Opinion: Kamala’s Gun and the Men in My Lyft Focus Groups
By Emil Guillermo
On Oct. 14, two people got sick at a Donald Trump Town Hall in Pennsylvania. But Trump seemed indifferent — to either the people who fell ill or the voters in the room.
In fact, Trump prompted the DJ to turn up the sound and show off his dance moves.
With less than three weeks to go, Trump showed a level of cluelessness and apathy unbefitting of the presidency. How would he act in a crisis?
“Hope he’s okay,” Vice President Kamala Harris commented on X.
At a Pennsylvania appearance in Erie, Harris expressed concern for Trump’s overall health, but especially his mental health.
Harris played a clip of recent Trump statements. It was clear from the reel that he man who wants to be president again started talking like the man who wants to be America’s first dictator.
“I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within,” Trump said on Fox. “We have some sick people, radical left lunatics, and I think, and it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by the National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military.”
Most Asian Americans know of this talk.
Filipinos escaped the Dictator Marcos and started coming to America in the 1970s. They saw what happened when opposition leader Benigno Aquino, exiled to the U.S., returned to Manila, and was gunned down at the airport in 1983.
Asian America is full of those yearning for freedom. Chinese left mainland China to flee persecution. Koreans fled to the U.S. to escape the threat of North Korea. The Vietnamese fled Communism. Since 2000, more than 188,000 Burmese refugees have resettled in the U.S.
And that’s just a partial list.
Trump is showing off his authoritarian desires to take the Constitution, fold it up and make himself a crown.
And his targets are set: Immigrants and the political Left.
HARRIS’ BLACK MALE PROBLEM
While the overwhelming majority of Black, Latino and Asian voters are supporting Harris, the number of Black male supporters for Harris is much less than it’s been in previous years.
In such a close race, that slim margin of Black males for Trump is all it takes to make him the winner.
Former President Obama was trying to get at the reason for Trump’s appeal.
“Part of it makes me think that you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president,” Obama told a small group in swing state Pennsylvania recently, suggesting that men of color have a misogynistic streak.
Some Black critics say Obama was bullying and lecturing men of color, an approach that could backfire.
Maybe the best way to overcome 2024’s intractable male syndrome (be they Black, Latino, or Asian for that matter) is not persuasion.
Simply go around them and register more voters who understand what’s at stake.
We all know enough to vote now. Vote by mail or vote early in person.
In California, time is running out. The deadline to register on-line is Oct. 21.
You can do so by mail if the registration form is postmarked by Monday, October 21, 2024.
And if you miss the deadline, there is redemption for the procrastinators. You can “conditionally” register up to and including on Election Day itself.
You have to show up and vote for America’s sake.
About the Author
Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He does a micro-talk show on www.patreon.com/emilamok
