
President Joe Biden has been out of the public eye for nearly a week now after being diagnosed with COVID last Wednesday. And itās still not clear when exactly we can expect the address to the nation he promised would come this week.
Yesterday, we at least got a bit of Biden audio. During Vice President Harrisās visit to her newly inherited campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Biden was patched in via speakerphone. āWeāre still fighting this fight together,ā the presidentās disembodied voice promised. āI will always have your back.ā
Itās a remarkable illustration of how quickly this has all moved: Biden has stepped aside, Harris has stepped forward, and Harris has locked up the delegates she needs for the Democratic nominationāall between glimpses of Biden himself. Happy Tuesday.
Who the Heck Knows?
āWilliam Kristol
Sometimes if youāre confused, itās because the situation is confusing.
Sometimes if youāre not sure, itās because the situation is uncertain.
Sometimes if you veer back and forth between hope and concern, itās because the situation is at once hopeful and concerning.
Such is life. Such is politics. And such, it seems to me, is our situation less than two days after President Biden stepped aside.
On the one hand, thereās plenty to worry about. And when you talk to political prosāintelligent ones who wish Kamala Harris wellāyouāre struck by the worrying side of the equation.
Vice President Harris has a daunting task. She has to put together her own presidential campaign at warp speed. She has to remain respectful of President Biden while (implicitly) separating herself from his unpopular presidency, in which she played a major role.
She has to define herself not as the incumbent vice president but as a new leader with a forward-looking message. She has to balance the salesmanship of Bidenās accomplishments with a message of change. And she will have to develop that positive message while under a massive assault of negative advertising from Republicans who will be trying to define her first.
Having been a mediocre candidate who ran a poor campaign in the Democratic primary in 2019, she will have to be an impressive candidate who puts together a very good campaign for the next 104 days.
And she will have to have an especially good next four weeks, culminating in the Democratic convention in Chicago. This will be the period when things are most plastic: Harris will reintroduce herself effectively or not, will make the race competitive or not.
If a month from now nothing fundamentally has changed from where we stood before Biden withdrew except for the name at the top of the ticket, Trump is very likely to win. If a month from now itās clearly a new campaign, Harris has a real chance.
Iāve had many conversations over the last two days about where things stand and what may lie ahead. Iām struck that the civiliansāthe āregular Americansā who donāt work in and around politicsātend to see excitement and opportunity. The political insiders tend to see obstacles and challenges.
Both points of view capture aspects of reality. But I think this may be one of those times the outsiders may see things more clearly than the insiders. I hope so.
Some sophisticated conservatives have pointed out that thereās a tension between two of Kamala Harrisās favorite sayings.
Especially when speaking to young people, Harris often urges them to strive for āwhat can be, unburdened by what has been.ā On the other hand, thereās the now famous counsel Harris ascribes to her mom: āI donāt know whatās wrong with you young people. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree? You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.ā
But this tension between being unburdened by the past and existing in its context is present in every reasonable personās life. And as the American Enterprise Instituteās Stan Veuger points out, āshaped but not burdened byā shouldnāt be too complex a notion for some to grasp.
In fact, coming to grips with the challenging context they are in fact operating in, but not being unnecessarily burdened by what has beenāthat actually seems like a winning stance for the Harris campaign.
So, while of course Iām worried, Iām also encouraged. And above all, Iām uncertain.
I mean, as Yogi Berra said: āItās tough to make predictions, especially about the future.ā
Are you feeling excited for what can be, or are you still burdened by what has been? Where are the vibes, Kamala-wise? Let us know in the comments:
And if you just fell out of the coconut tree and landed in Morning Shots for the first time, we hope youāll stick around:
J.D. Vance, Thirst King
āAndrew Egger
For Donald Trump, having a vice president like Mike Pence had its downsides. There was the squeaky-clean prudishness. The sneaking suspicion Pence might secretly see him as dishonorable. That whole election-certification episode.
But to Trumpās eye, there was one big thing that Pence did great: He never, ever forgot his place as junior partner and full-time hype man. For five years, Pence played his role unswervingly: Sing Trumpās praises, then fade into the background.
JD Vance, a man who wrote a memoir in his 20s, hasnāt had a lot of practice fading into the background. And after a few days of watching him stretching out as Trumpās running mate, itās not even clear he plans to try.
Back in 2016, Pence wrapped up his vice-presidential acceptance speech with an extended paean to Trumpās virtues: confronting terrorists, supporting law enforcement, cutting taxes, building strong borders, upending the D.C. status quo. āThat man is ready, this team is ready, our party is ready,ā Pence finished. āWhen we elect Donald Trump the 45th president of the United States, together we will make America great again!ā
Last week, Vance didnāt end his RNC speech talking about Trump. He ended it talking about Vance:
I promise you thisāI will be a vice president who never forgets where he came from. And every single day for the next four years, when I walk into that White House to help President Trump, I will be doing it for you. For your family, for your future, and for this great country.
Vanceās tendency to keep the spotlight on himself was on display yesterday as well, when he headed to his hometown of Middletown, Ohio to headline his first rally on the Trump ticket. He talked about the importance of door-knocking to reach āpeople who are gonna vote for President Trump and Vice President Vance.ā He implored his listeners to āgo on social media and actually make the case for President Trump and Vice President Vance.ā
The most remarkable moment wasnāt even scripted. It came while Vance was delivering a piece of pure boilerplate: āOver the next four years, we are going to do a lot of good for people all over this countryāā
An audience member interrupted: āTwelve years!ā
The implication was obvious. And incredibly, Vance stopped to dwell on it: āWell, sirāletās not get ahead of ourselves. Knock on wood. Weāve got to win this race first.ā
Mike Pence would never.
Every vice presidential nominee wants to be president, of courseāthe hope that veep will be a stepping stone to the higher job is pretty much all that gets anyone to take the lower one. Still, ordinary etiquette stipulates the veep nominee keep that lust to himself until the next nominating period rolls around.
One wonders how Trump feels about all this. Itās possible, I suppose, that his near-death experience last week has changed his outlook on life to such an extent that he now welcomes a running mate whoās already so openly envisioning himself as the GOPās post-Trump vessel.
But maybe itās likelier that all this is an aggravation to the big guy. If so, weāll see if Vance can manage to correct course in the days ahead.
Catching up . . .
Harris secures backing of majority of DNC delegates: Wall Street Journal
Secret Service director infuriates lawmakers with vague answers on Trump shooting: Politico
Kamala Harris wonāt preside over Netanyahuās speech to Congress as he looks to shore up U.S. support: NBC News
Democrats relish Harris vs. Trump contrast: Axios
Trumpās new rival may bring out his harshest instincts: New York Times
Quick Hits: One Healthy Party
Up at the site today, Mona Charen rolls her eyes at the burgeoning right-wing narrative that Democrats carried out a ācoupā against President Biden:
There is indeed a candidate in this race who attempted to stage a coup, and we know who that is. Trump submitted his false electoral votes, pressured his vice president, and sent his goons to Capitol Hill because he would not accept the verdict of the voters . . . So please sit down and shut up with your coup talk.
The response of the GOP to a real attempted coup? After some initial condemnations, nearly the entire party fell into line denying that January 6th had been anything to get excited about and endorsing the coup-plotter for re-election. There were no calls for him to drop out of the race . . .
What we witnessed over the past several weeks was a political party, the Democratic party, acting like a healthy institution and not like a mob-inflected cult. Democrats ushered Joe Biden into the nomination in 2020, and they ushered him out in 2024 for good and sufficient reason. Yes, it was painful for Biden, but with the stakes being so high, Democrats found that sentimentality was something neither they nor the country could afford.
Thinking about our relatively short history as a nation, one can easily focus on those transformative moments of great danger and division when it seemed that the one person (sometimes maybe the only one) who had the ability to bring us through was suddenly there on the stage.
The Virginia planter whoād dreamed of a martial sword, was turned down by the British Army he wished so much to be a part of, and then went on to face that army down with a courage and perseverance that made him a hero, then to go on to further enhance that heroism when he returned that sword to Congress and still went on to bring us through our raucous and uncertain infancy with a steady hand and an example we still revere.
The backwoods lawyer and homespun president, at first disdained as a hick by members of his own cabinet whose courage, political expertise, and extraordinary understanding of who we were meant to be brought us as whole as he could through our terrible adolescence, and gave us, in just over two minutes as an afterthought speaker, a goal for the ages.
The aristocratic cripple who through imaginative and daring policies brought us out of the worst financial disaster in our history, and then led us through the worst catastrophe the world had ever known as the arsenal of the armies that beat that darkness back.
We now face another crisis, this one of our own making, and perhaps one inevitable in any democracy. One man has already taken that stage and begun to bring us out of it. Now, unable to continue, he has handed that responsibility off to another, and we come to the second part of that transformative moment. Facing a dark malevolence whose mastery of illusion has seduced half a nation, a woman has stepped onto the stage, accepting the awesome responsibility of being the second half of that transformation. We hold our breath and move to stand behind her, hoping that she can now take on that crucial role played by those other Americans who, when the moment came, met and won it. You will have to bear much, Ms Harris. The forces arrayed against us are dark, deep, and desperate. Our job as those who understand and love the country we were meant to be is to stand behind you. Game on!
Hereās all we need to know:
Kamala: āI know Trumpās type.ā
Trump: āSheās not my type.ā
VOTE BLUE, for crying out loud!