By Dave Andrusko

Trump campaign chief pollster and top adviser Tony Fabrizio argues that the surge for Harris won’t last.

 

“We are witnessing a kind of out of body experience where we have suspended reality for a couple of weeks,” Fabrizio told reporters at a Trump campaign briefing on Thursday.

What a wild and woolly weekend! There were loads of news about the presidential contest between pro-life former President Donald Trump and abortion-fanatic Vice President Kamala Harris. Below is just a sample.

#1. The New York Times and Siena College poll that found  Harris up in three battleground states. “Ms. Harris is ahead of Mr. Trump by four percentage points in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan, 50 percent to 46 percent among likely voters in each state,” according to Lisa Lerer and Ruth Igielnik of the New York Times. “The surveys were conducted from Aug. 5 to 9.”

However, they do caution (1) “the reshaped race is still in its volatile early weeks” and “Still, the results show vulnerabilities for Ms. Harris. Voters prefer Mr. Trump when it comes to whom they trust to handle the economy and immigration, issues that remain central to the presidential race.”

Moreover, Real Clear Politics summary of the results shows that in the seven battleground states of Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia, collectively Trump is ahead by 1.0 (0.9 to be exact).

#2. An interesting aside from the Times. There is beginning to be blowback to Harris’s refusal to answer questions. The Harris rationale, according to the Times, is that she talks “off the record,” i.e., she is not quoted. Nice work, if you can get it.

Indeed, the most significant development in the last few days may well be that it appears reporters are growing a spine. The Columbia Journalism Review is a think-tank for full-of-themselves journalists. I nearly choked on my cereal when I read “Yes, Kamala Harris should talk to the press more,” by Jon Allsop.

After beginning by talking about (and offering excuses for) Joe Biden’s  decision to freeze out the media, Allsop turns to Kamala Harris whom pro-life Sen. JD Vance describes as a “fundamentally fake person,” a “chameleon” who, in an interview with CNN, Vance said “should have to answer for why she presents a different set of policies to one audience and a different set of policies to another audience.”

Here’s the key paragraph from Allsop’s account:

At least some of the grumbling, though, has come from journalists and mainstream media personalities. “Trump is holding a presser today, we interviewed him last week and Vance yesterday and Vance is taking open press questions,” Semafor’s Benjy Sarlin said on Thursday. “Time’s just about up on Harris to avoid this becoming a thing.” The editorial board of the Washington Post argued yesterday that “the media and public have legitimate questions, and she should face them,” adding that “this is a political necessity—Mr. Trump is already turning her avoidance of the media into an attack line.” Also yesterday, the radio host Charlamagne tha God—who has interviewed (and sometimes sparred with) Harris, while supporting her politically—told ABC that she should do more interviews. “It’s the bottom of the ninth inning, right?” Charlamagne said. “I feel like she should be any- and everywhere, having these conversations.”

#3.  JD Vance’s absolute fearlessness and ability to handle reporters. He did the Sunday talk show circuit yesterday where he refused to allow the hosts to talk only about the narrow range of issues that interested them.

Talking with CNN’s Dana Bash, Vance said

Look, Dana, she’s not running a political campaign. She’s running a movie. She only speaks to voters behind a teleprompter. Everything is scripted. She doesn’t have her policy positions out there. She hasn’t answered why she wanted to ban fracking, but now she doesn’t. She wanted to defund the police, but now she doesn’t.

 

She wanted to open the border, but now she doesn’t. She should have to answer for why she presents a different set of policies to one audience and a different set of policies to another audience. And I think that’s what President Trump is getting at. This is a fundamentally fake person. She’s different depending on who she’s in front of.

A colleague ran across this great quote from Vance:

“Abortion was the first political issue I can ever remember caring about, and even after twenty years, it still shocks me that progressives just ignore there’s an innocent life involved.”

#4. Cracks beginning to show in the Harris campaign. “Kamala Harris united Democrats. Her campaign still has fractures. The early tensions could dissipate — or fester and spiral.”

It’s a lengthy story in Politico written by Christopher Cadelago. He cuts right to the chase:’

Kamala Harris’ campaign is navigating internal tensions as a team of new senior strategists take hold of an operation largely staffed by people hired when Joe Biden was the Democratic nominee, according to six people, including aides familiar with the dynamics.

 

Longtime Harris loyalists are also chafing at the continuing presence of some Biden aides known for disparaging the vice president, three of the people said.

 

The unfolding friction is the result of an unprecedented overhaul of the Democratic ticket less than three months before the election, a daunting task that requires integrating two political worlds while at the same time selecting a vice presidential nominee and battling former President Donald Trump.

 

And it requires negotiating a new structure at the highest levels of the organization.

And finally

#5. Returning to Sen. Vance, Trump’s vice presidential running mate. I’d like to quote a generous portion of his acceptance speech at the 2024 Republican National Committee in Milwaukee. It says a great deal about the man and his vision for the future:

My fellow Americans, my name is JD Vance, from the great state of Ohio. Tonight is a night of hope. A celebration of what America once was, and with God’s grace, what it will soon be again.

 

And it is a reminder of the sacred duty that we have to preserve the American experiment, to choose a new path for our children and grandchildren.

 

But as we meet tonight, we cannot forget that this evening could have been much different. Instead of a day of celebration, this could have been a day of heartache and mourning. For the last eight years, President Trump has given everything he has to fight for the people of our country. He didn’t need politics, but the country needed him.

 

Prior to running for president, he was one of the most successful businessmen in the world. He had everything anyone could ever want in a life. And yet, instead of choosing the easy path, he chose to endure abuse, slander, and persecution.

 

But don’t take my word for it, go and watch the video of a would-be assassin coming a quarter of an inch from taking his life.Consider the lies they told you about Donald Trump. And then look at the photo of him defiant – fist in the air.

 

When Donald J. Trump rose to his feet in that Pennsylvania field – all of America stood up with him.

 

Even in his most perilous moment we were on his mind. His instinct was for US. To call us to something higher. To something greater. To once again be citizens who ask what our country needs of us.

 

He called for national unity, for calm. He remembered the victims of the terrible attack, especially the brave Corey Comperatore, who gave his life to protect his family.

 

And then President Trump Flew to Milwaukee and got back to work. …

 

And I want to respond to his call for unity myself.

 

And my message to my fellow Americans is: shouldn’t we be governed by a party that is unafraid to debate ideas and come to the best solution?

 

That’s the Republican Party of the next four years: united in our love for America and committed to free speech and the open exchange of ideas.

 

So tonight, I stand here humbled, and I am overwhelmed with gratitude, to say..

 

I officially accept your nomination to be vice president of the United States of America.