In the closing days of the election, Kamala Harris continues to take unprecedented hits in her attempt to get to the White House.
First, Harris has not effectively answered the most critical issue of the campaign – the continuing problem of exceedingly high food, gas, and housing prices. Blaming corporations, grocery stores, and gas producers as all being greedy when their costs have gone up, or the regulatory burden has increased, does not make sense to everyday Americans because that was not the case during former President Trump’s administration when there was no inflation, gas and home prices were affordable. Every Far Left idea like over-stimulating the economy with gargantuan infusions of trillions of dollars which some economists and even a former Democratic Treasury Secretary said would be inflationary, makes more sense that Biden-Harris caused inflation to go up as we all learned in high school economics class.
Second, the southern border has been an anchor around the neck since Harris was first appointed the Border Czar by President Biden. She only went to the border once as Vice President before she became a candidate and that day she went to a locale that had few, if any, illegal aliens. Her wanton refusal to address the issue which has allowed drug cartels to flood increasing amounts of fentanyl and other drugs into our country, the number of foreign terrorists that have been caught which makes all of us wonder how many got away, and now the rampant crime and horribly violent gangs that were let in freely at the border are all recipes for disaster. Interestingly, Biden and Harris believed that if they cut the number of illegal aliens entering our country right before the election that they could scam Americans into believing that they were serious about border control, and yet it has only backfired and become daily national news that highlights their terrible mistakes.
Third, though some unions, whose 14 million members nationwide have been a longtime core of the Democratic Party, are backing her, and giving her plenty of money, it has become painfully obvious that the leadership is, at least in some key unions out of step with their rank and file members. For proof look no further than the Teamster’s, arguably the most powerful union in the country, (though the dockworker’s union may have eclipsed them) and the firefighter’s who demurred on her. On the other hand, Trump has garnered endorsements from law enforcement unions, Associated Builders & Contractors, the Border Patrol union, and Steel Workers in Pennsylvania. This is unheard of and is a stake in the heart of the Harris campaign for the blue-collar vote.
Fourth, the lack of an endorsement by the two of the three most important, liberal mainstream media newspapers is shocking and another death blow to Harris. The Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post are breaking with tradition and not endorsing either candidate. This does not hurt Trump as he never would have gotten their support in any event, but it is a crushing blow to Harris who is already trending in the wrong direction.
Fifth, the campaign messaging has now become both desperate and shrill. Democrats are in panic mode and inasmuch as Harris is not closing in on Trump, she is forced to bring out surrogates like Obama, both Clintons, and Hollywood elites to try and convince folks to vote for her. The problem is, other than diehard D’s, the surrogates are not swinging undecideds and indies to her side regardless of how famous they may be. Moreover, since the Harris campaign has been using pretty much the same rhetoric about threats to democracy, there is nothing new being said and it is falling on deaf ears.
Sixth, the support trend which began in favor of Harris when she announced months ago has started moving the last few weeks toward Trump. Why? For two primary reasons: (a) when asked repeatedly in interviews what she would have done differently than Biden over these past four years, she sheepishly answered “I can’t think of a thing.” This answer is crushing any perception that she is truly an agent of change which Americans are desperately looking for given their financial distress over the last four years, and (b) her answers to any question is a stock answer which does not answer the question. Consequently, Americans have not learned anything new and insightful about Harris’ thinking and why she has switched positions on about 15 prominent issues.
Seventh, Harris while polling neck and neck with Trump, this is a red herring as both Clinton in 2016 and Biden in 2020 ran significantly ahead of Trump at this point in time with various demographic groups. For example, Harris is not getting Blacks to support her at the level that Biden did and if polls are correct, and that is a big “if,” Trump will get more that three times as many Black votes as he got in 2016 and more than twice what he got in 2020. This is among the heretofore most loyal Democratic voting block! The same is true with Latin voters who are also moving to the Republican column and Trump’s margin is cutting into Harris’s lead and again this portends poorly for Harris. If you continue this analysis, Catholic’s by and large are not pro-abortion, and this could especially hurt Harris in Pennsylvania where 8% of all voters are Catholic, and key issues like fracking in the Keystone state and electric vehicles in Michigan are bringing crossover voters to the Trump column.
Eighth, the mainstream media is much more distrusted in 2024 than in both prior presidential election cycles. In fact, it has hit its lowest point – only 31% of Americans – believe what they see or hear on television or in print. When Time, Vogue and The Atlantic put Harris’ picture on the cover of their magazines, it sent a clear signal of their bias. Yet, these snobbish illiberal publications have no sway with the average Joe who is majorly turned off by Wokeism and the Far Left lunatic ideals.
Nineth, the pseudo-social values argument of this campaign has become transgenderism even only 0.5% of all Americans identify as such. According to a very recent Rasmussen Poll, 65% of Americans oppose men attempting to be women competing in women’s sports, with 50% strongly opposed. Adding insult to injury is Harris’ past televised comments about supporting prisoners and illegal aliens receiving transgender surgeries with taxpayer dollars, which is the most stupid idea ever raised.
Tenth, the strategy of the Harris campaign, comprised of ex-Biden campaign officials along with ex-Obama officials, has been an utter disaster. They collectively believed that they could use a similar strategy of keeping Biden in the basement in 2020 and in 2024 keep her away from any challenging encounters with the public where she would have to answer citizen’s questions. The result was not one townhall meeting with unscripted questions, no fact-checking of her in the one debate, softball questions by a CNN reporter that even allowed her running mate to sit on to help calm her fears, unethical editing on a 60 Minutes interview to make her answers appear smarter and more succinct than her traditional word salad answers, all have convinced Americans that she needed to be battle tested in a quick primary contest rather than being anointed by the Dem Party poohbah’s – Pelosi, Schumer, Jefferies, and Clyburn. The result is a weak candidate who can only repeat memorized answers, cannot think on her feet, can express empathy on only the abortion issue, and is hobbled
with political beliefs that are squarely out of sync with current American mainstream political thinking. Thus, the initial campaign of “Joy” and “Happiness” (mostly because she was not Biden), has now transformed into a hysterical daily rant about Trump as a fascist and a Hitler-lover. Ever since this strategic turn was executed she has stopped moving in the polls.
Americans may not always like Trump on a personal level, but they know what they got during his term in office: a strong economy, the beginning of securing our southern border for the very first time, no wars, and crime that was in check.
With Harris, Americans still do not know what she stands for, much less what she genuinely believes in, and she has become a caricature of herself.
In my opinion, Trump will be elected as our 47th President with about 300 Electoral College votes. Will Harris allow our system to work in December when the Electoral College meets and votes are formally counted? We do not know.
It is highly likely, and it is a growing concern among average Americans, whether the Far Left will permit a reelected Trump to even take office, given their penchant for lawfare and refusing to acknowledge Republican election winners in the past. For all of the talking heads saying that the Far Right will not accept the results, the legitimate questions now is, will the Far Left?
We saw on the evening news what the incendiary radicals did during COVID and recently on college campuses across the country with their vile antisemitism and with their belief that America is not a great country. Yet, few have ever left the safety net of our country and tried to express their hatred and fake science sexualism in other countries, and I am not even talking about going to any country in the Axis of Evil, because none of them would ever return.
When Trump wins, the most important action that will begin to save our country beyond fixing the economy, and closing our borders, is to kill off the US Department of Education and return our failing public education system, at all levels including higher education, to teaching the basics so that the next generation can compete globally with our friends and against our enemies to keep the torch of freedom and liberty blazing.
Barney Bishop III, is a native Floridian, former executive director of the Florida Democratic Party and former CEO of Associated Industries of Florida, known as “The Voice of Florida Business.” He is the CEO of Barney Bishop Consulting LLC, a strategic public affairs firm, based in Tallahassee and he can be reached at Barney@BarneyBishop.com
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