With the election less than a week away, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are tied virtually neck and neck. While Kamala Harris is ahead nationally by a few percentage points and up in some of the swing states, the lead is not enough to make a good prediction about who will become our next president.
In the past few weeks, many reports have come out about Donald Trump’s fascist side with many of his closest advisors, including the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff saying, “No one has ever been as dangerous to this country as Donald Trump. Now I realize he’s a total fascist. He is the most dangerous person to this country…He’s a fascist to the core.”
Reports from a man who was so close to Trump and who is very conservative may cause some voters to abandon Trump. In fact, many people, including people who worked in Trump’s own administration have come out with so many stories that in past elections would have destroyed a presidential candidate, but that does not seem to be the case for Trump. For example when Trump said, “Hitler did some good things” or when he was convicted on 34 felonies in the hush money case in New York — voters’ interest did not seem to stagger.
Some of the reasons many voters have not lost interest in Trump despite these statements or actions is because he himself denies his bad behavior and does not own up to his mistakes. Many believe him and feel like the media is making everything up. Many of these voters also believe the leadership in our country is so unacceptable regarding immigration, inflation and the geo-political situation, they are willing to look past Trump’s criminal problems and negative talk. Trump voters also are inspired by Trump’s resilience in fighting all these court cases and surviving an assassination attempt. They think this bravado is what is needed in the White House. Trump supporters see him as a victim of “the Washington swamp” and they feel they can relate to him, so their support is unwavering.
Unfortunately, this shows what modern American politics have divulged into: denying everything one has done wrong yet at the same time blaming their opponent for things that are not true. For example, last week when Donald Trump served fries and burgers at a McDonalds, he falsely claimed Kamala Harris had never worked at McDonalds. When campaigning in Pennsylvania, a Trump aide told reporters that Mr. Trump would be working at McDonalds,“So that one candidate in this race could have actually worked at McDonald’s.” The day Trump worked at McDonalds, the restaurant was closed to the public and customers were vetted by The Secret Service.
In this specific example, Trump is taking advantage of people’s lack of knowledge regarding Harris, her past and her message. He is using his position to sow doubt in his supporter’s minds about her.
The use of lies and deception by Trump in order to purify his own reputation and to make potential voters question the legitimacy of his opponent is what makes this election so unique. No longer are elections focused on the debate of policy or on the character of the candidate. Now elections are an onslaught of lies, with difficulty navigating the truths. There is much name calling, discrediting and misinformation, which only makes it more confusing for voters. Will the American voters be able to sift through all of the chaos? We will have to wait and see who will prevail on November 5th.