The Witness Chronicles, August 9, 2024

The polls are shifting

Is Trump on the Ropes? Nope, But It’s Getting Closer

Trump reversed course on the debate, Vance tells a whopper

First the Vance thing. He told supporters at a rally that Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’ running mate, left the National Guard after twenty years when he was faced with deployment to Iraq. And he used an ugly phrase, ‘stolen valor’ that is a serious insult to any former military member.

These are bold-faced lies that have been thoroughly debunked during Walz’ runs for Governor of Minnesota, two races he won handily. Walz made the announcement that he was leaving the service months before any planned deployment because he had filed to run for a House seat. He was never deployed to Iraq and the events around his leaving service had nothing to do with his unit’s future plans.

This pretty much tells us that Vance is the Trump campaign’s attack dog and there is no limit to how low he will go. But he is not coming across well, looking like a man with no ideas of his own. The ‘weird’ insult has seen it’s moment but for me, Vance has always just seemed creepy. But that goes back as long as he has been in the public eye.

The real news is that the polls are starting to reach even and we are even seeing some critical states now leaning to the Democrats or being toss-ups. Not coincidentally, Trump reversed course on his attempt to reset the debate on his terms, including moving it to Fox and having a studio audience. That attempt was handled clumsily, with Trump announcing it would happen as he wanted.

Apparently no one told the Harris campaign about his imaginary agreement. And now Trump will attend the originally agreed on September 10th debate on the original terms. Those include no audience, hosting by ABC, and mic muting when a candidate reaches the end of their allotted time.

This reversal says a lot about the Trump campaign’s nervousness about the closing polls. Trump also challenged Harris to two more debates but the demurred when asked if she would agree, not saying yes or no. She knows she has momentum, so why would she commit beyond the current date.

This election is going to be a nail biter and nothing can be taken for granted. The Republicans had started their victory celebrations after the RNC convention, prematurely it turns out, when everything changed three weeks ago, including the momentum, which seems to have reversed direction.

There’s not going to be any victory celebrations at either campaign anytime soon. This year has seen a seemingly unending stream of unexpected events that each affected various election scenarios. There is no reason to think there won’t be more.

We have that now rescheduled debate, and Trump’s sentencing for his 34 felony convictions earlier in the year. Both events take place in September and either could impact the election. And that’s just two we know about.

So, don’t do any relaxing yet. It will be interesting to see if Harris’s momentum continues and how Trump will respond if it does. He is a notoriously sore loser and takes each fluctuation in polling personally, reportedly throwing temper tantrums behind closed doors.

If she gains, we can expect a continued explosion of lies, irrational speech, and threats from Trump. When under pressure he has no ability to control himself and anything can happen. That alone should disqualify him from leading the country, but these days logic and reason seem to have entirely different meanings in the two campaigns.

While writing about this stuff is my passion right now, even I am finding Trump’s messaging tired and repetitive as he stretches to try and find new insults for Harris, including mangling her first name in what is probably his most childish tactic to date. The man sounds like a broken record, and while his hardcore MAGA fans still cheer his greatest hits, I think the rest of us are starting to long for some specific facts and future plans from both candidates.

We’re only getting that from Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. In 2016, Trump was visibly having fun running. There’s no fun now, just an air of desperation.

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