It’s all up to him.
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump gestures after speaking at the National Guard Association of the United States’ 146th General Conference, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Less than 40 days ago, Democrats were ruefully referring to Kamala Harris as “Biden’s insurance policy,” meaning that a clearly deficient Joe Biden was being protected by aversion to his obvious successor – a woman of scant accomplishment plagued by a penchant for nonsensical verbal diarrhea.
That was then.
Today, less than six weeks later, Ms. Harris is the Democratic nominee for president, is fresh off the convention in Chicago at which she was heralded as the finest candidate since the transcendence of Barack Obama, and is gaining in the polls. She has a credible shot at becoming president without having been subjected to the crucible of the primary election process. She is the first politician of the modern era to become a major party nominee for president without having received even a single vote in a state primary election.
Since her anointment, Ms. Harris has been floating on a puffy cloud of media adoration. If she becomes president, she will have done so with less effort than any president in American history, except perhaps for George Washington, who was elected by acclamation.
Though we can’t foretell the future, it is still safe to say that the media will be at pains to avoid challenging Ms. Harris in any way that might damage her chances against Orange Man. At this writing, she has successfully avoided unscripted events, press conferences and one-on-one media interviews save for one pre-taped interview with CNN’s Dana Bash (to which she brought a wingman). As the Wall Street Journal’s Daniel Henninger explains it, Kamala Harris is “the biggest soap bubble American politics has ever seen.” Only contact with a hard surface can keep her from “floating into office.”
The media has no intention of popping the bubble. In the absence of the vetting that a properly functioning fourth estate is supposed to provide, the only thing standing between Kamala Harris and the Oval Office is Donald Trump.
That fact has Republicans and conservatives biting their nails.
It can be argued that the 2024 presidential election is Trump’s election to lose, and it can be simultaneously argued that Trump is quite capable of bringing that loss about.
It’s all up to him.
If Trump will stick to the issues and avoid the distractions that plagued his previous campaigns, he will defeat Kamala Harris.
If he will stay disciplined and avoid being baited into sophomoric social media rants, he will win.
If he will mount a fact-based challenge to Ms. Harris’s well documented hard-left policy positions (from which she is now attempting to distance herself), and properly connect her to a deeply unpopular Biden administration, he will win.
If he can show independent voters that he has gained strength from his successes and wisdom from his mistakes, he will win.
If Trump can get voters to recall what it was like buying groceries, filling the tank, and paying rent when he was president, he will win.
But, if Lord help us, we get the Donald Trump of 2020, Kamala Harris becomes president.
I’ve said all along that Trump should take the same approach to Harris that George W. Bush took to Ann Richards back in 1990. He said, “if I treat her with respect and stick to the issues, I’ll win”. He was right.
Lets hope Trump takes that to heart.
Loyal Democrats will not abandon Kamala even when confronted with her documented policy reversals and absurd ideas on dealing with the economy. They have all they need- a warm body that can speak, maybe word salad, but she can speak in intelligible sentences unlike Joe. Even if Trump were elected, there are no miracles on the horizon. Democrats and their loyalist media will do everything to disrupt or dismantle his agenda and Congress will continue to spend more than we take in.
No matter who wins in November, the losing side supporters will have to adapt to the outcome. After being on the losing side many times, I’ve adopted a very simple philosophy -don’t wait for the government to make your life better, it’s up to you.
The Democrats decided long ago that if left on their own to make decisions for themselves, people become conservative in their beliefs in order to protect their property, therefore becoming harder to control. Freedom to a Republican is 180° opposite to freedom to a Democrat. That is why the civil rights movement is stuck in a quagmire. It is totally opposite what MLK, Jr. envisioned – equal treatment regardless of skin color. Democrats want things BASED on skin color! Black republicans are trashed as sellouts and Uncle Tom’s. Respect is something you earn, as well as something given to you.
Paul, your post titled “It’s all up to him” could not be more spot on. It IS up to Trump. He can win in a landslide if he will publicly “own” his flaws and admit that he is not likeable…but that his policies are more in line with what our founding forefathers had in mind and the majority of the country wants. He does need to adopt Nikki Haley’s position on abortion. The Republicans have an opportunity to bury the Democratic Party forever…if they will get out of their own way and stop the in-fighting. I wish that the national conservative media would adopt your posture instead of kissing up to Trump without acknowledging his many flaws. The Fox nighttime lineup should be embarrassed for all of their blind cheerleading. Keep up the great work!
Steve