The Trump Apocalypse

Kamala Harris aced the test I set for a presidential candidate in my Baltimore Sun column: She spoke of children, families and the American future numerous times and in numerous ways during last night’s televised debate. Trump, on the other day, failed miserably: The only time he came close to referencing the welfare of children was in the form of a lie — that Democrats support “executing” newborn babies.
Harris was poised, positive, fact-based and smartly critical of Trump at key moments, prosecuting him with his confirmed and alleged violations of the law after he repeatedly and falsely claimed that “millions and millions” of undocumented immigrants were “destroying” the country with crime.
Trump bulled his way through responses the usual way, by making the same apocalyptic claims — that President Biden and Vice-President Harris had “destroyed” the country, “destroyed” the “greatest economy in history” that Trump had established, and caused the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Harris could have done a better job emphasizing facts about the robust economic recovery that has taken place on Biden’s watch. But anyone listening with an objective ear would have heard in Trump’s pressured speech and exaggerated claims the desperate ravings of a deeply troubled man: Democrats killing babies! Immigrants eating dogs and cats! America is a failed nation!
Trump, who never cracked a smile, obviously believes that his dark vision will get him votes. But I doubt that most of his base believes America is a failed nation, or a nation in “decline.”
In 1980, when Ronald Reagan criticized the presidency of Jimmy Carter, he based his argument on facts — high inflation (13%), high mortgage interest rates (11-12%), unemployment at 7.5% and an Iranian hostage crisis that went on too long. In all of that, Reagan simply asked, “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” and the walls came tumbling down on Carter.
By contrast, coming out of the pandemic and Trump’s botched handling of that deadly crisis, the nation has been in general recovery, and Trump’s play to a “destroyed” economy, based on the inflation we experienced in the wake of the pandemic, is out of date. While conceding that the price of eggs is still too high — caused currently, in part, by the outbreak of avian flu — I doubt that most Americans believe their country is “destroyed” or “failed.” Politically speaking, most Americans don’t want to hear that.
At least the choice is clear: Trump’s apocalyptic vision, fear mongering and criminality versus Harris’s optimistic vision, proposals for an “opportunity economy,” and respect for the law. He talks about immigrants eating dogs, she talks about children and families.