Who did Trump really beat – Harris? . . or Joe Biden? | From the publisher

Hello neighbor,

It reaches the point where we will say: “As Staten Island goes, so goes the nation.”

Staten Island supported Donald Trump in 2016, 2020 and 2024. Two out of three. Not bad. (Three out of three for those who believe 2020 was stolen.)

It's no surprise. Most of our neighbors are in Central America rather than Central Manhattan.

Headlines around the world will read: “Trump beats Harris.”

Maybe you should read more carefully: “Trump beats Biden.”

Kamala Harris simply couldn't escape Joe Biden's terrible handling of border security. She couldn't escape the Americans who paid a dollar and a half for a dozen eggs when Donald Trump was in the Oval Office, and six dollars for the same dozen after Joe Biden got the keys to the office.

Inflation. Inflation. Inflation.

Trump and his supporters couldn't say it often enough.

Did the pandemic have something to do with it? Bottlenecks in the supply chain? People laid off because Covid strangled their businesses?

No. It was all Sleepy Joe's fault. The pandemic? Forget.

Trump has done a great job linking Harris to every single Biden policy and convincing America that “murderers and rapists” are roaming our streets after sneaking across the border while prices on everything from… Minced meat to gasoline, skyrocketed.

Whose fault? Biden-Harris, of course. They opened the border wide, shut down pipelines and banned fossil fuel extraction.

It's tiring to hear that Harris was equally responsible for Biden's policies, no matter what she said on “The View.”

But America bought it. Harris wouldn't disagree. She refused to throw her boss under the bus.

It's hard to figure out what she was thinking as she sat for an interview on “The View.” Just a month ago, with the writing on the wall that Biden was the guy Americans believed got us into trouble, Harris appeared on the friendly talk show on daytime television.

What would you have handled differently than Biden, she was asked.

Wow. A chance to hit it out of the park.

“There is nothing that comes to mind. I was involved in most of the decisions that had an impact.”

Admirable, I think. Faithful? I guess.

Clever? Not so much.

CNN could have called the election for Trump right there.

She spent far too much time talking about reproductive rights, abortion and fertility treatment. There was no time to talk about how people were doing.

Left-wing media didn’t help. The talking heads spent hour after hour bashing Trump and scaring off swing voters.

Telling horror stories about pregnant women who nearly died in hospital parking lots because doctors were afraid to treat them because of restrictive abortion laws, tragic as they were, might have made people shudder.

But blame Donald Trump for it? That was too far-fetched in my opinion.

The Harris solution to supermarket sticker shock? No more “price gouging”.

Huh? Is Kellogg “price gouging” when the price of a box of Frosted Flakes goes up because it costs their truckers more to transport them across the country? Shoppers don't think Nathan's is “price gouging” when they spend $3 more on a dozen hot dogs.

“The damn price went up again!” That's all they think.

She spent far too much time telling America that Trump was “unhinged” and “unstable,” while Trump kept hitting Harris where it hurt. . .

Inflation. The border. Inflation. The border.

Donald Trump is mean. Donald Trump is rude. Donald Trump is vulgar.

Americans know this. Many Americans obviously don't care. In fact, there are a large number of Americans who love it.

They don't care that he's a convicted felon. They don't care, he sees women as they are in 1954, not 2024, and he has to “protect” them. Hell, a lot of suburban women voted for him.

They care about how much is in their 401k account. They ensure that “illegals” are in their neighborhood and receive free housing, free food and free medical care – all while struggling to stay afloat. It worries them that they won't be able to fill up their gas tanks and go out to dinner in the same week. They care if a transgender girl plays against her daughters on the basketball court.

If Harris noticed any of this, she didn't spend much time letting America know.

Harris' message: “Let's turn the page.” OK, turn the page. What then?

Trump's message: “I'll fix it.”

Harris was more about the mood in America. Trump cared more about the issues, even if his “policies” were so vague and hollow and often lost in his endless rhetoric, which was evident again this morning when he gave a semi-victorious speech at his headquarters in Florida .

Across America, many people are waking up scared this morning. Fear of what Donald Trump might do after he takes the oath of office in January.

There was a time when the losers of an election said: “I don’t agree with him, but he’s president now and I’m going to support him because I want to see America succeed.”

I doubt we will ever hear that again in this divided country, dear neighbors.

Brian

Oh, by the way: We haven't even gotten to Republicans taking control of the Senate and Republicans taking control of the House. A Republican President Trump will have no checks and balances, starting with the choice of his Cabinet members. Let's be honest, Republicans: Do you really want Robert Kennedy Jr. making health care decisions for you? And one last thing: Harris picked the wrong person to be her running mate. JD Vance had him running in circles.