Call it the Kamabla conundrum.
Former President Donald Trump's failed attempts to dub Vice President Kamala Harris with a snarky moniker spell trouble for the Republican nominee's political campaign, legal experts say.
"'Kamabla' is almost certainly a wild swing that won't connect," Andrew Wroe, senior lecturer in American politics at University of Kent, in England, told Newsweek Tuesday. "It's just not clear what it means."
Wroe praised Trump's past ability to dub his political opponents with nasty nicknames that stuck, such as "Crooked Hillary" and "Little Marco." But he threw his hands up in the air when it came to "Laffin' Kamala."
"Trump is a master of identifying an opponent's key weakness and capturing it in a pithy and derogatory nickname," Wroe said. "Trump's efforts to land a similar punch on Kamala Harris have so far failed, despite trying many different combinations."
Trump's inability to land a nickname for Harris suggests a bigger problem with his presidential reelection campaign and its inability to pivot after President Joe Biden decided to step aside, Wroe argued.
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"He knew Biden's weaknesses, as did the wider electorate, and 'Sleepy Joe' was one of his greatest punches," Wroe said. "He wishes Biden was his opponent and is struggling to refocus his campaign on Kamala Harris."
Political scientist Thomas Gift agreed 'Kamabla' and 'Kamala Crash' have yet to do the work Trump needs them to do.
"Trump's difficulty in smearing Kamala Harris with a nickname is a lot like his campaign at the moment," Gift told Newsweek. "It's throwing things at the wall, but nothing seems to be sticking."
Meanwhile, Harris' running mate Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) appears to have earned his position on the ticket thanks in part to his own deft political messaging, reports show.
Democrats across the nation echo the now-viral speech in which the midwestern former school teacher likened Trump and the MAGA right to name-calling bullies.
"These guys are just weird, that's who they are," Walz said. "We're not afraid of weird people. We're a little bit creeped out, but we're not afraid."
