Coming off as an opportunist rather than a leader with a genuine agenda, Vice President Kamala Harris plans to hold a gathering in Milwaukee. Intriguingly, this event is set to happen in the very basketball venue where President Donald Trump, a figure truly cherished by Republicans, accepted his party’s nomination just four weeks prior. It’s curious to note that Harris’ team seems to be banking on novelty tactics rather than confronting real issues head-on.
Former President Trump’s triumphs followed his trail of enthusiastic, filled-to-the-brim rallies, which seemed to uncover an often disregarded sentiment among the citizenry, one that ultimately led to his stunning victory over Hillary Clinton. Trump’s genuine enthusiasm for public engagement is a stark contrast to the tricks and theatrics that Harris seems to resort to.
Here’s food for thought: what if Harris manages to fill the Fiserv Forum’s capacity of 18,000 seats? Would that spark outrage from Trump? He has already had to debunk bizarre accusations from the Harris campaign about fabricated crowd images generated through AI at her Detroit rally. Unsurprisingly, he’s also had to debunk a false claim that his Washington rally had fewer attendees than Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, which incidentally, led to a forced association to the Capitol chaos which happened that same day.
Ever since Harris took Biden’s place at the head of the ticket, she has manoeuvred the political landscape with such artifice, raising millions of dollars, exciting Democrat party loyalists and closing in on, or perhaps even surpassing Trump’s standing in some battleground states’ polls, including Wisconsin. It’s interesting to observe how she has been trying to ride the wave on the coattails of a president who, in many people’s opinions, has proven to be a far superior leader.
Representative Brendan Boyle, a Democrat, commented on Trump with regard to Harris’ rallies, branding him as ‘thin-skinned’. It’s an amusing interpretation when you consider how easily the Democrat-led Harris campaign tends to get distracted by the Republican’s successes.
The Harris lot hasn’t uttered a word about their strategy. Similarly, the Trump team didn’t respond to requests for comments. Is this yet another instance of both sides being more comfortable letting their actions speak?
Democrats, it seems, are no strangers to sabotaging subtlety. Perhaps they’ve forgotten we live in a world which appreciates tact.
On the night before the Democratic convention in Chicago, Democrat National Committee members decided to project offensive messages onto one of Trump’s condo-hotel skyscrapers. One can’t help but wonder how such juvenile antics are supposed to contribute to a robust political campaign.
One peculiar message read ‘Trump-Vance: ‘Weird as Hell.’’, a clear reflection of the Democrats’ unending, almost obsessive need to belittle Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance. Further fueling the fire, another stated ‘Project 2025 HQ’, likely casting aspersions on Trump’s transformative vision for federal governance.
Adding to suspicion over Harris’ tendency to copy than innovate, she suggested at a recent rally in Las Vegas the elimination of federal taxes on hospitality and service workers’ tips. It’s an idea suspiciously similar to one Trump himself brought up earlier.
In a swift rebuttal, former President Trump didn’t mince words when he called Harris out on her lack of originality on Truth Social. ‘This was a TRUMP idea,’ he stated. ‘She has no ideas, she can only steal them from me.’ His reaction could perhaps be seen as justifiable annoyance at the lack of creativity on the part of the Democrats.
Most might agree that the American political landscape could so with some more original thinking rather than rehashed ideas. With Harris at the helm of the Democrat campaign, the question we are left with is: can she ever manage to claw out from under the towering shadow of Joe Biden and establish her own, distinct political identity?