Abby McCloskey, Dallas Morning News, August 15, 2024

“If this presidential election is “apocalyptic,” you wouldn’t know it by how the campaigns are acting.

“They’re not after me. They’re after you. I’m just standing in the way.” This is the quote at the top of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign website with a picture of him standing in front of Air Force One.

He’s not holding his bloody ear, but somehow the fear evoked isn’t about our international adversaries; it’s that our fellow citizens are coming for us.

This mimics much of the messaging on the political left. There’s a widely held belief (in the middle too, by the way) that Trump and his allies are a threat to democracy and the peaceful transfer of power. The Democrat ticket is the only thing standing in between America and mob-run dictatorship.

You would think that with such existential threats knocking at America’s door, the presidential campaigns would be swooping up the middle, the uncommitted, the exhausted, the normal people to protect them from what’s coming — to steady the country around its sturdy center with large coalitions and broad-based alliances and compromises.

Instead, Trump and Harris are running away from the middle. In a twisted way, each one allows the other to do so. “