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- Photo: Shutterstock, Helen's Place LLC Explores the 2024 Election War of Words.
Helen’s Place LLC Update: October 1, 2024
Part I – The Snapshot 36 days Out from the 2024 Presidential Election
The most astonishing thing about the election is that the outcome rests on a war of words and which ones American voters choose to believe (whether true or not), in selecting their next President. For nearly half the American voters – their vote will be based on beliefs and not facts. The age of “facts and alternative facts” has arrived.
This is because at some point during the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of Americans crossed over to seek out information that mirrored their ideas and prejudices instead of scrutinizing facts about what politicians accomplished – forgetting – sometimes deliberately – that “actions speak louder than words.”
Instead, this group threw up their hands and conveniently used the excuse that it’s impossible to know the truth because of fake news including artificial intelligence. Social media algorithms were happy to oblige in any fantasy world a voter wanted to create.
Those with more brazen honesty declared, “I don’t care how bad this candidate is I’m voting for him anyway!”
However, occasionally during the election cycle, a GOP candidates went too far – like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis – later pressured to drop out as a presidential candidate.
With his imagined “woke this and woke that” reality, his rhetoric demonstrated that B.S. can be too much even for many GOP voters who normally love it. (This pointed to a ray of clarity within those with otherwise robotic mentality, and is evidence to never give up on any American).
Next, turning to the democrats and independents it’s a different story ahead of the election. Because freedom and removing the government from their personal lives is paramount – they’re willing to take the time to look at the facts and discern the truth.
For them it isn’t that hard to do if you listen to political speeches, look at the historical record of the candidates, and fact check what they say.
It also turns out that judging candidates based on their actions and character – some statements ring truer than others – like when Tim Walz says, “mind your own business.”
When you hear these words, MAGA busybody attacks seem to diffuse and boomerang back to the senders – knocking them down like bowling pins.
Yes, words have power and so when Kamala Harris says, “when we fight we win,” they resonate and become a rallying cry to fight for America. The song lyric resonates – “we’re not going to take it anymore!” Stop putting America down!
The simple truth is that many independent Americans – willing to face reality instead of a fantasy world – don’t like being told what to do or how to live. For them they want to send mean, misogynistic, and controlling politicians packing.
This is why the opportunity to stand up to the MAGA candidates on November 5, 2024 and vote them to “infinity and beyond,” leaves many people feeling determined just ahead of the election. For them, the MAGA GOP is just too weird and dangerous.
Sadly, the old Republican party seems to have left sanity behind – hopefully not forever.
Five Factors About Where Things Stood Before Kamala Harris Entered the Race and What America Was Up Against
- Lying and Manipulation:
Anne Applebaum in her book, Authoritarians Inc., talks about autocrats and how they like to tell lies to exert power and control over people.
The autocrat gets off on thinking they’re so forceful that they can get away with bending reality to tell untruths that no one else can. This gives them power and loyal followers. So when Trump declares, “Only I can fix it,” his supporters happily go along with it and cheer him on.
And once a person surrenders their mental independence, the autocrat wears them down to compliance where they don’t want to learn anything, don’t know they don’t know, don’t care, and therefore don’t seek to find meaning or truth.
This is the ultimate goal of an authoritarian – to get people to the ignorant stage-where they just accept doing what the authoritarian wants so they don’t have to think or make decisions. All they have to do is follow their dear leader and do his bidding – even committing violence on his behalf if necessary.
The trade-off between submission and freedom is that followers believe they’ll be better off and taken care of, but if history bears out as noted in Timothy Snyder’s book, “On Tyranny,” they won’t be, but rather enslaved instead.
Submission is the state of mind Kamala found MAGA supporters in when she entered the presidential race on July 21, 2024, after Joe Biden stepped down. As only an act of God would get them to change their minds – this voting block was with Trump to the bitter end.
- Loss of Reliable News Sources:
Sadly, in addition to the evolutionary loss of rational Americans after the COVID-19 pandemic, we lost the social media platform Twitter to a deranged, technocrat and power hungry billionaire, Elon Musk.
We also lost many reputable news sources across America, and saw the rise of media propaganda entities like Newsmax and right-wing influencers on TikTok and YouTube, in addition to Fox news.
- Rise of Christian Nationalism:
We also saw the rise of Christian Nationalism and the increased presence of despicable fraudsters and unethical religious leaders.
Many of those claiming to be doing God’s work on earth allied with Trump to promote Trump’s big lie – that he was chosen by God to save America.
This culminated in Trump’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention on July 18, 2024, reiterated in a press conference on September 3, 2024, and continued to be his core MAGA message during the campaign.
- Supreme Court Decision and Loss of Women’s Rights:
Before Kamala entered the presidential race, the courage to fight against MAGA was lackluster at best as so much personal freedom had already been lost and people were worn down by it. Notably, the Supreme Court’s Dobbs Decision ending Roe v. Wade and women’s federal right to an abortion, pushed women to the brink after surviving the COVID-19 pandemic.
After the court decision, America began resembling Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel and HULU series, “Handmaid’s Tale” as conservative states began enacting extreme abortion bans. Women started dying in hospital parking lots – turned away from care.
MAGA extremists began attacking women for wanting to control their own bodies, and put plans in effect to move women back to the subservient-to-men stage – good mainly for sexual exploitation and reproduction purposes. J.D. Vance’s childless cat ladies comment exemplified this position.
Incels and tech bro’s gained in stature – joining the ranks supporting violence and disrespect for women across America. As James Carville put it, “Racism and misogyny is all Trump’s got,” and he and his supporters aren’t going to give it up.
American women, LGBTQ+, and minorities, with the most to lose from MAGA domination, found it hard to be brave and have courage before Kamala entered the presidential race. Many were coping the best way they could – by keeping a low profile – as they struggled to survive from discrimination in the workplace, misogyny, and lower wages.
- Joe Biden’s Age:
The final nail in America’s fighting spirit against MAGA before Kamala entered the race was Joe Biden’s age related feebleness.
This became apparent at the Presidential Debate on June 27, 2024, when Biden had a bad debate performance and Americans collectively realized he might not be able to make it in the presidential role for four more years.
Biden’s poor debate performance threw the Democratic Party into chaos and contributed to a feeling of malaise and insecurity. Repeated over and over in the media and exploited by MAGA politicians was the question, How could Biden prove he was physically capable to remain in office?
Hope and Change – Enter Kamala and Tim
An American miracle occurred on July 21, 2024 when Joe Biden’s unexpected announced that he was ending his presidential reelection campaign and passing the torch to Kamala – to carry on the fight for freedom and democracy.
Almost instantly Americans began to visualize a more hopeful future. Then when Kamala selected Tim Walz on August 6, 2024, as her Vice Presidential running mate, America took on an even more optimistic tone.
Never in an American presidential election has there been such a quick turnaround of mood among Democrats and Independents – going from three weeks of handwringing about whether President Biden would step down– to hope and joy.
Many Americans began feeling that life might get better and that they too might be important, valued, and prosperous under the Kamala presidency and her “opportunity economy” for all.
Surprisingly, thirty-six days from the Presidential Election, some old guard Republicans are coming out to endorse Kamala for their one-time vote – most hoping that the Republican Party will return to its conservative roots once Trump is defeated. It remains to be seen how many more Republicans will come forward to fight for democracy over tyranny.
This is the end of Part 1. At the end of October, Helen’s Place LLC will check back and report on any October surprises ahead of election day.
In a month will MAGA be weakened as Trump’s 2nd term intentions and fitness for office are revealed, or will the polls still show a tied race? Will traditional networks continue to “sanewash” Trump’s words as he becomes more deranged and frequently makes no sense?
“There are plot twists coming,” James Carville, political analyst, pointed out to Anderson Cooper on CNN.
One observation is that the more people throw up their hands and say, “I don’t know what’s true or not,” is the exact time we need to double down on paying attention to voter trickery in words and actions ahead of the election.
Related audio/video recording:
Nicole Wallace discusses Trump lies vs. truth in interview with Anne Applebaum, expert on authoritarianism:
YouTube, MSNBC, August 9, 2024, Nicole Wallace Show
Other related article you may be interested in:
Damon Linker’s article explores reality vs. Karl Rove’s shaping reality influence:
The Week, Damon Linker, July 26, 2019, “What if Karl Rove was right about the reality-based community? Does reality matter in politics?”
Article discusses war of words around what woke means or should mean:
Helen’s Place LLC, February 28, 2023, “In the Age of Name Calling, What Does W.O.K.E. Mean Anyway?”
Helen’s Place LLC is an information and educational materials company celebrating English Language Arts, Cognitive Science and the love of birds.
It’s the maker of printed instructional, educational, and teaching materials for children and adults in the field of English Language Arts and Cognitive Science.
