SO THE WINNER IN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IS?

Monday, October 28th, 2024

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

SO THE WINNER IN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IS?

My favorite comic strip is called “Pearls before Swine.” I read it in my local newspaper every day. It’s wisdom shared by animal characters.  One  asks: “I’m trying to decide who I should vote for to become the leader of the free world.” Another answers: “You have two choices. Only two.” The response?  “Where has all the democracy gone?”

So we live in an open society made up over 340 million people, with extremely bright and knowledgeable  people in any number professions, and we’re stuck with two choices. One is a foul mouthed narcissus who calls fallen soldiers “suckers” and “losers” and  who is  labeled a fascist by a number of his former employees.  The other is a lady who smiles and laughs continually, but who is unable to articulate what she’s done for the country in the past four years, and what her plans are for the nation’s future.

There should be no way former president Donald Trump wins this election.  He is, for all practical purposes, a schoolyard bully. He is enmeshed in a large number of civil and criminal lawsuits with some 90 indictments against him.  If he wins, he has vowed to come after his opponents, the press and virtually  anyone who disagrees with him. Prosecution and imprisonment for those who have opposed him. And yet, half the voters in the nation support his agenda and have no problem with his rhetoric. Andrew Jackson, who saved Louisiana at the Battle of New Orleans, once said: “I was born for the storm, for the calm did not suit me.” He could not have given a better description of Donald Trump. In  fact, Trump is  the storm. So for diehard Trump devotees, are Trump’s  attacks a reflection of their own feelings, or are they simply picking the lesser of the two evils?

My sense of the race is that a majority of Republicans are moderate conservatives who believe in free trade, smaller government, only legal immigration, and are pro-Ukraine, pro Isreal with a few reservations.  More traditional old schoolers.  They like and were comfortable with George  W. Bush, John McCain, and Mitt Romney. Reagan style Republicans.  Yes there are many die hard Trump Mega supporters, but to all those more conventional Republicans, Trump is all they’ve got.

There should also be no way Vice president Kamala Harris can win this election. Yes, she certainly is a stronger candidate than Joe Biden, but that’s a pretty low bar. And she is stuck  with Biden’s record to defend.  But the main criticism of Harris is that she has no vision, expresses no core convictions, and she offers little clarity about her political identity.  She was given the job of coming up with an immigration plan that made sense and could not step up to the challenge. Harris’ message seems to be that Trump is really, really bad and that “you need to vote for anybody but Donald Trump. And I’m anybody.”  Voters deserve a better missive.

So who’s going to win?  Las Vegas betting odds are heavily  in favor of Trump winning.  And these oddsmakers are pretty good at picking football winners.  But political races?  Not much history here.  The Vantage polling group, headed up  by Jim Kitchens, favors Harris.  Kitchens polled for me in three different Louisiana elections, and was always right on the money.  So take your pick. Reliable oddsmakers or a highly accurate pollster.

Several takeaways here. First of all, American presidential elections are way too long. Voters are exhausted. Congress needs to change the parameters so elections take place over a much shorter period. And finally, we can only hope that whoever wins next week, the rest of the world needs to know that America is still a nation of decency, compassion, morality and humanity.  If this can happen, then it’s a bit of a victory for everyone,regardless, of who you vote for.

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide. You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.