It wasn’t like Vice-President Harris’ strategy was hard to predict: vague promises instead of policies, including a boodle of money taken from others to pour over favored groups; multiple scare attacks on the abortion front; half-truths and outright lies. It was a risky strategy, because an opponent could use a recitation of fact to shoot many of her statements full of holes.
But she was fortunate in her choice of opponents. Donald Trump was his usual rambling self, unfocussed and uncaring of time. Neither he nor the moderators cared to correct Harris’ many inaccuracies – the latter was to be expected, the former surprising. “No member of the US military is in a combat zone today” she crowed. Like Biden’s “no member of the military died on my watch,” it’s neglectful and just plain stupid. I wonder if personnel in the two Navy task forces busy knocking down Houthi drones over the Red Sea or Iranian-made missiles over Israel think they’re in a combat zone? Or our troops stationed in Iraq, several of whom were recently injured in Shi’ite attacks?
Last night we were treated to an example of why preparation is key to success. Simply said, Donald Trump whiffed an easy one.
On Ukraine, Harris floated one over the plate. Trump blooped it. She crowed about being sent to negotiate a solution to Russia’s claims on Ukraine, a support for her laughable claim that no European leaders respected Trump. A week after she left, Russia invaded. Trump repeated what she said, but didn’t make the necessary point: if you insist that world leaders respect you more than your opponent, noting that a military action to change a border in Europe immediately followed your warning not to do so is a very odd way to prove it. Trump also missed the opportunity to briefly mention that the two previous Russian invasions – in Georgia and the Crimea – also happened during a democratic administration. Because weakness breeds attempt.
Trump missed one on immigration too. Harris began with a lie: that the failure of a “bipartisan” immigration bill made it impossible to deal with the chaos at our Southern border. Trump could easily have pointed out that said chaos began far earlier than this year and was triggered by Biden’s cancellation of all Trump administration border directives on day one. The Biden-Harris administration essentially hung out the welcome sign with a stroke of the pen – and more than ten million people responded, including a very large number of criminals, terrorists and military-age men. But he didn’t, and drivel about people eating cats didn’t suffice as a replacement. He could also have asked her – since the moderators obviously wouldn’t – if the bill’s allowance of five thousand illegal entrants per day before restrictions would have been applied was okay with her. That’s a Jacksonville, Florida or Austin, Texas every year. What do the Democrats plan to do with these people? We can only guess…
There was abortion, which is perplexingly difficult for Republicans. Of course Kamela immediately seized the low ground, advocating the unlimited right to kill unborn children. Trump stated only that he would not sign a national abortion ban, but badly fumbled the argument that, after 50 years of the “penumbra of the Constitution” providing a right to kill an unborn child, this is an issue best left to the people of each state. Alas. He also failed to ask the central question: why is the Democrat party so obsessed with death that they seek to establish it as a national policy? This seems macabre, to say the least.
Then there were Vice-President Harris’ half-truths and outright lies. An example of the former was her statement that she was in favor of fracking and that the Biden administration had presided over “the largest production of oil and natural gas in our history.” True, but the increase comes only from private land. Since 2021, the Biden administration had slowed or “paused” the sale of leases on Federal lands and dramatically raised regulatory costs for drillers. See the Federal Register for details. As a result, the only increases on public lands are in costs.
Under “outright lies” we have the oft-disproved but oft-repeated “Trump called the Charlottesville Nazis ‘very fine people’” slander. He said nothing of the sort, and both the transcripts and video of his actual statement denouncing both Neo-Nazis and the “Proud Boys” in no uncertain terms have been available since the day he did it. Nevertheless, Harris, doubtless told that the line tested well with her stalwarts, went ahead and used it, and the truth be damned.
Trump could and should have made more objection to both of these sorts of untruths. There were many others: remember “Trump gave us the worst economy in 100 years?” or “Trump says if he isn’t elected, there will be a bloodbath?” The former refers to the economic effects of Covid, the source of which was correctly identified by Donald Trump. Remember, he was called a racist by Democrats for doing so. The latter is Trump’s comment about the effects on the US auto industry, should Harris be elected. It’s economic, not political commentary. There’s a clip of his entire statement, should anyone be interested.
There was the lie that police officers died at the Capitol building in the January 6 riot. They did not. But two protestors did, one shot by a Capitol policeman, one beaten to death by other police personnel. Trump mentioned Ashley Babitt, who was shot.
Harris’ outright lies are informative. She tells them repeatedly despite their being debunked. She tells them because she’s heard them before, because they test well with her target audience, and because she – and her puppet masters – deeply despise her audiences. They think the average American is too stupid and too lazy to check anything she says. I hope they will soon discover how wrong they are
In the end, Trump lost to a practiced and polished attack poodle. He was undisciplined and unready, and he paid the price. A shame, since both candidates have a record on which to run. On the one hand, peace and prosperity, and a society safe at home. On the other, a history of silence, inaction and outright failure (see “Ukraine,” above). And we are about to begin the fraught process of making one of these people our country’s leader.
I suggest we chose the one who’s actually done things. Like secure the border, or actually create an “opportunity society.” And that ain’t Kamela folks. No matter how many people are pulling her strings from the shadows, she’s still the same wooden-headed doll she always has been.
And this country needs much more.
