Trump reaches out to the people of America. Harris didn't even go through primaries.
Originally published in the Columbus Dispatch, this is a slightly expanded version that goes into more detail. I truly appreciate the Dispatch for their willingness to include contrarian voices and headlines that help to sell newspapers.
Ohioans, like voters in every other state, haven’t cast a single presidential vote for current Vice President Kamala Harris yet she is now the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee. Such anti-democratic antics used to be the routine when our political parties cut the proverbial smoke-filled, back-room deals to advance their chosen standard-bearers.
Apparently, such dealing is still very much in play, but the ease with which Democrats fell in line with Ms. Harris’s anointing makes me wonder if the smoke in that room was from something other than tobacco.
In my last column I predicted:
“Maybe President Biden will gracefully withdraw from the race and finish his decades of public service while he still has the cognitive capacity to do so. Or maybe his party will push him out at their convention. Maybe then we’ll have a real competitive election. I know many who hope that’ll happen.
But maybe isn’t reality and hope isn’t a strategy.”
It seems hope wasn’t required as the strategy was revealed when President Biden dropped out of the race just a few days later.
Since the 1970s, popular vote primary elections have been the standard by which the candidates rise to the top of their respective tickets. While I’m not convinced the primaries are the best way to choose candidates, the grueling six-month primary campaign process at least assures that a candidate’s strengths and weaknesses are fully exposed to the public so voters can make a more well-informed choice.
Ms. Harris was so bad in the 2020 primary that she dropped out before a single vote was cast and even the left-leaning New York Times panned her.
Most of the country’s voters have no idea who Ms. Harris really is. She was ranked* the “most liberal” senator when during her term there. With just a few months remaining before November, it will be a significant challenge for the Trump campaign to inform voters of her extremism while a Democratic Party and complicit media onslaught work to hide it.
The hypocrisy of today’s Democratic Party that so easily rejects the votes of the people (the demos root of their name) should forever disabuse anyone of the notion that it is Republicans generally, and Donald Trump specifically, who are the threats to our democracy.
Since little of this process is set by law, it’s unlikely that any of the legal challenges to Harris’s candidacy will succeed. That means we now have the competitive election I imagined.
In the spirit of such a contest I have a few suggestions for the candidates, starting with Ms. Harris.
Come visit Central Ohio — soon. You’ll no doubt find a warm welcome in most of Columbus, especially in places like the Short North, German Village, or The Ohio State University campus areas that overwhelmingly vote for Democrats.
But you’d be wise to venture a bit farther into our surrounding communities. I recently attended a wonderful concert at Lancaster Festival featuring country music star Lee Brice accompanied by the exceptional Lancaster Festival Orchestra and Lancaster High School Percussion Ensemble.
Located just 30 minutes southeast of Columbus in Fairfield County, this area voted overwhelmingly for both Donald Trump and J.D. Vance in their respective elections.
Tens of thousands of people come from all over the area for this annual event — the very people politicians so often pander to, or worse, talk about with pity. They don’t want hand-outs. They’re unabashedly patriotic and generally want government to do less but to do what it’s supposed to do well.
Talk with — not to — the people there and find out why they so consistently reject the policies and candidates of the Democratic Party. They’re decent, honest people who’ll tell you what they think.
For Mr. Trump, come back and visit us too. Let Sen. Vance show you around where he came from and listen to what they want — and don’t want — from our government.
I know you love the fight and you’re clearly good at it, but the few percent of people who are truly undecided are going to decide the outcome of this election. The need to know you can be presidential too. Let Mr. Vance be the attack dog when it’s required. That’s the traditional role of the V.P. candidate anyway.
Most importantly, don’t underestimate Ms. Harris or the Democrat’s electoral machine. They’ve raised nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in just the first week of her candidacy. You’re not going to beat her by name-calling. Her record as a prosecutor, senator, and V.P., along with her various far-left policy preferences provide more than enough fodder. Stay focused and on-message there.
Ohio might not be a battleground state but the candidates can sit and a visit awhile en route to swingier states like Pennsylvania or even that State Up North. Mr. Trump and Ms. Harris, former Buckeye JD can decode that for you.
* Note: The organization that provided that “most liberal” ranking for Ms. Harris pulled that page from their website just a few days after Ms. Harris ascended to the top of the ticket. Readers will have to decide for themselves why they did so. The link I provided is to the Web Archive record of that page.