Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris: NAJ screen shot

The Big Picture – 
By Glynn Wilson – 

Donald Trump’s campaign to return to the White House is now in big, big trouble. No one else I’ve seen is reporting it this way yet. But I’m here to tell you, it’s true. Why?

Because all of a sudden, overnight, the game has changed. Kamala Harris has taken over the news cycle, blowing Trump and Biden right off the front pages and the nightly news casts. She is the talk of the town, no the country and the world, and will be for some time to come. Like the next four months.

The news now matters. She took over the front page of The New York Times above the fold on Monday, and will remain there for days to come, I expect. All those lost digital subscribers who got mad at all the pressure to get Biden to step aside may now be searching for the print edition, to save for posterity and history’s sake.

NAJ screen shot

As for President Joe Biden, he will now be remembered in history for his character and class, for stepping aside at the right time. He is still president of the United States and will be for the next eight months.

Record Fund Raising

On its first day, her campaign is setting fund raising records like nothing we’ve ever seen before. She raised $81 million in the first 24 hours. The Times called it a “recording-breaking showing as Democrats welcomed her candidacy with one of the greatest gushers of cash of all time.”

Harris Raised $81 Million in First 24 Hours as Candidate

By the end of the first day, Harris had secured the backing of more than the 1,976 delegates needed to capture the nomination in the first round of voting. The pledged support is not binding until the delegates cast their votes, which party officials said would take place between Aug. 1 and Aug. 7.

“When I announced my campaign for president, I said I intended to go out and earn this nomination,” Ms. Harris said in a statement. “Tonight, I am proud to have secured the broad support needed to become our party’s nominee.” She added, “I look forward to formally accepting the nomination soon.”

Harris Clinches Majority of Delegates as She Closes In on Nomination

Open Convention?

And in spite of what some pundits suggested about an open convention beginning August 19 in Chicago, which could have been a very messy, competitive affair, it appears Harris is on her way to wrapping up the nomination in record time.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, one of the top pwerhouses in the party who had talked about an open convention, went ahead and endorsed Harris on Monday, calling her “brilliantly astute” and saying that she is the best person to defeat former President Donald Trump in the fall.

“It is with immense pride and limitless optimism for our country’s future that I endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for president of the United States,” Pelosi said in a statement. “My enthusiastic support for Kamala Harris for president is official, personal and political.”

The statement by Pelosi was the most significant in a rapidly growing number of high-profile endorsements as Harris moved swiftly to cement her position as the new face of her party. Pelosi urged her colleagues to get behind Harris, saying “we must unify and charge forward to resoundingly defeat Donald Trump.”

Other Endorsements

She has so far scooped up endorsements from would-be challengers, including Governors J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Wes Moore of Maryland, Tim Walz of Minnesota and Tony Evers of Wisconsin. Several of them have been talked about as possible running mates.

Harris made her first public appearance during a morning event at the White House before heading to Delaware for her first official campaign stop, and praised President Biden’s “deep love of our country.” She also reflected on her days as a prosecutor in California, taking on “perpetrators” of all kinds.

“Predators who abused women. Fraudsters who ripped off consumers. Cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain,” she said. “So hear me when I say, I know Donald Trump’s type.”

The Excitement Factor

Her campaign is beginning on its first day with a tremendous burst of excitement from Democrats. And it’s not hard to imagine that all those potential voters who have been telling pollsters for months that they did not like this campaign for president between two old white guys might very well get excited about this.

Now watch it take off and go viral on social media like nothing we’ve ever seen before. It could crash the web and break the interent. Hope the power grid is up to the challenge.

Trump is also in trouble because he’s now the only old white guy in the race, and he has speech impediments of his own, mainly that he has still not figured out a way to tell the truth about anything, or utter a coherent sentence or make an actual campaign speech. It’s just gibberish, full of key words to keep his base of racist rednecks fired up and ready to kill. His pro-wrestling speak for the uneducated masses that has been working for the past 8 years is about to get blown away by a former prosecutor on the stump, and knocked out of press and media coverage everywhere.

How Wrestle­ Mania Trumped Intelligence in U.S. Politics

For his part, Trump appeared to be somewhat frustrated as he watched news coverage of Democrats lining up behind Harris, according to the Times. He complained on his social media site that Biden was being cast as “heroic because he quit!” and that Harris was “totally failed and insignificant.”

Right. Wrong.

Could This Change the World?

It might even change the world, and make Americans want to strive to be smart again. Wouldn’t that be something? Probably won’t happen, not without a better social media platform than we have now. But what a thought, eh?

Now there’s a campaign slogan. Make America Smart Again. Or Make America Think Again.

Hey, it couldn’t hurt in our international competition with China, Russia, etc.

If Biden’s stutter and flutters were not enough to shut down Trump in a so-called debate, wait until the people get a glimpse of what is about to hit him in the balls like a baseball bat to the nuts. This is one cat he won’t be grabbing, I’d wager.

Editorial Cartoon, by David Cohen

I know, people, that everyone has not been a big fan of Kamala Harris so far. Her campaign stumbled in 2016 and she had to drop out. Many question whether a Black woman can really win a presidential contest. But Biden picked her as his Vice President for good reasons. So she hasn’t made a big splash in the position? It was designed that way to make sure Biden remained the star-in-chief.

The Spotlight

We are about to see an entirely different Kamala Harris. She now has the inside government experience of being Vice President, and surely has been working with coaches to prepare for this moment in the sun on television. Because that’s what matters these days. Make no mistake about it. That is why Biden’s debate performance was such a let down and a shock to so many.

Can she muster the personal charisma now that the spotlight is shining on her to sweep the country off their feet? I actually think so. I could be wrong. But I doubt it.

Voter Entusiasm

Imagine the enthusiasm of women now like nothing since their support for Hillary Clinton in 2016, especially Black women and Indian Americans, maybe even Black males in the cities and suburbs of key battleground states, a critical demographic. Imagine the outpouring of support from young voters now, who were ambivalent and not paying close attention to politics.

Trump is not going to be able to counter this woman, except with his usual insults and innuendo. I don’t believe it’s going to work. As I recall, she was one of the toughest questioners we had in the Senate at the time, so much so that many didn’t want to lose her to the vice presidential appointment.

Who can forget her cross examination of William Barr as Trump’s attorney general, after Trump fired Jeff Sessions of Alabama, in a Senate hearing about the Mueller Report on Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election? We just happen to have the clip handy.

Trump is in real trouble.

Don’t flee for Canada, Mexico or other foreign ports and give up on America just yet. Let’s wait and see what happens. And try to enjoy the new show for a change. Heck, I may even take up watching cable news again, and go back to eating popcorn. Nah. Probably not. But it’s a thought.

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