Job 1 of campaigns: Produce anxiety in the voters

I read an Economist editorial that panned Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s ability to communicate Canadians’ concerns about their economy, farm sector, immigration, and other elements affected by his leadership that has steadily moved in an uber-progressive direction. Instead of taking the criticism head-on, Trudeau has the propensity to couch real issues in a much softer psychological manner, which infers that his citizens’ concerns are somehow imaginary. In other words, joy over substance, a strategy very much like Kamala Harris’ campaign in America, is being played out.

Fox News Channel anchor Brett Baier’s recent 22-minute one-on-one with Harris highlighted the endless loop she has seemingly memorized to imperfection. Don’t even try to break her out of a feedback loop of her handlers’ creation; the ever-present Secret Service might take exception! But wouldn’t it be great if, somehow, we could get her off track long enough to see who Kamala really is? I’m convinced that if she were pushed hard enough to derail, she’d lock up and start babbling; I’m sure of it.

Let’s agree: As a nation, we’re more anxious and psychologically beat up than at any time in living memory. It’s easy to understand why, as our time-honored beliefs that have allowed for the creation of the greatest nation on Earth – beliefs that have been valid and normal for most of our existence expressed through words, actions and laws – are systematically being nullified and replaced with Marxist, progressive imperatives. We’ve been redefined into a confused morass that has everyone on edge on both sides of the political aisle. As if things are not bad enough, we are being bombarded with messages that assume we must be idiots who cannot separate truth from fallacy from what we can remember and know is true. Many are starting to rebel.

Additional support as to how Harris creates angst and anxiety: Her campaign team is making choices on which groups they are willing to sacrifice to win, and you need to look no further than Catholics as a perfect example. Take last week’s Al Smith Dinner. Harris quickly expressed her regrets, becoming only the second presidential candidate since 1960 to decline the honor of attending. Why? Besides the apparent slap to Catholics in general, we also need to understand Harris’ calculation that attending that dinner would upset her LGBT and other progressive supporters after polling shows that most white Catholics won’t be voting for her. Instead, she’s targeting Latino Catholics, with whom she believes her message of dependence will resonate more effectively.

Among the greatest anxiety producers today is what is happening in the Middle East. With Hamas chief Yayah Sinwar dead, instead of congratulating Israel for a major win, only obtained by defying Biden and Harris’ directives not to go into Rafah militarily, a fearful U.S. government doesn’t even take the moment to change direction; the messaging continues to be: ceasefire now! No wonder we can’t win wars any longer. The question that hangs in the air like a loose nuke is how permeated our military is with weak sisters like Kamala. I fear that with 12 of the last 16 years ruled by Democratic presidents, wokeness has taken a massive toll on our force readiness, strategy, warrior ethos and command leadership, where Equity and DEI have been elevated to a higher priority than the ruthless pursuit of victory.

As a people, we are very anxious. We have a lot of reasons to be. When leadership is robust, strong messaging follows. The converse is also true. Decisive leadership must also have one additional quality … authenticity, leading to belief and trust by those being led. Specifically, we have run aground on this topic, frightening many with the inconsistencies and boneheaded moves so clearly evident day after day. When you frighten your own people, they tend not to be good followers. When the bonds of trust are as broken as they are now, pushback should be expected. MAGA is that pushback.

Progressives see the MAGA movement as a threat to their power. Biden explicitly stated that “MAGA backers pose a grave threat to democracy.” It is never explained how MAGA, which explicitly promotes self-sufficiency and freedom, is antithetical to democracy. Nobody knows how many MAGA supporters there are. And it’s not just Republicans and men who are MAGA anymore. It goes back to the definition of what MAGA is: “A political movement calling for strict limits on immigration and a return to policies and practices in place before globalization.” According to >Merriam-Webster’s definition, technically, most of the electorate should be considered MAGA since the economy, inflation and immigration all rank as top priorities for Republicans, Democrats and Independents. Abortion is the only other issue highly ranked, but when put up against all the other top issues, can we see abortion being the deciding issue for this election?

The election process in America is deeply flawed. Besides being too much of a beauty contest, it is too long and over-funded, with Harris having recently raised over a billion dollars. Candidates no longer run elections but are run instead by professional partisans who are not concerned about truth, fairness and what’s best for America, but instead winning the race at all costs. Vast sums of money have been pushed down to ever lower offices, from Senate and House of Representative races to your local dog catcher. Maybe it’s time for major campaign finance reform, possibly an end to political contributions in favor of something else. This election cycle will undoubtedly be the most expensive of all time, spending billions on hundreds of races. There has to be a better way!

To be a unified country, we must first speak the same language, figuratively and literally. The masters of spin, division and outright lies have too much of a role in maintaining high levels of fear and anxiety among our citizens. If Donald Trump wins, I pray we focus on the massive damage done to our systems of trust and belief for the exceptional nation we used to be and hopefully will be again.