Something is wrong with this split-screen picture. On one side, former president Donald Trump rants about mass deportations and claims to have stopped “wars with France,” after being described by his longest-serving White House chief of staff as a literal fascist. On the other side, commentators debate whether Vice President Kamala Harris performed well enough at a CNN town hall to “close the deal.”
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Let’s review: First, Harris was criticized for not doing enough interviews — so she did multiple interviews, including with nontraditional media. She was criticized for not doing hostile interviews — so she went toe to toe with Bret Baier of Fox News. She was criticized as being comfortable only at scripted rallies — so she did unscripted events, such as the town hall on Wednesday. Along the way, she wiped the floor with Trump during their one televised debate.
Trump, meanwhile, stands before his MAGA crowds and spews nonstop lies, ominous threats, impossible promises and utter gibberish. His rhetoric is dismissed, or looked past, without first being interrogated.
She lacks momentum and a charisma that gets people to follow you. So random critics can shout from the bleachers and say how they think she’s doing it wrong. So they tell her to jump and she jumps. They tell her to move this way and she does. It’s always wrong. Because they don’t know what she needs to do either.
They know yelling at Trump is useless. They don’t have any power over him. He’ll do what he wants and says what he wants and we can try to call him out and he doesn’t care and his followers don’t either. In all his ignorance, he has confidence. Arguably because of his ignorance.
In all her intelligence, she’s not sure what to do. But neither do the spectators. I’m not sure what she needs to do, but it probably has to come from somewhere inside herself and proclaim it without apology.
There’s a lot of smart people in that room. I’m not sure there’s much wisdom.