Harris Was a Great Candidate But Trump Won The Election The Moment Biden Was Forced to Drop Out

On Monday, the day before the election, I wrote there were three possible outcomes to the 2024 U.S. Presidential election - good, bad and ugly.

The good outcome was Kamala Harris winning and being sworn in as President on January 20, 2025.

The bad outcome was Kamala Harris winning but Congress and the courts or some combination thereof seeing to it that Donald Trump was declared the victor.

The ugly outcome was Donald Trump winning yet again despite his words, deeds and criminal behavior.

America chose ugly.

Yet the choice, however ugly, was made loud and clear. Trump won the popular vote (50.9% as of this writing) while making significant gains among Hispanics, Asians and African American males while also making inroads with both Jews and Muslims although making a point of not thanking Jewish voters.

Be that as it may, Trump regained all that he lost save for Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District. Trump won Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona and will gain Nevada. These are cold facts.

Kamala Harris was a great candidate, and I am proud to have voted for her and Tim Walz. I think Harris and Walz would have been good for America.

But I think Trump won the election the moment President Biden was forced to withdraw from the race.

Consider what I wrote on June 28th - a day after Biden's disastrous debate against Trump:

Today, there is a huge clamor for President Biden to drop out of the race.  

After Trump was convicted of 34 felonies did anyone call upon him to step aside as the Republican nominee?

No one.

So, could someone please explain to me why one bad debate is worse than being a convicted felon?

Because in calling for Biden to step aside we're basically being told that none of his achievements matter over the past three and a half years matter be it the vaccine rollout, infrastructure legislation, Medicare negotiating drug prices, student loan relief, the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS and Science Act and the short-lived Child Tax Credit. 

The best that I can explain is that we have no standards of behavior and that style triumphs over substance. 

When Biden bowed out on July 21st, I wrote, "The efforts of Democrats to change horses in midstream is a risky proposition that is more likely to fail than it is to succeed."

Alas, the gambit has failed.

Again, it is not a reflection against Harris. After all, the impetus of pushing out Biden was his poor debate performance against Trump. By contrast, Harris had a wonderful debate against Trump in September and was widely perceived as the winner of that debate.

And yet Harris' excellent debate against Trump didn't matter one iota. A majority of American voters chose Trump, who at that very same debate, claimed Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio were eating cats and dogs.

When we're more forgiving of a man who is an unpunished convicted criminal than a man who broke no laws but had a bad night on the debate stage while governing this country in good faith then we have asked for trouble and Trump will be more than happy to oblige in giving it to us.

Let's reflect on that during the last 75 days of American democracy.