So much for unity. At least, in his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention (RNC) Donald Trump – or leastways his speechwriters – made some attempt to deliver the improbable “New Trump” promised after the assassination attempt.
He managed to mention Biden personally in one brief passage, albeit absurdly as of the worst presidents in history: “The damage he has done to this country is unthinkable,” he said, “just unthinkable.”
This is an example what psychologists might call transference, because of course it is Trump who has the strongest claim to have been the worst president in history (and now wants another shot at it to scrape new lows and clinch the tile forever).
Trump cannot help himself, though – and he was even less classy than usual in the statement he put out after Biden quit. In one short, crass, nasty statement Trump reminded America of why they rejected him in 2020. He says Biden was “not fit” to serve, whereas it is Trump who is the insurrectionist ; the man found liable for sexual assault in a civil trial; the convicted felon .
Trump, childish as ever, calls him “crooked Joe”, whereas it is Trump who is permanently in the law courts. He says that Biden only became president because of “lies”, while it is Trump who can’t get through a sentence without uttering some mistrust or hopelessly mutilated fact.
Encased in that assertion, by the way, is the snide but persistent notion still peddled cynically by Trump that the 2020 contest was stolen – baseless, like everything else. Almost needless to say, there aren’t millions of people coming across the border, many spilling out of “prisons, mental institutions” – and there never have been.
In other words, almost everything Trump accuses Biden of, he is guilty of himself – and spectacularly so. What we’ve seen since that bullet nicked his ear is just the same old stuff, albeit now with the added delusional quality of divine intervention.
Trump did indeed tell his delegates at the RNC the other day : “I stand before you … by the grace of almighty God”, which may be true, but coming from Trump, with his dictatorial tendencies, it has as a hint of the “divine right of kings” about it. God moves in mysterious ways.
More than anything, though, what shines through Trump’s characteristically boorish remarks is the sense of child who has just had his favourite toy taken away from him. Trump, JD Vance and the team had been looking forward to a good few months of tormenting Joe Biden and the Democrats about the the president’s failings and supposed lack of mental acuity.
It amounted to an election-winning strategy. They’d not need to mention abortion and women’s reproductive rights, but just point to the last time Biden lost his thread or mixed up a name. They’d not have to admit they’d surrender to Putin, because people would be more concerned about Biden coping in a crisis.
Trump’s refusal to say he’d accept the election result would melt away once it became obvious he’d beat “sleepy Joe” anyway. Well, to borrow another phrase from US presidential history, because of the present president’s statesmanlike decision, Trump won’t have Biden to kick around any more and the focus will now be on Trump’s age , mental acuity and – where he has always been weak – his emotional immaturity and instability, amply evidenced in his recent behaviour.
Americans have long yearned for a choice other than Biden v Trump, again, and now they have been presented with someone who is indeed younger and yer more mature than other of the old bits they’ve been used to. The system, after a fashion, does work.
Whatever else, Kamala Harris does represent a fresh start – and many may feel the time has come for a female president. Harris seems a more attractive personality than Hilary Clinton. Trump has a problem with powerful women and he may well find Harris difficult to deal with in the way that Nancy Pelosi used to send him nuts.
America will soon be faced with a striking personal choice. Trump derides Harris for her cheerful demeanour – “I call her laughing Kamala…she’s nuts” – but who would not prefer that to the scowling mugshot of Donald Trump?
Harris is smiling, optimistic, youthful, articulate, forensic and smart. Trump is the distinct opposite. If Harris does run, then the 2024 contest will remind British audiences, at least, of the clashes between the bombastic Boris Johnson, when he was prime minister – and Keir Starmer, another ex-prosecutor like Harris, who consistently got the better of him and saw him off.
Trump represents the darker side of America. Harris is something brighter and more hopeful. Many Americans will surely want to let the sunshine in at last.
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