Well, if you've got a schtick, get as much mileage out of it as you can.
Of course, this overlooks the fact that Kamala hasn't actually been nominated by Democrats to run against Donald Trump. And after watching the previous presumed primary winner get pushed out of the race by panicked Democrat leadership, Trump's correct to wait to negotiate this until the DNC makes it official:
At her Atlanta rally, Kamala Harris knocks Trump on his decision to back out of their debate.
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) July 30, 2024
Harris: “So he won’t debate, but he and his running mate sure have a lot to say about me..”
“Donald…if you’ve got something to say, say it to my face.” pic.twitter.com/3WQosbIbJE
It's a cute line. It ignores several decades of Trump having absolutely no problem saying something to people's faces, sometimes to his own detriment. In fact, Trump might have helped his cause a bit in the June 27 debate by deciding to lay off the personal attacks against a clearly doddering Joe Biden and instead keep the focus on Biden's record.
But still, this is effective for Harris in the short run, at least as a way to rally troops to her side. Democrats claim to have deposed Biden from the ticket over faltering polls, but they clearly recognized that Biden couldn't keep up with Trump any longer -- rhetorically or physically. In order to calm her own allies and generate some enthusiasm, Harris has to start by making it clear that she wants to take the fight to Trump. So, well done on that point, at least for now.
The problem will come when Trump takes Harris up on the challenge. This time he has more leverage to negotiate the terms, mainly because he's still leading and it's Harris who has to play catch-up. She can't do that without getting on stage, so Harris will likely have to make a concession or two -- especially after baiting Trump like this.
And when she does get on stage, Harris will need to avoid the traps that Tulsi Gabbard set for her in 2019, when Harris fell apart during the second televised debate in that cycle. Perhaps Harris has improved since then -- she managed to limp through most of the rest of the 2019 debates before bailing out of the race -- although it would be difficult to understand how Harris would have improved. She rarely does press conferences, and in fact rarely does media interviews at all, at least until recently.
She had a golden opportunity to get some practice in a friendly environment at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention this week. Trump will show up tomorrow to field questions in a Q&A, and then do a one-on-one with Fox's Harris Faulkner. But Harris, despite her bluster on the stump yesterday, decided to take a pass. Her allies are spinning this by claiming that the NABJ decided not to work with her on alternatives, but the NABJ convention has been scheduled for some time and invited Harris to come.
Why would Harris balk at attending a conference of black journalists? Especially now that she's the presumptive Democrat nominee?
Trump has played coy about agreeing to debate Harris, likely to increase the leverage for negotiations. He's probably champing at the bit at the prospect of forcing Harris into her word salads and into defending the Biden-Harris record at the border. One has to wonder, though, whether it's Harris who will quail at facing Trump, especially since she still isn't agreeing to engagement with friendly media. Will Harris and her allies walk into a trap of their own making -- twice?
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