Mort Rosenblum: 'Lesser of two evils' is a real thing in high-stakes election

PARIS — The City of Light just outshined itself with an Olympics to remember in a swirl of deep blue and rich red French colors. That would have been black swastika banners if an isolationist America had not finally joined allies to stop a power-crazed madman.

Eighty years later with so much again at stake, any eligible American voter who opts out is a deserter. Those who support a man whose playbook is Mein Kampf imperil their own children's future — and everyone else's.

An overheated, hungry planet has begun to slough off humans like dead skin. War clouds gather for potential "unconventional" and unwinnable quagmires that risk going nuclear. The world badly needs what the United States used to be.

After Hitler fell, American presidents shaped a United Nations. They championed international conventions to protect human rights and punished war criminals. They provided asylum to people fleeing tyranny. Donald Trump has a different approach.

I believe Trump and JD Vance are among the most dangerous men in the world. Funded by self-interested billionaires in elections that hinge on money, they exploit blind support from clueless cultists. Their hypocrisy is stunning.

Trump is either as diminished as his inane ramblings suggest, or he is acting that way to divert attention from his second-term plans. Either way, he belongs in restraints somewhere far from the Oval Office.

No one who looks beyond his disjointed, despotic ravings can miss the menace to democracy and basic freedoms back home. That pales compared to far greater havoc he would wreak beyond Americans' line of sight.

When I began reporting abroad in the 1960s, I saw what an English historian observed two centuries ago: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." I also saw how ferociously free people can resist authoritarian rule. Or not.

What worries me most is that too many complacent Americans, misled by poor reporting and blatant propaganda, will fall victim to the Mommy Problem that Aaron Sorkin described in "The West Wing."

When things perk along smoothly, Americans might elect a woman. In tough times, they want a stern father figure. But Trump as your daddy? Behind her laughing exterior, "Mamala" Harris is hard as nails, already well-versed in smart statecraft.

There is much to say about Trump, but little time left to say it. Just consider a few points:

-His man-crush on Vladimir Putin and his attempt to extort dirt on Joe Biden led to the Ukraine invasion. Had Harris not flown in to convince Volodymyr Zelensky to act on what U.S. intelligence foresaw, Russia likely would have taken Kyiv last year.

-He set the unholy land on fire by backing Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to occupy the West Bank and relegate Palestinians to apartheid. When he reneged on the nuclear deal, Iran increased arms delivery to Hamas and Hezbollah. The rest is now breaking news.

-He insists that climate change is a hoax, and oceans will rise a fraction of an inch over centuries. He likely does not believe that. But the fossil-fuel industry lavishes money on his campaign. The future is irrelevant to an aging man who lives only for himself.

-As president, he slashed aid to poor countries he calls shit holes, which face hunger, conflict and disease. Parents who can't feed their kids are left with few choices. Some young men join terrorists. Mostly, families uproot to join millions on the move.

Trump's own cruel, shortsighted policies are a main pillar of his political career. He campaigned by depicting Mexicans as killers and rapists. As president, he tried to close borders to Muslims (there are more than a billion) as potential terrorists.

His stringent policies built up a backlog. When he left, migrants flooded the border. Biden took steps to reduce the flow and was ready to sign a bipartisan bill that would fix the system. Trump blocked it so he could campaign on desperate people's misery.

Rally crowds roar when he says migrants poison America's blood. Clearly, he means non-white ones. Otherwise, his argument falls apart. Two cases quickly come to mind.

Trump owes his fast track to the White House largely to Rupert Murdoch, who came from Australia. His Fox hounds shamelessly distort news for profit with a sharp slant to the right. And there is Elon Musk from South Africa.

Musk's sudden pivot to a MAGA embrace comes with eight-figure campaign contributions and his X-Twitter megaphone. His American dream — to be, literally, master of the universe — threatens to be a nightmare for a new underclass.

Challenged in interviews, Trump differentiates between legal immigrants and those hordes that he claims stream unchecked across an "open border" to barge into homes and slit decent people's throats.

But "legal" is a relative term for Trump. Countless books detail his high crimes, misdemeanors and flagrant untruths. None of that dims adulation from his followers. America's future depends on those 25 million still undecided voters.

The "media" is of limited help. Even major Americans news organizations focus on the Trump follies, as they did in 2016. Peggy Walsh, who retired as editor of the New York Times syndicate after a career at the Associated Press, wrote this to MSNBC executives:

"Showing his 'Trump Dancing Show' over and over and laughing rather than substance from his interview with Bloomberg is a disservice and not MSNBC caliber. There are three weeks until the election. Make the most of the dangerous things he's saying."

In that hour-long interview, Bloomberg editor John Micklethwait eviscerated Trump with polite questions that he repeated after insult-laced non-answers. Trump accused him of being habitually wrong. Facts show the opposite.

Non-partisan studies say a new tax cut for the rich would add $7.5 trillion — perhaps up $15 trillion — to a deficit that soared during Trump's first term. His proposed high tariffs would benefit a wealthy few but amount to a direct sales tax for all Americans.

Unchallenged big lies entrench the myth that Trump left behind a booming economy. One CNBC report showed an upward curve during his first three years. It left out the fourth. Trump's COVID denial plunged the curve down to Great Depression levels.

Countries can recover from economic recessions. Laws that limit personal freedoms can be repealed. But Earth's ecosystem can be kept habitable for humans only with effective leaders who work together. Conflict only speeds up the inevitable.

Elections always come down to a choice of two flawed candidates. Refusing to vote for "the lesser of two evils" or punishing a candidate for personal peeves is a risky option. These elections are for keeps.

Renowned journalist Mort Rosenblum, a Tucson native, writes regularly for The Arizona Daily Star.

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