I'm as frustrated with the presidential debate on Tuesday night as anyone -- though not, perhaps for the same reasons that other conservatives are.
I never expected Trump do destroy her. Here's what I said on Sunday:
"Based on past debates, I think she will do fine. She has considerable presence onstage, and will come across as officious and dignified. She has no doubt been practicing her talking points and will deliver them. So I don't foresee collapse."
What I had been telling Trump to do (indirectly, and publicly) is to ignore her and speak directly to his voters. Don't try to "win"; understand that there is no winning these things anymore. Just use the platform to reach your base.
He didn't do that. He tried to win, and he got pummeled by the moderators and outrun by Harris, who evaded every important question -- are you better off than you were four years ago? when is it too late to have an abortion? etc.
There won't be another debate because Harris did the best she could by looking strong. She probably didn't sway any voters in the middle -- and she isn't trying to do so. She's just trying to fire up her own base, and ABC helped her do it.
(Once again, as I've been saying: you can get mad over media bias, and it's important to document it, but just remember that the media are doing their job -- which is not to tell the truth but to turn out the Democratic voter base.)
So -- what next? I think Trump scored some important points on the economy and so on, but he's never going to have another opportunity to address America as a whole. He has to fire up his own supporters, and many are demoralized.
What's next, therefore, is this: if you want Trump to win -- and many of us need Trump to win, because we have our lives literally on the line -- then you, and we, are going to have to push him across the finish line ourselves, regardless.
He's amazing -- he stood up with his fist raised when he was shot in the head. That's an example for us to follow -- but it's not something one individual can sustain, on his own, forever. It's time to act, to inspire, to encourage, to vote.
President James Madison comes to mind. Madison is my favorite Founding Father because of the way he sat at a desk for months, studying, before creating the architecture of our Constitution. As a writer, I just love that.
But he was a poor president (though Dolly Madison remains the best First Lady, in my opinion). Madison led the U.S. into the War of 1812 against Britain, which may have been inevitable but was also foolishly begun, and nearly lost.
He won -- and the country survived -- largely because Americans like Andrew Jackson, and his volunteers, stepped up to fight, and did so in ways that the British never anticipated. Madison's presidency was saved by his countrymen.
And so -- if you want Trump to win, or need Trump to win (and I think we need it more than Democrats need Kamala to win), then you can't just wait for him to do it for you. You have to make it happen -- whatever you think that means.
This week’s portion launches the great story of Abraham, who is told to leave everything of his life behind — except his immediate family — and to leave for “the Land that I shall show you.”
There’s something interesting in the fact that Abraham is told to leave his father’s house, as if breaking away from his father’s life — but his father, in fact, began the journey, moving from Ur to Haran (in last week’s portion). His father set a positive example — why should Abraham leave him?
Some obvious answers suggest themselves — adulthood, needing to make one’s own choices, his father not going far enough, etc.
But I think there is another answer. Abraham (known for the moment as Abram) needs to establish his own household. This is not just about making one’s own choice, but really about choosing one’s own starting point. It’s starting over.
Sometimes we start over in fundamental ways even if much that surrounds us remains the same. Sometimes the journey we have to ...
The story of Noah is familiar; the details, less so.
Noah is often seen as an ambivalent figure. He was righteous -- but only for his generation. What was his deficiency?
One answer suggests itself: knowing that the world was about to be flooded, he built an Ark for the animals and for his own family -- but did not try to save anyone else or to convince them to repent and change their ways (the prophet Jonah, later, would share that reluctance).
Abraham, later, would set himself apart by arguing with God -- with the Lord Himself! -- against the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, saying that they should be saved if there were enough righteous people to be found (there were not).
Still, Noah was good enough -- and sometimes, that really is sufficient to save the world. We don't need heroes every time -- just ordinary decency.
Hi all -- as I noted last month, I'm going to be closing down my Locals page, at least for tips and subscriptions -- I may keep the page up and the posts as well, but I'm no longer going to be accepting any kind of payment.
Look for cancelation in the very near future. Thank you for your support!
