Opinion

God help America with this circus of clowns – Mary Kelly

Whoever the Democrats choose to take on Trump, the sakes could not be higher

Mary Kelly

Mary Kelly

Mary Kelly is an Irish News columnist and former producer of current affairs output on Radio Ulster and BBC NI political programme Hearts and Minds

JD Vance with Donald Trump at a campaign rally (Evan Vucci/AP)
Donald Trump with his presidential election running mate JD Vance (Evan Vucci/AP)

So finally Joe got the message that he couldn’t run for another term as President. Better late than never? Maybe it’s already too late.

The Democrats should never have allowed him to be the party’s nominee and polls suggest that Kamala Harris, even with his endorsement, won’t do any better against a resurgent Donald Trump.

There are sound arguments why they couldn’t overlook her to take Biden’s place. It is, after all, why they have a Vice President. And it wouldn’t be a good look to pass over a woman of colour.

But it might still be better to see what other candidates the party can produce – someone who might galvanise the anti-Trump vote in November, someone who can inspire in a way that Harris has, so far, shown little sign of doing.

Biden’s decision to leave the race now is unprecedented in modern American politics. But it is also unprecedented that the country is facing the threat that Trump represents – a convicted felon who refused to accept the results of the last election and encouraged insurrection against it.

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With Joe Biden ending his re-election bid and endorsing Kamala Harris, Democrats now must navigate a shift that is unprecedented this late in an election year (Susan Walsh/AP)
With Joe Biden ending his re-election bid and endorsing Kamala Harris, Democrats now must navigate a shift that is unprecedented this late in an election year (Susan Walsh/AP)

So maybe the Dems need to be brave. Kamala Harris should take her chances alongside other possible runners at the party’s convention in Chicago next month. If she emerges as the candidate, then she will have a strong mandate to go before the electorate.

And then the focus will be on the suitability, the advanced age, and the all-too frequent incoherence of Donald Trump.

There are some who believe his brush with death has already led to a sea change. Well, his hair is no longer yellow, nor is his face quite so orange, which is a start. But his convention speech, starting with a call for unity, soon descended into personal abuse of his rivals, labelling immigrants as rapists and killers, and then a strange rambling tribute to the “late, great Hannibal Lecter”.

You have to remember that the Republican convention was the Trump cult in full swing but it is not the whole of the USA.

Donald Trump speaks at the Georgia Republican convention (John Bazemore/AP)
Donald Trump speaks at the Georgia Republican convention

As events go, it was very far from the party conferences we are used to seeing – where the strangest sight was Theresa May awkwardly bopping to Dancing Queen.

You have to hand it to the Yanks – the Republican convention was more circus than political gathering. And it looked pretty surreal, particularly when delegates started wearing white bandages on their ears in tribute to their wounded hero.

It got even weirder when Trump paid “tribute” to the man who was killed in the Pennsylvania gun attack, volunteer firefighter Corey Comperatore.

He took several days to actually telephone the man’s widow, managing to get a round of golf in first. Then he acknowledged the family’s loss by posing on stage for several minutes beside an empty firefighter’s helmet and jacket – with the dead man’s name spelt incorrectly –then kissed the helmet, before making his speech.

Flowers and a tribute to fallen firefighter Corey Comperatore are pictured at the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company (Sue Ogrocki/AP)
Flowers and a tribute to fallen firefighter Corey Comperatore are pictured at the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company (Sue Ogrocki/AP)

Then there was the final, inspiring message from... er... wrestler Hulk Hogan, who referred to his hero as Donald Dick J Trump. Hmm, he maybe needs to work on his lines.

Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, is clearly a man of few principles, since he had previously been an opponent who referred to the former President as a “Hitler” type.

But he is smart enough to know when there’s a bandwagon he needs to hitch a ride on, whatever his true feelings are.

Whoever the Democrat challenger is, they have a mountain to climb. But the stakes really could not be higher. God help America.



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Does anyone remember when cash was king? It had a bit of a renaissance on Friday with the massive IT outage, which led to thousands of flights being cancelled, healthcare and payment systems crashing and TV channels knocked off air.

Our local shop had to post an assistant at the door to say “Sorry, no card payments, cash only.”

The sheer delight of an elderly woman ahead of me was worth the inconvenience.