I've been accused of late of being a little too optimistic about Donald Trump's chances in 12 days. I suppose a lot of that is fair, except in my defense, I have scads of data streaming in constantly showing very good reason for that optimism. I haven't always been this much of a glass half-full person, but now that I've tried it on for size, I kind of like it. So much so, in fact, that I'll even apply it to Vice-President Kamala Harris' CNN town hall last night. 

In Chester Township, a small community on the outskirts of Philadelphia in Delaware County, Anderson Cooper moderated a CNN presidential town hall - a 75-minute opportunity for Kamala Harris to showcase her closing argument to undecided voters in the most crucial of swing states. How did she do? Well, it could certainly have gone worse. I mean, if a video surfaced of Kamala Harris partying with Diddy right before airtime, that would legitimately have made for a worse day for the VP. I've now reached the limit of my optimism when applied to Kamala Harris.

In reality, it was otherwise the worst television performance by a candidate for president in my lifetime. Every person in that auditorium - the CNN talent, the audience, the crew, every person in that room came out of that experience realizing Kamala Harris is out of her depth in a bathtub. Now certainly, a percentage of the audience will no doubt cast a ballot for her, only because she happens to be opposing Donald Trump. But I defy you to point out one person either there on site or watching it on CNN that increased their enthusiasm for her upon its conclusion. Don't take it from me. Here's the parade of CNN pundits conducting the post-town hall autopsy. 

Jake Tapper: 



Jake Tapper loathes Donald Trump. It pained him to offer that analysis, because he realizes Trump's very likely going to win another term as president, because Kamala Harris is an empty pantsuit. Her closing argument is literally, "...but Trump." 75 minutes of prompting by Cooper and audience members to offer up something substantive she would do - anything at all, and she came up empty. 

Dana Bash: 



Bash is a Democrat. The people she heard from are Democrats. When Dana says they told her Harris didn't close the deal, that means expletive-laced texts came across saying they're doomed. Bash tried to put a happy face on it and say poor Kamala is held to a different standard because she's a woman. But the fact is if you're going to run for president, you're supposed to have a list of things you want to do and how you're going to do it. Kamala has been at this for almost 90 days, and with millions of people already voting, still can't offer a coherent agenda other than, "...but Trump." 

Van Jones:



If you didn't watch a moment of the town hall, and Van Jones is complaining about how Kamala's word salads get on his nerves, you know what you're about to get later on in this column. It was excruciating at times. 

David Axelrod:

If there is a positive spin to put on the night, Barack Obama's campaign guru from which you want to hear. 



Here's the problem. Kamala Harris spent 75 minutes not wanting to answer a question. So what we witnessed instead was more salad than you'd find in a Golden Corral buffet line.

Her answer on fracking was not only vacuous, it was a lie. CNN dusted off Daniel Dale, and it appears Kamala has even lost him, too. 



David Urban was the token conservative, and couldn't believe his good fortune when it came time for his turn. He became Ernie Banks, the late Chicago Cubs hall of famer, who was known for loving baseball so much, he would say, "Let's play two!" Urban wanted to keep the town hall going for another hour.

Kamala's town hall was an unmitigated disaster.@DavidJUrbanpic.twitter.com/UUVhBwQ9ud

— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) October 24, 2024

So now that I've warmed you up and you know what's coming, here's the lowlights. After a three-minute word salad on the economy, Anderson cut her off and brought up the obvious point that she's been in office for four years. Why hasn't she done something before now? Kamala froze for a second, shot Cooper the deer in the headlights look, and said this.



Harris was pressed by Anderson Cooper about her price-gouging talking points, gently indicating that it's nonsense. Her response? A non-sequitur. She complaining that Donald Trump didn't show up to CNN's town hall. 



An undecided voter asked Kamala about her immigration policy of an open border and requiring Americans to subsidize illegals here by the millions, how much it's going to cost him. Kamala's answer? I was a prosecutor.



It's excruciating. At one point, she tried to concede the point that she's not exactly quick on her feet when faced with decision-making, which is something of a required skill set to be president. 



Do you think she ever took an extemp speech class anytime during her collegiate career? I'd bet not. She is physically incapable of thinking on her feet. Now mix the pablum with her radical heart. Here's what she wants to do to the Supreme Court. 



The singularly worst moment for Kamala Harris was an exchange with Cooper about her previous position vis-a-vis the border wall. You could almost feel people tuning out because it was so uncomfortable to watch her flounder with an interlocutor who is a man of the hard left and almost certainly will still be voting for her. 



A female college professor claiming to be undecided begged, pleaded, all but beseeched Harris to give her one, just one, policy item on her agenda she'd focus on becoming president. One. 



Notice Professor Nackenoff's face gradually fall as she realizes she's not going to get one policy item on which Kamala will focus. Instead, she's in for another word salad. 

Someone with more time than me will eventually come up with the super-reel of how many times during this 75 minutes Kamala Harris invoked the name of Donald Trump. I have no idea how many times, but it's a lot. Her campaign is convinced that hating Trump is the only winning message they have left. 



I wrote a column a couple weeks ago after Harris' disastrous interview on ABC's The View with Sunny Hostin asking if she has any regrets, anything she would like to do different. "Nothing comes to mind," was her answer, which became an online meme as well as a Donald Trump campaign ad. You'd think that somewhere in the last fortnight, someone within the Harris-Walz campaign in Delaware would have cleaned that answer up with the Vice-President. Nope. 

Harris was asked by another undecided voter on what weaknesses she has coming into office. Her answer? I have a good staff. 



Actually, she's legendarily known to be a dragon lady of a boss. Virtually her entire staff while serving as vice-president has turned over. She's that impossible to work for. So her answer is just objectively a lie. 

Anderson Cooper picked up on this opening, and after a very unsatisfactory non-answer, pressed her himself on what mistakes she's willing to admit she's committed. 


 
Come again? Did I hear that right? Let's go back and read that transcript.

I mean, I’ve made many mistakes. And they range from, you know, if you’ve ever parented a child, you know, you make lots of mistakes, too. In my role as vice-president, I mean, I probably worked very hard at making sure that I am well-versed on issues, and I think that is very important. It’s a mistake not to be well-versed on an issue and feel compelled to answer a question.

What issue has she demonstrated she's well-versed on? Oh, she has used rote memorization to come up with a pat answer for virtually every major subject. If someone asks a question on immigration, she goes to that part of her mental file cabinet and offers up an immigration non-answer word salad. Same deal on abortion. Ditto on the economy. But is she actually well-versed on the subject, whatever that subject is? There's just no evidence to support that supposition. 

And she sticks the landing on an answer about her mistakes, another non-answer, by saying it's a mistake to feel compelled to answer a question. She's the quintessential risk averse candidate. She will never let anyone know what she honestly thinks or believes. She will never give you an insight as to what her instincts tell her, and what that might mean if she's pressed into leadership. She's not a deep thinker, she's as opaque as mud, and she's insistent upon running a campaign for the presidency as if she were a judicial nominee for the Supreme Court. Except even the Late Ruth Bader Ginsburg was more transparent in her confirmation hearing than Harris is with the American voters.

Kamala was asked a direct question about the Israel-Hamas war by someone who clearly is pro-Palestinian. What you got from Harris is her set answer, which is utter nonsense.

 

How will she as president save further Palestinian loss of life? Harris opens up the P drawer in her mental file cabinet, opens the folder, says end the war, release the hostages, give relief to Palestinians, and bring on the two-state solution. End the war with whom, exactly? Who's in control of Hamas and Hezbollah? Who's willing to sign the surrender documents on the terrorists' side? Relief has already gone into Gaza. Hamas absconded with all of it. And the two-state solution is such unserious fantasy as to be disqualifying. 

Aside from this absolute debacle Wednesday night, Kamala Harris' electoral chances are bleeding out, poll by poll. 17 days ago, Harris led the Real Clear Politics average of national polls by 2.3%. This morning, it has shrunk considerably. 

0.2% 12 days out. Lord have mercy. Trump's going to win the whole thing - Electoral College and popular vote. pic.twitter.com/4AjUHQH1bF

— Duane Patterson (@Radioblogger) October 24, 2024

Virtually every poll missed in favor of the Democratic candidate every cycle for the last decade. But give pollsters the benefit of the doubt. Assume the premise that they've corrected their error and they're pretty close. There's only one poll in the current RCP average that's keeping Kamala's hold on her lead by her fingertips. Quinnipiac, a month ago, in a R+1 sample, which according to Gallup is probably what the electorate ideological makeup is going to be this time, had Donald Trump up 2. Tuesday, they released a survey showing Kamala Harris suddenly up 4. The problem is their new sample is D+6. 

In 2020, Joe Biden, with all the wind at his back, chiefly anti-Trump sentiment at an all-time high, won the popular vote by 4.5%. The partisan makeup of the electorate turned out to be D+5. In no universe does anyone doing polls, left or right, believe we're in a D+6 environment now. The current Q poll is the floating door in the frigid North Atlantic after the Titanic broke in two. It's not a lifeboat, it's just a respite to keep Harris from going under for the third time. Without this outlier poll counterweighing the RCP average, Trump would be ahead right now. 

The other huge data point from yesterday to highlight is the approval number underneath the Wall Street Journal poll showing Trump up 3. 

Perhaps more interesting than the new WSJ national poll’s head-to-head top line (Trump +2): pic.twitter.com/h6nKlNr8X0

— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) October 24, 2024

Trump is now up 4 in net approval, and Kamala Harris is underwater by 12. That's a Trump +16 index. Compare that to where Trump was compared to Joe Biden in 2020. Biden went into Election day leading Trump 17.7%. That's a 33.7% difference from last cycle to this cycle. If the Journal's number is anywhere near reality, there is zero chance for Kamala Harris to win this election. And last night's disaster on CNN didn't do anything to change that. In fact, it took an election impossible to win and sucked any remaining wind out of her sails.