Vice President Kamala Harris’s most presidential moment during her debate against Donald Trump last month came not in what she said but in something she very pointedly didn’t say.
Discussing this nation’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, Harris criticized the “weak, terrible” deal that Trump, as president, negotiated with the Taliban. She ripped into him for inviting the Taliban to Camp David, the presidential retreat Harris described as “a place where we honor the importance of American diplomacy, where we invite and receive respected world leaders.”
“And this … ” — she paused as ifswapping the unsuitable profanity she seemingly wanted to say for something more appropriate to the occasion — “ … former president, as president, invited them to Camp David because he does not again appreciate the role and responsibility of the president of the United States to be commander in chief with a level of respect.”
On the same stage where Trump spewed racist lies about Haitian immigrants and melted down at Harris’s suggestion that he was suffering from crowd size shrinkage, the vice president showed restraint, respected decorum, and stood firm in the face of a bully without debasing herself.
That contrast could not have been more stark, and it confirmed what should be obvious — Harris is ready to be president.
Just a year ago, several high-profile political columnists were bubbling over with suggestions about who President Biden should choose to replace Vice President Kamala Harris as his 2024 running mate.
Never mind that the president was clear that he had no intention of making such a drastic move. Pundits were high on their own supply of negative stories and sound bites about Harris. Whatever advantages she brought to the winning Democratic ticket in 2020 were outweighed, they believed, by sagging poll numbers and unforced errors.
Now, about a month shy of Election Day, Harris could become the first woman elected president. She’s already achieved what the professional hand-wringers said would not be possible when Biden exited the race on July 21 and Harris announced her candidacy — a competitive campaign against Trump.
She’s racked up endorsements from hundreds of economists and policy makers, retired generals and admirals, and current and former national security officials and advisers. She’s garnering support from an increasing number of Republicans — most recently former Arizona senator Jeff Flake.
“First and foremost, I want to support a presidential candidate that respects the rule of law, somebody who, if they lose an election, wouldn’t try to use the presidential powers to overturn that election,” he said.
Trump has been running for a second term since he was defeated by Biden in 2020. That he is tied or, in some states, trailing Harris must embarrass him to no end. That it’s a Black woman doing this — and, make no mistake, he has a particular enmity for Black women — must be deepening his dismay.
That may be spurring Trump’s escalating personal attacks against Harris, such as calling her “mentally disabled,” a lie so deeply offensive even some Republicans are admonishing him. He’s also ramping up violent rhetoric with alarming claims that crime could he solved “if you had one really violent day. … One rough hour — and I mean real rough — the word will get out and it will end immediately.”
On Nov. 5, voters can end with defeat again what Trump has claimed will be his last bid for the White House.
But when Harris claims that she is the underdog, she’s right. Trump still has tens of millions of followers who will vote for him no matter what he says or does. His poll numbers may be stagnant, but they aren’t dropping precipitously either. A Black woman of Jamaican and South Asian descent this close to the presidency may be more than those wedded to their sexist or white supremacist ways can abide. This race will remain close.
So far Harris has managed to avoid any serious mistakes, perhaps a benefit of her very abbreviated campaign. But October will bring its dreaded surprises — the Middle East lurching toward an all-out regional war feels increasingly inevitable — and Trump’s erratic comments will continue to deteriorate as his cronies in Republican-led states enact changes to complicate and delay the counting of votes after the election.
In less than three months, the vice president has already surpassed all expectations and proven many of her most ardent doubters wrong. Yes, the hardest days lie ahead. But Harris is ready — and, I think, very cautiously, that the nation she seeks to lead may be ready to elect her as its next president too.
Renée Graham is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @reneeygraham.
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Publish date : 2024-10-01 06:22:00
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