Jonathan S. Tobin
JNS, Oct. 30, 2024
“… this kind of deliberate polarization of the electorate is antithetical to democracy. Democracy is about more than just voting. It means being willing to accept those results and be able to treat political opponents as wrong on policy but ultimately well-meaning.”
For Democrats, the use of an insult comedian as a warm-up act at former President Donald Trump’s political rally at New York City’s Madison Square Garden was heaven-sent. They had already blasted the event in advance as somehow a rerun of a 1939 rally of the pro-Nazi German American Bund. But some of the tasteless and offensive jokes uttered by Tony Hinchcliffe about the island of Puerto Rico and a wide array of ethnic groups seemed to justify the claim that the Trumpist extravaganza was a hate fest that justified the assertion that, as so many Democrats have been arguing, a vote for Trump is a vote for “hate.”
And that is the way the election is being framed in much of the corporate mainstream media.
While I can’t understand the reasoning that led to Hinchcliffe’s appearance at the rally in the first place, I think focusing so much on this framing of the election is a mistake for supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris for five specific reasons.
One is that it’s unlikely to persuade anyone to vote for Harris who is not already part of her left-wing base. … [To read the full article, click here]