Erick-Woods Erickson
Sunday ended as a gift for Harris. On Tuesday night, with the south lawn of the White House as her backdrop, Harris would deliver her closing argument in contrast to Trump. On Sunday night, Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden started with an insult comic insulting Puerto Ricans and black people, among others.
On Monday, the press went into overdrive tying Tony Hinchcliffe’s remarks to Trump. Trump, himself, offered very little to attack in his remarks. It did not matter. Hinchcliffe and several others on stage provided enough media fodder to paint MAGA as racist and divisive.
On Tuesday night Kamala Harris gave her speech. But she had not invited Joe Biden to attend or participate. So Biden, around the time Harris was speaking, spoke to a group of Latino activists and said:
All the effort to add an apostrophe after the fact just called even more attention to it. Damage control made it worse. Press spin made it worse.
By Wednesday morning, Kamala Harris was on a tarmac answering questions about Biden’s remarks. Tim Walz was answering questions about Biden’s remarks on CBS News and about calling Trump supporters Nazis. Other Democrats were answering questions about Biden’s remarks.
It was, as a matter of stagecraft, not well thought out to have Harris claim she’d be everybody’s President while her running mate was out comparing Trump supporters to Nazis. And that didn’t even take into account Joe Biden’s unexpected remarks.
Wednesday night, Donald Trump was in a garbage truck in an orange vest, followed by a rally in Wisconsin with Brett Favre on stage denouncing Biden’s comments and Trump getting media coverage for his jokey story about his team telling him the vest made him look skinny.
On Thursday, the media was focused still on Biden’s remarks and Trump’s garbage truck response. Kamala Harris attempted a short press conference, but couldn’t get as much attention. Desperate, the press decided to take Trump out of context on how he would protect women “whether they like it or not.”
This race is virtually tied. Every misstep matters. On Sunday night, Trump made a misstep with who he allowed to participate in the rally. By Tuesday, Biden had thoroughly stepped in, overshadowing Harris.
Who knows what today will bring except the wind down of early voting. Oh, and also this story from the Associated Press that the official government stenographer and National Archives are objecting to the White House political shop adding that apostrophe in the transcript.
Harris has moved ads out of North Carolina. That’s not a good sign for her. Two days from now Trump will be here in Macon, Georgia, about five miles from my house. Both candidates will be barnstorming the country.
It’s just notable that despite all the talking points on MSNBC and among Democrats about Trump’s decline and slowing down, he is outworking Harris on the trail, doing more events that last longer. Trump, yesterday, went to Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico. Harris was in Arizona and Nevada. Today, Trump will be in Michigan and Wisconsin while Harris will only be in Wisconsin.
It is notable that Harris is spending money in Virginia now and Trump is spending money in New Mexico. This wouldn’t be happening if Democrats were not on defense.
The Democrats’ last best chance to go on offense came crashing down Tuesday night thanks to the incumbent President less than 40% of Americans like who is directly tied to the Democrats’ current presidential candidate.
The best news Democrats can cling to is that Gallup suggests there is more enthusiasm among Democrats for voting right now. But the early voting shows the strength of the black vote in places like Georgia and North Carolina has not materialized.
There are four days to go.