Corbin is professor emeritus of marketing at the University of Northern Iowa.
It’s well known America’s first president warned citizens – on Sept. 17, 1796 – about the negative impact political parties could have on the country. In George Washington’s farewell address he felt politicians and their party of preference could become “unprincipled.”
The divisiveness our political parties and their operative sons and daughters have purposely brought upon America is disheartening and shameful.
With the 2022 midterm elections about eight weeks away the negative partisanship ads have already begun. It’s a sad state of affairs we have to endure disinformation, misinformation and political shenanigans every two years.
A recent Yahoo News/YouGov poll noted 55 percent of Democrats and 53 percent of Republicans believe it is “likely” that the US will “cease to be a democracy in the future.” An Aug. 12-16 NBC News poll revealed 21 percent of registered voters rank “threats to democracy” as the most important issue.
The democracy time bomb is ticking.
This should be a wake-up call to anyone who identifies as a proud American and values unity, individualism, equality, self-government, liberty and diversity.
Therefore, it could be argued the outcome of the Nov. 8 elections will let us know in advance of the 2024 presidential election whether we’ll continue to live in a “will of the people” democracy or if America will fall to fascism.
According to Gallup, 43 percent of voters are independent, 30 percent are Democratic and 24 percent say they are Republican.
Party diehards who view their party policies as the gospel will blindly vote for their candidate – just like lemmings who can’t think on their own accord – even if she or he is the devil.
Dr. Rachel Bitecofer, founding editor of The Cycle and revered election forecaster and analyst, feels 6 percent to 7 percent of swing voters (people who vote for a candidate opposite their registered party) affect every election. Plus, she notes 6 percent of independents “tend to vote for whoever promises a break with the status quo.”
Independent voters are independent for a reason. They know we have a deeply divided and antagonistic political system. According to a Pew Research Center survey, about two-thirds of independents are swing voters because “both parties care more about special interests than about average Americans.”
Linda Killian, a senior scholar at the nonpartisan Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, notes about half of the independents are closet Democrats/Republicans who vote regularly with one party. The remaining 50 percent are truly independent with their allegiance swinging from election to election.
While Bitecofer, Gallup, Pew and Killian can’t agree as to the precise number of swing and independent voters, the message is the same: somewhere between 38 million and 65 million voters are sick and tired of our political party propaganda peddlers.
Recognizing that independents detest negative campaign ads, today’s negative partisanship ads by the GOP and Democrats may drive independents to be even more serious about voting than heretofore. And, we know a lot of card-carrying Democrats and Republicans aren’t too pleased with their party, former politicians’ bold-face lies and antics, and current elected officials actions, let alone their non-actions.
It would be wise for every registered voter to take the Nov. 8 election seriously as it may – just may – give us an advance warning as to whether America will remain as a democracy or fall to fascism in 2024.
What type of citizen will you be on Nov. 8? A sit-at-home, nonparticipating voter, a party lemming, a swing voter or an independent voter? Your heirs and our country’s future are dependent upon your precious vote, whether you view voting as a fundamental right or a privilege with responsibilities.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a“ Steel Across America” event ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11th attacks on the Ellipse near the White House on Sept. 8, 2026 in Washington, D.C. President Trump welcomed 9/ 11 first responders to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation’ s“ Steel Across America” event featuring a 16,900- pound, 21- foot steel beam recovered.
For Trump, even 9/11 is an opportunity
There was a reason organizers of the 9/11 ceremony in Manhattan told President Trump he could not speak at this year’s memorial service.
A good one, it turns out.
Because in a speech he gave on Tuesday in Washington, he did exactly what they were presumably worried about — he made it about himself.
According to The New York Times, Trump had wanted a speaking role at the service, but the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum, which oversees the site, said no, as they’ve maintained for the past decade-plus that the venue and event should be nonpartisan.
Trump has long used awful tragedies to either puff himself up, trash political opponents, or sell lies to the American people.
He blamed a deadly plane crash at Washington National Airport last year on diversity, equity and inclusion policies. He blamed Puerto Ricans for the devastation they endured after Hurricane Maria in 2017. He reportedly considered withholding disaster relief after the California wildfires based on the way affected regions voted. In an interview on Fox News meant to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, he used the occasion to slam former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi…with graves of the dead behind him.
And now, as we approach the 25th anniversary of what many New Yorkers consider the darkest day in modern history, Trump has done it again.
He told a rambling, nonsensical story — one he’s told before — about going to Ground Zero just after terrorists flew two commercial jets into the twin towers. In the story, which no one has been able to verify, despite multiple attempts, he says firefighters had to carry him out of One Liberty Plaza, also known as the U.S. Steel Building, because they thought it was about to collapse.
As CNN fact checker Daniel Dale notes, there’s no evidence Trump went into this building, especially at a time when NYPD and NYFD had locked down the area. There’s no evidence that building was collapsing — in fact, it was deemed structurally sound and reopened within two months of the attacks. There’s no evidence he was carried out of it by firefighters.
But the lie isn’t even the worst part. Pretend it was all true — why would the leader of our country, and a New Yorker, decide to make that tragic day about himself?
Because that’s who Donald Trump is. He’s a malignant narcissist.
He’s also, incidentally, a terrible and ineffectual president, who’s made ill-fated decisions that he has to keep defending, and there’s nothing he won’t do to make himself look and feel better.
Within the first two minutes of his speech, he was cravenly using 9/11 to justify and promote his dumb war in Iran — two events separated by 25 years and 6,000 miles.
“And I will tell you, we’re right now fighting because we have a certain nation that wanted a nuclear weapon, they were very close to getting it, and now they have no chance at getting it. They will never have a nuclear weapon. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. And they’ve been punished greatly. As you know, we’ve really taken it to them.”
As a New Yorker who lived through 9/11, still one of the worst days of my life, I’m utterly sickened by Trump’s crass, political, and self-promotional framing of that awful day.
And I’m relieved he won’t be given a platform to do it again on Friday’s anniversary in lower Manhattan.
Because for Trump, everything is his for the taking, and absolutely nothing is sacred.
S.E. Cupp is the host of "S.E. Cupp Unfiltered" on CNN.