Kamala Harris made two critical errors.
1. When asked what she would have done differently from Biden, she shouldn’t have said “nothing.”
He was unpopular. She needed to distinguish herself.
She could have said something like “I believe in loyalty. I believe you shouldn’t throw your boss under the bus. I know Joe has tried very hard to increase the amount of food getting into Gaza and to reduce civilian casualties. I don’t know for sure that I can do better, but I certainly would like to try.
Israel has been a long time ally of the United States, and a good ally. I’m not sure Netanyahu is a good ally, though. Because of the corruption charges pending against him, he has a motivation to keep his country in a state of perpetual crisis. The perceived crises strengthen his support amongst voters, but this motivation is resulting in escalating violence in the region.”
2. When asked about inflation, she should have said “the inflation that Joe encountered early in his term, was a direct result of Trump‘s policies of not enforcing the antitrust laws, particularly in the wholesale food distribution market. Joe has brought that Trump-induced inflation under control.“
3. Instead of saying those things, she made a very tone deaf statement, about two days before the election, about how she wanted a strong defense — while Trump was telling a war weary population that he was the “peace candidate,” and did not adequately counter the inflation message.
Of course Trump was lying about being a peace candidate. In the short time following the election, he began making aggressive statements, threatening the sovereignty of peaceful countries who have been long time friends. But from the perspective of those listening before the election, particularly those who didn’t like all the money being spent on foreign wars, he sounded better than Harris.
Item number one above cost Harris the votes of black men and Muslims. Item number two above cost Harris a lot of white working class votes.
If the campaign had been longer, she might’ve corrected these problems. Unfortunately, she did not have time to fully formulate her platform and talking points in response to input from the populace. Of course, there is the issue of Trump being a professional performer with tremendous charisma who tapped into anger well, but Harris made critical mistakes in how she responded to the press.
