Kamala’s All Hat & No Cattle – Top 3 Takeaways – September 17th, 2024
- All hat, no cattle. Kamala has no game. Last week, while many on the right were lamenting Trump’s performance in the presidential debate, which objectively wasn’t great (and that’s an understatement), I spoke of what the debate was really about...which wasn’t Donald Trump. As I mentioned, citing focus groups of undecided voters used by Reuters, the Washington Post and New York Times, what the undecided voters saw and what all of the decided voters on both sides saw were two entirely different things. Using the RCP polling average, only 4% of voters were undecided heading into the presidential debate. For 96% of voters the presidential debate was political theater with people routing for their respective teams. For 4% of voters, it was an audition to see which team they were going to vote for. And the 4%ers, as we came to learn from conversations with undecided voters in focus groups, they weren’t interested in what Donald Trump had to say or in his performance. That’s because they already know what he represents. They know what his policies meant. They know what they can expect should he become president again. The question in their minds was whether was whether Kamala could offer them something better. And while pundits, and most already decided voters commonly saw the debate one way, with a frustrated and seemingly angry Trump contrasted with a well-rehearsed and practiced Kamala Harris on the other side, what the 4%ers most commonly saw was that Kamala was...all hat no cattle. Because there was nothing, no substance, no details, behind her polished and well delivered lines. Her performance was that of a classic Hollywood actor who pretends to be something they're not and that was once again on full display during the debate, but also again during her first one-on-one interview since becoming the Democrat’s nominee on Friday. In an interview with a reporter from “ABC Action News Philadelphia” she was once again asked what she had been asked to start the presidential debate. The reporter’s question:
- When we talk about bringing down prices, and making life more affordable for people, what are one or two specific things you have in mind for that? This should not be a hard question, should it? He didn’t ask for her to compressively break down her economic plan to demonstrate how it would do what she suggests it would do. He just effectively said...hey give me anything specific on the economy. If one thing, anything will do. That’s not a softball question for a presidential candidate, that’s a beach ball question. And what was Harris’ answer? Quoting Kamala: Well, I’ll start with this. I grew up a middle-class kid (which isn’t true btw – but that’s beside the point), my mother raised my sister and me. She worked very hard. She was able to finally to save enough money to buy our first house when I was a teenager. I grew up in a community of hard-working people (which given that it was an affluent community in Montreal is probably true). You know construction workers, nurses and teachers, and I try to explain this to some people who may have not had the same experience. You know, if, but, a lot of people will relate to this. You know I grew up in a neighborhood of folks who were very proud of their lawn. You know (she’s smiling and nodding at the reporter at this point – who just might have already been thinking that she might be more out to lunch than Biden at this point in her answer). And um. And I was raised to believe to know that all people deserve dignity. And that we as Americans have a beautiful character (who’s got a cute little character...ahh you do). You know we have ambitions and aspirations and dreams. Not everyone necessarily has access to the resources that can help them fuel those dreams and ambitions. So, when I talk about building an opportunity economy, it is very much with the mind of investing in the ambitions and aspirations and the, and the incredible work ethic of the American people and creating opportunity for people, for example to start a small business. Wow. All I can say is wow. If you wondered why it was that Kamala had her emotional support animal (credit Scott Jennings) with her during her first interview now you know. There is absolutely nothing there.
- Kamala is all hat and no cattle. But as bad as that answer was consider this. Here was the first debate question and Kamala’s answer to it (Muir): Vice President Harris, you and President Biden were elected four years ago and your opponent on the stage here tonight often asks his supporters, are you better off than you were four years ago? When it comes to the economy, do you believe Americans are better off than they were four years ago? Harris: So, I was raised as a middle-class kid. And I am actually the only person on this stage who has a plan that is about lifting up the middle class and working people of America. I believe in the ambition, the aspirations, the dreams of the American people. And that is why I imagine and have actually a plan to build what I call an opportunity economy. Because here's the thing. We know that we have a shortage of homes and housing, and the cost of housing is too expensive for far too many people. We know that young families need support to raise their children. And I intend on extending a tax cut for those families of $6,000, which is the largest child tax credit that we have given in a long time. So that those young families can afford to buy a crib, buy a car seat, buy clothes for their children. My passion, one of them, is small businesses. I was actually -- my mother raised my sister and me but there was a woman who helped raise us. We call her our second mother. She was a small business owner. I love our small businesses. My plan is to give a $50,000 tax deduction to start-up small businesses, knowing they are part of the backbone of America's economy. My opponent, on the other hand, his plan is to do what he has done before, which is to provide a tax cut for billionaires and big corporations, which will result in $5 trillion to America's deficit. My opponent has a plan that I call the Trump sales tax, which would be a 20% tax on everyday goods that you rely on to get through the month. Economists have said that Trump's sales tax would actually result for middle-class families in about $4,000 more a year because of his policies and his ideas about what should be the backs of middle-class people paying for tax cuts for billionaires. Ahh. Notice a pattern? Was her answer to the local Philly reporter really appreciably worse than her answer to start the presidential debate? On the biggest issue to people that’s all Kamala has to offer. And for the 4% seeking answers, their first impression of her answer on the economic question (based on the feedback from the focus groups) was quoting Keilah Miller, a 34-year-old Black woman from Milwaukee who’d only ever voted for Democrats but said that after the debate she’s backing Trump. Trump’s pitch was a little more convincing than hers I guess I’m leaning more on his facts than her vision. When Trump was in office — not going to lie — I was living way better. I’ve never been so down as in the past four years. It’s been so hard for me”. If that was her perspective coming out of the debate, what do you think the impression for the still fewer undecided voters would be after Kamala’s answer to the economic question in Friday’s interview? Surely some iteration of... what the... So yeah. Kamala’s all hat and no cattle and she’s not fooling undecided voters. Trump is still positioned to win and potentially more so than a week ago prior to the debate.