As I watched the vice presidential debate last week, I found myself getting more and more infuriated as Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, the Republican nominee, kept repeating his mantra that Vice President Kamala Harris could have done something in the last three-and-a-half years to affect change in the economy or in border policy. More than once, he referred to her as the 鈥渂order czar.鈥
鈥淪he鈥檚 not the president!鈥 I screamed at the television. 鈥淪he can鈥檛 make policy!鈥
And she鈥檚 not even the 鈥渂order czar.鈥 President Joe Biden tasked her with investigating the root causes of the surge of South American immigration. The actual person in charge of the border is Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas (who was impeached by Congress early this year).
Let me scream this again, in all caps if necessary: 鈥淪HE鈥橲 NOT THE PRESIDENT!鈥
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It is not the 鈥淗arris-Biden administration,鈥 as both Vance and former President Donald Trump keep repeating. And it鈥檚 certainly not the 鈥淜amala Harris administration,鈥 as Vance dubbed it in Tuesday鈥檚 debate. President Biden was and still is in control. It鈥檚 ludicrous to think Biden would allow his vice president to make policy.
Trump certainly never did. In fact, he never listened to any advice he disagreed with, whether from military generals with years of experience or from any of the people in the CIA, FBI and the rest of the intelligence community. He always thought he knew best and vilified anyone who disagreed with him.
As Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris鈥 running mate, pointed out during the debate, the only reason that Trump鈥檚 former vice president, Mike Pence, was not on the ticket now was because he defied Trump鈥檚 demand by certifying the 2020 election results, as he is required to do under the Constitution.
It鈥檚 interesting to note that during the earlier presidential debate between Trump and Harris, when Trump was asked about Vance鈥檚 public assertion that Trump would veto a national abortion ban, Trump answered: 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 discuss it with JD.鈥 So whatever control Vance thinks Harris has over Biden, he doesn鈥檛 seem to even have Trump鈥檚 ear.
Vance said in last week鈥檚 debate Trump left the White House peacefully as President Biden was sworn in on Jan. 20, 2021. No, Trump left like a petulant child. After refusing to attend the inauguration (a first for any modern American president) he scurried away with boxes of classified records.
This sort of behavior has been characteristic of what Trump has displayed ad nauseum since 2016: protest if the result is unfavorable to you; spread the idea that elections are rigged if you don鈥檛 win. He鈥檚 parroting these same lies in advance of the 2024 election, saying that the only way he can lose is if there is massive fraud.
In the wee hours of Nov. 4, 2020, as election results were still being calculated across the country, I watched the press conference given by then-President Trump in which he claimed he鈥檇 already won and demanded that the counting stop. He listed all the states he claimed to have already won.
Of course, he was a bit premature. Four years later, he is still trying to readjudicate the 2020 election. Worse, there are too many MAGA Republicans, Vance included, who still refuse to admit he lost. Vance, asked the question directly during last week鈥檚 debate, changed the subject rather than answer.
Trump 2.0 is a bigger threat to the country now because he has stocked his inner circle with those who won鈥檛 refuse any demand, even if what he wants to do is illegal.
In a lengthy interview in the May edition of Time magazine, Trump, discussing 鈥淏iden-inspired鈥 criminal charges against him, said: 鈥淚 think the enemy from within, in many cases, is much more dangerous for our country than the outside enemies of China, Russia, and various others,鈥
I agree. The enemies from within are far more dangerous for the country than those from outside 鈥 starting with Trump and his sycophants.
I saw a meme recently in reference to Trump and Harris that said, in essence: If he was going to destroy the country, why didn鈥檛 he? If she was going to fix the country鈥檚 problems, why hasn鈥檛 she?
Because she鈥檚 not the president. And because he is poised to do a lot more damage the second time around.