With a month away from Election Day, a compounding series of challenges that are converging all at once for the White House and the Kamala Harris campaign — port workers are striking, fighting in the Middle East is escalating, and Hurricane Helene has ravaged parts of the southern and eastern U.S. — have to be approached not defensively, but as opportunities to provide practical leadership to the American people.

Reflecting back on the past year makes me think that too many who make the case for a popular or peoples front — I prefer coalition — understand the concept schematically and abstractly. They are capable of elucidating its textbook version, but fail to understand how it expresses itself concretely at this moment and the role therein of progressive and left leaning people in this expansive coalition.

It’s hardly stepping out on a limb to say that Trump is irretrievably racist and that he’s doubling, tripling down on racism in these closing weeks of the campaign. What should also be uncontroversial is that his nearly exclusive base of white supporters marinate in the most egregious forms of racism too. This deepening racialization of his supporters — not least white workers and young white males — constitutes a longer term obstacle to the struggle for equality, unity, and social progress as well as an immediate challenge for the far flung coalition now in the home stretch to elect Kamala Harris. Any dismissal or downgrading of this danger should be a cause for concern for democratic and progressive minded people.

To judge Kamala Harris as if she campaigns in a political vacuum can only lead to the worst kind of foolishness as well as an excuse to do nothing at this crucial stage of the campaign. And yet too many people do precisely this. They critique her every word without any consideration of context and the main lines of attack of Trump and his underlings. And once done, they feel righteous politically and justified in their inaction.

Why do Trump and Vance double and triple down on their racist inventions that Haitian people are eating pets. The answer is simple enough. It commands media attention. Racism and xenophobia are at the core of their beliefs. And it is also at the heart of their voter mobilization strategy.

In most campaigns, voter mobilization combines activating the base with persuading the undecided. In Trump’s campaign the accent is heavily on the former. And accomplished by embracing the worst forms of racism, xenophobia, and misogyny.

How low will Trump and Vance go? As low as necessary. In other words, whatever it takes to mobilize their base on election day is in play. No lie is too big or too small. We would be naive to expect anything different.