Washington Examiner chief political correspondent Byron York suggested that Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign has come full circle in this election cycle, which began and will end with a warning about the danger former President Donald Trump poses to the nation.
Harris’s closing argument speech is expected to come Tuesday on the National Mall in Washington, where she will reference the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack and connect it to Trump. However, new polling data suggest that more voters trust the former president over Harris to protect democracy, with Trump ahead by 3 percentage points.
“You know, I think we’re seeing a full 360 in the Harris campaign because if you remember, Joe Biden actually wanted to make the campaign about Jan. 6, then his top adviser, Mike Donilon, actually said that on the record, ‘This election is going to be about Jan. 6,’” York said on Fox News’s America’s Newsroom. “And when Kamala Harris takes over quickly after Biden pulls out on July 21, that all goes away. And we start hearing about ‘Trump and J.D. Vance are weird’ and ‘it’s a campaign of joy’ and they’re trying to belittle Trump, they’re trying to make fun of Trump. And now, we’re back to ‘Trump is a danger to democracy’ and Jan. 6, that is the closing argument.”
York also discussed what he thinks Democrats are concerned about ahead of the election, including the lack of an answer she provided during a CNN town hall on what legislation she would prioritize on her first day as president. He contended that Harris has been “an unprepared candidate” in this race so far and that her lack of preparation “could extend” to her final argument before Election Day.
While Trump’s approval was “underwater” when he was running for president in 2016, his approval ratings have consistently improved over time to the point where it is “barely underwater” right before the 2024 election.
AS ATTACKS INTENSIFY, TRUMP BECOMES MORE POPULAR
During CNN’s town hall, Harris revealed that she agrees with assessments that Trump is a fascist and argued that those claiming he has fascist views “should be trusted.” Her comments were in reference to former White House chief of staff John Kelly’s claims that Trump made admiring statements about Adolf Hitler. The former president’s campaign rebuked Kelly for having “a debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a former independent presidential candidate and current Trump ally, has condemned Harris’s remarks, suggesting her comparison between Trump and Hitler “inspires assassins.” The former president has already survived two assassination attempts since July, with the first taking place at a rally in Pennsylvania and a second occurring when he was golfing in Florida.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has similarly rebuked these comparisons, stating Wednesday that he is tired of the “Hitler crap” some people keep pushing. He also pointed to Trump’s connection to Israel and how it contrasts with Hitler’s persecution of the Jews.
