Vice President Kamala Harris onstage at the DNC accepting the Democratic Party Nomination for President of the United States. (photo: DNC/AP)
Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democrats put on a great show in Chicago. It was well composed, authentic and very well received. Harris got to be Harris, no holds barred, no punches pulled.
Although the event was clearly scripted there was a spontaneity that transcended the staging. The crowd had fun at the show and no one could stop them.
Does one good night, one good event translate to a win in the November presidential election? It might if the good event was the sum of all its parts.
Did Kamala Harris work her entire career to put herself in position to be on that big stage? Is Tim Walz really the perfect guy to renew trust in government? Is the country finally well and truly done with Don J Trump’s Traveling Circus? Those are what appear to be the underlying factors that gave rise to one of the best Democratic Nominating Conventions in decades.
Are Harris and the Democrats overconfident? No, they are exactly what they appear to be, unafraid and fired-up. There appears to be in the Harris camp a sincere desire to accomplish something, something good, to achieve change for the better.
It wasn’t just that the crowd at the convention was excited by her message but that they wanted to be a part of the mission. To be, “of the people, by the people, for the people” the people have to participate. What we saw at the DNC was a movement people wanted to join and be a part of.
The universe of things that could wrong is broad. A quick glance at the expansive Project 2025 manifesto provides a glimpse of the designs Trump’s supporters have on a second Trump presidency. They’re highly motivated to run-free in a Trump regime unconstrained by any guardrails and that leaves alone Trump’s own plans for an America that he alone rules.
Trump world is corrupt and ruthless. They will not stop; they must be stopped.
The network of Trump supporters includes the Stop-the-Steal crowd now deeply embedded in swing-state governments in positions critical to November’s vote counting. They have a mission, do whatever is necessary to facilitate a return to power by Trump. They are fully committed and no tactic is out of bounds.
A number of their cohorts have already been convicted of federal crimes in connection with electoral malfeasance, on Trump’s behalf and there is every indication they will work to further that cause this election cycle.
With the same certainty that a bear lives in the woods, the Supreme Court guards the entrance to the Oval Office. Would the Court conservatives intercede on Trumps behalf in an election-deciding legal dispute? They have already told you they would and will. Believe them, they’re not kidding.
When Trump says, "We don’t need more votes; we have enough votes,” what he’s really saying is that his strategy doesn’t require winning the election. It’s a path to the White House through alternative means. Vote suppression, voter intimidation, vote count manipulation, post election litigation with appeals to the supreme court - expect all of it, because it’s all coming.
The question is not if Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will win the election, but if it will matter. It’s going to be a dog-fight and they know it. The bar for Harris and Walz is high. The standard is what Jamie Raskin called in his address to the DNC, “A landslide so big that Donald Trump and his kangaroo court, Supreme Court justices cannot even try to steal it.” That’s a high bar.
So let’s not call it overconfidence. Let’s call it a stomach for a fight and prepare for the battle.
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