Staff Reports
In the final stretch of the election season, it’s become awfully clear that Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are two ships sailing in entirely different oceans. While Trump is busy outlining a bright, economically-driven vision for the future of America, Harris seems stuck in a bizarre time loop full of angst, grievances, and, of course, her well-worn Hitler comparisons. It’s a classic case of looking forward versus looking back—though one could argue that Harris has a bit of an obsessive fixation on really old grievances rather than offering the nation a real plan for progress.
Harris recently hosted a rally at The Ellipse, where she attempted to channel the ghosts of Trump’s presidency to rally voters against him. It’s almost as if she believes that reliving the past is a surefire way to seduce voters into the future. Meanwhile, she warned that Trump might bring with him an “enemies list,” a phrase that ironically offers insight into how she might be feeling about her own relationship with dissenters in her party (and the American people). Yet during her tenure, she consistently boasted about being party to key decisions in the Biden administration, making her present crusade a rather perplexing selling point.
Updated: Final messaging of Trump and Harris are polar opposites: looking forward versus back https://t.co/pSPJHdlXRw
— Just the News (@JustTheNews) October 30, 2024
A deep dive into Harris’s rhetoric reveals the extent of her fixation on labeling Trump and his supporters in increasingly ludicrous terms. A fascist one minute, a Nazi the next, it seems she’s pulling from a game of bingo rather than employing a rational campaign strategy. But let’s evaluate whether scare tactics will actually resonate with voters who are more concerned about filling their gas tanks than debating the merits of Trump’s alleged totalitarian tendencies. Spoiler alert: they likely won’t.
Interestingly, a recent survey from Emerson College shows that a staggering 45.2% of voters prioritize the economy as the most pressing issue, whereas only a measly 13.7% gave a hoot about “threats to democracy.” This discrepancy might explain Harris’s desperation to keep January 6 in the news cycle; it’s a classic misdirection strategy akin to magician’s sleight of hand. While she huffs and puffs about threats from the past, Trump keeps his eyes firmly planted on the economic disaster created by his opponents. And apparently, more Americans care about their wallets than they do about relitigating a day in January.
At his own events, Trump has taken the lead by discussing ways to revive the economy, including offering a tax credit for families taking care of relatives. Economically-minded folks can see that this is a plan of action—one that leads to solutions rather than simply spinning tales of treachery and conspiracy. It’s a case of moving from abstract concepts of “democracy” to actionable policies that resonate with real-life concerns.
As polling suggests Trump has solidified his position against Harris, it becomes increasingly apparent that her tactics of nostalgia and fear are failing. Betting odds now favor Trump with a hefty margin, indicating a growing confidence in his potential comeback. Harris’s peculiar habit of circling back to January 6 and throwing around words like “Hitler” when running against an opponent who focuses on inflation and the economy seems less like strategy and more like an emotional crutch. As swing states shift in Trump’s favor, the electorate appears less interested in reliving the past and more eager to embrace a future driven by common sense and prosperity.
