When Kamala Harris held a rally in Detroit, hecklers disrupted her by chanting, “Kamala, Kamala, you can’t hide. We won’t vote for genocide!” (To read about this, go here.) People like to rhyme “genocide” with “hide.” I had a memory.
When I was in college, one chant I heard was, “Reagan, Bush, you can’t hide. We charge you with genocide!” The kids were not objecting to Reagan-Bush foreign policy. They were objecting to the fact that the administration, with Congress, had slowed the rate of growth of social-welfare spending. Reagan and his allies had not cut such spending, mind you; they had succeeded in slowing its rate of growth.
It is a very heavy charge, “genocide.” A few weeks ago, when Harris was in the process of selecting a running mate, left-wing activists, opposing Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, referred to him as “Genocide Josh.”
At a Trump rally in April, the people behind the candidate chanted “Genocide Joe.” (They were referring to President Biden.) Donald Trump reacted by saying, “They’re not wrong.” He said it three times: “They’re not wrong. They’re not wrong. They’re not wrong.”
I wish some reporter would ask Trump, “Why were they not wrong? How were they not wrong?”
When I bring up such matters with Republicans, they habitually say, “That’s just Trump being Trump.” This answer is satisfactory for some, not for others.
• By Republicans, Harris has been knocked for giving the same speech over and over (essentially the same speech). Trump does the same, of course (the poem, the weightlifting pantomime, etc.). We used to call this a “stump speech.”
Michael K. Deaver told a story. Between the 1976 and ’80 campaigns, Reagan was traveling around, giving speeches — or rather, the same speech. Deaver said (something like), “Governor, we’ve been giving this speech for a while. Why don’t we freshen up?” Reagan answered, “Mike, I like this speech. Get me new audiences.”
But things are different now — with the proliferation of media, with new technology. Everyone can watch a speech by Harris or Trump in Nevada (let’s say). What’s a candidate supposed to do for his next act?
• From the Democrats — in particular, Tim Walz — we’ve been hearing a lot about “joy.” Old-timers, and students of U.S. politics, will think of Hubert H. Humphrey and his “politics of joy.” Indeed, there is a book about Humphrey by that title: here. (The author is Charles L. Garrettson III. Sonorous name. Like that of an abolitionist.)
• Below is a missive from Trump. Most people, I think, would edge away from such a person in a bar — would edge away from a person who thought like that and talked like that. Yet tens of millions think Trump should be president. Again.
Trump, of course, is lying about a fake crowd. (For an article on this, go here.)
• Another missive from Trump:
Concentrate on “Maggot Hagermann” alone. The former president — and possible future president — is referring to Maggie Haberman. I wonder: Would his supporters let their children talk this way? Trump is a grown man — 78, not 8. Should such a person be the leader of the Republican Party, to say nothing of the conservative movement?
Obviously, many of us have asked such questions, and made such points, for years now. But the repetition is not our fault, really: Republicans have nominated Trump for president three times in a row.
• Another missive, containing a lot:
To concentrate on just one element: Does anyone — anyone else in America — think that Biden’s presidency was “Unconstitutionally STOLEN from him”?
• You have heard Trump’s helicopter tale by now. According to the candidate, he was in a helicopter with Willie Brown, and it was in distress. Brown told Trump “terrible things” about Kamala Harris.
Is this true? But a more important question: Does it matter whether it’s true? This is a great dividing line. On one side are people who think it does not matter; on the other are people who do.
• In 2022, when Trump was trying to reinstall himself as president, and claiming that the 2020 election was stolen from him (as he still does), he wrote, “A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”
Harris is now saying, “Someone who suggests we should terminate the Constitution of the United States should never again stand behind the seal of President of the United States. Never again.”
Question: If a Democratic former president had made the same statement as Trump — about “the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution” — wouldn’t Republicans be saying just what Harris is?
The Republican Party fielded its first presidential nominee in 1856 (John C. Frémont). One man, and one man only, has the party nominated for president three times in a row: Donald Trump.
What a year this is. If it didn’t matter so much, it would be amusing.
• A headline from last Friday: “Jan. 6 rioter who attacked numerous officers sentenced to 20 years.” (Article here.) Pardonee in a few months? “Patriot”? “Political prisoner”? “Hostage”?
To repeat: What a year this is.