This abominable choice exposed the single saddest thing in my lifetime

Well, Kamala Harris’s memoir is out, and while I am generally not a fan of political books, I believe this moment deserves some attention given the weighty timeframe and consequences of one of the most significant events of American history.

When this very good woman lost to the most abominable man in America last November, it opened the door to hell and exposed a fractured country that used to fight against fascists, not elect them.

We’ll know soon enough whether this is just an end of a chapter of the American story, or the definitive conclusion of that book. Today, our military is in our streets on behalf of a king, and human beings are being locked away in alligator-infested swamps.

We’ve seen worse, but it took a bloody “Civil” War to address it.

And let’s get this out of the way early: I proudly voted for Harris, and did what little I could to help get her elected. I was at her rally in the Milwaukee suburbs on day one of her truncated campaign, and walked away convinced she had what it took, despite one hand being tied behind her back thanks to her party’s inability to get out of its own damn way and pull together as a team.

No matter what you are hearing from all the Monday Morning Quarterbacks out there since the book’s release, she ran a damn fine campaign, walloped the America-attacking Trump in their one and only debate, and was right about literally everything — unless you believe Trump really had no idea what was in Project 2025, RFK Jr. is a renowned scientist, Stephen Miller is a caring social activist, or anything at all that pours out of the pursed lips of Trump’s personal press secretary, Karoline Leavitt.

I have read myriad excerpts from 107 Days, and watched Harris’s lengthy interview with Rachel Maddow Monday night. She looks good, sounds refreshed, and instead of carpet-bombing the countryside with anti-American, destructive nonsense that the election was stolen, is trying to reckon with what happened, while providing some insight into why it did.

I will touch on a couple of common themes, but not before asking again how any person who truly cares about this country, could have voted for a grotesque, orange lowlife whose attack on America on Jan. 6, 2021, left law enforcement officers wounded in the halls of our Capitol, and our democracy in its greatest peril since that civil war.

To say this should have been a disqualifying event goes to the top of the list of my career understatements. Republicans’ failure to vote for his impeachment, and Attorney General Merrick Garland’s disregard for Trump’s heinous attack, go to the top of my list of lifetime disappointments.

So let me start here: If you did not vote for Harris, please go find the nearest door and slam it on your head. Sure it will hurt, but maybe it will knock some damn sense into you. If nothing else, you will feel the pain millions of Americans are experiencing right now.

You are to blame for all of this.

Own it.

Longtime readers will know that I thought Joe Biden should have dropped out of the race after the 2022 midterms and been the bridge president he promised to be when he ran in 2020. When he didn't, I probably should have raised more hell. In my thin defense, I had one eye on my country, and the other on the America-attacker who was gaining strength by the hour, because of Garland’s stunning refusal to bury him with the full weight of the law.

I did spend a lot of time on that one, and still turn red with anger when typing about the feckless, galling attorney general.

Meanwhile, Harris was behind the scenes pretty much doing what vice presidents do, staying the hell out of the spotlight, and offering public support for her boss.

In her book, and with both arms free to express herself, Harris takes aim at Biden’s refusal to drop out of the race earlier:

“In retrospect, I think it was recklessness … The stakes were simply too high. This wasn’t a choice that should have been left to an individual’s ego, an individual’s ambition. It should have been more than a personal decision.”

Then she goes further, and blames herself for not doing enough to force her boss out. I find this to be both an endearing and lamentable trait in many women, who often apologize when they have nothing to apologize for. I suppose this is because too many men like the odious Trump have given themselves free reign to never apologize for anything at all, and have the audacity to think it somehow projects strength, when really it is just ugly, completely pathetic, and a poor example to our children.

Here’s what Harris says:

"I realize that I have and had a certain responsibility that I should have followed through on — and so when I talk about the recklessness, as much as anything, I’m talking about myself."

It wasn't her fault.

Period.

She was dealt the cards late and played the lopsided hand for all it was worth. The loaded Trump card was too much to overcome. That the Democrats still haven’t found better dealers, is what we should be worried about most right now, and I hope Harris will help with that.

I’m dubious she will lead the Democratic ticket in 2028, but I am positive she will be a powerbroker. So let’s close with what we know, and some irrefutable facts.

Had Kamala Harris been elected …

… there’d be more jobs and prices would be lower.

… smarmy Billionaires like Elon Musk would be on alert to start paying their fair share, and Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security would be untouchable.

… Project 2025 would have been placed in a nuclear-powered shredder, and Stephen Miller would be cleaning Trump’s pool at Mar-a-Lago.

… murdering regimes around the world, starting with Russia, would be our enemies, and places like Mexico and Canada would be our friends.

… vaccines would be readily available to protect us from things like polio and the measles, and the demented RFK Jr. would be off scraping up roadkill with the hope of eating it.

… our air and water would be protected from corporate vandals, and our women would be protected from Republican perverts who can’t keep their sweaty hands off of them and their rights.

… voting rights would be a top order of business.

… truth, not lies, would reign.

As a dad to daughters, as a son, and as a husband, I am worried the single saddest thing in my lifetime will be America’s inability to check its grotesque misogyny at the door and finally put a woman in our White House.

Harris was the first woman of color to head the ticket of a major party in the United States of America, and I fear for whatever is left of my life, she might be the last.

She wasn’t the perfect candidate, because perfect candidates don’t exist, and damn I wish people would start getting that.

But this much is undeniably true: She deserved far better than what she got, and for now, a disintegrating America is getting exactly what it deserves.

• D. Earl Stephens is the author of “Toxic Tales: A Caustic Collection of Donald J. Trump’s Very Important Letters” and finished up a 30-year career in journalism as the Managing Editor of Stars and Stripes. You can find all his work here.