Economy

It’s official. Donald Trump is “like Hitler” and Kamala Harris — even though she does “pray everyday, sometimes twice a day,” can’t seem to answer questions. Her "joyful" campaign took a confusing turn in her CNN town hall in Pennsylvania Wednesday night. She opened with an attack on Donald Trump, in answer to Anderson Cooper’s question about John Kelly’s claims. Kamala says Donald Trump is “increasingly unstable,” “unfit,” “fascist to the core” and that “he himself has said he would terminate the constitution of the United States.” It wasn’t until much later that “joy” and “optimism” were mentioned. The audience at the Delaware County town hall consisted of undecided voters.

When you look back on the 2024 presidential election and try to understand why it was that Kamala Harris lost, there are a few things to remember. The first is that the two most important issues for American voters were the border and the cost of living. By “the border” I do not just mean the incomplete physical barrier along our southern frontier. That structure is merely the objective correlative of a policy that has its roots in such lofty ideas as sovereignty, the meaning of citizenship and national identity. After her coronation as the Democratic candidate in late July, Harris began to squirm and prevaricate about her appointment by Joe Biden as the “border czar.” But we have the phrase in black and white in the record of the appointment.

Vice President Kamala Harris met with the National Association of Black Journalists for an interview this afternoon. Instead of going back-to-back with Donald Trump for his explosive interview with the NABJ in July — she spoke to a historically black sorority instead — Kamala rescheduled for September. And bless Politifact’s heart, they partnered with the NABJ, per a tweet before the interview, to fact-check her. These ruthless and cut-throat journalists would not let Kamala get by without a real grilling. Harris avoided many pointed questions. The journalists — who included Politico’s Eugene Daniels, a big Harris fan — seemed to think Kamala’s policies weren’t radical enough.

While the DNC is in full swing in Chicago, Donald Trump and J.D. Vance are spending the week traveling to battleground states as part of their campaign’s way of counterprogramming. Trump’s schedule is packed this week, with more events than he’s done in several weeks. Today, Trump made an appearance in Howell, Michigan, to “deliver a strong message on law and order, making it clear that crime, violence and hate of any form will have zero place in our country when he is back in the White House,” according to Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt. Trump came under fire from Democrats for choosing Howell, part of Livingston County, which was rocked by white supremacist demonstrations last month with some chanting “Heil Hitler” and has links with the KKK.

I’ve seen it repeated numerous times, most recently by our friends over at the Free Press: 2024 is a “vibes election.” The definition of this is clumsily characterized, but essentially it means (as the FP says) that the personalities matter more than the policies. Who would you like to have a beer with, not who would you prefer to handle the very urgent need to pass Social Security Disability Insurance reform. This contention, made by many intelligent people, is absolute shite. The 2024 election has been one of the most stable elections of the modern era in terms of voter priorities, with the top three issues — the economy, immigration and security — locked in for more than a year.