The New York Times ran a front-page story on Sunday saying that Vice President Kamala Harris has made a notable shift in strategy to paint Donald Trump as unfit and dangerous.
We alluded to this shift last week.
The first notable instance was when Harris appeared before Bret Baier of Fox News. As the back and forth continued, Harris shifted uncomfortably in her chair, expressing raw rage toward former President Donald Trump. [Watch clip starting 19:32 to 20:45].
At a public appearance the day after the Fox interview, Harris, sounding scary and with her body language ominously in sync, screamed: "[Trump] should never again stand behind the seal of [voice steadily rising] the President of the United States. Never again! Never again!! Never again!!"
Continuing this pattern, Harris is now campaigning with former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney, aiming to channel the latter's anger against Trump as additional fuel to remind voters of his lack of respect for the Constitution.
I counted that I have taken an oath of office six times. For the elected leaders here, we know it is an oath that one must take sincerely and unequivocally. It is an oath, among other things, to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. To understand what those principles represent and what they require of the individual who holds the office in public trust. Let us not undervalue that point as well.
The translation of this word salad? Trump is an enemy of democratic principles and unfit to return as the 47th president because he is not worthy of the public's trust. Harris, meanwhile, cares about democracy.
There are several problems with such a line of attack. It could define a new opponent in the race, but with fewer than two weeks to go, it can't move a single vote away from Trump if he is the target.
As we have maintained numerous times on these pages, millions of Americans know President Trump better than many of their closest relatives and friends. Every public utterance, every private action (leaked through dozens of books by once-close confidants), and every government charge at the federal, state, and local levels has been making the rounds on television and radio for over nine years, nearly on a 24/7 basis.
Trump was impeached twice by the House and acquitted twice by the Senate for failing to uphold the Constitution. Some may view impeachment as the final nail in the coffin, but most citizens know that impeachment is just a zealous charge by aggressive, partisan prosecutors. What matters is whether Trump was convicted, and in both cases, he was not - set free by his political colleagues who had a say over his future.
Furious that this happened, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi assembled a partisan group of House members, including so-called non-partisan Liz Cheney and Adam Kinziger(chosen only for their hatred for Trump), to an elite J6 Committee. With unlimited funds to investigate and inform the public, the J6 Committee engaged the services of a professional ABC News producer to carefully time the death by a thousand cuts during primetime in 2022. Every statement made by everyone was wholly destructive of Trump, who was then in political exile and banned from social media platforms and ostracized by the legacy media. At the show's peak, FBI agents raided Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence, accusing him of stealing confidential records and lying about them.
What happened to Liz Cheney? In the Wyoming Republican primaries that were held around the same time as the J6 Committee was attempting to destroy Trump's image on primetime TV, 71% of Wyoming voters kicked her out of office by voting for her opponents. About the same percentage of voters had chosen her in 2020, and she had won by similar margins back in 2016. The voters did not buy the attacks against Trump and turned against Cheney.
Always the politician, Cheney announced the launch of the Great Task PAC to educate Americans about the "threats to democracy" and oppose any effort by Trump to return to the White House. The liberal media fawned over Cheney's crushing election defeat in glorified terms. She is thinking of running in the 2024 presidential election. She was brave for bucking her party and standing on principle, even if it meant losing an election. One career ended, and another is beginning.
The new beginning never happened. Cheney's political career ended for a good 19 months until Harris miraculously reached out to her, probably promising to give her a cabinet post if Harris won, to solidify the anti-Trump TDS vote.
In November 2022, President Biden had engaged in the same tactics as Harris did this week. Phil Mattingly of CNN, respectful of Biden's wishes not to utter former President Trump's name but ask a question about him nevertheless, asked at 00:20:16 in this C-SPAN video clip:
CNN: "Last month, you said the rest of the world is looking at both the good guys and the bad guys. You noted you're going to the G20 in a couple of days. You will come face-to-face with many of those leaders, the same moment your predecessor is considering launching a reelection effort. How should those world leaders view this moment for America and your presidency?"
Biden responded with a long-winded answer about January 6, saying, "The rest of the world looks to us." He continued:
Nothing like this has happened since the Civil War. I don't want to exaggerate, but literally. What I find is they want to know, is the United States stable? Do we know what we are about? Are we the same democracy we have always been? ...They are concerned that we are still the open democracy that we have been and that we have rules, and that the institutions matter. That is the context in which they are looking at. Are we back to a place where we are going to accept decisions made by the court, by the Congress, the government, etc.?
"We just have to demonstrate that he will not take power if he does run, making sure he — under legitimate efforts of our Constitution — does not become the next president again."
Nine days later, Biden's Attorney General appointed Jack Smith as a Special Counsel to go after Trump., Smith took on this charge with absolute glee, charging Trump in 34 criminal cases.
Americans are tired of the Democrats' nonstop charge that Trump doesn't support the Constitution. Enough already. It has been going on for four years nonstop.
Who got politically hurt in the process? Liz Cheney, Adam Kinziger, Jeff Flake, Mike Pence, Chris Christie (where is he these days?), Nikki Haley, and even President Joe Biden. If Harris resorts to this line of attack in the closing days of this campaign, she is likely to join this group and ride with them into the political sunset of retirement.
