Tuesday, September 10, 2024

QOTD: The "Triumphant and Grateful Child of Immigrants"

 

WaPo columnist Matt Bai, offering some advice to VP Harris for tonight's debate with the unhinged Malignant Loser. Key passage:

"It’s a stale cliché in politics that a candidate just needs to 'be herself.' (I’ve known plenty of candidates for whom being themselves was precisely the problem.) In this case, what I’m saying is Harris needs to be her story, which ought to be the easiest and most instinctive strategy in the world. She needs to sound like the triumphant and grateful child of immigrants she is, raised in a broken home, who somehow willed herself to the pinnacle of politics. It’s essentially the same story she told in her convention speech, when a lot of undecided voters probably didn’t stay up to watch.

That way, while Trump sputters and rambles, Harris can reaffirm for wavering voters exactly what they still want to believe about America: It’s not an inherently unjust country, but one where you can still transcend barriers of race and adversity through sheer persistence. By focusing on her own narrative in a way that’s relentlessly upbeat, Harris can signal that a vote for her is a vote for the American story of community and self-reliance, not simply a rejection of Trump. She can make that vote mean something more than the lesser of bad options."  (our emphasis)

Others have also suggested that she stay clear of trading insults with the mentally ill former President, because that won't highlight the glaring contrast between the two. Perhaps.  But a few well-targeted zingers may have the effect of raising his ire and remind viewers how unstable and flailing he is. In any event we're sure she's prepared to handle his constant lying and sniping that she'll get from the misogynistic Malignant Loser. For those voters who are -- incredibly -- still undecided, it should hopefully move them to VP Harris' column.