J.D. Foster
Demonstrating the truth that what cannot continue ultimately won’t, Democrats finally replaced President Joe Biden as their 2024 presidential candidate with Vice President Kamala Harris.
To widespread shock, Harris has somehow evolved from the queen of incoherent word salads and found her voice, her mojo. Trump needs to up his game.
In Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz the Democrats settled on the most radical, Left-wing tandem in American history, by far.
They support a massive, jobs-destroying tax hike — not to address the budget deficit but to redistribute wealth and finance even more spending.
Under the Biden-Harris administration, the Border Patrol was swamped. In a classic Orwellian moment, Harris now says we need to “secure the border.” Given her attitude and past performance, Harris must mean by “secure” to make the border safe for illegals to cross.
Think DEI, ESG and reparations for blacks are a good idea? She supports all three. She is woke incarnate. Democrats and their media defenders will say anything to muddy the waters to camouflage Harris’ radical views. Why do you suppose that corny Harris-Walz camouflage hat is so popular?
Incredibly, the party of dictatorship-by-regulation and ever-bigger government has embraced “freedom” as a banner.
In an obvious political play for Pennsylvania, Harris now says she doesn’t oppose fracking. Nobody should believe her.
Harris constitutes a clear and present danger to the Republic. And there is only one person standing in their way: Trump.
Trump can’t beat Harris with insults. Calling her a “communist” is useless. Few people know what it means anymore.
Trump can’t beat Harris by intentionally mispronouncing her first name. It is all grins and giggles to make fun of her, and Trump’s base just eats it up, but it’s a turnoff for people who aren’t too sure about Trump, many of whom just don’t like him. Trump need their votes to beat Harris.
Trump can win their votes and the election if for the next couple of months he puts away the wise-cracking. He needs to remind himself that he is not running for entertainer-in-chief. He doesn’t have to be boring, just avoid the petty and outrageous.
He should attack Harris for what she supports. It’s a target-rich environment. Trump should make fun of her ideas like price controls on groceries. But he should attack the ideas, not her. He should let others do that. Many will oblige.
Trump should talk about his record as president. It would defeat attempts to portray him as a democracy-threatening autocrat.
This isn’t 2016. Trump is not a blank slate. He was president for four years and the world didn’t end. On the contrary, America thrived until the pandemic struck. Voters know this and when reminded of it they will understand Harris is blowing smoke.
Trump should talk about what he would do as president. Nobody needs a detailed policy recitation a la Hillary Clinton, and goodness knows Harris won’t provide one, but what should Trump do? Boasting about intended results is fine, but Trump should show us how he would you get us there.
We all understand there is Disciplined Donald and Scrappy Don, Trump’s version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Biden didn’t fail the June debate just because he was old. Trump won that debate because Disciplined Donald remained calm and steadfast. He was presidential.
Disciplined Donald showed up at the Republican convention. Every night he waved and smiled, seemingly a better person for the assassination attempt. His speech wasn’t a master class in eloquence, but voters saw and heard a person they could trust again to be president.
We need Disciplined Donald Trump for the next two months. Disciplined Donald Trump will beat Harris. Scrappy Don won’t. It’s as simple as that, and as critical as that for the nation to prosper. The great NFL coach Vince Lombardi once said: “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.”
We need the win, Mr. President, or we will all lose.
J.D. Foster is the former chief economist at the Office of Management and Budget and former chief economist and senior vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He now resides in relative freedom in the hills of Idaho.
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