The End of the Trump Era is Coming

Today marks the final election of the Donald Trump era in American politics. There is no certainty as to how this election will end. Polls have been tied for months. Voter turnout information fluctuates from one side to the other. Anecdotal evidence is scattered and imprecise. The election is so close that many observers believe that it will not be decided on Election Night or for several days after. 

The only certainty at this late stage is that Trump will dominate the proceedings for the next two months. If he wins, he will be the only political news story until his inauguration and likely for months after. If Harris wins, her supporters will wait with baited breath to see how his supporters handle the electoral count and the inauguration. Every step in the process will be publicized and scrutinized like in 2020. This concern is a major reason why so many pundits hope for a decisive Harris victory that will end any hopes of political chicanery among Republicans.

The Closing Argument

With all of this stress and discussion, it is worthwhile to consider the Harris campaign’s greatest closing argument: ending Trump as a political threat. Her campaign has made it clear that its tangible offer is modest at best. She is orienting her campaign not on a new Great Society but on aid for first-time homebuyers. She barely talks about the potential historic nature of becoming the nation’s first female president.

What Harris offers above all is an end to the Trump menace now, instead of in four years. It would mean a substantial decrease in the constant bickering and hateful vitriol that have defined elections for the past four years. Without Trump, Republicans still have odious policies, but they will no longer feel the need to go quite so far to enlist his supporters. Without the former president, Democrats will have to work harder to win American votes and will need to be more flexible in their approach. Voters will be able to have more nuanced conversations about political, economic, and cultural topics. The Trump filter will not be applied to literally every political conversation had between friends or enemies.

Conclusion

Many Democrats make the mistake of minimizing Trump’s importance to this political firmament. They bring up Newt Gingrich or Ronald Reagan to insist that Republicans were like this decades before 2015. Their argument has merit but is ineffective. Republicans of the past practiced odious politics and often engaged in unscrupulous and immoral arguments to boost rich people and preserve white supremacy. But today’s Trump critics want to argue that Trump is a uniquely fascist authoritarian who must be stopped by even the most conservative Republicans, and that he is exactly the same as those Republicans because of Newt Gingrich’s demagoguery in the 1990s. Harris rejects this argument, which is why she courts the support of Dick Cheney to her campaign. She wants an opposing party that may be powerful and have awful ideas but is actually run by a politician who has the nation’s best interests at heart.

Republican voters who head to the polls on November 5 are animated by all kinds of views towards our two political parties. They may disagree with everything the Democrats stand for and have strong feelings towards their nominee. But even the most diehard Republicans should know that a Republican Party after Trump will still be strong, viable, and able to deliver nearly everything they want policy-wise without cratering the American economy or threatening our political system. They want their side to win, but they should also want their party to remain viable and avoid the kinds of calamities that a Trump victory could bring. In all, Republican-leading swing voters will make the difference tomorrow. They should vote to put an end to this trying, tired conflict once and for all.