack Obama of not being a US citizen and demanded to see his birth certificate. Well, Karma has finally caught up with Orange Caligula. Trump is about to be put away by a black woman. This time, for good.

She’s no ordinary woman. Kamala Harris was a prosecutor in San Francisco, then Attorney General of California, then US Senator and now the Vice President of the US. Something tells me that she is more than ready for this occasion. A prosecutor versus a convicted felon. Justice is often delayed, but when it arrives it can be exquisitely poetic.

I know for sure that the racists aren’t ready for another black President. I know for sure that the incels and the misogynists aren’t ready for a woman. Well, here is the deal. Them boys better get ready. Their worst nightmare is about to come true. This is where the future starts, and the worst of us get left behind.

God bless the United States of America. God bless President Biden. God speed, Vice President Harris. We’ve got your back.

As always, have a lovely week ahead, wherever you are.