“We have met the enemy and he is us.”

Time will tell if we’re still a democratic republic or an autocracy.

by Robert Archerd

During the early evening of October 19, 2016, my brother called. “Are you watching the debate (Hillary Clinton-Donald Trump)?” he asked.

“You bet.”

“Keep watching, but kill the sound,” he advised, and hung up.

I did. And I watched in silence as a large and menacing bully hunched over a small and vulnerable woman.

As he stalked her around the stage, the content of their exchanges ceased to matter. The visual said it all. Win, Trump.

Now, eight years later, I watched the media’s political sages scramble to explain Trump’s victory. They credited his “brilliant” 2024 campaign strategy while faulting Harris’s. So, if I understand correctly, a campaign entirely made up of hate, fear of “other,” and lies (“They eat our pets!”) is brilliant? Give me a break!

And, sure, Harris’s campaign had holes, and her response to how she’d be different from Biden (“There’s not a thing that comes to mind.”) was just one of several land mines she tripped over.

But that was not the main reason for her defeat. The political highbrows got it wrong both times. In 2016 by…