When Joe Biden was the Democratic candidate, not many people gave him a chance, despite Donald Trump’s many liabilities. Biden’s disastrous performance in the debate with Trump, when he seemed to labour cognitively, unable to even explain the successes of his administration, all but made losing the election a forgone conclusion.
Every poll seemed to confirm that forecast. Then came Kamala Harris, bringing new energy to the democratic ticket. Opinion polls quickly swung in her favour. It looked to many people, especially foreign observers, that America was about to elect its first woman president.
The favourable polls were not just a superficial measure. Kamala Harris was everything Trump was not. She was nuanced in her understanding of America society and the world, where Trump was simplistic and dismissive.
She was dignified while her opponent was crude in presentation and substance. Her vision was inclusive, recognising the dignity of all people.
Trump’s vision was dark. He painted an apocalyptic future occasioned by hordes of migrants. At one point, he spread the obvious lie that Haitian migrants were feeding on people’s pets.
Kamala invited all people to join in creating a stronger more united country. Trump’s rhetoric was divisive, even demeaning to groups of people like blacks, Puerto Ricans, migrants and women.
While she was trustworthy, Trump thrived on obvious falsehoods. While she was eloquent, Trump mangled both grammar and logic.
These differences would be in full display during their debate. Kamala annihilated her opponent. As a matter of fact, the large bombastic Trump looked pitiable on that stage.
It was clear which of the two embodied American values and who between them would command respect across the world. Many former US officials, some of whom had worked for Trump, endorsed Kamala Harris.
Many respected politicians and artists warned that Trump’s temperament, his egoism, and his narrow unnuanced view of American society and the world posed a danger to American democracy and world stability.
And yet what seemed so obvious to so many was not. Many Americans said that Kamala needed to explain her plans better. Some said they needed to know more about her.
Explain herself better? She explained during the debate and in her speeches what her plans were. At the very least, her plans were much clearer and more complex than Trump’s simplistic explanations about what was wrong with America.
They wanted to know more about her? Did they want Kamala to invite them for an overnight stay in her home? This woman was an attorney, a senator, a vice president, and now a presidential candidate.
Her private and public profiles were common knowledge. Curiously, to these people, Trump did not need to explain his deadly handling of the Covid pandemic, his violent insurrection, his insults, his felony conviction, his lies or his treatment of women.
It all didn’t make sense. What made sense was that all the pontification and obfuscation was a cover for deep-rooted misogyny and racism.
Tee Ngugi is a Nairobi-based political and social commentator.
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