Donald Trump wants this conversation to be about who is weirder. He wants us debating the merit of adults without children. And I’m sure he is delighted if his remarks questioning the race of his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, distract from his connection to Project 2025, the 900-page blueprint for reshaping the government around Trumpism instead of democracy.
We shouldn’t fall for his rope-a-dope routine again.
On Friday, Harris secured enough delegates in a virtual roll call to earn her party’s nomination. It’s a bit of a formality considering her campaign raised a record $310 million in July, and she’s expected to announce a running mate soon. Still, it is important to mark these moments, if for no other reason than to remind voters of the stakes. Obsessing over Trump’s nonsense is dangerous when there are real things happening.
Back in 2016, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), in a final attempt to stop his party from jumping off a cliff, told the crowd at the Republican National Convention: “If you love your country … vote your conscience.… Vote for candidates up and down the ticket you trust to defend our freedom and be faithful to the Constitution.”
Since that night in Cleveland, former President Trump called for the termination of the U.S Constitution (which Cruz denounced), tried to overturn the 2020 election and said he wanted to be a dictator for a day. Rolling Stone reported there are “nearly 70 pro-Trump election conspiracists currently working as county election officials” in six swing states. Trump chose JD Vance as his running mate because Vance would do what Mike Pence refused to do.
That’s what’s at stake in this election.
The former president’s behavior and rhetoric this week at the conference of the National Assn. of Black Journalists were only recent.
They weren’t new.
He questioned whether Harris is really Black. That’s a parlor trick of his from even before he became the face of the “birther” movement against President Obama. During a 1993 congressional hearing on casino gambling, Trump said the Mashantucket Pequot Nation “don’t look like Indians to me.” He also said that casinos on reservations attract crime and that it wasn’t fair they were exempt from paying taxes because “I like to compete on an equal footing.”
“Nobody is more for the Indians than Donald Trump,” he declared at the time.
Yes, the same Donald Trump who as president used “Pocahontas” as a slur. The same one whose administration was sued by more than 10 tribes to get COVID relief funding allocated to federally recognized tribes. After his attempts to overturn the election failed, Trump told the audience at the 2021 North Carolina Republican convention about “Indians getting paid to vote in certain states, including Arizona and Nevada.”
All accusations, no facts.
Which is why instead of investing too much energy in baseless debates started by Trump and Vance — such as Harris’ race — it’s important to remain focused on what’s really at stake.
For example, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Trump asked the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, “can’t you just shoot them?” To be clear, Trump was referring to protesters against police brutality, not the Jan. 6 insurrectionists who tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power. At a rally last month, Trump said, “we’re going to give our police their power back and we are going to give them immunity from prosecution.”
That’s what’s at stake.
He keeps telling us.
In his recent rant promising an audience “in four years, you don’t have to vote again,” he added this gem: “I love you Christians; I’m not Christian.”
He touched his chest and smirked like the Cheshire Cat while saying it.
It was a stunning admission, considering the occasion was an event called the “Believers Summit.” Had Trump told a crowd of evangelical voters “I’m not Christian” during the 2016 primary, perhaps he would not have felt compelled to falsify business records to conceal hush money payments to porn stars. Hard to say how the past eight years would have played out if evangelicals had been forced to see Trump for who he really is.
What we do know is Vice President Harris is going to be a Black woman whether Trump wins in November or not. It’s America that won’t be the same if Project 2025 comes to pass. That’s what’s at stake. This is why Trump wants us to talk about the silly things he says, so we don’t focus on all the harmful things he’s planning.