Donald Trump wants this conversation to be about who is weirder. He wants us to debate the worthiness of childless adults. And I’m sure he’ll love that his comments questioning the race of his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, distract from his connection to Project 2025, the 900-page plan to restructure government around Trumpism rather than democracy.
We should not fall into their “rope the fool” routine again.
Opinion columnist
Granderson Landing Station
LZ Granderson writes about culture, politics, sports, and navigating life in America.
On Friday, Harris secured enough delegates in a virtual roll call to clinch her party’s nomination. It’s a formality, considering her campaign raised a record $310 million in July, and she’s expected to announce her running mate soon. Still, it’s important to commemorate these moments, if only to remind voters what’s at stake. Obsessing over Trump’s nonsense is dangerous when real things are happening.
In 2016, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), in a last-ditch attempt to keep his party from jumping into the deep end, told the crowd at the Republican National Convention: “If you love your country … vote your conscience … Vote for candidates at every level that you trust to defend our freedom and be true to the Constitution.”
Since that night in Cleveland, former President Trump called for the Termination of the United States Constitution (which Cruz denounced), attempted to overturn the 2020 election and said he wanted to be a dictator for a day. Rolling Stone reported that there are “nearly 70 pro-Trump election conspirators currently working as county election officials” in six key states. Trump chose J.D. Vance as his running mate because Vance would do what Mike Pence refused to do.
This is what is at stake in these elections.
The former president's conduct and rhetoric this week at the National Association of Black Journalists conference were hardly recent.
They weren't new.
Trump questioned whether Harris is actually black. It’s a parlor trick he used even before he became the face of the “birther” movement against President Obama. During a 1993 congressional hearing on casino gambling, Trump said the Mashantucket Pequot Nation “don’t look like Indians to me.” He also said casinos on reservations attract crime and that it wasn’t fair that they were exempt from paying taxes because “I like to compete on a level playing field.”
“Nobody is more pro-Indian than Donald Trump,” he declared at the time.
Yes, the same Donald Trump who, as president, used the term “Pocahontas” as an insult. The same one whose administration was sued by more than 10 tribes to get COVID relief funds allocated to federally recognized tribes. After his attempts to overturn the election failed, Trump told the 2021 North Carolina Republican convention audience that “Indians are getting paid to vote in certain states, including Arizona and Nevada.”
All accusations, no facts.
That's why, rather than investing too much energy in baseless debates started by Trump and Vance (such as Harris's race), it's important to remain focused on what's really at stake.
For example, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Trump asked Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, “Can’t you just shoot them?” To be clear, Trump was referring to protesters against police brutality, not the Jan. 6 insurrectionists who tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power. At a rally last month, Trump said, “We’re going to give our police their power back and we’re going to give them immunity from prosecution.”
This is what's at play.
He keeps telling us.
In His recent tirade Promising the audience “that in four years you will not have to vote again,” he added this gem: “I love you, Christians; I am not a Christian.”
He touched his chest and smiled like the Cheshire Cat as he said it.
It was a startling admission, considering this was an event called a “Believers’ Summit.” If Trump had told a crowd of evangelical voters “I’m not a Christian” during the 2016 primary, he might not have felt compelled to falsify business records to hide payments to porn stars to silence his supporters. It’s hard to say what the past eight years would have been like if evangelicals had been forced to see Trump for who he really is.
What we do know is that Vice President Harris will be a Black woman, regardless of whether Trump wins in November or not. America will not be the same if Project 2025 is carried out. That is what is at stake. That is why Trump wants us to talk about the nonsense he says, so that we do not focus on all the harmful things he is planning.
