I followed TFG’s Madison Square Garden hate rally, which my First Draft colleague JamieO covered on Monday, and at the end of it, it seemed to me that his campaign had committed a fatal error by platforming that awful comedian.

I found his comments really shocking, and I thought I was pretty insulated from the stuff TFG campaign put out there. I can’t call what he said “jokes” because, first, jokes are funny. And second, jokes build tension and then diffuse that tension with humor. He just stood there and said offensive stuff.

I was surprised to see how many other people also found his comments offensive, to the point where they drove much of the news coverage on Monday. It struck me as I was reading reactions that the most obvious one—“But the insults didn’t come from TFG or one of his lackeys, so they really don’t matter.”—really didn’t appear.

It had seemed to me for a long time that TFG and his hangers on have a weird permission to say this stuff, but at the hate rally it became clear to me that that permission didn’t extend to random trumpers, and it seems that a lot of us see it that way. His behavior was a window into what we could expect from fellow citizens under another TFG term, and a bunch of us didn’t like what we saw.

So I approached VP Harris’ speech tonight with some trepidation. If so many people were sick of TFG & Co.’s media behavior, then there’s a good chance that they’re sick of that ugliness everywhere, and definitely do not want 4 more (or more) years of that crap with all random trumpers everywhere joining in as part of daily life. She had the chance to put the stake through the heart of campaign Tuesday night if she could sell us a better alternative. And for me, that better alternative had to extend beyond her collection of good policy ideas to stopping the cycles of ugliness.

And Harris did it. She reintroduced herself to the public, she highlighted the things she wanted to do, and she talked about changing the tone. I loved that she talked about how (some of us) love to argue because some of us do, and l was happy that she said those discussions didn’t have to look like they do now.

Most importantly her speech reminded me that hope is possible, and that a better way forward is also possible that doesn’t include the constant tension and hatefulness of TFG. And I’m not an undecided voter so I can’t pretend to know what one is thinking, but if I were I have to think I’d be reassured that there really is a way to close the door on TFG era.

Stevie can take it from here.