Flawless vs. Lawless

Let's make sure meritocracy trumps mediocrity. Vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz on November 5th.

As Van Jones said recently on CNN: "Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are not taking the same exam. And I think it bothers people. He gets to be lawless, she has to be flawless. That’s what’s unfair."

Professor Melissa Murray struck a similar note on MSNBC Sunday evening, noting that Harris, after being "switched in at the last minute," has run "a virtually flawless campaign against someone who keeps making misstep after misstep. And the polls are basically neck and neck."

Harris's predicament, Murray said, would likely resonate with a lot of Black women—and, indeed, all women—who've experienced a career situation where a highly qualified, ready-to-lead woman was "pitted against someone who is, quite frankly, mediocre."

"A mediocre white man that they're telling you can also do your job," concluded Symone Sanders Townsend.

These days calling Trump mediocre is, of course, an overstatement. He's a low IQ individual who started out stupid and who has become increasingly demented.

He was disgraceful and unprepared in 2016. But, as we will never forget, that didn't stop him winning against a far more qualified and prepared female opponent.

He was a dumb and reckless President. He left office in disgrace after a failed coup attempt, leaving America poorer, sicker, weaker, and much deeper in debt than it had been just 4 years earlier.

Prosecutor vs. Criminal

It's not mediocrity that has allowed Trump to get this far. It's psychopathy.

He's made his lack of charm an asset as he's lied and cheated his way through life with the bluster of a carnival barking clown and the remorselessness of a serial killer.

He simply doesn't care who gets hurt along the way. He takes no responsibility at all for the trauma he's forced upon numerous women, for the war widows he's scammed, the contractors he's stiffed, the charities he's stolen from—or for the hundreds of thousands of Americans who were killed by his recklessness during the pandemic.

He's corrupted all around him, allowed others to go to prison for him, and now openly threatens the lives of all who cross him.

He'd love to end his days as a "strongman" leader like the mob bosses and authoritarians he idolizes.

But more than anything, he's running to stay out of prison.

It's fitting, then, that Trump's unrelenting lawlessness might finally be brought to an end by a prosecutor with a history of taking on fraud and corporate corruption and bringing child abusers and rapists to justice.

Kamala Harris has run a near-flawless campaign. She's gotten better on the campaign trail every day. She dominated her opponent in their one-and-only debate. She's absorbed vicious attacks and punched (and punched back) hard when necessary. Through it all, she's campaigned with two of the things Trump lacks most: integrity and class.

As the finish line approached and Trump the tired criminal began to fade away, the equally lawless Elon Musk picked up the slack, trying to cheat his way to a Trump victory in ways that have been both desperate and mendacious.

Musk has revealed his own radicalization and dishonesty in ways that should, in a just world, haunt him for decades to come.

Meritocracy vs. Mediocrity

This election is once again a chance for America to show the world that it is, at its best, a meritocracy.

No country in the world should ever accept a leader of Trump's mediocrity.

Above all, voters must reject the lawlessness of Trump—and vote for Kamala Harris.

Let's make November 5th a day that rewards excellence, not incompetence.

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