Tuesday just ended. Six weeks from now, voting will have just ended for the 2024 election.
People make decisions; decisions shape people. The choice we face is about what America will become. We can feel pity for Trump’s miserable life, but his eight decades have cemented him into a very clear choice. He’s shown the world who he is: a man willing to break every rule of law, democracy, and decency to stay in power.
Of course, it should not be this close.
By any rational measure, this should be a blowout. People like us, who support Harris/Walz, argue that:
-
America is great because we embrace the greatest foundational ideas, including our Constitution, the rule of law, juries, courts, elections, humanism, reason, science, the free press, and alliances such as NATO. We will keep this greatness if we elect a highly credentialed prosecutor and a popular midwestern governor as our President and Vice President.
-
America will not remain great if we make a convicted felon the most powerful human in history; if we send troops into our cities to round up millions of residents for mass deportation, abandon our allies, bomb our neighbors, use the Department of Justice and the Treasury Department to pick economy winners and losers, pardon Jan 6 traitors, staff the government with cultists, and force young girls to bear their rapists’ children.
People like Elon Musk, David Sacks, Bill Ackman, and loads of other rich white men argue that:
-
America is no longer Great. Record oil & gas production? Declining inflation? The greatest economy in the world and the lead is growing? Goldman Sachs saying Harris/Walz would be great for the economy? Plunging crime? All lies. Listen to Trump and Fox Newsmax. If we fail to elect Trump, America is doomed to ongoing carnage.
-
All the bad things people hear about Trump are lies. His dozens of female accusers all lied; the election results were a lie; all four unanimous juries of his peers in New York City, where he lived for 73 years, are corrupt; Jan 6 did not happen as it appeared to all of us watching in real time; etc. The legal conclusions that Trump loves the mob and dictators and is a lifelong criminal? They only prove that “the system” fears and hates Trump.
So what now?
The tiebreakers in this election, the deciders of our future, will be the sliver of voters who feel deeply alienated from both parties, live in an information environment utterly foreign to political junkies, and simply are not reached by traditional political tactics. These voters will decide by looking at us and Team Trump and intuiting by our behavior which team wants it more. They are trying to see which side is the winning side.
That is why personal courage matters. In many groups, raising your hand as an enthusiastic American for Harris can be professionally and even personally dangerous. Individual acts of courage can still persuade swing voters.
It takes guts to stand up as a Republican for Harris, but true conservatives are doing so anyway: “We’re with Dick and Liz: Donald Trump is not a Republican. He’s an autocrat and the worst human being ever to sit in the White House. Republicans back cops, law, order, hard work, free markets, small government and the Constitution.”
It takes guts for a Veteran to speak out against Trump, but they are speaking truth: “Donald Trump has smeared and insulted veterans his entire life, starting with ‘bone spurs’ to avoid service. His longest-serving Chief of Staff, Gold Star father and General John Kelly, described Trump as ‘the most flawed person I have ever met in my life.’ … Meanwhile, Kamala Harris … understands sacrifice and our oath to the Constitution. She fights with and for us.”
It takes guts for a white Evangelical Christian to stand up for Harris, but Gospel-oriented followers of Christ and the Scripture are standing up and saying it anyway: “The Day of the Lord is coming. God Almighty forbids false and golden idols (Exodus 20:3-5; Exodus 32:7-14); false prophets (Matthew 7:15-16; Jeremiah 23:16); adultery (Deuteronomy 5:18; Leviticus 20:10); sexual immorality (Ephesians 5:5; Colossians 3:5); and most of all, obsession with money (Luke 12:15; 1 Timothy 6:9-10; Hebrews 13:5). Vice President Harris began her Christian Baptist faith journey in the children’s choir at the Church of God in Oakland, California. Her favorite Bible verse is, ‘We walk by faith and not by sight’ (2 Corinthians 5:7). Former President Trump does not know how to pronounce 2 Corinthians, any more than he knows how to hold the Scripture upright. It is time to stop pretending Trump is Cyrus or Samson; he is a false prophet who worships money and idolatry. We refuse to bear false witness.”
Friends, this is almost over. For the next six weeks, every action and choice matters. If you’d like to record your own testimonial, see what White Dudes or Venture Capitalists or Dogs think about Harris, buy some merch, complain about our Book Club choices, or otherwise engage us, you can reach us here. Thank you.
Onward,
Dmitri
