Bedlam Farm Blog Journal by Jon Katz

I plan to write only right rarely about the presidential campaign; there are too many people with big mouths and nothing to say, frightening and confusing people.  I don’t want to be one of them, but I had to write about this day in the campaign. I’m staying out of the fray.

Tonight, she woke me out of my campaign coma.

Watching Kamala Harris regain her voice and get excited again is not just worth writing about; it’s a pivotal moment in the campaign. It’s worth paying attention to; it’s worth getting excited about.

This week, Kamala Harris’s actions have dispelled doubts about her toughness and skill.  It’s time for Democrats to stop hesitating and start cheering.

Kamala Harris is a beacon of intelligence, resilience, and adaptability. I firmly believe she will be our next President, and with our support, she will succeed.  This is a reason for hope, especially when compared to the alternative.

Whatever happens during her term in office, she has given the country a precious and incomparable gift just in the nick of time. Nobody but television anchors and pompous pundits give a hoot about policy positions, not at the moment. Neither does the public. She’s getting her message out in all the right places.

Meanwhile, in stark contrast to Kamala Harris’s resurgence, Donald Trump, in his characteristic style, has shown more unmistakable signs of unraveling, not physically but in his thoughts and actions. This trend has been ongoing for weeks, underscoring the stark contrast between the candidates.

One incident that left me utterly bewildered and inspired by this piece was a video of Trump pausing in the middle of a critical campaing pitch to women to spend the next 90 minutes dancing and singing to his Playlist. His performance resembled a poor imitation of an elderly man doing karaoke in a bar, hoping to impress the kids watching. (P.S. Fox News stacked the program with Trump supporters.)

Trump’s actions were so significant that they were the most telling campaign moment.

With his mental capacity dwindling, he volunteered to be the mouse to Harris’s barn cat. The doting women in the audience were delighted to see their hero dance, and the moderate and independent women in the rest of the country were stunned and horrified.

This was his voting pitch? It was both sad and sickening to me but also one of those memorable political moments that will never be forgotten. Trump’s swollen ego finally ate too many of his brain cells.

Harris embodies this real campaign; it’s not just a clash between the Ordinary and the Peculiar; it’s a defining moment for our nation, and she is defining it: Normal Versus Weird And Unhinged. It’s perfect for now.

In his new book about Trump, Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward (his first name is not “Legendary”) reveals what former Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Miler said about Trump: He said Trump was the most dangerous man he had ever met in public life and a grave threat to our democracy—another revelation racing over social media.

Harris got off to a roaring start, exciting black and white women and manhood men with the idea that Trump could be stopped. Her campaign seemed to flag, and to me, she was struggling to find the message that could bring it back to where it started. She may have been waiting for the right moment, I can’t know, but it looked like the right one to me.

After Trump’s dance, Harris went on one of the most popular podcasts in the country and, for the first time, called Trump out as unhinged, a fascist, and dangerous. Her debate strategy was to laugh at him, but she got back into a Pit Bull suit and started biting. This is the perfect time in a presidential campaign to do that – just weeks to go.

That’s politics at its most exciting when a candidate comes to life.

“Just look at him,” she said on one podcast, “he’s unstable. Watch what he says.”  That meme was instantly on the Internet a few million times.

From my desk in my office on my beautiful little farm, I could almost feel the energy surging back into the campaign, mostly on her side.

As usual, Trump picked all the wrong people to support him. Joe Biden’s withdrawal blew his mind. His easy campaign fell apart, and he can’t seem to recover.

Leon Musk is suggesting that unhinged billionaires should control the political system. Will he play golf with Trump at Mar-A-Logo?

Just what the common man wants: a crazy billionaire taking over the country.

For a populist campaign, that’s pretty dumb. Talk about weird.

I’m excited again; you’ll feel the energy surging back into Harris. She’s the right horse in the right race at the right time. In a race like this – close and clower – it takes very little to push oneself over the top.

My faith is truth. I was taught that lying is a sin. If this is so, Trump will pay a price for the cruel and hurtful lies he tells every time he opens his mouth. I feel sorry for him, sincerely. Being unhinged is not a crime; it’s a disease. This is a person who needs help, not jail time.

And please remember the most significant issue: Woman Who Won’t Go Back.

There is abortion and women’s rights, another fantastic mission to campaign on. Tonight, Harris campaigns with 100 prominent Republicans who are voting for her and saying so.

I’m not sure I would want to be the Trump supporter who is telling his grandkids why he voted for Donald Trump again and again and why. Watching the video again and again could be fun.

Donald Trump helps her every time he opens his mouth.

You need a voice and a mission. Harris has found one that lights her up and, inevitably, the woman and men who support her.

P.S. Yet another fact the media seems to want to avoid sharing: More independent voters watch Fox News than either CNN or MSNBC. Harris, who sat for an interview on Fox News today, is much more intelligent than people in the media thought.