I remember the moment Joe Biden won the presidency. It wasn’t Election Day in November, nor was it January 6, when momentarily abashed Republicans decided to complete their largely ceremonial duty after Trump’s failed coup.
No, Biden won that election on September 29, when, in the first debate, he became exasperated by Trump’s continued interruptions and blurted out, “Will you shut up, man?”
In my neighborhood, you don’t have to watch the game to know how the Saints are doing, just open the windows. You’ll hear the cheers on every score or great play. When Joe Biden sputtered out that sentence, the hood sounded just like Kamara had bulldozed one over the goal line. We all cheered, because, in that moment, Biden literally spoke for all of us. “Will you shut up, man?”
As we approach this November, the nonstop, abject lunacy of the former Republican party has doubled, trebled its usual volume. Haitians make chat l’orange. The girl with the pearl radio transmitter earring (don’t forget the mysteriously-dead whistleblower). Schools that can’t fix the air conditioning are fixing your cisgender kids.
It’s exhausting just trying to shovel your way through the crap. And I get the sense my fellow Americans are exhausted, too.
Four years ago, we heaved a sigh of relief in November, believing that, finally, we’d soon be hearing the last screechings from Donald John Trump. Sadly, that has not proven to be the case. In every way, he has only gotten worse: louder, loonier, more vicious and violent. Same with his besotted acolytes. The lies, threats, poutrages and posturing have become deafening. You can feel the wind as millions slap their hands over their ears and shout, “Will you shut up?”
We’re tired. We can no longer spend all our days sifting through the slurry of Inquirer headlines that has replaced discourse for the GOP. Our eardrums and stomach linings have been worn to onion skin from the fire hose of lies and hatefulness. We are desperate for sanity in public discourse.
I believe Kamala Harris is going to win for the same reason she and Joe Biden won last time: America is ready, no, yearning for these idiots to just shut up already.