How the former president can hold his ground, and gain some, against the new Democratic nominee.
How the former president can hold his ground, and gain some, against the new Democratic nominee.
F irst, don’t get upset about any single economic statistic thrown at you by Kamala Harris. All of them judge the Trump administration by the Covid-19 doldrums and credit the comeback to the Biden administration. The fact is, voters are generally treating Covid-19 as an act of God and giving politicians lots of breaks for how they behaved. If they were judging strictly on Covid, it would be Ron DeSantis up there, not you. If you have to offer up one regret, mention that you should have fired Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Second, focus relentlessly on immigration. The debate moderators will likely try to limit immigration talk to putting you on the defensive about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio. Don’t let them. This has become the most important issue for most voters, and the Biden-Harris record on it cannot be defended. Memorize a few lines from Democratic mayors about the disaster that controlled immigration has been for New York or Chicago. This is a problem you not only managed with executive orders, but one that you did with mature diplomacy with a left-wing Mexican government. In other words, this is where you proved that you were more than a big slogan and knew how to govern. The Biden-Harris record is veterans on the streets and illegal immigrants in luxury hotels. They have passed legally dubious amnesties. They allowed border communities to be swamped and overwhelmed by chaos they deliberately invited. And when the Left put her under pressure, Harris said she wanted to abolish ICE and compared it to the Ku Klux Klan. She wanted to decriminalize the border and give free health care to illegal immigrants. And it isn’t just her playing second fiddle. When she was district attorney, she released illegal immigrants who subsequently went on to commit heinous crimes. One was a triple homicide. Make her own it.
Third, the moderators will try to talk about abortion as much as possible because you cannot appease the hard pro-choice crowd, and you can alienate yourself from pro-lifers. Stand behind the integrity of your promise to overturn Roe — you’re correct that many legal scholars thought it was a nonsense ruling. It is also politically expedient of you to say that you are “for the exceptions as Reagan was.” Please don’t say “follow your heart” to the pro-lifers. It comes across as cringingly condescending. Say that pro-life people do heroic work supporting mothers and that you will not let taxpayer funding go to abortion, but that you do not plan on signing any federal abortion legislation and believe the states need time to work out their own policies.
Fourth, take the lead on foreign policy. You negotiated the end of America’s longest war, and Biden-Harris botched the withdrawal. If you are accused of being pals with Putin, fire back that it is good to get along with our adversaries, and then add that Vladimir Putin took neighboring territory under George W. Bush in Georgia, under Barack Obama in Ukraine, and under Biden and Harris again in Ukraine. The one presidency under which he did not disrespect his neighbor’s border? Yours.
Fifth, point out that the political establishment started by ridiculing you and the MAGA movement. Now, they’re taking up versions of your position. Joe Biden kept your tariffs on China. Kamala Harris, once she faces the voters, pretends to be for the wall. Make your pitch: You can have people who pretend to do what I do, or you can have the real thing.