In the craziest campaign ever, after all the wild election whiplash and trauma, MAUREEN CALLAHAN says the subtle signs are finally pointing in a clear direction

Take a deep breath, everyone. We’re almost to the other side.

Almost.

Relief is not found anywhere else. Not in the polls, which have been wafer-thin for weeks. Not even among the experts, who are reluctant to make predictions.

Even Kamala Harris’ own team — aided by heavily biased liberal reporting and a near-total media blackout when it comes to her husband’s allegedly troubling history with women — can’t muster the “joy” of her early campaign.

“Maybe optimistic,” says the Harris camp. Although a top strategist told New York Magazine on Friday that emotions now change “from hour to hour.”

Meanwhile, Donald Trump is rolling along happily, buoyed by enthusiasm on the ground and stronger poll numbers than his two previous campaigns.

“We’re finishing something that was incredible,” he said in North Carolina last week. ‘There has never been anything like this before: the rallies, the size of them, the enthusiasm. And we have more enthusiasm now than we did in 2016 or 2020.”

Yet Team Trump is not certain of victory either.

“Controlled optimism, that’s how I would put it,” said a top Trump strategist.

I hate to say it, but it’s starting to look more and more like the election “vibes” Harris put forward this summer — based on feelings and fun, not policy or facts.

Let’s take a look at those vibrations, shall we?

In recent weeks, the Harris campaign has bombarded voters with increasingly desperate emails and text messages. Here’s an example of what ended up in my own inbox and iPhone:

“Maureen, is there something – ANYTHING – we can say now?”

Another: ‘You haven’t participated yet.’

And my favorite message, an absolute stunner: “Begging on my hands and knees”… for a $20 donation.

Nothing says confidence and strength more than begging!

How long ago and far away does June seem, that catastrophic presidential debate that marked the beginning of the end for President Biden.

First came the mainstream media, which finally admitted what most Americans already knew: Joe Biden wasn’t compositions.

Weeks of turmoil followed: Biden refused to drop out of the race, insisting that only he could beat Trump, and that only “the Lord Almighty” (i.e. Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi) could convince Biden otherwise.

“I’ll feel like I gave it my all and did the right thing [sic] like I know I can do, that’s what this is about,” he told ABC News.

What a grim moment for the American electorate, and a revealing one: This race, which we have been repeatedly told is the most consequential ever, with American democracy in absolute existential danger – well, not so much.

This election wasn’t about us, you see, and it never was. It was about Joe Biden.

A summer of trauma and whiplash followed: Trump was shot in the ear on live television by a would-be assassin, jumped up with his fist in the air and shouted, “Fight! Fight! Fight!’

He seemed invincible until Biden finally dropped out of the race eight days later and Kamala Harris – younger, energetic, glamorous and radiant – stepped right over Biden’s still-warm body and into the Democratic nomination.

The attempted assassination of a former and possibly future president was suddenly old news. It’s incredible to think back to the only presidential debate held on September 10 and think of how Harris successfully took on Trump.

His attitude, affection and accusation against Haitian migrants: ‘They eat the dogs… they eat the cats!’ — only heightened fears about Trump: his age, his ability to hold grudges, his barely concealed anger.

One of his strongest campaign promises, to secure the US border, was once again turned into Trump-as-racist.

It became a meme, a slogan, a T-shirt. That was the unforced error that would persist through Election Day — until Kamala, even under pressure from her fans in the liberal media, started giving interviews.

Harris, as far as I can remember, has answered only one political question quickly, clearly and succinctly – this one, posed by CNN frontman Anderson Cooper during a town hall Q&A two weeks ago:

“Do you think Donald Trump is a fascist?”

“Yes, I do,” Harris replied. “Yes, I do.”

For the rest, she stuck to her familiar topics of conversation. All three:

She is not Joe Biden.

She’s not Donald Trump.

She acknowledges that Americans are “an ambitious people” – has she really met all of us? I wouldn’t argue that – with ‘goals, dreams and aspirations’.

The best exchange from that town hall: an undecided voter named Carol, herself a political science professor, asking what piece of legislation it would be Kamala’s dream to push through:

“Well, there’s not just one,” Harris replied. “I have to be honest with you, Carol. Um, there’s still a lot of work to be done, but let’s – let’s – I think maybe part of this point where I – how I think about it is – we have to get past this era of politics and partisan slowdown. on what we need to do when it comes to progress in our country.’

Even David Axelrod, the top Democratic strategist who twice got Barack Obama elected, gave up defending that nonsense.

“Word salad town,” he said.

Speaking of nonsense, Joe Biden threw a verbal grenade at Kamala’s campaign last week, seizing on an unfortunate joke about Puerto Rico that a comedian had made days earlier during the Trump rally at Madison Square Garden.

“The only trash I see floating out there,” Biden said, “is his [Trump’s] supporters.’

That was it: the final gift to Trump, who promptly met supporters in the battleground state of Wisconsin and climbed into a custom-made “TRUMP” garbage truck. He donned an orange safety vest and wore it again at a rally, joking that it made him look slimmer.

“I have to start by saying that 250 million Americans are not trash,” Trump said.

And so we enter the final hours of this most incredible, stressful and unpredictable election. However, there are indicators, however small, that point to Trump.

Last week, the well-funded Harris campaign pulled its ads from North Carolina, a key swing state, likely signaling an expected loss and a diversion of funds to congressional races.

A poll in Iowa sent shockwaves through the Trump campaign on Saturday after putting Harris ahead by three points – still within the margin of error – in a state that Trump won by eight points in 2020. But then another A poll released the same day had Trump ahead by 10 points in the state.

Even the New York Times – which shouts that Trump is Hitler, that he will use the military against his enemies, tear up the Constitution, get into bed with Putin and Xi and destroy America forever – lets him lead in both the crucial states of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, no matter how small those clues are.

Add to this the refusal of left-wing media such as The Washington Post and LA Times to support Harris, the proliferation of campaign ads from Democratic candidates promising to work “with anyone, from any party” (code for Trump) and the breaking the gambling market. in its own way – it seems that ‘vibes’ point to a Trump victory.

Not that we might know that on election night, or the day after. Both Harris and Trump have obtained a lawyer and are ready to fight. Unless there’s a landslide, we need to brace ourselves again.

Fasten your seat belt, America. This ride may just be beginning.