Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What is Harris doing wrong with regards to Trump?

Rick Rosner: I mentioned a couple of potential vulnerabilities. She can’t do much about what’s happened during the Biden presidency on the border. She can try to reframe it, but it’s not what she did wrong. What she might be doing wrong now is tied to what the Biden administration can be attacked for. As I’ve said, she hasn’t held a press conference yet, which might be the right move because her lead over Trump is increasing by 1% a week. As long as that happens, she shouldn’t hold a press conference because that carries more downside than upside. Plus, they’re going to debate on, I believe, September 10th, so in four weeks. She’ll have to take questions then.

Jacobsen: What else might she be doing wrong? 

Rosner: Not much, honestly. She’s been lucky with how things have been playing out. The main dig she’s used is that she’s the prosecutor and he’s the felon. “Vote for the prosecutor, not the felon.” If she can get by without attacking him harder—calling him a confused old man, a rapist, any of that—it’s probably smart. It’s harder for women to be that mean without being seen as bitches, and Trump is already on tape calling her a bitch, which makes him look bad, not her. As long as she can continue to be the happy campaigner, she might have to get tougher later depending on how he attacks her. But that’s what a VP candidate is for—the VP can make the mean attacks and keep the president looking relatively nice.

Right now, knock on wood, I don’t think she’s doing much wrong. She’s holding a ton of rallies, arena rallies. The Dems have a lot of money to pay for the arenas. Trump is known for having stiffed at least a dozen arenas—some that he still hasn’t paid for events held in 2016 all across the country. Obviously, the Harris campaign doesn’t need to stiff arenas, and I hope she keeps her foot on the gas.

One thing that Hillary was accused of in 2016 was not visiting certain places, getting overconfident, and assuming she had those areas locked down. I don’t think Harris will make that mistake. In the next 84 days, she’ll hold dozens and dozens of arena rallies in a gazillion different places and leave no state able to claim that she neglected them. But we’ll see. 

Jacobsen: Can she keep up that pace for 12 more weeks?

Rosner: I would think so, especially for liberals like myself who see it as saving democracy because Trump has said a bunch of anti-democracy stuff. If those are the stakes, she can work her ass off for the next 12 weeks. She doesn’t have to be president while doing it. As VP, she has a lot less to do. I don’t even know if Congress is in session right now. When the Senate is in session and the vote is tied 50-50, the VP can show up and break the tie. She’s done that 33 times—the most of any VP in history because most Senates aren’t tied 50-50. But right now, her main job is campaigning, and her VP responsibilities aren’t much.

Rick Rosner, American Comedy Writer, www.rickrosner.org

Scott Douglas Jacobsen, Independent Journalist, www.in-sightpublishing.com

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