Politics: Can Harris "Don't F**k S**T Up" Media Strategy Work?
Can Harris's all-scripted strategy work until November? Do enough Americans care?
It’s pretty clear what the Democrats are doing about their presidential nominee, Kamala Harris.
By not granting interviews with mainstream media outlets — a Sunday morning appearance on “Meet The Press,” a sit down with Leslie Stahl on “60 Minutes” — they are attempting to do what football teams do when they have a fourth quarter lead.
Run out the clock.
We are almost a week post-DNC convention. The “good vibes” bump is out there. Polling is by no means correlative but it’s reasonable to say the election is a dead heat at this point. It’s inconclusive how RFK Jr.’s endorsement will help Trump come election day.
Trump and RFK will do a lot of talking over the next several weeks although most people have made up their minds about Trump. Running as an independent, RFK had no chance to win. But he could have taken votes from either candidate, providing a potential third-party option for the Never Trumpers and second term Biden rejectors (assuming RFK could have gotten on the ballot in every state, which was uncertain) That’s now off the table although RFK may still pop up on some ballots. The “partnership” between Trump and RFK was shrewd political calculus by Trump, who analyzed recent data and saw the 70-year-old nephew of former president John F. Kennedy siphoning off voters who otherwise would cast their ballot for Trump. Some reports had that number as much as five percent. That’s a significant number of votes considering the likely tightness of the race.
It’s hard to say just how many RFK supporters will now pivot to Trump. Relatively evident: to the extent the remaining third-party and independent candidates pull votes and even potentially play spoilers, it appears more likely to be at Harris’s expense. If that plays out, good move by Trump regardless of differences in ideology with RFK.
Polling with Trump is tricky as he’s inarguably the most polarizing political figure of the 21st century. Could there be tens if not hundreds of thousands of people who will eventually vote for Trump in November but don’t want the social stigma of admitting their election plans? That was certainly the case the first go around in 2016.
Or maybe those folks are waiting for Harris to give them a reason to vote for her.
There’s no question the Harris over Biden switch-a-roo has boosted operations and Democratic base enthusiasm.
This from Matthew Yglesias, who publishes the Slow Boring newsletter:
And these vibes really do matter.
Harris has rebuilt Democrats’ fundraising advantage, for example. But even more important, by giving base Democrats a candidate they are enthusiastic about, we no longer hear as much talk about the need to make policy or messaging concessions to the left as a way of building enthusiasm.
Suddenly the Biden-Harris administration’s pro-Israel stance is something most people can live with even if they disagree, the asylum crackdown is worth cheering for, and tough-on-crime Democrats are back in style. I am sincerely glad that vibesologists are happy with this turn, but the vibes haven’t won swing voters over to a progressive message — the vibes have won progressives over to pride in the Democratic Party (which, after all, is the more progressive party), allowing the party to focus its attention on trying to assuage the concerns of swing voters.
Yglesias, a left-leaning writer, writes in the same piece about the “MAGA psychos” and how Trump is a “despicable character,” all consistent Dem talking points for years. He also adds speculative insights on Harris’s policy agenda, because, well, that’s all one can do on Harris in the absence of any clear directives. Yglesias gives a slight nudge in the direction of more specifics, saying “we will inevitably see takes that the vibes “need to” be marshaled into some kind of Warren-esque big structural change or that it’s objectionably vacuous to run a campaign based largely on a renewed spirit of liberal patriotism. I’d like to see Harris tune that out” but doesn’t go so far as to say how she should “tune that out” or if it’s completely necessary. It’s consistent with most leftist analysis of Harris, how the vibes are enough and what truly counts later this fall is how “Democrats really do hate Trump and want to beat him, and love having a dynamic nominee they’re proud of and think is a good role model for Americans.”
A good role model. Someone we’re proud of. Someone who can give us Obama/Biden Year XVI. Someone who’s not Trump.
There’s no other reasonable conclusion: the Harris strategy to win the electoral college is to keep her away from the public. Let friendly mainstream media outlets (90% of all media) and pom-pom waving advocacy bloggers define her, not the voting electorate. Any unscripted exposure is dangerous and potential for narrative derailment (and relentless online memes).
Democratic strategist Brad Bannon said this in the Washington Times, “The basement strategy is a clear winner. The more Trump talks the more he gets himself into trouble.”
Appearing on HBO host Bill Maher’s podcast, film director Quentin Tarantino said, “It’s a mad f——ing dash and she is running it. She’s not stopping to stumble and I’m going to vote for her f—-ing anyway no matter what she says in the stupid f—-ing interview so don’t f—k s—t up.
“This is about f—-ing winning.”
Yes, elections are about winning. Right now, Harris could win.
But are enough people in this country comfortable voting for someone who doesn’t deem it necessary to speak directly to them? Who thinks so little of her fellow Americans?
Take this comment from RFK, Jr., appearing on Tucker Carlson’s TwitterX program earlier this week: “Being able to defend their policies, and being forced to defend their polices articulately, eloquently…my uncle and father thought ideas were important and we should be able to defend them. And if you can’t defend them, there’s something wrong with you. We have a candidate selected by the Democratic party who can’t do that.”
I’d like to think enough Americans agree with RFK, Jr. But maybe they don’t? If not, Harris’s best path forward is to play it like a sports contest — grab a fourth quarter lead and run out the clock.
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