The Naked Truth/Jamala Rogers
The Pathway to the White House is Still No Guarantee
You may recall that in my last column, I was skeptical about Kamala Harris being the Democratic nominee for U.S. President. It wasn’t so much that I was a staunch supporter of President Biden or a loyal follower of the Democratic Party. From a strategic standpoint, switching candidates at the last hour —especially in the public way it was done — was not the best show of leadership. Maybe my Democratic source was correct that there was a plan in place. The choice of Harris to replace Biden has created a seismic shift in the electoral landscape.
My Democratic insider claimed that although Biden was publicly adamant about not dropping out of the race, he was waiting for the Republican National Convention to pick its candidate before he stepped down. We saw that after that point, things moved quickly. Harris has raised a ton of money, and the momentum she’s created is off the charts. Republicans for Kamala? Really! All this has #45 frustrated and unable to pivot to a relevant strategy with different tactics.
I did not think Harris would be the alternative. For most of the Biden Administration, she has been in the shadows — a fact that was not lost on Black female voters. This was particularly curious because of the role Biden played under President Obama. Biden was given serious executive responsibilities, not just ceremonial duties, as most other vice-presidents have had.
I thought Harris’ race and gender would not be appealing in the white backlash from the Obama election and all that was racial since 2008. I also didn’t forget that Hillary Clinton, a white, politically savvy, and well-connected woman lost to trump in his first ever election.
It looks like the Democrats have the situation under control now. But I say, not so fast. This crafty opponent has a bag of tricks at his disposal and a media arm to amplify his lies. The Republican nominee continues to insist election fraud caused his last loss. He asserted that Dems plan to steal the election from him even when his polling numbers were high. This is obviously the fallback excuse should trump lose in November.
The polling numbers are falling for trump but he will rely on twisting and perverting whatever parts of the process he can. We know he can use the Electoral College in his game of deception. In the last election, #45 claimed that electors could not change their votes as a few did when it was clear that trump might win the electoral college vote but not the popular vote. The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court who unanimously ruled that states have the power to control how electors vote. This is why I am a firm believer that the Electoral College is outdated and a barrier to real democracy; it must be eliminated.
We have seen trump shift to influencing on the state level. Georgia is one of the key battleground states where polls show trump slightly ahead, the others he has lost ground to Harris. Remember it was Georgia which was asked to come up with some extra votes for a losing trump in the past election. Pro-trump state and local election officials could try to slow down the certification of election results. These interferences are far more significant than trump’s desperate attempts to muddy up the character and reputation of Harris.
We all must be full and active participants in the election process, from voter education to voter protection. We all must be election observers in our own way. We must determine what democracy looks like.