In 2009, the fruit beverage company known as Tropicana rebranded itself. It gave up its well-recognized carton of an orange with a straw sticking in it, which had long provided a sense of premium freshness to customers, opting to go with a simpler package showing a glass of orange juice. Sales took a major dip as customers failed to recognize the Tropicana product, causing disastrous flow-down consequences for farmers as well as the company.
It was interesting that a broadcaster, known for his liberal leanings and therefore eager to portray Democrats of the same ilk in a favorable light, publicly pointed out the rebranding Vice President Kamala Harris is undergoing in her bid to become the next president. This rebranding has been ongoing ever since President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the race.
In his August 21 CNN broadcast, Chris Wallace remindedviewers that only six months earlier, Democratic Party leaders were considering dumping Harris as polls revealed her to be the least popular vice president in modern times. In November 2023, her popularity hit a low of 36.3%, worrying party leaders that keeping her on the ticket would pull support away from Biden in the November 2024 election. Yet, as the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago played out, speaker after speaker praised Harris in ways she had never been praised before.
The DNC has quietly undertaken an effort to rebrand Harris to separate her from all the negativity she has earned in the polls. The message being conveyed is that the Harris of the first three-plus years in office is not the Harris now contending for the presidency. The process involves disconnecting Harris from the failed issues linked to Biden’s time in office and with which she was involved. The mostly left-leaning media seems to be assisting in this rebranding.
Foremost amongst such issues is our out-of-control border. While waves of immigrants illegally have entered the U.S. from the south, for the first time we are also witnessing a major problem to the north as well. And the illegal immigration problem is one impossible to ignore due to several flow-down issues it has created.
Initially, illegal immigration was being experienced just by the border states. However, eventually it became an issue for those states having sanctuary cities as the former began relocating illegal immigrants to the latter. In places like New York City, hotels were closed to tourists as they were used to house immigrants. In some cities, although only a temporary measure, schools were closed to students in order to house illegals. Additionally, not only were taxpayers in some states covering the cost of free medical coverage but also the cost of prepaid credit cards handed out for illegals to buy food and other essentials.
A May 12, 2024, congressional hearing revealed that illegals are costing us over $150 billion annually. Obviously, such a cost does nothing to reduce our national debt of $35 trillion or to fund other social programs our own citizens deserve.
With the flood of illegal immigrants creating a myriad of flow-down issues across the U.S., the Democrats had to undertake a rebranding of Harris. Despite having given her the title in 2021, we are now being told that Harris was really not the “border czar.” Her defenders say she was never really responsible for policing our border but for identifying the root causes of Central American migration and developing regional strategies to mitigate it.
In other words, Harris’ responsibility was one of diplomacy, not enforcement. Even accepting this defense, she dropped the ball, failing to ever even provide a report of her findings as to what the root causes were and what diplomatic efforts were taken by her to address them. Her rebranding suggests as she was never part of the problem, she will now be part of the solution.
The Harris rebranding extends to our economic problems too. Concerning the inflation factor that has negatively impacted on family spending, Harris is again being isolated from the issue as if she has done nothing to cause it. It is as if we are being told the memories we have of Harris breaking more tie votes in the Senate than any other vice president in history – several of which created the economic downturn we face today – never happened.
Again we are hearing, Harris was never part of this problem but can be part of the solution. Yet, in what limited details she has shared so far about her price control plan to curb inflation, she has received criticism from both political parties. She suggests she has a federal price-fixing plan for corporations – accusing them of price gouging – to stop them from raising prices. This plan failed spectacularly in the former Soviet Union and would do no better here. Even a former economic adviser for President Barack Obama has been critical of the program saying, “This is not sensible policy.”
Concerning Harris’s rebranding, a recent study shows the news coverage on her has been 84% positive on the ABC, CBS and NBC evening news ever since she emerged as Biden’s replacement.
There is one big difference between the rebranding undertaken by Tropicana in 2009 and that undertaken by the Democrats today. Tropicana took a product that was popular, rebranding it in a way that led customers to believe it was something less than what they had gotten before. Meanwhile, the Democrats are taking an unpopular product, rebranding it in an effort to make voters believe it is something more than what they have witnessed for three-plus years.
Regrettably, the media have been duped. Hopefully, voters will recognize what they are being sold is nothing more than just a “new and unimproved” Joe Biden.
Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@wndnewscenter.org.
SUPPORT TRUTHFUL JOURNALISM. MAKE A DONATION TO THE NONPROFIT WND NEWS CENTER. THANK YOU!
