With under two weeks left for the presidential election, I can't help but wonder, how can the two candidates be neck and neck?

Sure, Trump die-hards will be die-hards until the bitter end, but they don't make up enough of the population to make or break an election. We have a situation that, in so many ways feels so familiar, like we've turned back time and returned to 2015 when my preconceived beliefs about Donald Trump had me totally convinced that the American electorate would never fall for this con man. This snake oil salesman making impossible promises to gullible uninformed people who believed that Hillary Clinton was trafficking children from the basement of a pizza parlor or that she should put in jail for whatever "crime" du jour Trump had accused her of at the moment while he whipped his supporters into a chant of "lock her up" at another one of his Hitler-esque rallies. Trump, in his desperation, has become more and more unhinged at his rallies. He doesn't even know what to talk about anymore. Besides just insulting Kamala Harris by calling her low IQ, retarded or stupid, he goes off on these strange tangents which includes fictious characters such as Hannibal Lecter and scenarios where he'd have to choose between electrocution or a shark bite. Sometimes he's unaware of what city he's in, who the host's name is and recently felt the need to let the crowd know that deceased golf pro Arnold Palmer was known to be "well endowed."

And if this wasn't alarming enough, or at least reason enough to cause one to pause, we've been given some behind the scenes look into the mind of this very bizarre, very erratic, very disturbing conversations Trump had with some of his cabinet members during his presidency. Thanks to Bob Woodward's newest book, "War" we've learned that Trump asked John Kelly, his former chief of staff, why he couldn't have generals like Hitler had. But not before proclaiming that Hitler did some "good" things. Like what? Killing millions of Jews Don? I find myself appalled and at the same time not surprised that conversations like these were initiated by someone as loathsome as Donald. That was just one juicy tidbit we got from these tapes the public was so luck to hear. After promising to pay for a fallen soldier's funeral, Trump was outraged when he saw the bill and cried, "“It doesn’t cost 60,000 bucks to bury a fucking Mexican!” he reportedly told his then Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. “Don’t pay it!” Such an empathetic guy.

Nothing new here. Trump's always been a number one, grade A, selfish, asshole. Even if his adoring throngs of Trumpists were to read of any of these latest "bombshells" they wouldn't bat an eye. You see, there's always a damn good reason behind any of these salacious tidbits according to his partisan zealots. It's usually along the lines of, it's a lie, its fake news, it's the Dems trying to make Trump look bad before the election, he said it but he meant something else (followed by a pretzel twisted explanation) or the worst of the worst, well, Trump was right about everything....words usually uttered by the most hard core, have no life, pedestal lifting, cultists.

Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have been campaigning in what can only be described as in another political universe. They've been crisscrossing the country, making many stops in the battle ground states, filling arenas, making speeches about policies they want to implement. Talking about what they want to do for the American people. Making plans about going forward and not going back to the same tired, worn out, broken promises that Heir Trump never kept. Tax incentives for the middle class, tax deduction for small business owners, protect and strengthen Medicare, invest in affordable childcare....you know, things that will actually HELP the American people. Harris is talking about a positive future for all and that includes codifying women's reproductive rights which, since the Dobbs decision has done more harm than good. No doom and gloom. No hateful rhetoric. No revenge talk. No childish insults. Good stuff.

So, like most of my fellow liberals, I'm at the nail-biting stage. I wouldn't worry so much if Harris was way ahead of him in the polls, but they're not only tied in some of the swings, but Trump is half a point, a whole point or even two points ahead and it scares me. Nothing good can come from another Trump presidency, as a matter of fact, so much damage to our Democracy, our Institutions and just our basic way of life can transpire in just four short years. However, the results of another MAGA disaster can last decades and take a generation or longer to turn around. We can't let this happen to our beloved country. We can't let this authoritarian with fascistic dreams have another turn in the White House and tear down our nation. Will we even survive this a second time around?

I will wait. Cautiously optimistic, waiting for that other shoe to drop. And hoping that the shoe has a 5-inch heel.