Poor Donald Trump. He had President Biden on the ropes and saw certain victory ahead until Kamala Harris jumped in the ring, and along with her buddy, Coach Walz of Minnesota, they’re in the process of taking him down as the crowd cheers with delight!
Sounds a lot like one of Donald Trump’s favorite fake sports, professional wrestling, in which the outcome is pre-determined and tag team partners can turn the tide in a theatrical last minute save.
But this is not a fake sport, it’s life and death for democracy in America. While Trump and Vance fit the image of the trash talking personification of evil portrayed by some professional wrestlers and Harris and Walz seem to represent the joyful warriors on the side of everything good, the results are not pre-determined and it remains to be seen who will prevail in the public arena after the votes are cast and accurately counted.
And though the referees, aka the Supreme Court, have demonstrated favoritism for the former president by clearing the way for him to avoid further criminal trials before the election for his alleged, but well documented criminal behavior in and since office, they will likely have no role to play in the final outcome if enough Americans cast their votes for the forces of light over darkness.
Novelists, comic book artists, movie makers, playwrights could not manufacture such stereotypical characters or situations as we have in this election ripe for the melodrama of the ages, and no doubt this period in American history will be the subject of fact and fiction for centuries, at least if Trump doesn’t become the dictator his allies who designed “Project 2025” sketch out should he win.
In that America, as in autocracies around the world, over time the media will cease to be free to report the truth, schools will be banned from accurately teaching history, health care, child care, and labor rights will be trashed, books will be banned, internment camps will be created to round up immigrants for deportation, the Justice Department will become a weapon to be wielded by a vindictive dictator, our foreign policy will become a cash machine for the president and his cronies.
While professional wrestling is an entertaining fantasy, there is nothing entertaining about this contest. The stakes are real and the outcome is life and death, not for the contestants, but for many of us, the audience. We the people have the power to determine the outcome through our dedication to preserving Freedom and the American Way as did Superman during World War II (oh, wait, that was a fantasy).
Seriously, here in West Virginia, it may be impossible to affect the national election results, but by donating and volunteering we may have an effect on the outcome in the swing states that will determine the final results. And who knows, the current enthusiasm may filter down to our state and local races. If enough of us organize and exercise the singular most powerful force in America, the power of the people to vote, we may be able to turn out deadbeats like Jim Justice and others who work to benefit corporations and the rich over the rest of us. When we vote, we win!
published in the Charleston Gazette-Mail Aug 14, 2024
Paul Epstein is a retired teacher and musician living in Charleston
