I have some thoughts about how people can muster the resilience to survive the tension of this election without losing sleep or peace of mind and find some solid ground to stand on. I’m doing it.

The political reporting landscape has undergone a significant shift, leading to new media with a larger audience than the traditional mainstream media that has dominated politics. This evolution has redefined journalism, which is no longer in assisted care but adapting to the changing times.

Hardly anyone under 50 or 60 is paying attention to the old idea of the “press” and politics.

My solution has been to liberate my mind and turn away from pundits and corporate media, who are no longer about truth but profit – that is the actual conspiracy; sadly, there is no longer any secret about it or even denial.

By choosing alternative media sources, I’ve regained a sense of control and empowerment over what I consume, reducing my anxiety and restoring a feeling of power. I mostly listen to myself. I’m stunned to learn that most of these people on TV don’t know any more than I do. They only speak to one another.

While blood, civil conflict, and cruelty have become ingrained in the media and political process, it’s not the end of the world.

This is a tragedy for democracy but also a testament to our resilience and adaptability. There’s a strong hope for the future of democracy, and that’s something to keep in mind.

It has become increasingly clear to me that the future political landscape is not as bleak as it may seem or as we are constantly being told. Donald Trump will not be President of the United States again. There is hope, and Kamala Harris will instill a sense of hope and optimism in the audience.

She is intelligent, articulate, photogenic, and charismatic enough to keep herself together for another few months until she wins the presidency.  She seems safe and reasonable and projects warmth and charm, which Trump left behind many years ago.

Her potential is not just promising; it’s inspiring, giving us all a reason to be hopeful for the future. And the more we see here, the less appealing Trump seems.

It is brilliant of her to avoid interviews and antiquated communication methods that only open her up to attack and injury. She has learned the most significant lesson in politics—talk to the people, not what is left of the institution we call the media, which is no more ethical or reliable than a real estate salesperson.

Playing gotcha with reporters is a silly and foolish risk, especially when an army of enemies is eager for something to nail her on. She can speak for herself, and as we have learned from Donald Trump, a pathological liar, reporters asking so-called hard questions have all the sting of a housefly.

Our media has failed to warn us or tell the truth about Donald Trump, a truth they knew to be true.

He is not well, and he is dangerous and the media has known that for a long time, but the country  it’s just beginning to understand.

Trump is now a hot mess, desperate, incoherent, inconsistent, and aging rapidly. Ironically enough, he is the new Joe Biden, becoming everything he said was true of the President.

Politicians, pundits, and cable news (left or right, not truth and honesty) have yet to come close to accurately predicting a presidential race or even explaining it in modern times.

My role model for political thought was David S. Broder, the long-time chief political reporter for the Washington Post.

Before the corporations bought journalism, reporters were not expected to stay or be confined within the suffocating left or proper boundaries. When Journalism lost the idea of reporters thinking independently, doing their homework, and talking to humans, it almost immediately became irrelevant.

The new digital media is hardly flawless, but it is seething with comments, arguments, and ideas beyond the castrated frame of what we used to call journalism. Mainstream media, like Trump himself, is sinking like the Titanic, in full public view.

No one ever labeled  Broder as being on the left or the right. He was interested in the truth. He spoke to Democrats, Republicans, old and young people. For one year before any presidential election, Broder traveled all over America, talking to mothers, fathers, people on the streets, masons, older men sitting in town parks, local politicians, working people, and rich people.

The Influencers are the new journalists, the ones people are listening to. That’s why Harris invited 200 of them to come to her nominating convention.

When Broder returned from traveling,  he accurately, thoroughly, and honestly explained the country’s mood and what was likely to happen in a national action. He was right every time.

This was because he did not have poles to think for him or to report via laptop but only spoke with real humans living real lives, including Republicans and Democrats. He once told me that no poll could accurately picture the national mood.

This is true.

When Broder left journalism, the great columnists and reporters of World War II died off, and so did free and individual political thinking, something the best reporters were trained to do.

Everybody had to have a label; every idea had to be balanced with a conflicting idea or argument. The thought was never encouraged, only appeasing everyone. Rather than being guided, we had to be predictable.

I read every day that this is an intensely close race, and it could go either way. Everyone wants to keep people nervous. The people who call themselves progressives are terrified.

But nothing I have seen, heard, or felt suggests that Harris will lose or is even in great danger of losing.

The Democrat party is worried that Harris’s followers will get lazy or cocky. Or that she’ll say something silly in an interview.

The corporate media is afraid the public will lose interest and deprive them of the gift that Donald Trump is and has been to the wobbly profit margins of modern media. They are primarily about five-alarm fires, floods, murders, political division, and conflict. Scaring people keeps them watching.

 

Scary news draws people’s attention and makes a profit.

Nobody needs to hear good news or wants to pay for it; they have been persuaded to cling to bad news all day so they might know how to survive in a dangerous world (never quite as risky as we are led to believe.) Hurricanes are great news, and so are tornados. Climate change is finally working its way up the chart, and Donald Trump is the best. He will say or do anything for money and success, which is one good formula.

Donald Trump has kept corporate media profitable for years now, which is why most of the billionaires who now control media are happy to give him money, space, and time to do his ranting. Why are we, as a people, really here? The system is broken.

In America, almost everything is about money. Big money does not want Kamala Harris anywhere near the White House any more than people who call themselves progressives want to see Trump get there. It’s a billionnaire campaign in a populist wave. Every big donation his billionnaire friends offer is a gift to Harris.

Here’s the poll I respect.

I live in a small rural town in Upstate New York, halfway to Canada. I don’t pay much attention to polls—some can be informative—but very few are accurate. My poll is this. I call it the David Broder poll. I love being on a busy and long highway, which is a reliable barometer of politics, more accurate than any poll I know of.

I drive five or 10 miles daily, sometimes longer, to do my chores, shop, and see doctors.

In 2016, I counted more than 25 Trump signs on the drive between our farm and the town where the post office and gas station are. Trump signs were everywhere, and loud trucks with Trump flags rolled up and down the road.

A few days ago, I counted the number of Trump signs on the same road. There are none. Trump has many followers around here and elsewhere, but this is one of the polls I trust. It speaks for itself.

“No Trump person,” said one of my neighbors, a devoted Trump voter, “will ever tell a pollster that they aren’t going to vote for Trump this year – we are pretty sick of him – or that they might even think about voting for someone else. It’s a guaranteed way to get a death threat or your cell phone data stolen.”

That doesn’t mean everyone in rural America now loves Kamala Harris or Democrats; they don’t, and often for good reason.

But it’s a change, a significant change. I haven’t seen one of those trucks all summer.

There are two “Fuck Joe Biden” signs in town, but they are frailed and falling apart. So, for that matter, is Donald Trump.

There is no voodoo to ponder in this election.

Kamala Harris has the moment, money, savvy, and good timing to make it. She also has tremendous momentum, as evident in her recent cheering audiences. Trump’s speeches in shrinking audiences are increasingly like wakes at a funeral parlor. She has African Americans, a growing number of moderates, an Army of Angry and committed and very angry women, and another army of social media advocates and Influencers rushing to her side.

She also happens to do very well on TV and in videos. Trump once knew how to do this, but he is a hot and decaying mess now. He breaks down publicly and shows all the cognitive issues that plagued Joe Biden and brought him down. The freedom argument is priceless; nobody wants the government in their bedrooms or doctor’s offices.

The Trumpis war against trans children is both disgusting and infuriating to more than half of the country, at least.

Trump has reached every American with a chip on their shoulder now; he is not gaining more because there aren’t enough to get him through the election. Harris, a former prosecutor, was born to argue and debate. Trump was born to lie and pretend, and he has lied so much and so often that it’s difficult for anyone to take him seriously.

The most exciting thing I heard Trump say last week with a straight face was that he looked better than Kamala Harris. It’s sometimes hard to believe that this broken and scrambled man is even in the running to become President of the United States, which still means something to many people.  That’s democracy. Americans are not going to buy it, you don’t need a pundit to tell you that, look around,

Saying that giving the Medal of Freedom to campaign donors is more meaningful than giving out Medals of Honor to wounded and injured soldiers is yet another of the dumbest things one could say in politics. To me, Trump is a secret agent for Harris, embedded in a presidential campaign to make her look better.

She doesn’t need much more than running against Donald  Trump this year. As much as the campaign is about her, it is about him even more. That is a dreadful position for any politician to be in.

If you care about polls, check out the one that says Vice President wannabe Tim Walz is now America’s most popular national politician. Trump’s Vice presidential nominee is the least popular. Trump is almost 80 now, and the prospect of JD Vance in the White House is even more disturbing to many people than Trump winning himself. That’s not a good position to be in either.

The world is spinning, but it has not turned upside down now.

There is no reason to panic or even pay much attention to what these lunatics and fanatics are saying; it’s a way to be nervous, depressed, and frightened. That’s not healthy. And those polls have no meaning for us. I have decided to think for myself; to my shock and surprise, that works for me. I recommend it.