“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” — John F. Kennedy.
“Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” — Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
“Talking about the significance of the passage of time. Right? The significance of the passage of time. So, when you think about it, there is great significance to the passage of time … and there is such great significance to the passage of time.” — Kamala Harris.
One of these things is not like the others, as they might say on “Sesame Street.” Or, if Kamala Harris were visiting “Sesame Street,” it may be a little bit more like, “These things, right? They are — they can be similar. We have seen them be similar. But some of them are not. One of them, in particular, is — it needs to be more similar. It is different, as they might say in our communities.”
If these were the malapropisms of President Joseph Robinette Biden, we wouldn’t be surprised. But 59-year-old Harris was selected as vice president in part because of her age, since America could be reassured that if it elected a cadaver-in-waiting, there was a youthful, energetic, cogent young(ish) woman behind him to continue the work he was elected to do.
As it turns out, Harris has been just as coherent as her boss, which isn’t saying much. And if you think that Donald Trump’s campaign isn’t going to point this out — particularly since a vote for Biden is, actuarily speaking, a vote for Harris — you’re wrong.
In an 82-second ad highlighting some of the veep’s greatest hits — all capped off with her trademark cackle — Team Trump shared some “inspiring thoughts” from the woman who would be president if anything were to happen to the frail, 81-year-old Biden should he be elected to another term.
The ad began with that “passage of time” quote — taken from a March 2022 Harris speech in Louisiana touting the benefits of high-speed internet access.
Just in case you think this was a selectively edited bit — or a “cheap fake,” as the White House is fond of calling it these days — let me assure you that the quote doesn’t make much more sense in context.
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“And there is such great significance to the passage of time when we think about a day in the life of our children and what that means to the future of our nation, depending on whether or not they have the resources they need to achieve their God-given talent,” Harris told the audience.
Then came Harris, just a few days ago, speaking on the importance of local financial institutions: “So the importance of community banks is they are, as they are called, they’re in the community, led by members of the community. People who understand the capacity of the community, the needs of the community, the culture of the community.”
Kamala Harris: “The importance of community banks is they are, as they are called, they’re in the community.”
pic.twitter.com/eQWHaJEHx1— Valuetainment Media (@ValuetainmentTV) June 14, 2024
Also, a short but sweet morsel of brilliance from the woman one weak heartbeat away from the presidency: “Space is exciting!” (That one’s from 2022, if you’re keeping track.)
The full ad, which dropped Tuesday on the official X account of the Trump campaign, is some pretty brutal stuff — and a reminder why Harris is just as loathed as her boss is:
✨ Inspiring Thoughts from @KamalaHarris ✨ pic.twitter.com/Tn1vqZdlDd
— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) June 18, 2024
Indeed, some of this is practically zen-like, what with her response to NBC News’ Craig Melvin in 2022 about whether it was time to shift course on COVID policy: “It is time for us to do what we have been doing, and that time is every day.”
Or maybe another quote of hers: “I can imagine what can be and be unburdened by what has been.”
Use that as your pre-meditation mantra and your mind will be as clear and empty as … well, just look at the woman in the video.
Look, absent any other red flags, this would feel a little bit harsh. After all, verbal infelicity in a political candidate shouldn’t necessarily be disqualifying; while C-SPAN didn’t exist back in the day, Thomas Jefferson was reportedly such a poor public speaker that it remains part of his legacy two centuries later. It doesn’t besmirch any of his accomplishments.
However — to paraphrase the late Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, Democrat Michael Dukakis’ 1988 running mate — Vice President Harris, I knew Thomas Jefferson from my textbooks. Thomas Jefferson was a term paper subject of mine. Vice President Harris, you’re no Thomas Jefferson.
Besides being black and a woman (crucial qualifications in the identity politics of the Democratic Party), Kamala Harris is supposed to be much younger and much sharper than a president who barely seems to remember his own name.
The unspoken, morbid reasoning behind her selection as Biden’s running mate in 2020, and her presence on the 2024 ticket, is that for Democrats the choice is clear: Do you think Joe Biden will survive another four years doing the most demanding elected job in the free world? Do you not think, in the back of your mind, that a lever-pull for Joe Biden is basically a lever-pull for Kamala Harris?
The problem with this strategy, alas, is that using a younger politician as a backstop doesn’t work if, under the slightest intellectual pressure, Harris’ mind seems to descend into a doom loop where it produces nothing of intellectual or rhetorical value.
If the Democrats wanted that, well, they already have it. And, in 82 seconds, Donald Trump’s campaign displayed exactly why that’s a huge problem for America if Biden wins again this November.
