This Just In: The Olympic Nightmare

This Just In – The Olympic spirit is ruining everything for the 45^th president.

Donald Trump thought he was on a glidepath to winning a second term. His opponent had a vapor lock on national television that was cringeworthy even for Mitch McConnell. America was, with Trump’s expert assistance, exhausted and discouraged by the very idea that we had the choice of two less than electric candidates.

That’s everything he wanted. Just for a cherry on top, his martyr fantasy was fed by some unhinged kid in Pennsylvania trying to kill him, tragically succeeding in killing one of his followers and grievously wounding two others.

Then came a convention predictably filled with D-list celebrities, racism, misogyny and all the encouragement of a terminal diagnosis. It’s bad, America … so bad.  Only the Bible and sneaker salesman can pull us out of this hellscape. For good measure, here’s a VP nominee in Ohio Senator J.D. Vance to point out that Trump can bring anyone to take the knee and kiss his ring.

After all this, President Joe Biden pulls the masterful move on a Sunday afternoon by simply saying “I’m out.” A crazy, exciting week follows as Harris takes over an existing, well-organized national campaign.

Then, the nightmare begins. The Olympics … based in the heart of Paris, America’s oldest ally, home of the resistance that defeated Trump’s hero, Adolf Hitler. Paris, where you can pull off an opening ceremony using the Seine River in the relentlessly pouring rain and have more than 300,000 lined up to watch, culminating with an impossible musical performance by Celene Dion, all in French. Heart-stopping and defiant. Insistent on JOY.

The athletic events began and we have seen on display hundreds of examples of the very thing we watch the Olympics hoping to see – sportsmanship, human decency, love that crosses political borders and brings together people who do not share a common language, but have a love and appreciation of athletic excellence and dedication.

We’ve seen runners fall, causing others to fall and they all help each other up, knowing they’re knocked out of the race. We’ve seen scary falls from parallel pars and balance beams the are routine for gymnasts but terrifying for the rest of us.

I could, of course, go on and on. When we watch the Olympics, we see our country represented to the world and we (like all the other countries) want our athletes to do their very best and make us proud to be associated with them.

This is how we see our presidents, too. We want to be proud of them, believe in them and see ourselves in them as they represent us to the world. They are avatars for our self-image as a people.

This week the last puzzle piece arrived in the form of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Now, we’ve seen a rally of unbridled love and hope that launched a Democratic ticket into a nation thirsty for purpose and optimism.

Tim Walz has been poked about his receding hairline that make him look older than his 60 years (just six months older than Harris). His response: He supervised a high school lunchroom for 20 years. You don’t get out of that job with a full head of hair, he says. That is political excellence, but the mastery comes in his description of midwestern values regarding reproductive freedom. “Mind your own damned business,” he said in Philadelphia this week.

We saw an extension of Simone Biles’ joy in returning to competition … not so much winning, but competing. Simply doing her best was something she was not sure she could get back to doing.

Just a month ago, many Democrats had the same doubts. Would we ever be excited and joyful at the prospect of our candidates winning the presidency and delivering on their promises? More importantly, can we stop a return to power of an insurrectionist whose violent attempt to hold onto the presidency was nearly successful?

The last few days have delivered an emphatic, supercharged, yet simple answer to those questions by giving us great candidates who are in the race to serve the country and prevent us from falling off this balance beam of a democratic republic for good.

Yes, America. Yes, we can.

(featured image: AP Photo/Michael Euler, File)

Jean Bolduc is a freelance writer and the host of the Weekend Watercooler on 97.9 The Hill. She is the author of “African Americans of Durham & Orange Counties: An Oral History” (History Press, 2016) and has served on Orange County’s Human Relations Commission, The Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina, the Orange County Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, and the Orange County Schools’ Equity Task Force. She was a featured columnist and reporter for the Chapel Hill Herald and the News & Observer.

Readers can reach Jean via email – jean@penandinc.com and via Twitter @JeanBolduc

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