Is the current Harris the product of momentum — flash in the pan?
Having posed the headline question, readers may assume that I have an answer to the question – or at least an informed opinion. I do not. The only difference between me and so many on the giddy left is that I see the possibility of Vice President Harris being a flash in the pan.
Harris’ political honeymoon should come as no surprise. Of course, she would do better than Biden – an 81-year-old mentally compromised President with a litany of unpopular policies. Harris doing better was the foregone conclusion. And of course, she would enjoy a period of euphoria – a political honeymoon — less the result of her ascension and more about Biden’s withdrawal.
But the over-the-top praise and body-trembling excitement is hyperbole on the part of those who actually believe that Harris is some sort of super candidate who is “faster than a speeding bullet … more powerful than a locomotive … able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.”
The good news for Harris is that her numbers are better than Biden’s. She has crept up on Trump by a point or two. The bad news for Harris is that despite all the upbeat rhetoric from the media cheerleaders, she has only moved up a couple of percentage points.
As I pointed out in a previous commentary … with 80 to 90 percent of the likely voters having already made up their minds, the pool of available voters for Harris to attract is very small.
If tradition holds, Harris should get another small bump when she names her vice presidential choice and again following the Democratic National Convention. After that, it is a race to the finish line.
The one question unanswered is whether Harris has real momentum or is just a flash in the pan. We saw that when she entered the presidential race last time. She attracted a lot of attention – and a lot of fawning media praise – but she crashed and burned upon launch.
Some national polls will fuel Harris’ optimism. She will come within a fraction of a percent of Trump – and in some cases, a point ahead. That is good for your morale but it is the battleground states that will make all the difference. At this junction, Trump still has a better path to the 270 electoral votes that decide the winner – but it is less of a slam dunk now.
Harris cannot beat Trump on the critical issues – but Trump can beat Trump. He is often his own worst enemy. The only safe observation that can be made is that the race is closer than it was when Biden was the candidate. So, there ‘ti
Well, I can’t imagine anyone is guesing whether the momentum will stay the same, decrease, or increase. Far too early to tell. Horist has it right though in that we have the VP pick which ahould be a momentum extender. And then the convention, which will definitely be a momentum extender, unless disaster befalls Harris.
After that, conventional wisdom would say there will be a law, a letdown,. But we do not know. What we do know is that incredible strides were made in the first week of the Harris campaign is grass roots and beyond,. her style seems crisp, there is no cackle, her brand looks strong. And we know team Trump is flustered. They can’t even figure out which punch to throw, much less land and actual blow.
And the self-inflicted wounds like project 2025, trump‘s recent racist, comments, and JD Vance in general are not helping. Not to mention the legal cases, the announced Republican turncoats, and the new killer book by Fred Trump Jr. Makes Mary Trump look like a supporter.
Like I said, conventional wisdom says there will be a lull. But you never know, this may be the new Camelot known now as Kamelot. . .
Many candidates have had momentum a year before the election and run out of steam far shy of the primaries. Momentum 3 months before the election is something altogether different. Democrats in power were worried that Biden was too old and that the age issue could cause him to lose. They did something about it, and now there is REAL momentum for Harris. The worm has turned – now the old guy is Felon Trump, and everything he said about Biden can be turned back on himself.
Larry, you said “Harris cannot beat Trump on the critical issues”… You are delusional. And wrong. You only need to look at Felon Trump’s record as President to see that he was a complete idiot when it came to issues. He inherited a strong economy from Obama, and screwed it up. Felon Trump totally botched the response to COVID, and had to be bailed out by Biden. The only noteworthy thing he did was a trillion dollar tax cut for the rich – good for billionaires, bad for everyone else, and it went right to his trillion dollar deficit. Felon Trump got in by cheating and collusion with the Russians, was impeached twice, and was thoroughly trounced by Biden. Felon Trump tried to steal the election, and then spent the next 4 years crying that it was stolen from him. He’s been convicted of a third of his criminal charges, so far, and more to come. And don’t forget that his sentencing is still coming up in mid September. Regardless of attempts by Scotus to crown Felon Trump king, the judge still has the option to sentence him to a long prison sentence. Let’s see how his poll numbers look when he’s in jail.
Felon Trump is already losing voters because he’s old, he’s a life-long criminal, and he’s alienating blacks, latinos, gays, women, and basically anyone who’s not a white supremacist. He is also getting erratic as he realizes that he’s losing, to a woman at that. A black woman, even. Someone he thinks beneath his dignity, who he would have turned away 20 years ago from his and his father’s slum housing. Oh, that must burn his ass…
“He [Felonious Trump] is his own worst enemy” – No, he’s making enemies of most of the citizens of this country, and they’re starting to realize it now. Polls are showing Harris up by 2-5 points in every swing state. There’s another rout coming!
Let’s keep the White House white
JSB: nice tight summary. Not sure I agree on the collusion, although they did meet a lot, Trump gave them US campaign polling data, and tell each other how much they wanted to beat Hillary, by any means. They never said: “don’t distribute those stolen emails…..” And you missed his felony was in furtherance of the crime of rigging the 2016 by squashing the spanking-sex story of Don and the Porn Star just before the election. Apparently, the Republican version of free speech includes buying and selling news stories, no doubt a policy that Trump voters like.
Then, it’s all that proven, that he tried again to cheat the 2020 in the GA case where his lawyers, his own lawyers, have pled guilty to the crime and will testify against him,
I am sure he has plans in motion to cheat in the 2024. Like I have said, this leopard’s spots will not change. He will never pivot. He will never unify, except as a thrall to him. He will never be Presidential.
The worm will turn…..one of my favorite idioms, the bard I think. Two things I have noticed as time goes by. One is the speed of worming turning has quickened. After 9/11, and we gave up our freedoms for security, I knew we would go to far at some point, the Patriot Act et al. I figured a two-three years. It was about one year before we tallied up abuses. Bush was our hero post 9/11 and the speed of which the worm had turned post Katrina was amazing. Speed of light he was persona non grata over night.
The worm will turn…. if Trump gets in, here’s my worse case scenario. He fires the deep state, i.e. government workers, not just the appointees, but tens of thousands of workers with the list provided by The Heritage Foundation’s list. Replaces the with sycophant brown shirts who put loyalty to the KIng before the Constitution and other laws. They immediately weaponize the DOJ and go on the revenge and retribution tour. The brown shirts find out they love the work, they are good at it, and like all organisms and organizations, they will do anything to exist and expand. So, then they come for you……… The worm has turned, and can turn that easy, and today — can turn very, very fast.
Or, more Republicans realize this is just too much, too weird, too crazy, and like the Mayor of Mesa, turn on Trump and tell the world. And then that worm will finally turn. Mary Trump hates Trump and now Fred Trump III does too. Arnold does not like Trump and says so. Many of Trump’s last team hate him and have said so: Pence, Esper, Kelly, Mulvaney, Coats, Bolton, McMasters, are just of few of Trump’s appointees that have seen the light. Trump is on his heels, the worm can turn. People are risking all to stand up and shout: “this is wrong and I’m not going to take it anymore. I will not sit down, I will not be silent, I dislike the policies and I hate the man.”
Then again, maybe I just need more coffee. :>)
One thing is certain: the pump is primed and if the worm turns, it will be very, very fast.
I am a trump supporter and would much rather have Trump than a socialistic government. BIden was so busy giving away money like he some kind of savior. He is a crook, he is evil and the one that took over for him is twice as bad. Look what they have done to this country by opening the border and bringing all those law breakers into this country. And we reward them by giving them housing,money,medical help, and we don’t punish them when they commit a crime. Yes the democrats are certainly looking out for the AMERICAN PEOPLE.
Judy, thanks for sharing. A few notes:
With Trump, you will still have as much socialism as you do with Biden in that Trump will not and cannot take apart our major programs like Social Security, Medicare, the Post Office, and Welfare. He may diminish them, but will keep the programs.
And sorry: Trump let out 412B in stimulus checks, Biden 401B. And the Trump giveaway tax cuts to the rich sinks his boat causing the YUGEST deficit in US history, still beats Biden to this day.
Did Biden cause inflation via free money; YES. Biden helped Trump create inflation and Biden alone is bringing it down. Hopefully, given the past two days, not with a deep recession.
We do not give illegals money or housing and only emergency care. We do punish most who commit crimes, either by US incarceration/fines or deportation. Yes, some get away. Some cheat to get government money, but chump change compared to US citizens doing the same. We do highlight the stories more for sure.
You can check the stats, pretty sure everything is supportable here, many times over.
Judy, unfortunately, you’ve been lied to by the Republicans. First of all, most immigrants are good people. Looking at your name, I assume you and/or your husband’s family immigrated from Italy. Legal or not, the laws were different then. They were most likely economic refugees looking for a better life, or escaping the hardships of WW2 and the rule of Mussolini (who Felon Trump is trying very hard to emulate). They are far less likely to commit crimes than US-born citizens.
Secondly, the crime rate has been steadily dropping for about 20 years (except for a rise during Felon Trump’s term). Nearly every member of Felon Trump’s cabinet (as well as he himself) has been convicted of crimes. He’s a one-man crime spree. Trump’s family got more than $2B in investment from the Saudis, hundreds of thousands in trademarks from the Chinese, and his hotel in Washington was booked full of empty rooms that went into his pocket. No President has ever used the Office to make money. And meanwhile, Trump is pocketing millions of dollars from his campaign funds, and when he loses he’ll cry again about cheating and make more money off of that (not that he’ll be able to spend it from prison).
Studies have shown that the economy of cities that have taken in refugees has been made stronger, not weaker. The unemployment rate is around 3% (good for workers!) thanks to Obama and Biden (it rose to almost 10% during Felon Trump’s term). An influx of immigrants allows businesses to expand, and helps the economy overall. I also saw an article the other day that undocumented immigrants paid 100 BILLION dollars in taxes last year. Even if they need some assistance, per capita they are contributing more to the economy than US citizens.
There was a bipartisan bill to fix immigration, but Republicans killed it in the Senate after felon Trump told them not to fix it so he could campaign on the issue. So, Republicans chose party over the good of the country. Biden went ahead and did what he could do without Congressional approval, and has reduced border crossing in the south by over 50%, lower rates than during Felon Trump’s term.
And the Democrats aren’t taking away your right to an abortion (whether you choose to exercise that right or not. They don’t want to monitor your menstrual cycles to make sure you don’t get an abortion. The so-called pro-family Republicans voted against school lunches for all children. Democrats encourage voting and make it easier, Republicans try to limit to white males (now they want them to have children too). And there has never been any evidence that illegal aliens are voting. In fact, more Republicans have gotten caught voting twice than documented cases of illegal aliens voting. Felon Trump promised an infrastructure bill “coming in two weeks” for his entire term. Biden had it passed in a matter of weeks. Felon Trump, just in the last few days, praised Putin for “getting a good deal” and was incredulous that no money changed hands. Democrats don’t bribe or solicit bribes, they build alliances with our allies and get things done by cooperation.
So, do a little research from somewhere besides Fox News, Newsmax, and PBP before you decide to cast your vote this fall. As you said, “Yes the democrats are certainly looking out for the AMERICAN PEOPLE.”
The same people pushing the incredible success of Biden are now the same people pushing the success for Harris.
Hollywood and a few delusional women are the only new individuals that have jumped on the wagon.
The honeymoon is not a honeymoon, it is a charade perpetuated by the news once again instead of journalists actually
doing their jobs.
You can wrap Dog Crap in any package you like.
Once you open and see it, Its still Dog Crap!
People will Smell out the Democrat Candidate the closer the unwrapping gets!