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(Later in the campaign, when Trump put on a McDonald’s apron, serving fries as a stunt, it was particularly galling. Doug, my sister, Maya, and I had all sweated over those McDonald’s deep fryers in our teens—I vividly remember my annoyance when I learned that my cousin, who was bagging groceries that summer, made more than me. Meanwhile, Trump got handed $413 million from his daddy—and then his companies went bankrupt four times.)
Many people want to spin up a narrative of some big conspiracy at the White House to hide Joe Biden’s infirmity. Here is the truth as I lived it. Joe Biden was a smart guy with long experience and deep conviction, able to discharge the duties of president. On his worst day, he was more deeply knowledgeable, more capable of exercising judgment, and far more compassionate than Donald Trump on his best.
to. I wished I could ask every one of them, What are you angry about? What about me makes you angry? Is it your health care, your grocery bills, a backbreaking job that doesn’t pay what you’re worth—and what can I do to help you?
Jason Carter, eulogizing his grandfather, observed that Jimmy Carter “was the same person, no matter who he was with or where he was. And for me, that’s the definition of integrity.” Trump epitomized the exact opposite.
Trial lawyers have a saying: There are always three closing arguments. The one you plan to give. The one you give. And the one you should have given. I lived the adage that afternoon.
A third of the electorate voted for me. But a third of the electorate stayed home. That means two-thirds of our country did not elect Donald Trump. Two-thirds of us did not choose this man or his agenda. That’s why I have no patience for anyone saying, I’m giving up on America because America wanted this. We did not. Of the third that voted for Trump, a good part of them voted for him on promises unkept.
“This is how fascism begins,” warned Françoise Giroud, a journalist who served in the French Resistance. “It never says its name. It creeps, it floats. When it reaches the tips of people’s noses, they say: ‘Is this it? You think? Don’t exaggerate!’ And then one day it smacks them in the mouth, and it is too late to get rid of it.”
