Can Liz Cheney And The Bulwark Make The Case FOR Kamala?
“At present,” wrote Bill Kristol this morning, “we have two weeks left to avert what would surely be the most damaging election result in our lifetimes. The bad news is that the odds of success are right now only about 50-50. The good news is that the Harris campaign seems to be closing with the right message. That message, not to put too fine a point on it, is: Never Trump.” That’s certainly the right message for NeverTrumpers— the progressive NeverTrumpers like me, of course, and for the conservative Republican NeverTrumpers like Kristol. But what about for the tens of millions of ordinary Americans in between? Is NeverTrump enough. We may have laughed at his ridiculous Potemkin Village Bucks County, PA McDonald’s stunt yesterday but I bet that resonated with some voters.
Many years ago, a spectacularly successful Member of Congress told me that the most important thing about an election campaign was to always remember that it is about the people whose support you were asking for— not about your own career trajectory. What would you do for them? And don’t make it too abstract.
Kristol acknowledges that “it made sense” for Harris to introduce herself and talk about what she is offering. “But now they need to close by reminding the public just how dangerous and disastrous a Trump second term would be. And one way to do that is by highlighting the Republicans supporting Harris. Harris did that at Washington Crossing on Thursday. Today, the vice president is appearing with Liz Cheney in three swing states. And not only with Liz Cheney— but also with Sarah Longwell in Pennsylvania and Charlie Sykes in Wisconsin. Why the prominence of Never Trump Republicans in these closing days? Because it’s Never Trump Republicans who’ve been particularly alert to the threat of Donald Trump to our democracy, to our liberties, to our constitutional order, and to the liberal international order. That’s after all why we broke with our party.”
Well, I’m glad this handful of people is backing Kamala and, in some cases, some Democrats. But these are people rejected by their own party and mistrusted by the Democratic Party after their years of rabid right-wing politics. I hope Kamala is thinking about what is going to motivate turnout— for her— from her own party base. She can’t lose sight of that, although she has already backed away from more than a few popular progressive goals that Republicans don’t like, such as Medicare for All. Is she talking about raising the minimum wage? Is she talking about making the rich— who are filling her campaign coffers— pay their fair share of taxes?
“[V]oters seem surprisingly resistant,” wrote a frustrated and confused Kristol, “to giving Democrats the credit they deserve for not being the party that has produced a presidential candidate who is a fundamental threat to the constitutional order.” Polls I’ve looked at show that when voters are asked which candidate will best protect democracy, the response is based on whether you watch MSNBC or Fox. Fox is much bigger… and much better at hammering home naked propaganda. Kristol and the other conservative NeverTrumpers are still trying to counter their propaganda: “The truth is that Trump is clearly the most radical nominee in modern American political history.” Clearly? Not to a Fox viewer or a commuter who listens to Hate Talk radio on the way to and from work.
In his McConnell biography, The Price of Power, coming out this week, Tim Tackett wrote that McConnell told him of Trump after the failing Trump coup attempt turned into the violent J-6 insurrection, "If he hasn't committed indictable offenses, I don't know what one is… [T]here's no doubt who inspired it, and I just hope that he'll have to pay a price for it... I'm not at all conflicted about whether what the president did is an impeachable offense. I think it is.” And yet… McConnell prevented a conviction on the impeachment charges stemming from exactly what he was talking about and endorsed his bid for the presidency 7 months ago.
Republicans are going to do, what Republicans are going to do. “The Price of Power” is a good phrase for a title and it doesn’t just apply to McConnell. It describes Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, J.D. Vance, Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, pretty much the whole right-wing project in fact. If Kamala is going to win Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Nevada, it’s going to be because she turns out Democratic voters and whichever swing voters, for whatever reason, want her more than him— or think she’s the lesser evil. Without the Democratic base, it won’t matter how many NeverTrump conservatives she gets to vote for her. There aren’t enough of them. I know two Democrats in California who already sent in their ballots and who wrote in someone else. I hope no one does that in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Arizona, Georgia and Nevada.
Oh, and that reminds me. Yesterday, one for Nevada’s most influential newspapers, the Las Vegas Sun, endorsed Kamala, emphasizing “a choice between preserving democracy or sliding into autocracy” and reminding voters that Trump is “a womanizing narcissist and aspiring dictator [who believes] in trampling on the rights of women, providing greater protections to guns than schoolchildren, silencing the history and existence of people of color and LGBTQ+ people, forcing working class families and seniors to choose between food and medicine and ceaselessly attacking the immigrants who dream of a better life.”
Their case for Kamala: she’s “a leader who will fight to preserve the rights and institutions that have made the United States the envy of the world while championing the promise of the American dream. She believes in fighting for the rights of women to choose what happens to their body, protecting children from criminals armed with weapons of war, preserving Social Security and health care programs that Americans have paid into their entire lives, giving a helping hand to those in need and creating pathways to citizenship for immigrants who contribute to our economy and our communities. Kamala Harris represents a bridge between the measured approach of Joe Biden and the hunger for change that drove millions to support Donald Trump.”
I doubt that will be effective in making any Trump voters change their minds or even persuading any undecideds— even those deciding between Kamala and staying home. And the editors immediately pivoted back to Trump: “While we understand the belief held by many Americans that they are being left behind, Trump is not the answer. His disregard for democratic institutions, tarnishing of the judiciary and inability to conceive of a government that serves anyone or anything beyond his personal interests are the hallmarks of an aspiring dictator. Harris, on the other hand, offers the stability and confidence of a veteran public servant and the bold vision, energy and adaptability that is needed in a rapidly evolving world.” I think most undecided voters—primarily non-college educated— glaze over when they hear arguments about “democratic institutions” and “tarnishing of the judiciary.” As far as “veteran public servant,” that probably a lot more of a negative than a positive. And as far as a “bold vision,” they may still be waiting to hear it.
Of course, she can’t be too bold or the NeverTrumpers may abandon her. Would they, I mean if she decided she was progressivish again? Remember, Trump and Vance screech incoherently that she's somehow to the left of Bernie. More important (at least to me), does that mean that the Democratic Party has been captured by conservative Republican émigrés from MAGAland?
In the end, The Sun’s editors tried outling the bold vision of which they spoke and it may persuade some voters— if they read that far down the page. People have limited attention spans— especially many of the people likely to be undecided this late in the cycle— and according to one study byPew, 60% of online news readers only read about half of an article. Studies by Chartbeat and others have shown that a large portion of readers— as high as 50%— do not scroll beyond the top part of the page. And this was a long, long endorsement. But… there’s no paywall; I encourage you to read it all... if you haven't made up your mind yet.
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