This week, millions of Americans tuned in to politics only to make an astonishing discovery: Donald Trump is still exactly who he always was! He opens his mouth, and lies and crazy talk pour forth. Same as it ever was... what a surprise!

Now, normal people can be excused for being surprised that Trump is still Trump. Most people have lives to lead and plenty of other things to do, so they simply don't pay much attention to politics. But tens of millions of them made the time this week to tune in to the first debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. And it was like going to a family Thanksgiving dinner and once again having to put up with your crazy uncle -- because you had somehow forgotten just how bad he truly was. And still is.

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The second presidential debate is over and the reviews are in. They are all pretty universally proclaiming Kamala Harris the clear winner and Donald Trump the loser. Pundits are using words like "eviscerated" and "humiliated" to describe how impressive Harris's takedown of Trump truly was last night. For the first time in his political career, Donald Trump was absolutely dominated -- live, on screen, for all of America to see.

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Traditionally, Labor Day is the kickoff to the "real campaign season." This implies that none of what has gone before really made much of a difference, and that the American people will now give each of the candidates a fresh look as people slowly turn their focus to politics after the summer season is done.

Maybe that was true once, but quite obviously we've been in the midst of the general-election campaign season for most of this year already. There was no drama or mystery about who would become the major parties' nominees -- Donald Trump and President Joe Biden had the primaries wrapped up before they even began. And then the most dramatic event of the general election campaign happened midsummer, as Biden decided to end his candidacy (after a disastrous debate performance with Donald Trump). In other words, plenty has already happened this election season, and so we've got to look at the remaining two months as nothing more than the homestretch.

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In normal times, with normal political candidates, I wouldn't even have to say this. However, since we live in the age of Donald Trump, I do. One week from today is the anniversary of the September 11th attack. People will gather at the site of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers to pay their respects and remember. But this year there may be a problem.

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This week, the mainstream media proved yet again how good they are at missing the forest for the trees, at least in the political world. The entire week, the chattering classes pushed their new Donald Trump scandal for all it was worth. Now look, we're no fans of Trump (far from it!), but it all just seemed like the attention and outrage were a wee bit misplaced.

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CNN has begun to release "teaser" quotes from tonight's big interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, in an effort to build interest (and ratings). Among other tidbits, it was announced that Harris committed to appointing at least one Republican to her cabinet. This actually isn't all that unusual; the practice of bringing in a few members of the opposing party so a president can brag about having a "team of rivals" (the phrase originally referred to Abraham Lincoln's cabinet). But it did start me wondering about which department(s) she might be thinking about.

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It has now been announced that CNN's Dana Bash has won the journalistic sweepstakes and will be conducting a joint interview with Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz on Thursday. This will fulfill a promise Harris made to sit down for an unscripted interview with the media before the end of the month.

Which directly leads to the question of what Harris and Walz should be asked about on Tuesday. So putting on our late-summer "If It Was Me" thinking cap, here are the questions I would ask Harris and Walz, if they were sitting down with me for an interview.

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Over its first three days, the Democratic National Convention kept building on one overriding theme: joy. Or, as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez explained to Stephen Colbert last night, for Democrats it was "the rebirth of hope." I almost expected Beethoven's Ode To Joy to be played at some point, but I guess the various DJs didn't have a copy. A far different Alex -- the main character in A Clockwork Orange -- would have been seriously disappointed by this omission, since (as he put it) it would have added: "all the banging and creeching about Joy Joy Joy Joy." The lack of "Ludwig Van" aside, though, it certainly was a joyful event for the first three nights.

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The Democratic National Convention has truly been a blowout affair, building each day to an even-more-impressive frenzy, sparked by speaker after enthusiastic speaker, each seeming to bring the levels of excitement inside the arena to new heights. Last night was a continuation of this building sense of joy. A third Democratic president, Bill Clinton, appeared (following Joe Biden on the first night and Barack Obama on the second) -- but (rather astonishingly) he was actually not the biggest star of the evening.

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The Democratic National Convention is now half over, after a blowout second night that featured both Michelle and Barack Obama as the evening's headliners. This was after what is normally a pretty boring (and cheesy) process -- the rollcall of the state delegations -- turned into a joyful dance party, complete with a DJ spinning tunes appropriate to each state. All in all, a pretty outstanding night!

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