The first two weeks of a candidate selection is the most difficult part, as the narrative takes time to consolidate. But Kamala Harris’s first rally gave us a glimpse of where that might be going. “We are not going back” is not in and of itself a catchy slogan, but amplified by the entirety of liberal media and a massive, reinvigorated Democratic donor base, it is a path forward for unabashed “gender war.”
Abortion, bodily autonomy, and women’s rights will be their only talking point. Yet we haven’t seen an immediate and steady stream of surrogates from the Trump campaign team, hammering on a single issue, that the party that cannot define woman, the party that wants biological males competing in women’s sports, the party that cannot provide safety to women on the streets, isn’t the party of women at all.
In a fraught campaign season, not immediately counter-attacking your opponent is criminally negligent. Kamala Harris isn’t a strong candidate. She’s notorious for promoting lax law and order. Her bail funds led to repeat offenders going out on streets and committing crimes. She is the poster child of double standards on criminal prosecution. She’s not a good debater; she’s not quick on her feet; she laughs uncontrollably when nervous (which is often); her two standard tones are fake laugh and fake earnestness. The less said about her foreign policy and immigration record, the better.
In short, she’s seriously vulnerable and, worse, awkward. Any serious scrutiny and public attack of her records will force her into public blunder after blunder. And yet, the Democrats and the media are treating her as the second coming of Lincoln.
And the republicans are allowing the media to create this profile and image of her in the time when she should be the most vulnerable. The perpetually online Trump (and especially Vance) campaign should do well to remember that at the end of the day, social media does not matter much. For example, only 22 percent of Americans are on Twitter, and most in that group don’t use the app much. What matters is blasting old-school attack ads in various swing states. Rallies. Door-knocking. Vote-chasing. This election will come down to turnout in swing states. Nothing else matters.
A key dictate of public relations is to never let the other side define you first. If the Republicans fail to constantly attack Kamala on her immigration and crime records, then come November they’ll be the architects of their own failure.
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