When I’ve covered the campaigns of women on presidential tickets, the question invariably arises: “Is she tough enough to be commander in chief?”

With the bubbly Geraldine Ferraro (Walter Mondale’s 1984 running mate), many voters had their doubts. There was less worry with Hillary Clinton. She was a gold-plated hawk who voted to let president George W. Bush invade Iraq and persuaded president Barack Obama to join in bombing Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya.

J.D. Vance was the darling of Hollywood when Hillbilly Elegy was made into a movie, before he ambitiously code-switched into a Trumper.Credit: AP

It is not surprising, with cascading conflicts, that Republicans are levelling the toughness question at Kamala Harris. This past week, the Trump/Vance campaign released an ad called “Weakness”. (Donald Trump also ran an ad called “Weakness” against Nikki Haley, a hawk.) The ad’s subtext is clearly gendered, trying to exploit Harris’ problems winning over black and white working-class men.

In a New York Times/Siena College poll last month, 55 per cent of respondents said Trump was respected by foreign leaders, while 47 per cent said that of Harris. The ad claims Harris is not tough enough to deal with China, Russia, Iran or Hamas. It features actors playing Vladimir Putin, Hamas fighters and a tea-sipping ayatollah watching videos of the candidate who wants to be the first woman president. It ends with four clips of Harris dancing – a lot better than Trump does – and a clip of Trump........

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