Just for a moment, read the following quote, close your eyes, and pretend that it is Kamala Harris speaking these words:
“I don’t care how, but you have to get out and vote. And again, Christians, get out and vote just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what? It’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine, you won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians.”
Sounds completely unhinged coming from a person of sound mind like Kamala Harris.
If we attributed the same words to Joe Biden, perhaps you might write it off as a demented man stuttering out confused and ill-considered thoughts. From the mouth of any sane person, “It will be fixed, you won’t have to vote anymore …” sounds insane, or worse, foreboding.
These words, “It will be fixed … you won’t have to vote anymore …” are understood as plainly loaded words. One never uses the terms, “fixed” and “voting” together, unless one is Donald Trump grinding out his usual litany of grievances. In almost every outing and every opportunity, Trump moans about having suffered a “fixed” election. A “rigged system.”
Trump’s own sanity, if he is still sane, now as the oldest man to ever run for president, older than Joe Biden was when he ran four years ago – that sanity is fair game for doubt: Trump should well know better than to use this loaded phraseology in a public space. Particularly as a past president.
Understand these sentences are taken out of context of a larger speech. Trump had been complaining to his Christian audience that they never vote. He may have been telling Christians to just be sure to vote this one time and then Trump will make the U.S. “Christian” again and they never have to worry about voting again because their needs got met. In that case, God help our non-Christians.
However, using loaded dual meanings, as Trump often does, Trump may have also been literal, meaning that as the authoritarian he often hints at being, he would fix (rig) the system so that indeed, they never need to vote again. No more voting. Gone.
You get two choices here, literal or figurative: Either Trump will breach the Constitution and “Make America Christian again,” or Trump will fix the system with no more voting, thank you. Either choice is harrowing.
Well, democratic world went nuts over all this. Rightfully so.
Indeed, even many Christians were pushed off the edge of the political planet, dashing away from Trump’s extremism and plain pandering to one segment of Christianity.
A close evangelical, Trump-leaning friend shared with me, “This is the end, I can’t suffer Trump further.” With all his praise for Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping, and Trump’s general bend toward authoritarianism and personality cults, yes – Trump intentionally played his audience with a wink and a nod, affirming him would be king. And all our problems will be “fixed.”
If Harris said it, you’d think her mad… That’s a good reality check. Why should Trump get a pass on madness? He might be the craziest-behaving candidate we’ve ever witnessed. Crazy in broad daylight, and he’s got his camp thinking his crazy is somehow normal.
Did Trump somehow just misspeak, or maybe just picked the wrong words while doing his Trump ramble thing? Just days later, while being pressed by Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, Trump had a path to clear things up, but instead doubled down:
“Don’t worry about the future. You have to vote on Nov. 5. After that, you don’t have to worry about voting anymore. I don’t care, because we’re going to fix it. The country will be fixed, and we won’t even need your vote anymore, because frankly we will have such love, if you don’t want to vote anymore, that’s OK.”
Cool. Our country will be “fixed” and there’s no need to vote anymore.
With fixes like this, I’d prefer to stay broken, please. Broken, but still constitutional.
If nothing else, as a leader of what until now has been the “free world,” Trump knows far better than to mix the words “fixed” and “voting.” If he can’t handle basic messaging like this, he’s no better than a rambling Biden in a bad debate. How can he possibly represent the United States when he forever drops hints about his authoritarian intentions?
Is this Trump Derangement Syndrome writing? I think not, given that readers would agree that Harris saying the same thing would seem nuts. Who’s deranged now? The Trump doubters, or the cult following, lapping up his crazy phrases as if from God Himself?
Joe Biden gets lost in sentences. Kamala Harris has a cackling laugh.
But Trump says truly wacked-out potentially terrifying things and True Believers sing praise.
With a serious election ahead, it’s well past time for voters to look hard at what Trump says and take him at his word. If he tells you the “fix is in,” you know from his past attempts at “fixing things,” he fully means what he says.
If the “fix” does gets in, look out for breakage everywhere.
Gary Horton’s “Full Speed to Port!” has appeared in The Signal since 2006. The opinions expressed in his column do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Signal or its editorial board.
