Election Watch Week 9: In which Kamala dazzles, Trump decomposes, and yet some still “don’t know.” Plus: One meme reminds us of what Trump is really about. And more.
Simply amazing psycho-social commentary. That really is the kicker—that the bullies fomenting hate and violence in Springfield don’t care if he’s lying as long it aids and abets their cause.
My optimism/dread changes from day to day. I hate polls and find them extremely flawed (I did a couple of posts on that) but it boosts my spirits when Kamala gains. Then Trump starts floating something designed to inflame his supporters and I’m reminded of….! It’s very disturbing, as you say. Actually, “disturbing” is too mild a word for what I feel.
"To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.” Undecided or permanently disgruntled, which is why, at this point, I've muted Walter Kirn.
Lets be cleae… he runs from sharks to avoid electrocution , dines with Hannibal Lecter, stays clear Of immigrant towns to avoid being eaten along with cats and dogs and obviously has been in birthing rooms and witnessed 9 month abortions. If u still want to give this dude the nuclear code u have never been an “undecided”. U r a maga
Yes, maybe we need to change our criteria for “MAGA.” I’ve tended to divide his “supporters” into the MAGA-deplorables and the “GOP nomatter what.” But as you say, of one is “GOP nomatter what” at this point, you may as well put that red hat on.
In one of my very first Substack posts, I called Donald Trump “Infant Donald of Mar-A-Lago” as a parody of the truly innocent Infant Jesus of Prague, and in which I shared the dream I had soon after the 2020 elections (of Melania nursing infant Donald). I had another Trump dream the night before the debates, which I discussed with my therapist the next morning, not because I considered it an urgent matter but I already had an appointment scheduled. I couldn’t figure out what it had to do with me. I guessed the dream had something more to do with ego death than actual killing—and apparently this was exactly what happened in the debate that evening.
In my dream, Trump was shot and mortally wounded, and he knew it, as he was begging me to call 911. I was wounded too but not mortally and it took me a while to comply in the chaos of a potential mass shooting. Part of me wanted to let him lie there and die and part of me knew I needed to just do the next right thing. Then, I looked up just in time to warn my husband to catch a real baby falling from the sky. I am not sure who that baby is—the state of the Union?
I think now the dream might have portended that he simply cannot stand the thought of a woman showing him for what he really is, especially not a woman of color. That was worse for him than having been grazed by a real bullet in the assassination attempt made on him only a few weeks ago, which he fended off while pumping his fist in the air. He doesn’t even know the difference between a real threat to his life and a threat to his superficial facade, which for him apparently is a fate worse than death.
Thank you for sharing. I think that real baby in your dream may have been all the real women and children that he clearly doesn’t give a shit about.
By the way, I am among those who don’t think he actually was grazed by a bullet. I think just a shard of something. If you look at pictures taken just a week after, his ear looks perfectly ok. And why isn’t he let the doctors who treated him release any photos?
Regarding Trump's claim that there were reports of migrants eating pets, _I_ saw and heard such reports myself - in a video from what appeared to be a city council meeting in Springfield.
A Black gentlemen made the statement about Haitian immigrants stealing and eating cats and dogs.
The difference is that _I_ was skeptical of that account and wanted some verification. I also did not repeat that claim in the midst of a presidential debate watched by millions of voters!
Thus, this was a completely unforced error on Trump's part. If he wanted to emphasize the danger of illegal immigrants, he should have listed the dozens of fully documented rape and murder victims of undocumented people, not an unproven allegation about devouring animal companions.
The stats on murder/rape shows that the numbers committed by undocumented immigrants is teeny compared to other populations and the population as a whole.
Insightful dissection of the so called “undecided” and the “because he hates who I hate” maga messes. Thanks for including the SNL clip, I’d forgotten it, it’s perfect. Maybe the Harris campaign could somehow use that idea. I did go find the Clueless debate clip on YouTube, it is still funny, but now we have to walk on eggshells because the big orange baby is having a tantrum. I’m looking forward to Walz debating, it’s possible that the contrast between him and Vance might be greater than Harris and tfg.
Hillary won the vote, so Kamala can win it too, but only fulfilling the social planks and platform of Bernie can begin to heal the country. That is, only strong moves to socialism, liberals avowed enemy, can rescue and heal. Otherwise the country will remain hateful. Structurally and otherwise. Kamala with the Democratic Party re-arranges deck chairs on the Titanic while Con Don and the Republican Party cheer it into the icebergs. The election is a big storm, and it's important who wins, but a society so savage as a capitalist society corrupt, rotten, and bigoted by design from top to bottom needs to revolutionize itself or things will continue to go and end very badly for the Earth and for the most vulnerable all the way down. The left is the only force that can cure Republican insanity, and Liberals thwart the left at every turn. It's so sick. Establishment Liberals are like the Good Germans blocking the doctors and nurses from treating the insane. With predictable, obvious results. Kamala owes her power to establishment Liberals, which is how she got to where she is. Her base is the big donors, not the Bernie masses. Amazingly enough, Kamala and the Democrats are better than Con Don and the Republicans. But bad enough and no way forward, except in moving somewhat less quickly to the final edge.
Thanks for the political science lecture. I taught Marx and Marcuse for years so I know the appeal. But it’s no use in 2024 to rail against “capitalism.” Imagining that this country will adopt a “stongly socialist” agenda (and I don’t’ know exactly what you mean by that—there are so many versions) is a fantasy. Most “socialist” countries are mixed. And Bernie is full of rhetoric, but never “healed” anything, just helped bring Trump into office. I prefer to deal with historical reality. And I think that perhaps if you were thinking like a woman or Black or both (as my daughter is) you wouldn’t see Kamala as just slightly better than Trump.
I didn't say "slightly". If anything, Hillary brought us Trump, not Bernie, but another nice rewrite. Thanks for the paeans and obfuscation that may yet kill us all. You're the expert on Hillary, right? So explain how Kamala is decisively better than her to get us past Trump. Or could be. I hope she is. She should try to buy the election like Bernie would and Biden did. You need to give people money directly because they need it, and it's the minimum moral imperative. But I hope joy and anti-weirdness is enough. Having a black family in the White House was one of the best things about Obama's election. Having a black woman in the White House would be one of the best things about Kamala's potential win. I hope we get there. I think there's a much greater chance of getting there if Kamala's campaign would do a better job of promising to deliver to people what they actually need. It's not like it's a Marxian mystery. It is though largely Liberal taboo. Anyone can see it. Trump is so bad that the election may be set. Then again...
Comparing so-called “establishment Liberals” to “Good Germans” is deeply offensive. While I agree the capitalism unrestrained leads to bad social outcomes, your ridiculous and totally inapt comparison makes me discount and dismiss anything else you have to say. EVER.
Plus you’re hijacking the author’s discussion space.
I hijacked nothing, but curious that you say so. Establishment Liberals perpetrated the atrocity that was the Vietnam War, and they are currently funding and arming the atrocity that is the slaughter of Palestinians. That's Biden and Harris and the whole establishment Liberal regime. That massacre cannot continue without EL arms and funds, and could scarcely even have begun. It's Nazi level slaughter. I was being kind calling establishment Liberals Good Germans. Really, the establishment Liberals are achieving what the Bad Germans did in World War II. That is, the Nazis. And these EL actions may lead to WWIII, which could be the final war. In which case, should there be any survivors of the final war, I suppose they could call the establishment Liberals simply the Infernals. German or otherwise. I didn't mean to offend the Good Germans who for all I know would have banned all arms and funds to the slaughter if they were in a position to do so, unlike Biden and Harris.
Your reply to Ruth is even more offensive than your original comment. Throwing hyperbolic and inflammatory words and scenarios around doesn’t constitute an argument. Are you Jewish? Seems unlikely, given your equation of “good liberals” (many of them in this country are Jewish) and Nazis. I suggest you just stop.
Nothing I said is hyperbolic. Nor is it inflammatory. It's an institutional analysis. And can easily be extended. Nice try with the not-so-sneaky antisemitism smear. So original. So desperate. But since you inquired about my personal being, I invite you to an informal look at my personal biography: https://fictiongutted.substack.com/p/homefront-chapter-one-and-new-homefront
Would you like to link to yours? Would it be so very revealing?
Don’t know what “antisemitism smear” you’re referring to. My point was that no Jews I know fling the term “Nazi” around so lightly as you do, no matter what their politics.
If you are genuinely interested in my biography, there are several stacks where I’m open about my Jewish background and other personal aspects of my life.
I don't "fling" the term. Nor do I use it lightly. Even a minimal amount of research readily shows that some Jews, including highly accomplished scholars, use the term Nazi as seriously as I do.
Biographies often seem to me to be very interesting, even though they are often entirely beside the point, as my paragraph above makes clear.
Simply amazing psycho-social commentary. That really is the kicker—that the bullies fomenting hate and violence in Springfield don’t care if he’s lying as long it aids and abets their cause.
It’s an intentional strategy that defies the moral default of most normal people. Very educational for me to realize this is how it works.
Thank you Marilyn! And Vance has even admitted now that it was “a story” to get attention!
I had mixed feelings about the debate:
1) I was very pleased that Kamala helped her vote tally by her display of sharpness, poise, and good judgment.
2) That this election is still likely to be very close is profoundly disturbing to me.
Susan, thank you for doing your part to help us get to the right result.
I'm hearing encouraging things about voter registration and vote by mail campaigns for groups that tend to vote less than average and lean Democratic.
My optimism/dread changes from day to day. I hate polls and find them extremely flawed (I did a couple of posts on that) but it boosts my spirits when Kamala gains. Then Trump starts floating something designed to inflame his supporters and I’m reminded of….! It’s very disturbing, as you say. Actually, “disturbing” is too mild a word for what I feel.
Every part of this analysis was so helpful to me. Thank you for the depth and breadth of this piece.
Thank you Stephanie!
He’s dumb. Dumb as a rock.
"To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.” Undecided or permanently disgruntled, which is why, at this point, I've muted Walter Kirn.
Lets be cleae… he runs from sharks to avoid electrocution , dines with Hannibal Lecter, stays clear Of immigrant towns to avoid being eaten along with cats and dogs and obviously has been in birthing rooms and witnessed 9 month abortions. If u still want to give this dude the nuclear code u have never been an “undecided”. U r a maga
Yes, maybe we need to change our criteria for “MAGA.” I’ve tended to divide his “supporters” into the MAGA-deplorables and the “GOP nomatter what.” But as you say, of one is “GOP nomatter what” at this point, you may as well put that red hat on.
Maybe there is a song. Like when the Mouseketeers got their ears. 🎼here’s ur hat, whata hat! U r a merry magateer!🎼
Susan, as usual, you are fresh and brilliant and marvelously astute.
Thank you Christine!
In one of my very first Substack posts, I called Donald Trump “Infant Donald of Mar-A-Lago” as a parody of the truly innocent Infant Jesus of Prague, and in which I shared the dream I had soon after the 2020 elections (of Melania nursing infant Donald). I had another Trump dream the night before the debates, which I discussed with my therapist the next morning, not because I considered it an urgent matter but I already had an appointment scheduled. I couldn’t figure out what it had to do with me. I guessed the dream had something more to do with ego death than actual killing—and apparently this was exactly what happened in the debate that evening.
In my dream, Trump was shot and mortally wounded, and he knew it, as he was begging me to call 911. I was wounded too but not mortally and it took me a while to comply in the chaos of a potential mass shooting. Part of me wanted to let him lie there and die and part of me knew I needed to just do the next right thing. Then, I looked up just in time to warn my husband to catch a real baby falling from the sky. I am not sure who that baby is—the state of the Union?
I think now the dream might have portended that he simply cannot stand the thought of a woman showing him for what he really is, especially not a woman of color. That was worse for him than having been grazed by a real bullet in the assassination attempt made on him only a few weeks ago, which he fended off while pumping his fist in the air. He doesn’t even know the difference between a real threat to his life and a threat to his superficial facade, which for him apparently is a fate worse than death.
I think you could be right on both counts. One thing I have learned over the years is that I can count on my dreams to always tell the truth.
Fascinating dreams!
Thank you for sharing. I think that real baby in your dream may have been all the real women and children that he clearly doesn’t give a shit about.
By the way, I am among those who don’t think he actually was grazed by a bullet. I think just a shard of something. If you look at pictures taken just a week after, his ear looks perfectly ok. And why isn’t he let the doctors who treated him release any photos?
Nicely done!!!
Regarding Trump's claim that there were reports of migrants eating pets, _I_ saw and heard such reports myself - in a video from what appeared to be a city council meeting in Springfield.
A Black gentlemen made the statement about Haitian immigrants stealing and eating cats and dogs.
The difference is that _I_ was skeptical of that account and wanted some verification. I also did not repeat that claim in the midst of a presidential debate watched by millions of voters!
Thus, this was a completely unforced error on Trump's part. If he wanted to emphasize the danger of illegal immigrants, he should have listed the dozens of fully documented rape and murder victims of undocumented people, not an unproven allegation about devouring animal companions.
I was with you until the last paragraph, Frank.
The stats on murder/rape shows that the numbers committed by undocumented immigrants is teeny compared to other populations and the population as a whole.
So glad you used the Sedaris bit. That’s my favorite response (in person) on the rare occasion I come across a Trump-curious person.
Not sophisticated at all—very cunning, undercutting moral decency. That’s all, I’ll stop now.😮
Insightful dissection of the so called “undecided” and the “because he hates who I hate” maga messes. Thanks for including the SNL clip, I’d forgotten it, it’s perfect. Maybe the Harris campaign could somehow use that idea. I did go find the Clueless debate clip on YouTube, it is still funny, but now we have to walk on eggshells because the big orange baby is having a tantrum. I’m looking forward to Walz debating, it’s possible that the contrast between him and Vance might be greater than Harris and tfg.
Hillary won the vote, so Kamala can win it too, but only fulfilling the social planks and platform of Bernie can begin to heal the country. That is, only strong moves to socialism, liberals avowed enemy, can rescue and heal. Otherwise the country will remain hateful. Structurally and otherwise. Kamala with the Democratic Party re-arranges deck chairs on the Titanic while Con Don and the Republican Party cheer it into the icebergs. The election is a big storm, and it's important who wins, but a society so savage as a capitalist society corrupt, rotten, and bigoted by design from top to bottom needs to revolutionize itself or things will continue to go and end very badly for the Earth and for the most vulnerable all the way down. The left is the only force that can cure Republican insanity, and Liberals thwart the left at every turn. It's so sick. Establishment Liberals are like the Good Germans blocking the doctors and nurses from treating the insane. With predictable, obvious results. Kamala owes her power to establishment Liberals, which is how she got to where she is. Her base is the big donors, not the Bernie masses. Amazingly enough, Kamala and the Democrats are better than Con Don and the Republicans. But bad enough and no way forward, except in moving somewhat less quickly to the final edge.
Thanks for the political science lecture. I taught Marx and Marcuse for years so I know the appeal. But it’s no use in 2024 to rail against “capitalism.” Imagining that this country will adopt a “stongly socialist” agenda (and I don’t’ know exactly what you mean by that—there are so many versions) is a fantasy. Most “socialist” countries are mixed. And Bernie is full of rhetoric, but never “healed” anything, just helped bring Trump into office. I prefer to deal with historical reality. And I think that perhaps if you were thinking like a woman or Black or both (as my daughter is) you wouldn’t see Kamala as just slightly better than Trump.
I didn't say "slightly". If anything, Hillary brought us Trump, not Bernie, but another nice rewrite. Thanks for the paeans and obfuscation that may yet kill us all. You're the expert on Hillary, right? So explain how Kamala is decisively better than her to get us past Trump. Or could be. I hope she is. She should try to buy the election like Bernie would and Biden did. You need to give people money directly because they need it, and it's the minimum moral imperative. But I hope joy and anti-weirdness is enough. Having a black family in the White House was one of the best things about Obama's election. Having a black woman in the White House would be one of the best things about Kamala's potential win. I hope we get there. I think there's a much greater chance of getting there if Kamala's campaign would do a better job of promising to deliver to people what they actually need. It's not like it's a Marxian mystery. It is though largely Liberal taboo. Anyone can see it. Trump is so bad that the election may be set. Then again...
Comparing so-called “establishment Liberals” to “Good Germans” is deeply offensive. While I agree the capitalism unrestrained leads to bad social outcomes, your ridiculous and totally inapt comparison makes me discount and dismiss anything else you have to say. EVER.
Plus you’re hijacking the author’s discussion space.
Thanks Ruth.
I hijacked nothing, but curious that you say so. Establishment Liberals perpetrated the atrocity that was the Vietnam War, and they are currently funding and arming the atrocity that is the slaughter of Palestinians. That's Biden and Harris and the whole establishment Liberal regime. That massacre cannot continue without EL arms and funds, and could scarcely even have begun. It's Nazi level slaughter. I was being kind calling establishment Liberals Good Germans. Really, the establishment Liberals are achieving what the Bad Germans did in World War II. That is, the Nazis. And these EL actions may lead to WWIII, which could be the final war. In which case, should there be any survivors of the final war, I suppose they could call the establishment Liberals simply the Infernals. German or otherwise. I didn't mean to offend the Good Germans who for all I know would have banned all arms and funds to the slaughter if they were in a position to do so, unlike Biden and Harris.
Your reply to Ruth is even more offensive than your original comment. Throwing hyperbolic and inflammatory words and scenarios around doesn’t constitute an argument. Are you Jewish? Seems unlikely, given your equation of “good liberals” (many of them in this country are Jewish) and Nazis. I suggest you just stop.
Nothing I said is hyperbolic. Nor is it inflammatory. It's an institutional analysis. And can easily be extended. Nice try with the not-so-sneaky antisemitism smear. So original. So desperate. But since you inquired about my personal being, I invite you to an informal look at my personal biography: https://fictiongutted.substack.com/p/homefront-chapter-one-and-new-homefront
Would you like to link to yours? Would it be so very revealing?
You can’t expect me to wade through all that.
Don’t know what “antisemitism smear” you’re referring to. My point was that no Jews I know fling the term “Nazi” around so lightly as you do, no matter what their politics.
If you are genuinely interested in my biography, there are several stacks where I’m open about my Jewish background and other personal aspects of my life.
For my intellectual bio: my website is
Bordocrossings.com.
I don't "fling" the term. Nor do I use it lightly. Even a minimal amount of research readily shows that some Jews, including highly accomplished scholars, use the term Nazi as seriously as I do.
Biographies often seem to me to be very interesting, even though they are often entirely beside the point, as my paragraph above makes clear.