You can almost feel sorry for them. The Democrats have based their whole presidential campaign strategy on keeping Kamala Harris away from interviews and policy discussions and focusing on the one thing that worked in 2020—“Hate Trump!” Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed.
The evidence is clear. A Media Research Center report did an analysis of “100 campaign stories” on ABC's World News Tonight from July 21, when Harris entered the race, to September 6. They found “25 clearly positive statements” made about Harris from “reporters, anchors, voters or other non-partisan sources.” That represented a 100 percent positive spin on the outlets reporting for Harris. During that period, an analysis of ABC’s reporting on Trump found “five clearly positive statements” and “66 negative statements,” representing a 93 percent negative spin on the outlets reporting for Trump. The media has become an arm of Kamala’s campaign strategy.
Want more evidence? Bob Unruh shared in his op-ed column a list of hateful comments and who had said them. He highlighted a video collecting two minutes of direct threats from politicians, entertainers and other public figures that called for using political violence. Here are some of the most threatening comments:
"They're still going to have to go out and put a bullet in Donald Trump. That's a fact."
"Where is John Wilkes Booth when you need him?"
"I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House."
That’s just a small sample of well-documented hateful comments.
With that kind of evidence thrown at them after the second assassination attempt, you’d think they would be ready to offer an apology and promise to change. But NO! They double down on their blame-Trump strategy by pointing to the past president’s own comments and actions that triggered such hateful responses. Here are two of the worst:
Democrat Rep. Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey says it’s President Trump’s fault he almost got sh*t at his golf course.
NBC News’s Lester Holt suggested the incident was inspired by Trump’s past rhetoric: “Today’s apparent assassination attempt comes amid increasingly fierce rhetoric on the campaign trail itself.”
This drives Republicans crazy. They wonder why Democrats can’t admit that their comments are partially to blame for the extreme actions taken by some against Trump.
There is a simple reason. They can’t! Hating Trump is all they have. Their candidate is in hiding most of the time. She speaks in generalities and calls for joy and an opportunity economy. But there is no detailed platform, no clear delineation of what she will do if elected. She has given no explanation for her radical change in positions since her run in 2019. They are stuck in “Hate Trump,” and no attempted assassinations are going to change that.
Democrats will do everything they can to blame Trump’s own rhetoric and minimize the coverage of the assassination attempts between now and the election. Feeling sorry for Trump does not help drive their strategy. Blaming his own name-calling and attacks does. To the Democrats seeking to win this election, Donald Trump is the hateful man that American voters must hate enough to defeat in December.
If you have to get someone to admit that they are culpable, they are in control. Democratic leadership will never admit that they are partially to blame. Most American voters see that. It’s time to stop even trying and focus every day on winning this election by driving home the reality of what the Biden/Harris administration has done to America and to focus on what a Trump/Vance victory in November will mean.
Voters want solutions that will bring back the best of the Trump years. They want a secure border, a strong focus on law and order, energy independence that will bring down the cost of energy and fuel, school choice, smaller government, less regulations, and an end to the assaults on their freedom of speech. It’s time for Trump and Vance to drive home their campaign promises, focus on solutions, and ask for the vote that most Americans are ready to give them! Do that and they win.
Terry Paulson is PhD psychologist, professional speaker, and author of The Optimism Advantage and his new political novel, The Summit. Contact him at terry@terrypaulson.com.