By Dave Andrusko
Never let it be said the pro-life former President Donald Trump is predictable. Many, including Ed Morrissey of Hot Air have observed that “Normally the opposition candidate waits for the ‘vibes’ to settle down before formally responding. Instead, Trump tried to get out in front of the reaction immediately after Kamala Harris left the DNC stage in Chicago”.
What does this show? According to Morrissey, a great deal.
The TV interviews [Fox News, Newsmax, and his own Truth Social platform] were novel enough, however. Trump not only showed the energy to keep up, but the ability to quickly land on the weak points of Harris’ presentation and exploit them. The weakest of these is the “new course” line, and Trump deftly skewers it with the simple argument: What is Kamala waiting for? She’s already Vice President, and now functionally the regent of what’s left of Joe Biden’s presidency.
What was the 45th President responding to. Pro-abortion Vice President Kamala Harris’s acceptance speech which was long on theatrics and short on policies and 38 minutes of my life that I’ll never get back.
Of course, the Media gasped in wonder when Harris told her origins story [again], her gleeful bashing of Trump, and her promise to “move past the bitterness, cynicism and divisive battles of the past.” Since Harris tells us that “our nation with this election has a precious, fleeting opportunity” to begin to heal the wounds, it would have helped if she had not demonized Trump indirectly–“But we never gave up. Because the future is always worth fighting for. And that’s the fight we are in right now — a fight for America’s future”—and directly—”In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man but the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious.”
Needless to say, she pandered to her abortion-loving base.
“And let’s be clear about how we got here: Donald Trump handpicked members of the U.S. Supreme Court to take away reproductive freedom. And now, he brags about it. … And when Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom, as president of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law.”
Let me offer a sample of praise for Harris. Here’s Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times:
The vice president’s speech on Thursday capped an ebullient four-day convention in Chicago that showcased the party’s reinvigorated chances against Donald J. Trump in the wake of President Biden’s decision to step aside.
And [get this]
There was a new lightness to the way Ms. Harris and other Democrats tried to frame the potential for Mr. Trump to bring darkness.
“Simply put,” she said in one of the evening’s most memorable lines, “they are out of their minds.”
Goldmacher went on to ask
What exactly would a President Harris do?
That question was not on top of the tongues of many delegates this week. The party sounded far more interested in ensuring that Ms. Harris can reach the White House in the first place. There were some policies highlighted. The expansion of abortion rights. Restrictions on guns.
But with only 75 days until the election, Democrats sounded more than happy to give Ms. Harris room to position herself in whatever way she thinks is needed to defeat Mr. Trump.
Slay the Wicked Giant and we’ll fill in the details later.
Rich Lowry of National Review is amazed at how free of substance Harris is:
It is hard to think of another presidential nominee who has felt so utterly superficial — not as a campaign tactic, but as a reality. …
Kamala Harris feels thin, fragile, and manufactured. Nominating her without a primary fight was an accident of circumstances, yes, but also probably a necessity.
Her signature phrases are banal (the coconut tree) or risibly vacuous (unburdened by what has been).
Finally there is Jim Geraghty and “What Kamala Harris Didn’t Say.”
She evaded lots and lots of issues (not our issues) that most assuredly do not poll well. Trump will do his best to be sure the American people know why her approval ratings were in the 30s prior to be anointed the Democrats’ presidential nominee.
Geraghty concludes with this shrew statement:
The Democrats went through a near-death experience this year, belatedly realizing that the cynical and snide naysayers like me who said Joe Biden was too old for another four years were right. Between the debate night and Biden’s announcement on July 21, Democrats were staring down the barrel of another four years of President Donald Trump, and the election might not even have been all that close.
And then Nancy Pelosi twisted Biden’s arm out of the socket, and he relented. And ever since then, just about everybody in the Democratic Party has felt the exhilaration and relief of a person who’s been shot at and missed.