Harris and Walz work through Labor Day while Trump golfs and complains
September 3, 2024
The Democratic ticket and surrogates were out in force on Labor Day weekend—including Kamala Harris, Tim Walz, President Joe Biden, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, and Gwen Walz. That is a formidable lineup. The Harris-Walz ticket is campaigning like they want to win. Kamala Harris continues to exhibit confidence and positivity as she refines her call-and-response stump speech while courting the labor vote. Tim Walz is on the offensive against Trump, while Gwen Walz is going “full English teacher” on Trump.
Joe Biden gave a spirited pro-union speech that attacked Trump's anti-union history. See Campaign Event in Pittsburgh | Joe Biden. Joe introduced Kamala with a warm embrace and a smile. Harris then gave her stump speech (with variations and riffs). See Campaign Event in Pittsburgh | Kamala Harris.
Donald Trump and JD Vance stayed off the campaign trail on Labor Day--which may be their best strategy to stop the erosion of their support among eligible voters. See The Independent, Harris, Biden court union vote at first official joint rally as Trump accused of ‘dodging’ Labor Day.
But Trump couldn’t help himself and spent much of the day on his vanity social media platform posting statements that appeal to people who subscribe to Truth Social—i.e., Trump's most hard-core supporters. But even on Truth Social, the Harris-Walz campaign was on the offensive, posting a “Labor Day” picture of Harris and Walz in split screen with Trump.
The Harris-Walz portion of the photo was superimposed with the words:
Vice President Harris with union workers in Detroit
Gov. Walz with union workers in Milwaukee
Vice President Harris and President Biden with union workers in Pittsburgh
The Trump portion of the split screen had the following words superimposed:
Trump . . . golfing?
Does it matter that the Harris-Walz campaign is trolling Trump on his social media platform? Yes. Trump is famously thin-skinned and easily provoked. When provoked, he makes unforced errors—a lot of them. Over the next two months, Trump will continue to remind voters why they are tired of his stale agenda of hate and division.
But . . . as we enter the final two months of the campaign it would serve us well to recall the words of Michelle Obama at the Democratic Convention:
So, no matter how good we feel tonight, or tomorrow, or the next day, this is going to be an uphill battle.
So folks, we cannot be our own worst enemies. . . because the minute something goes wrong, the minute a lie takes hold, folks, we cannot start wringing our hands.
We cannot get a Goldilocks complex about whether everything is just right.
And we cannot indulge our anxieties about whether this country will elect someone like Kamala, instead of doing everything we can to get someone like Kamala elected.
The Trump-Vance campaign has fumbled for an attack line on Kamala Harris for weeks. They have now settled on an attack strategy: pure ugliness and hate. Expect it, ignore it, and focus on registering new voters and urging registered voters to turn out.
It will be difficult to ignore the ugliness, in part, because it will be pervasive—and the media will be complicit by treating Trump's ugly attacks as “politics as usual.”
Elon Musk has turned Twitter into a Trump campaign attack platform against Kamala Harris. Musk is personally posting outright propaganda against Harris. For example, on Monday, Musk posted a picture of Kamala Harris in communist garb with the words:
Kamala vows to be a communist dictator on day one. Can you believe she wears that outfit!?
With his 200 million followers (albeit many of them bots), Musk’s ridiculous ideas will spread like a virus through the hateful MAGA ecosphere.
The good news is that Trump and Vance are “underwater” with favorability ratings, while Kamala Harris has seen a 17-point surge in her favorability rating (to a slight net-positive).
Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo explains that the difference in favorability ratings will help Kamala Harris withstand the ugly attacks to come:
[F]avorability is the prism through which all of us see new attacks, new news. The more positive impression we have of a person, the more we see new information about them in glass-full more than glass-empty terms; we revolve benefits of the doubt in their favor. So, it can be both predictive and protective
See Josh Marshall, Talking Points Memo, Keep an Eye on Those Favorability Numbers.
I would add to Marshall’s comments that Kamala Harris has momentum, likability, decency, and dozens of other positive attributes that will cause voters to give her the benefit of the doubt—while Trump and Vance are increasingly desperate. Just as Kamala Harris will benefit from the “positive lens” of favorability, Trump and Vance will suffer from the “negative lens” of their mean-spirited, misogynistic, judgmental style.
Here's my point: Don’t wince and cringe with every ugly attack thrown at Kamala Harris and Tim Walz over the next two months. Trust that most Americans see through those attacks for what they are—signs of desperation by Trump. We have two months to drive more voters to the polls. There is no time to worry or fret. As Michelle Obama told us at the Democratic convention, “Do something!”
Opportunities for Reader Engagement
From my friend Jessica Craven at Chop Wood, Carry Water:
Join Climate Action Now for the second in a four-part series of How We Win events! In the final 10 weeks before the election, hear from a line-up of inspiring experts as they share on-the-ground knowledge that climate-conscious citizens need to win in November.
In the second event, you’ll hear from Martha Laning of the State Party Advancement Network (SPAN) and Lewis Friedland of Win Wisconsin, on vital questions like: Why are the upper midwestern battlegrounds critical for a Harris victory? What is the key to swinging them one way or another? Can people outside those states influence voters in those states?
The discussion will be moderated by Jessica Craven.
Register for How We Win with Swing States on Tuesday, September 3 at 7 pm ET to find out!
And this 24-Hour Marathon from my friends at Downtown Nasty Women, Markers For Democracy, and Team Min—featuring Heather Cox Richardson, Simon Rosenberg, Senator Cory Booker and more!
24 Hours in ’24
Our Freedoms Are On The Ballot
Postcard Around The Clock 3.0
Monday, September 23, 7:30pm ET through Tuesday, September 24, 7:30pm ET on Zoom
RSVP here to get the Zoom link now, as well as the schedule and speaker bios when they are ready, and to stay updated. **After you RSVP, when you receive the Eventbrite auto-reply email, please scroll way down to find the Zoom link.**
The Zoom link will be live for the full 24 hours! During that time, there will be programming, including an array of lawmakers, candidates, authors, journalists, and panels of speakers, as well as time to connect with other grassroots activists and organizers around the country. There will even be time reserved for group morning yoga!
Stay on for as little or as long as you'd like, whenever you'd like!
Speakers include Senator Cory Booker, Anderson Clayton, Jessica Craven, Robert Hubbell, Bill Kristol, Tim Miller, David Pepper, Heather Cox Richardson, Simon Rosenberg, Joyce Vance, Ben Wikler, and many more.
Concluding Thoughts
One of my longtime readers (Phil S.) was asked to participate in a business school exercise regarding the election. Participants were asked to “write up, in 100 words or less, who we are voting for in the Presidential election and why, without saying negative things about the opposing candidate.” As Phil said, it is an “interesting and non-trivial exercise. Here is Phil’s response:
Kamala has the experience, integrity and judgment needed in our President. She will uphold the constitution and institutions that underpin our democracy. She will continue to strengthen global alliances vital to our defense. She will push for policies supporting lawful immigration while strengthening our border. She will seek sensible approaches addressing climate change. She will vigorously support women’s health. Her economic policies will be more equitable and lead to far less growth in our national debt than those proposed by her opponent. She will support policies that invest in our country’s youth.
A very interesting and positive exercise! I suggest that we all make similar attempts to explain in a few sentences why we are voting for Kamala Harris—and then memorize it! You never know when you might have 30-seconds to convince someone to do the right thing! I encourage readers to post their 100-word responses in the Comments section.
Talk to you tomorrow!
Daily Dose of Perspective
The image below is of the Rho Ophiuchi Nebula, 540 light-years from Earth, making it one of the star-forming regions nearest to Earth. The image shows a small portion of a much larger complex of clouds filled with vibrant red, blue, gold, purple, and pink(ish) regions. At the center of the image is the bright triple star Rho Ophiuchi, which gives this portion of the cloud complex a deep blue hue. Taken at Frazier Park/Chuchupate Trailhead on August 31, 2024, at a public star party.
My wife posted a video of the star party where I captured the image. See EveryDayWithJill, Star Party at Chuchupate!
In the video, I include a brief explanation of the telescope / camera that I used to capture the image below.
I think this video from Lincoln Project sums up how many of us feel right now. It is called Stress. https://youtu.be/B9XTNcneynw?si=Gq-5txcXHWeqTPTW
I am preparing to fit voting actions into my life. My support for Kamala only grows stronger with each attack. I do not have on rose colored glasses, I just know the difference between the two candidates both for President and Vice President. I am not a swing voter or undecided. I am fully team Harris-Walz, and I was glad to see this morning that the Ex-Pat newsletter, The Local, which has local news for many countries at least in Europe, and has an expat Subscriber list, is having an ad in all of the versions that I looked at on how one can vote from Abroad as an American. We need to let people know they can vote, then sign them up and get them to vote. If we do this, we win! Viva la Kamala!
So, I wake up this morning to read my local newspaper, and it carries WaPo editorials. I had to splash cold water on my face to make sure I was not still asleep, in some kind of dream unreality, when I read this headline "Harris and Trump are different. They need to explain how different."
What? Are these people deaf and blind? The piece goes on to say, "In character, style, tone, outlook, dignity, and, yes, race and gender, the two candidates are distinct" But then, a few paragraphs later, it the essay follows, "The distinctions between them on policy substance, however, are somewhat fuzzier."
What is "fuzzier" here is the editorial board who are gaslighting their readers.
My response, "WaPo, what the hell are you smoking?" Please, Jonathan Capehart, can you exert some sanity into their heads?