By Peter Lemiska

It looks like Americans are facing another nail-biting presidential race this year. Pollsters tell us that Trump and Harris are virtually neck-and-neck.

This should not be a close election.

Just a few weeks ago, President Joe Biden was the presumptive Democrat nominee, but it was clear that he couldn’t win reelection. Kamala Harris was even more unpopular than he was, but in deference to DEI, and in defiance of all logic, Democrat leaders decided to ignore their voters and place Harris at the top of the ticket. By claiming to abandon her breathtakingly radical ideas and suppressing her spontaneous guffaws, she managed to transform herself from yesterday’s zero to today’s hero overnight.

No, this race should not be close, especially considering the candidates’ true opposing ideologies.

Donald Trump has always stood for American values. He promises to make America great again. That’s exactly what he did in his first term.

When the 2020 anti-police riots were tearing our country apart, Harris solidly backed the rioters. In one interview she said, “They’re not gonna let up. And they should not.” She went so far as to help bail them out of jail. Many went on to commit more violent crimes. During a senatorial hearing, she even compared ICE to the KKK. As a longtime radical, Harris has always seen America as a systemically racist country. She seems to favor chaos in the streets over effective law enforcement.

How can this race be so close?

The contrasting records of the two nominees also tell us that Trump should be comfortably ahead in this campaign. Under his presidency, our borders were secure, inflation was almost nonexistent, we were energy independent, and we enjoyed relative peace in our streets and around the world.

Harris helped pass some of Biden’s destructive policies, and she supported them right down the line. The Biden/Harris policies gave us 9.1% inflation, which has still not returned to acceptable, manageable levels. They also resulted in 10 to 20 million unidentified foreign citizens pouring into our country, overwhelming our social programs. Many come to victimize our citizens. In some cities, their sheer numbers will eventually overwhelm our local police departments. It’s already happened in Aurora, Colorado.

Considering all the baggage Kamala is lugging, why is she even close in this race? These are just a few possible reasons:

1.) Democrats have been extremely effective in demonizing Trump.

Many voters believe the Democrat propaganda — two frivolous impeachments, the selective prosecutions, and the unrelenting lies — labeling Trump an enemy of democracy. They had immeasurable help from mainstream media, which are no longer champions of democracy but merely shills for the Democrat Party. Voters deceived by the propaganda, the campaign of hate, will support anyone but Trump.

2.) The DEI effect.

Incredibly enough, even in these times of peril, some voters believe it’s more important to break through another glass ceiling than to elect a competent leader.

3.) Blind loyalty of Democrats.

By and large, Democrats seem to value party loyalty over objective reasoning. They’re willing to follow their party wherever it takes them, willingly accepting any new radical agenda, whether it’s open borders, some Green New Deal, or the scourge of socialism.

4.) Democrat dirty tricks.

During the 2012 presidential campaign, Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid publicly slandered the Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, with a malicious lie. Asked about it later, Reid smirked, “Romney didn’t win, did he?”

Then, during the 2016 campaign, Donna Brazile, vice chair of the DNC, showed no contrition after leaking debate questions to Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

More recently, there was the infamous letter signed by 51 former intelligence experts. It was intended to help Biden’s 2020 campaign by discrediting damaging information contained on Hunter Biden’s laptop. Investigations later concluded that the information on the laptop was credible, and the misleading letter was contrived by Antony Blinken, then one of Biden’s top advisors.

Democrats are spreading malicious lies again today, trying to convince voters that Trump plans to ban abortions, that he’s linked to the ultra-conservative 2025 Project, that he is somehow responsible for the problems we face under this administration.

Democrats, it seems, are unburdened not by what has been but by the scruples most of us live by.

But there’s another reason that might explain why this race is so close.

Committed Trump supporters long ago made up their minds. Democrat voters don’t need to make up their minds. The party has done that for them. But many independent voters simply aren’t motivated by either candidate.

Donald Trump has often been described as his own worst enemy. He may be a proven leader, but he’s not a polished politician. He’d rather speak straight from the shoulder than from a teleprompter, and he sometimes rambles into personal attacks. That helped him win his first election, but this race is just too close for comfort. He needs some of those independent voters. He will attract more of them if he stays disciplined, relying on prepared speeches and focusing on his accomplishments and his agenda.

This should not be a close election, and it won’t be if enough of those independent voters still cherish American values and reject the lies and dirty tricks.