This is the Kamala Harris show now
Donald Trump keeps metaphorically setting himself on fire for attention, in such increasingly unhinged ways that you have to worry whether he might end up literally setting himself on fire. Trump keeps holding insane press conferences, now with Cheerios. He keeps questioning Kamala Harris’ race. Now he’s smearing veterans again. Anything so he can turn the TV on that night and see his face, even if it’s in the form of negative attention.
Yet even as Trump keeps setting himself on fire, none of it’s helping him any. After two weeks of unhinged stunts, Trump has slipped a bit further behind in the polls. Even if you’re skeptical about the polls, you can look at every other measurement and fundamental out there and figure out that Kamala Harris is currently winning. Not only is she winning, it’s her show now.
Kamala Harris is the one holding giant rallies in swing states which not only show off her momentum, but also serve as motivation for those rally-goers to then go put in the work required to get Harris more votes. That’s what political rallies are for, after all.
Kamala Harris is the one who clearly has the leverage when it comes to the ongoing standoff over debates. Trump tried demanding that the debate be on Fox News, but after Harris had a good laugh about that, Trump caved and agreed to ABC News instead. That’s what happens when you’re losing: you have no leverage when it comes to anything.
Kamala Harris is also the one who generally gets positive media attention when she’s getting attention, whereas Trump is generally getting negative media attention when he’s getting attention. Some will still insist that Trump is somehow playing three dimensional chess and that his antics of late are part of some super secret strategy to put him back in the game. But if that were the case, his poll numbers would now be going up. Instead they’re still going down.
Donald Trump, for his part, is too feeble to even get out there and campaign in swing states anymore. Perhaps he’s too psychologically feeble to keep getting outdrawn by Harris. Perhaps he’s too physically feeble to travel to swing states, period. But either way, this guy is just feeble. He desperately wants this to be his show, but he can’t even try to compete.
Meanwhile Kamala Harris is very much making this her show. After an energetic tour of the closest swing states over the past two weeks, she was in North Carolina on Friday. It looks like that state is back in play after all. Trump thought he had North Carolina sewn up. Of course he thought he had this election sewn up, when in reality he was never more than a point or two ahead of President Biden in the polling averages. Now Trump is behind Kamala Harris, not only in the polls, but in terms of controlling the narrative. This is the Kamala Harris show now. And if we keep putting in the work to help her and competitive House and Senate Democrats win, it’ll continue to be her show for years to come.
Bill Palmer is the publisher of the political news outlet Palmer Report