Now that the Republican Convention has concluded and we are two days into the Democratic Convention, absent any surprises, we can safely say that we have a presidential campaign about nothing. For instance, can any one honestly say that we learned anything at all about Donald Trump that we didn’t already know? Of course not. He remains an egotistical maniac who wouldn’t know the truth if he tripped over it. The man is 78 years old. If he hasn’t grown up by now (and he hasn’t) he never will.
Then there is Kamala Harris, who is running hard to be Homecoming Queen. Ms Harris is the Democratic nominee by virtue of the fact that party elites chose to defenestrate Joe Biden after his catastrophic debate with Donald Trump. Which had nothing to do with Trump’s performance, which was miserable as usual. No, it was that Joe Biden’s infirmity had become just too obvious for the lie to hold that he was up to the job and “sharp as a tack”. In the event his poll numbers began to crater. So by default, party elites selected Ms Harris as the least bad choice to replace Mr Biden as the party’s standard bearer.
Post switcheroo, Kamala Harris got a make-over. Up until the point where she became the presumptive nominee, Harris was generally regarded as a political liability. Democrats, for example, gamely denied Nikki Haley’s charge that a vote for Biden was actually a vote for Harris. But that was then. Overnight however, with the mainstream press acting as cheerleader, Harris became all-wise and knowing.
Part of her make-over had to be spent alleviating the hurt feelings of Jill (that’s Dr Jill) Biden and Joe Biden. And so we were treated to the spectacle of the delegates acting like kindergarteners as they gratefully handed their milk money to the teacher and were rewarded with gold stars for their obedience. In one of the more cringeworthy episodes we got to see the convention delegates chanting “We Love You Joe” complete with signs, in an attempt to pretend that this was not what it most certainly was: a thinly disguised palace coup.
For her part, the teleprompter speeches Kamala Harris read served to display that, like most politicians, especially populist ones, her panoptic ignorance extends to even the most basic economics. She accomplished this by announcing that she would institute price controls on food, further subsidize home ownership and create a $6,000 “refundable” tax credit for newborns.
Not to be outdone, she has also proposed “forgiving” medical debt for millions of people to the tune of around $200 billion. But those debts are not forgiven at all. The debts don’t disappear. They are simply transferred from the borrower to the taxpayer.
Actually the economic proposals that Harris propounded tell us a good deal about the way she thinks. It can be summed up as Tax and Spend; Command and Control. Any semblance of freedom and choice goes right out the window. Unless of course, you want to get an abortion which the government will be pleased to pay for.
There is irony to be found in the behavior of the ignorati in the bleachers chanting “We Love You Joe” and “Thanks for What You Did for Us”. Joe and Kamala, two peas in a pod, have been busy purchasing the delegates’ votes with the delegates’ own money, an irony that appears to be completely beyond their comprehension. Likewise with Trump’s tariffs (largely maintained by Biden) and the race to have the most “generous” policy with respect to taxes on tipping.
This after the Biden Administration asked for and received an extra $80 billion to seek out under reported income. One regulatory proposal was advanced specifically for tipped income. See here.
And on it goes. There is no serious discussion of policy, and the Harris campaign apparently means to keep it that way. They seem to be calculating that their advantage lies in discussing policy as little as possible so as to concentrate their firepower on Trump’s personality. With Trump’s need to be the center of attention, it just may work.
JFB
