Now that the Democratic Party has installed Vice President Kamala Harris as its nominee, one would expect her campaign to make every effort to convince the American people why they should vote for Harris in November.
The problem is, there just aren’t that many reasons to vote for Harris, so expect her campaign to focus instead on convincing the American people to vote against former President Donald Trump.
Democrats have worked for years to portray Trump as the devil, the embodiment of everything evil. It’s no surprise, then, that the Harris campaign has picked up on that well-worn theme.
If Trump is elected to a second term, they will say, the world will end as we know it, or, as a local commentator recently put it, “In November, Americans will get to decide if we will continue to be the United States of America.”
Oh, my heavens. I guess I have no choice but to vote for Kamala Harris.
Democrats repeat this bilge so often that many actually believe it’s true. So, they keep saying it.
Trump will rule as a dictator, they say. If he wins, minorities will no longer be allowed to vote, abortion will be outlawed everywhere and the poor will be left to die in the streets.
Someone once said, “Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.”
What’s more, any criticism of Harris will be said to have its root in racism, misogyny or both. That Harris is all crown and no filling is irrelevant.
Even minorities are being told they better toe the line.
In a video she posted on TikTok, MSNBC’s Joy Reid said as much. “You’re going to look real crazy being on the other side of that line,” she warned, “particularly as a person of color, but really as anyone who claims to have any connection to the culture …You’re going to look real weird and real lonely on that side.”
I guess that’s Reid’s version of Biden’s “You ain’t black if you don’t vote for me.”
Harris is working hard to win the support of “Iran’s Useful Idiots,” who are fond of desecrating the American flag and defacing public monuments, as they chant hate-filled, antisemitic slogans. Her pitch seems to be, “If you’re antisemitic and support terrorist groups like Hamas, I’m the candidate for you.”
Harris’ pick of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate was a nod to the progressive wing of her party, which made it perfectly clear Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish and a vocal supporter of Israel, would have been wholly unacceptable to them.
If my party bent to the will of openly antisemitic protesters and their supporters and actively courted their votes, I’d be very hesitant to call anyone else a fascist, as many on the left are prone to do.
Actually, the left no longer needs to use that kind of highly combustible language. It has successfully programmed its followers to hear “Nazi” and “Hitler” every time they say “MAGA Republican.”
“Ultra-radical right-wing MAGA extremists” works even better.
“Radical right-wing Christian Nationalist hate group” is a classic.
Harris’ campaign did not want the anti-Israel crowd protesting her VP pick in the streets or at the Democratic National Convention, so Harris rejected Shapiro and instead chose one of the most liberal governors in America to be her running mate.
Now that Biden is out of the way, much of the press sees it as its duty to do whatever it can to help Harris defeat Trump.
It’s why Time magazine put Harris on its cover, with a hard-hitting piece inside which begins, “The soundtrack suggested a Beyoncé concert. The light-up bracelets evoked the Eras Tour. And the exuberant crowd — more than 14,000 strong, lining up in the rain — resembled the early days of Barack Obama.”
It’s why MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell berated his own network for even covering Trump’s press conference.
It’s why Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says he can’t get an invitation to appear on CNN, MSNBC or any other left-leaning outlet.
It’s why the media never challenges the DNC to square its efforts to keep Kennedy off state ballots and the debate stage with its oft-made claim that Democrats are the “Saviors of Democracy.”
If there is one thing Harris seems to have learned as Biden’s vice president, it’s just how easy an obliging, friendly press makes avoiding public scrutiny and changing your position on any issue to meet the demands of the current political environment.
But nothing can change the fact that Harris is a dyed-in-the-wool progressive who chose another dyed-in-the-wool progressive to be her running mate. Together, they will govern as dyed-in-the-wool progressives. It’s not any more complicated than that.
Anyone who wants to understand how the pair will govern if elected needs only look at how they governed previously. What they say now doesn’t mean a thing. They’re politicians running for office.
Moderates are not likely to be particularly impressed with the progressive bona fides of Harris and Walz, so her campaign will pretend the candidates are something they’re not, and redouble their efforts to paint Trump in apocalyptic terms.
Harris may be an empty vessel, but empty vessels make the most noise.
One can only hope persuadable voters recognize they are being treated with contempt, and that they are not as easily deceived as Harris and her media allies seem to believe they are.
Chris Roemer resides in Finksburg. He can be contacted at chrisroemer1960@gmail.com.
