USA Today declares, and asks, “VP Harris has the most to lose in debate with Trump. Will prosecutor Harris show up?”
Quite a few folks have predicted that Harris will “play the prosecutor and instantly try to cast Trump as ‘the defendant.’”
“Prosecutor Harris” may thrill Democrats who are already going to vote for her, but in a race that is effectively tied, will acting and sounding like the protagonist in a John Grisham novel really move the numbers in the way that Harris needs?
First, is there anyone out there who thinks they haven’t heard the arguments against Trump? Is there anyone out there in America who thinks that Donald Trump is legendarily level-headed, precise, well-versed in the details of policy, an absolute gentleman with women, soft-spoken, clear, easygoing and amiable, forgiving and compassionate, steadfastly loyal to American allies, wary and skeptical of autocrats and dictators, resistant to flattery, shy, humble, highly principled, and resistant to hyperbole and falsehood?
Okay, I didn’t think so.
Most Democrats have been making the same arguments against Donald Trump since he descended the escalator in 2015 – except for that short period in 2016, when guys like Matt Yglesias and Jonathan Chait were cheering him on. Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, the Obamas, Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff, Jim Comey, Chuck Schumer, the entire cavalcade of Democratic presidential candidates in 2020, AOC, Beto O’Rourke, the ladies on The View, the Lincoln Project, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Gavin Newsom, hashtag #Resistance — day after day, year after year.
American politics, for the past decade, has been stuck in this holding pattern of Democrats telling us that Donald Trump is just the worst.
And the race is still roughly 50-50.
I don’t think ninety minutes of Harris telling us how bad Trump is will move the needle.
The latest New York Times poll suggests Americans want to hear more specific plans from Harris, how she would represent any change from a Biden administration that disappointed them, fear Harris is too liberal, aren’t sure they trust her on the economy, and blame her at least somewhat for inflation, the insecure southern border, and the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Just spitballing here, but what if Harris used the largest television audience she’s likely to get before Election Day addressing all of that, instead of rehashing the same criticisms of Trump that the audience has heard plenty of times before?