Jan. 06 rioters. Pathetic Halloween costumes.
Trump’s closing argument was made in Madison Square Garden, directed to a mostly male audience. It was vulgar; it was angry; it was politically incorrect. On CNN, David Axelrod claimed that Trump was closing his campaign poorly, that he should be focusing on the economy and solid issues.
I disagree. Trump’s closing message has been hate, hate, hate. This is exactly what appeals to that white, male audience, and will stir them up to go out and vote their hatred. Those guys feel that their manhood has been stolen from them. Their (often female) bosses, and probably their own wives, are constantly harping that they are lazy slobs who can’t do anything right. The message is, “what kind of man are you?” Those belittled males are finding their revenge through Trump.
Trump speaks their language, especially when he keeps calling Harris epithets like ‘dumb as a rock’, or ‘mentally deficient.’ He is the dirty old man that many men can identify with. Back in 2016, when the “Grab ‘em by the p***y” remark came out, many pundits opined that that would be the end of Trump’s chances. I claim the opposite: such ‘locker-room talk’ was exactly what American males wanted to hear, and may have even WON Trump the election. That may be what is happening this time, or at least, that’s what Trump is hoping for.
Just picture those rioters from Jan. 6. All decked out in some kind of Halloween costumes, pretending they are real tough guys. I almost want to laugh, but they are pathetic. A comment on TV by prostitutes sticks in my mind: they say that those bad-ass characters turn out to be their most pathetic clients. Listening to Trump not only makes them feel like real men, but also makes it sound that abuse of women, political violence, and racial discrimination are quite all right.
Contrast this with Kamala Harris. Axelrod and others are praising her for her disciplined closing arguments, for ‘staying on message.’ I watched her Town Hall on CNN, which some pundits described as a ‘home run’. I didn’t view it that way. To me, she came across as oh-so-politically correct. She had a ready and scripted answer (or rather, non-answer) to every anticipated question. She performed well, but I felt that there was no ’there’ there. Did she really mean any of it?
She lays out her plans, complete with numbers and statistics, about the economy, etc. How is it that most Americans claim that they don’t know her, that she hasn’t defined her policies? It’s that those plans go right over most people’s heads, because she is not really passionate about them (with the possible exception of the abortion issue), and people can see through her empty promises.
Harris’ supporters point at Trump, and say, quite rightly, that he has no plans or policies at all, other than vague and impossible ideas like rounding up millions of illegals and shipping them out, or putting high tariffs on imports. He is lambasted for stating that he has a ‘concept’ for a healthcare reform of Obamacare. He contradicts himself daily, so that if we just take his words verbatim, we have no idea what he is talking about.
But of course we do know exactly what he is talking about on all these issues, whether he actually states it or not, or even says the opposite (e.g. denying Project 2025, claiming that he will ‘protect women’, etc. ). This is because his hatred of immigrants, non-whites, women, LGBTQs, et al., is so palpable in every word he speaks, even when he is ‘weaving.’ Sending the military on vengeance missions against his ‘enemies within’ list strikes an emotional chord with the male hatred for the system that has so demeaned them and beaten them down.
For Trump’s supporters, resonance with his hateful messages produces a visceral response, untouched by rational arguments or facts. That’s why he may just win on Tuesday.