By Bob Maistros via Issues & Insights | October 17, 2024
You’ve heard the classic advice given first-year law students about arguing a case.
When the facts are on your side, pound the facts.
When the law is on your side, pound the law.
When neither the facts nor the law are on your side, pound the table.
Kamala Harris proved in yet another “highly anticipated interview” with Fox News’ Bret Baier that since neither the facts nor the issues are on her side, only one way remains to make her case: pound her opponent.
A few days ago, your correspondent posited that the case against Kamala boils down to six simple numbers.
Cutting through the blustering (“let me finish”) and filibustering (“this is rightly a discussion that the American people want to have”), the Veep basically attempted to state the case for herself in three equally straightforward words.
Orange Man Bad.
To wit:
Baier, pointing out Biden-Harris immigration policies resulted in catch-and-release of “a large number” of men who “committed heinous crimes.” “So looking back, do you regret the decision to terminate remain in Mexico at the beginning of your administration?
Harris: “The first bill that we offered … was a bill to fix our immigration system …”
(A bill, Baier points out, that would have put millions of illegals on a fast track to citizenship.)
“… And we worked on supporting what was a bipartisan effort, including some of the most conservative members of the United States Congress, to actually strengthen the border.
(Separate legislation offered some three years later that Baier clarifies most conservatives opposed and would have allowed in 1.8 million more illegals.)
“That border bill would have put 1,500 more border agents at the border … It would have allowed us to stem the flow of fentanyl … And Donald Trump learned about that bill and told them to kill it, because he prefers to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem.”
Translation: Between offering two bills three years apart that would have immeasurably worsened matters, we did let in 6 million illegals including hardened criminals. But Orange Man Bad.
***
Baier: “Jocelyn Nungaray, Rachel Warren, Laken Riley … were brutally assaulted and killed by some of the men who were released at the beginning of the administration, well before a negotiated bipartisan bill … This is well before Donald Trump got involved in the politics.”
Video of Jocelyn’s mother: “I believe the Biden-Harris administration open-border policies are responsible for my daughter.”
Harris: “… I’m so sorry for her loss, sincerely. But let’s talk about what is happening right now with an individual who does not want to participate in solutions.”
Translation: It’s tragic that immigrants we illegally let into the country killed innocent women, and the so-called “border bills” wouldn’t have changed any of that. But Orange Man Bad.
***
Harris in Trump ad: “Surgery for prisoners, for prisoners, every transgender inmate in the prison system would have access.”
Baier: “So are you still in support of using taxpayer dollars to help prison inmates or detained illegal aliens to transition to another gender?
Harris: “I will follow the law. It’s a law that Donald Trump actually followed. You’re probably familiar with, now, it’s a public report that under Donald Trump’s administration, these surgeries were available to on a medical necessity basis, to people in the federal prison system. … (H)e spent $20 million on those ads trying to create a sense of fear in the voters, because he actually has no plan in this election that is about focusing on the needs of the American people.”
Translation: I publicly boasted about fighting to change California policy to offer murderers sex-change surgeries at taxpayer expense. Some low-level bureaucrats made hormone treatments, not surgeries, available during Trump’s administration without his knowledge. So let’s change the subject: Orange Man Bad.
***
Baier: “Your campaign slogan is a new way forward, and it’s time to turn the page. You’ve been vice president for three and a half years. So what are you turning the page from?”
Harris: “Well, first of all, turning the page from the last decade in which we have been burdened with the kind of rhetoric coming from Donald Trump that has been designed and implemented to divide our country and have Americans literally point fingers at each other.”
Translation: I don’t dare try to separate myself from unpopular Biden-Harris policies because heads would explode in my progressive base. So “turn the page” simply means … Orange Man Bad.
***
Baier: “When did you first notice that President Biden’s mental faculties appeared diminished? …. I understand you met with him at least once a week for three years. You didn’t have any concerns?”
Harris: “I think the American people have a concern about Donald Trump, which is why the people who know him best, including leaders of our national security community, have all spoken out, even people who worked for him in the Oval Office, worked with him in the Situation Room, and have said he is unfit and dangerous.”
Translation: I hid Sleepy Joe’s infirmity from the American people for three years, so now I have to get a bunch of self-interested, self-absorbed blowhards to say, “Orange Man just as bad.”
***
Baier: “Critics just say that you either relaxed or failed to enforce sanctions on Iran, allowing all of this money to flow into Iran.”
Harris: “Let’s go back to Donald Trump, who pulled out of a deal that would have actually put Iran in check. During Donald Trump’s administration … we had an American military base that was attacked, where American soldiers suffered traumatic brain injuries, and Donald Trump dismissed them as headaches.”
Translation: I know Trump slowed the Iranian mullah’s progress toward nukes, crippled them financially, and took out their top military leader in response to an attack on U.S. service people. And we reversed all that and helped the ayatollahs finance surround-sound threats to Israel’s existence. But Orange Man Bad.
***
Kamala tried mightily to pound Trump (and for that matter, Baier). But the result: a roundhouse to her own campaign’s dwindling prospects.
The views expressed by guest contributors to I&I are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of the I&I editorial board.
Bob Maistros, a regular contributor to Issues & Insights, is a messaging and communications strategist, crisis specialist, and former political speechwriter.
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