On Wednesday, Kamala Harris did something unusual. She added an event to her schedule at the last minute.
Which, well, interesting. What the event wound up being was Harris, outside the vice presidential residence, talking about Donald Trump, John Kelly and Hitler. (Talk about sentences I didn’t expect to write when I got into journalism!).
The essence of Harris’ brief comments (she only talked for 3 minutes) was this: Democracy is on the line in this election.
Here’s the key bit:
Donald Trump is increasingly unhinged and unstable. And in a second term, people like John Kelly would not be there to be the guardrails against his propensities and his actions. Those who once tried to stop him from pursuing his worst impulses would no longer be there and no longer be there to rein him in.
So, the bottom line is this. We know what Donald Trump wants. He wants unchecked power. The question in 13 days will be: What do the American people want?
Shortly after those remarks, Harris’ campaign announced that she would deliver a “closing argument” speech on Tuesday — one week from the election — at the Ellipse in Washington, DC.
That location is not accidental. Trump spoke to those gathered for the “Stop the Steal” rally on January 6 at the Ellipse. And, according to the vice president’s advisers, her final big speech of the election will focus on democracy.
The Washington Post reported it this way:
Officials said the vice president will present a final case from a place selected to emphasize a contrast between herself and Trump, a candidate who she has argued poses a grave threat to the country. As part of her remarks, Harris is likely to mention Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the U.S. Capitol, but her speech is expected to be broader than focused on solely what she deems Trump’s threat to American democracy, said the officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the nonpublic plans.
It seems pretty clear then that Harris and her team have made a big decision: The way to win this election in the final days is to ride the idea that Trump is a threat to democracy.
I think that is a MAJOR gamble. Here’s why.
President Joe Biden premised his entire reelection campaign on the idea of democracy under threat — that Trump’s action before, during and after the 2020 election proved that he would do whatever it took to stay in power.
It didn’t work. (Important note: I, personally, think it should have worked! Hello, January 6?!?!) Yes, the Democratic base responded to the democracy message but they were already voting for Biden. When it came to swing and persuadable voters, the democracy message fell short. Those voters wanted to hear about inflation. Grocery prices. The border. Not what they believed to be an academic, pie-in-the-sky argument about democracy.
Fast forward to today. And Harris’ decision to close the campaign echoing many of the warnings that Biden was issuing before he left the race over the summer.
I have to assume that the Harris team has polling data that suggests the democracy argument will work this time around with undecided voters. But, man, given what we know about what a hard sell it was for Biden, there’s no doubt that there is some major risk involved in going all in on the “Trump is a threat to democracy” message.
In a few weeks, we’ll find out if the gamble paid off.
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The Morning: Kamala Harris' big gamble