Vice President Kamala Harris and her campaign have adopted an unusual strategy for opposing former President Donald Trump: needling him. And it appears to be working.
Since initiating her bid for the presidency, her campaign has ridden a wave of popularity and goodwill that has seen her surge in the polls even before presenting detailed policy proposals. Similarly, she has also been able to rankle and goad the famously easy-to-upset former president into acting out without even attacking his agenda or his record.
While perhaps unusual for a presidential campaign, the strategy has proven effective as Harris’ growing momentum continues to unnerve Trump.
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For his part, the former president has frustrated even his own advisers who have urged him to mount a more disciplined offensive against his opponent and her record. Instead, he has referred to her as a “loser,” “a bad debater” and “not smart” and indulged himself in lengthy tirades centered around mispronouncing her name – a pattern of personal attacks often based on race or sex that seems to be corresponding with his losing ground in critical swing states.
From the very beginning of her bid, Harris made it clear that she would be confronting the former president head-on.
In her first speech after President Joe Biden announced his decision to end his reelection bid and endorse Harris as his successor, she took a direct swipe at Trump’s mounting legal troubles by leaning on her lengthy career as a prosecutor in California.
Speaking during a campaign event in Milwaukee, Harris told the crowd that she has taken on “predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain.”
"So hear me when I say, I know Donald Trump’s type."
She outlined how her record lined up directly with Trump’s recent issues: She’s prosecuted sexual assaults and the former president was found liable in court for committing sexual abuse. She’s won cases against for-profit colleges and Trump’s now-defunct university was forced to pay a multimillion-dollar settlement. She’s won judgments against large banks for fraud and a New York jury convicted Trump for fraud.
The contrast........