The race is tightening, and it's hard (for me) to understand. But I'll try.

After her debate with The Former Guy, which most people say she won, Kamala Harris had a bump in her lead in the election. The polling site, 538, ran their 1,000 simulations of what might happen on election day, and Kamala won sixty percent of the time. Since then, things have gotten closer. The latest simulation showed Harris winning 56% of the time.

After all of Trump's legal troubles and sexual assault revelations, not to mention the January 6 insurrection, it's hard to imagine anyone voting for him ever again. In my day (as the oldsters used to say), just a whiff of scandal would scuttle a candidate's chances. Rockefeller's divorce and remarriage, Eagleton's having seen a psychiatrist, Hart's shenanigans with Donna Rice aboard the Monkey Business were all deal breakers. Americans were very uptight about morality in the last century.

Republicans have long held themselves up as the party of family values, but they have embraced their thrice-married, woman grabbing, nonsense-babbling insurrectionist since he descended his golden escalator in 2015. Why? Why can't they quit him?

Americans just love a celebrity, and they are willing to put up with misbehavior from the rich and famous that would send mere mortals to the ash heap of history.

There's the racism factor.

There's the misogyny factor. Trump has now run against two supremely capable women candidates, and perhaps Americans prefer a woman-grabbing man to a woman. When you're famous, they let you do it. They love it when you do it and they can read about it in the tabloids.

Kamala, of course, combines the racism and misogyny factors. Some things haven't changed since "my day."

Republicans are wont to call anything Democrats want to accomplish SOCIALISM in a very loud voice. They scare a populace that would benefit from a bit more socialism, frankly.

There is the myth that Republicans are better on the economy than Democrats. The numbers since the New Deal refute that myth.

Americans seem to believe that Republicans are better on national security. But Trump doesn't act like your average Republican politician. He believes what dictators say over what American intelligence tells him. He is eager to dismantle NATO and to alienate our allies.

Then there are the outright lies.

The first lie is that Democrats want open borders. Not even close to true. And both Biden and Obama deported more people than Trump ever did, more deportees than I'm comfortable with, frankly. Trump called on Republican legislators to kill a bipartisan immigration bill that most Republicans who voted against had originally planned to vote for. He needed the issue for the 2024 election. In other words, he killed a bill that would have improved the immigration situation so that he could complain about it.

The second lie is that the Biden economy is a disaster. There is some inflation, but the U.S. has handled the post-COVID economic situation much better than the rest of the world. People keep complaining about the price of eggs, as if that were more important than saving democracy.

The third lie is that doctors in hospitals are executing babies after they are born. Does anybody really believe that? It is illegal and it doesn't happen.

There are so many more lies, but those are three of the biggest ones.

There's the authoritarianism factor. The Trump voter really loves an authoritarian, and they can't wait to see him stick it to certain other people.

Donald Trump is completely ignorant on matters of science. He claims to know more about everything than anybody, but his beliefs are ridiculous. Injecting bleach or other disinfectants into COVID patients. Infusing COVID patients with bright lights (through their butts, perhaps). Claiming that Canada can turn on a giant tap to solve California's water problems. Claiming that forest fires can be prevented by sweeping the forest floor. Claiming that there are piles of dead bald eagles under every windmill. Claiming that windmills cause cancer. Claiming that windmills kill whales.

I am tempted to say that Trump's scientific ignorance actually helps him with many voters. Yes. Many Trump voters hate the intellectual elites for lording it over them. They welcome even the most ridiculous counter-claims against anything experts say. This ties in with the conspiracy mind that believes in wild claims that "they" don't want you to know about!

So, when a candidate comes along who flaunts his ignorance proudly, he's their man! And voting for him owns the liberals! And that is quite worth the price of ending the rule of law, isn't it?

Oh, how they lie! Oh, how they whine!

 Lindsay Graham is less than pleased with Trump's performance in his debate with Kamala Harris. Here's what he said, as reported by Politico:

        "She said, 'We inherited a mess.' I was yelling and screaming, 'No you didn't--you inherited low gas prices, a secure border, a vaccine for Covid, and you inherited the biggest Mideast change of my lifetime, the Abraham Accords, and now everything is to shit.'"

Well, the Republicans, the functional ones, who say the things they wish Trump would say, have hammered home several lies over the course of this campaign. And Lindsay, who can lie with the best of them, wishes Trump would brag about his administration's accomplishments, whether they're real or imagined. (Secure borders? Yes, the asylum seekers were locked securely in their cages, wondering where their children were. A vaccine? Yes, there was a vaccine, but Trump couldn't decide whether to take credit for it or question whether it worked.)

The problem with Trump, Lindsay, is that he is incapable of telling small lies. He is too busy claiming that babies are being executed at birth, that Haitian immigrants are eating their neighbors' pets, and that the entire country has reverted to a hellish state in the mere three years since he's been gone.

In any case, we voters are lucky that journalists are finally fact checking Trump. The Republicans are not happy about that. They're used to him telling his whoppers without any pushback. Let's hear what Tom Cotton had to say:

        "I thought it was a 3-on-1 debate. Where were the fact checks on Kamala Harris?"

Well, he and his fellow Republicans are blaming Trump's debate loss on the moderators for finally doing their job. When Trump is asked a follow-up question after one of his incomprehensible answers, he whines that he is being treated unfairly. Not just unfairly, but more unfairly than any politician in history. The truth is that Trump cannot field the most routine questions that reporters ask all politicians.

If moderators are checking Trump's "facts," it's about damn time. And checking Trump's facts takes up a lot of time if done properly. Perhaps Tom Cotton missed fact checks on Kamala Harris because they got lost in the blizzard of Trump's checks.

So, the lying and the whining begin. About the whining. The Republicans consider themselves tough guys. There is a longtime myth that Republicans are better than Democrats on defense. Tough guys at home and on the world stage. But, oh, how they melt when anyone questions or criticizes them. So unfair! So disrespectful!

They could dispense with the whining they have to do because their candidate is incapable of defending himself. They could pick a candidate who is truly tough, who is not all talk. Trump has spent the last eight-plus years insulting anyone who dared go against him. The bully can dish it out, but he can't take it. So his fellow Republicans are compelled to snivel about his treatment.

Someday, they'll be rid of this pussy. Then maybe they'll be able to behave normally again.