Same as It Ever Was

Don't overthink it: Donald is a racist

Yes—that was the vibe. Photo credit: Vincent Alban/Reuters

It seems that it’s finally beginning to sink in, because Donald, after pretending he was going to debate Vice President Kamala Harris on September 10^th as originally planned, wrote this post:

I have agreed with FoxNews to debate Kamala Harris on Wednesday, September 4th. The Debate was previously scheduled against Sleepy Joe Biden on ABC, but has been terminated in that Biden will no longer be a participant, and I am in litigation against ABC Network and George Slopadopoulos, thereby creating a conflict of interest. The FoxNews Debate will be held in the Great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, at a site in an area to be determined. The Moderators of the Debate will be Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, and the Rules will be similar to the Rules of my Debate with Sleepy Joe, who has been treated horribly by his Party – BUT WITH A FULL ARENA AUDIENCE!….

Run away, Donald, run away.

He can't compete with her and, deep down, he knows it.

That became patently obvious this week with his disastrous appearance for the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) conference. Almost the moment the interview with Rachel Scott, Kadia Goba, and Harris Faulkner began, Donald became defensive and belligerent. He could not contain his contempt for the professional women of color who dared interview him with the expectation that he should answer their questions. It’s not that we didn’t already know the extent of Donald’s racism and misogyny, but to see how quickly he became incapable of controlling himself, of modulating his responses, of pretending, was quite something. He positively seethed.

Since Vice President Harris became the Democratic nominee eleven days (!) ago, Donald’s polling lead has evaporated. In the same amount of time, Harris more than doubled his fund raising for the entire month of July; and, probably the thing that is most driving his flailing rage, he has taken back seat to the black woman who has all of the energy, enthusiasm, and youth on her side.

That’s probably why his campaign team thought he needed to go to this event. He was getting outplayed at every turn. While his rallies are boring re-runs—grievance-filled rants and incomprehensible non-sequiturs—Harris’ are packed-to the-rafters celebrations in which she not only lays out a comprehensive, optimistic, and forward-looking vision for our country, but also calls Donald out for his cowardice, his cruelty, and his criminality.

Donald needed a good appearance in a venue that was different from his usual haunts. As soon as he realized he wasn’t going to get the kind of softball questions usually lobbed at him, however, he reverted to type and acted, without an ounce of self-control, like the racist bully he is. 

There are social media pundits and corporate news organizations who would have us believe Donald was playing 11-dimensional chess in an effort to wrest back control of the news cycle. But, as Scott Jennings, a paid Republican hack on CNN, put it, “He did crap the bed today. The only question is whether he's going to roll around in it or get up and change his sheets." That doesn’t sound particularly strategic to me, unless Donald’s strategy was to remind us that he can’t handle the pressure, which was only underscored by the fact that Donald’s team pulled him off the stage twenty-five minutes early.

And Friday we found out that the real reason the interview started late had nothing to do with equipment failure—which he, unaccountably, blamed on one of the journalists on stage with him. The real reason for the delay was that Donald’s handlers refused to let him go on stage unless the journalists agreed not to fact check him in real time.

After eight years of covering Donald, too many journalists have gotten into the habit of seeing strategy in his crude and instinctive behavior. The truth is quite simple--Donald can’t help himself. When it comes to him, we shouldn’t overthink it. He is exactly what he seems: a racist, a misogynist, a liar. He is a bully who has no business getting anywhere near the White House. His pulling out of the debate should remind us that he is also a monumental coward.

We are about to send a message to Donald that we are sick of him because he reminds us every day why we need to work every day until November 5th to elect Vice President Kamala Harris. 

And Vice President Harris reminds him every day that he has every reason to be scared—because he is a loser, and she is going to kick his ass.