Trump is ready to lead calm minds as Democrats fawn over Kamala
The synchronized swimming competition at the Paris Olympics hasn’t started yet, but we already have a winner.
The gold medal goes to the American media for its flawless unity in drop kicking Joe Biden to the curb and synchronized slobbering over Kamala Harris.
Without missing a beat, the mob that demanded Democrats dump Biden is embracing Harris as his replacement atop the party ticket.
There are no questions or hesitations. The single mindedness of the move has been so swift and complete that it already seems like it’s always been this way.
Joe who?
The damning reports about how Harris was impossible to work for have been discarded. Claims she couldn’t be bothered to prepare for public appearances, then blamed aides when things went off the rails, have been deep-sixed.
As for her being the border czar who presided over a disaster, that’s been declared a false right-wing talking point. As Time magazine insisted, “Harris was never put in charge of the border or immigration policy.”
Besides, whatever job she had, it was Biden’s fault for giving her “an especially thankless” task.
Blatant party foul
The seamless switcheroo came without any pangs over the discarding of the 14 million primary votes Biden got. Given the media’s tiresome denunciations of Donald Trump as a “threat to democracy,” even a few howls of protest about the back-room dealing might have been expected.
But the only sound was crickets because when the undemocratic Dems need to win an election, to hell with sappy mush about the will of the people.
Even the bosses of Tammany Hall would have blushed over the chutzpah needed to sideline a sitting president.
In one sense, the media reset marks a return to normalcy. That’s because the bulk of the Washington press corps doesn’t see its job as covering the news, but rather covering up the news if it makes a Democrat look bad.
That explains why the leftist outlets never showed any curiosity or concern about Biden’s obvious cognitive decline for the first three and one-half years of his tenure.
Until his debate debacle.
Even then, the sudden about-face had nothing to do with whether he was too addled to serve as commander-in-chief in a time of heightened global strife.
The only concern was whether Biden could beat Trump. When the polls said he couldn’t, the president’s Praetorian Guards became his assassins.
The knives, in addition to shocking daffy old Joe, rudely awakened the Trump campaign, which was still on a high following the president’s “fight, fight, fight” spirit after the assassination attempt.
The GOP convention was so wildly successful that it sparked chatter of a landslide in the making.
Never mind.
Suddenly, that seems so long ago, as do the spring rumors that top Senate Dems were trying to force Harris off the ticket.
Instead, we saw instant media interest in a wild theory that Trump wasn’t actually hit by a bullet, despite what his doctor and the hospital that treated him found.
Hillbilly hell-egy
And nothing says media business-as-usual like the attacks on J.D. Vance for including Harris in what he called “childless cat ladies.” He made the foolish comments three years ago, when he was running for the Senate and Harris was vice president, but they became press catnip only after she assumed the top spot on the ticket.
Seemingly every outlet in creation is piling on, using Vance’s recent explanations to claim he’s “doubling down.” It’s more evidence they think with one brain and have one goal — elect a Democrat.
Still, the media gusher of bally-hoo about Harris should serve as a warning to the Trump campaign. Instant polls showing a tighter race indicate that much of the playbook the former president and Vance were following against Biden won’t work against her.
For one thing, Harris flips the generational issue, making Trump the old man in the contest.
For another, her race and gender could undercut his progress in winning over black voters and suburban women.
Most important, rank-and-file Dems are wildly enthusiastic about their candidate, which marks a big change from Biden’s last days. Donations, large and small, are pouring in.
The surge has been likened to a stock market relief rally, but political momentum is hard to regain when you’ve lost it.
One key move that could dent the Dem wave is for Trump to retire his habit of using nasty nicknames in favor of making substantive arguments about administration policies and Harris’ past positions.
The other day, for example, he called her a “radical left lunatic.”
The “lunatic” part is an attention grabber that will turn off some voters, but the “radical left” part could be a gold mine.
There’s no shortage of material showing how much of a committed leftist Harris is.
She’s far to the left of Biden, who was able to keep up the fiction that he was a middle class, middle-of-the-road Dem because that’s what he once was.
Harris has always been a California progressive and never tried to hide it until now. Suddenly faced with having to appeal to moderate Dems and independents, she’s scrambling to re-brand herself.
Look at the list of running mates she’s said to be considering. All are white men who are more moderate than she is. The hope is that voters will see the list as evidence of her own moderation.
Trump can’t count on the media to point out the truth, so he has to do it in ways free of distractions. Thus, her support for George Floyd rioters who faced charges is a matter of record, and despite the fact that she was once a prosecutor, she has been more aligned with the “defund the police” movement than those who “back the blue.”
Shameful Bibi snub
A strain of that radicalism raised its ugly head last week regarding Israel. After skipping the address of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to a joint session of congress, she put out a forceful and welcome statement denouncing rioters who carried Hamas flags and burned American flags.
But the next day, after meeting with Netanyahu, she issued another harsh statement about Israel’s actions in Gaza. Netanyahu was reportedly miffed because it was far more critical than anything she said to him in private.
It also shows her muddled thinking. Iran and the rioters take comfort from any criticism of Israel, making her one of those “useful idiots” Netanyahu denounced.
For his part, Trump still has an ace to play. He told me the day after he was nearly murdered that the incident persuaded him he needed to “try to unite our country.”
He added that he was uncertain if it is possible because “People are very divided.”
He’s right about that, but the next president will inherit the whirlwind if the heated polarization leads to increased political violence.
As a survivor of that violence, Trump is uniquely positioned to make the case for cooler heads.
Leading by example would be good for America — and also good politics.
