~a column by Colleen O’Brien
I’ve had an infusion of joy for a month, and the intensity of it flows on around the country through millions, much to the chagrin of the other side.
Republican media is lying ever more enthusiastically, most recently about Harris’s past as a communist. Not true, of course. A progressive thinker and doer is not a communist but someone who looks to the future to continue working toward the ideal of a more perfect union.
It would be so pleasant if we no longer had to endure the lie that it’s Biden/Harris overspending that kicked in inflation: inflation is caused not by a president but by a combination of exports, imports, investments, government {from village to federal}, interrupted trade routes, climate change, world-wide viral infection, glut of products, shortage of products, raising of prices, and more. It is never one thing nor one individual, so please quit telling us the lie that it is.
When I see even more intense slurs on Harris’s decades of working for the betterment of her community, I wonder anew why #45 never was accused of being a fellow traveler; after all, he is the one who publicly adores communist master Putin, can’t see why Putin would lie, believes Putin is a hard-working, successful leader of a society who adores him. (Not true; his people are afraid of him.) And not to forget the manipulation of the Russian government that helped Trump get elected that one and only time (U.S. Senate investigation, 2020).
And despite the truth that Vice-President Harris was never appointed as czar of anything, let alone the Mexican border, the right-wing press (Newsmax, the New York Post, the Washington Examiner, Fox News’ loudspeak-for-Trump) continue to call her the “Border Czar” and lay out a gross scene of “millions” crossing our border like ants on the march.
According to Final Report, FactCheck.org, updated July 26, 2024, during the reign of #45, corporate profits went up; so did murder rates to the highest since 1997; unemployment increased to 6.4 percent; the federal debt rose from $14.4 trillion to $21.6 trillion while 45’s immigration numbers rose by 14.7 percent since his first year in office.
So, none of his current statements are true; including a new one – that Harris cut Medicare by $237 billion. The guy’s nuts.
The right-wing media is filling the airwaves and satellite eyes with indignation that Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris is not talking to reporters about policy, is not calling for press conferences, is ignoring her duty as a nominee.
Lord, they get pettier. And stupider.
In the meantime, the Trump party’s nominee for president tells the public nothing that can be considered policy, or nothing that can be deciphered to the point of understanding.
Since 2016, I’ve been testy about the coverage of an unhappy person who became president under the manipulation of the Electoral College {(his opponent won the popular vote – which means many votes did not count).
We received endless coverage about what? We weren’t sure without any answers from the man, nor the press. There was never much said about his “nasty” behavior toward reporters; there seemed never to be enough facts checked, so citizens were taking for granted what he said (that was decipherable) as truth.
Where was the press’s outrage at hatred spent on Muslims, misogyny at all times with never a question of “Why, Mr. President, do you hate women?”
Was his xenophobia in general ever questioned (as if no one but wealthy white males should play in this sandbox)?
What’s with a president of an entire country being prejudiced against Browns and Blacks; but for blond Norwegians, as he once told us?
Why were pure fabrications regarding southerners crossing our borders bent on rape, murder and drug distribution, according to this man, allowed to go unchallenged?
And FYI, persons who make it to this country illegally do not get Social Security or Medicare.
I’ve experienced the dropping away of the shady and unhinged future touted by the other side. We lived with that nightmare for nearly a decade. But since Kamala Harris was handed the chance to be the nominee, became the nominee, and for a month has been un-“shading” the cloud of a “failing America” of “crime-ridden cities” I’ve become more and more at ease. I can see it in all those glowing, grinning, singing delegates at the Democratic National Convention; they brought it home to me – we’re all in this together, and there are a lot of us of all colors, sizes, ages and hats.
Since Harris came on the scene happy, there has been an outcry from the Right about too much laughter, overwhelming joy and “this will not last,” among other curses. The opposition is really crabby, isn’t it?
When it comes to the lightness of being that Harris spreads wherever she goes, I’m willing to fly with it. If the leaders of the other side are jittery and don’t like joy, well, they’ve brought on their own trembling, and they can no longer hide. One is known by the company one keeps, and they are all obvious to us, with their long red ties and their lack of eye contact.
A decade of a liar bigger than the combined liars throughout history now suddenly confused about who and how to diss? It’s enjoyable to watch. I breathe fresh air. I think about a future for America that is not a dystopia. I jump in puddles. I skip.
I can’t know if we’ve got it in the bag, but I can believe it. And I can believe in the goodness of people returned to hope and the idea of paying attention to and working on a Constitution that will survive Project 2025. All the dread creeping in these last 10 years has already begun to die in an incentive I understand and trust. And love.
