Harris is in. – and is the presumptive nominee…
…maybe. We’ll know in three-ish weeks.
So how does Trump react?
My humble opinion – there’s no need to react to any of them differently, at least as individuals. they all different faces of the same machine; the same back-room figures who animated our current occupant in terms of policy will be pulling the levers and wires behind Harris, Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer.
There was, and may remain, about of speculation that Tim Walz could wind up on one of the potential VP short lists.
My fearless predication: if Walz oozes onto a ticket, it’ll be terrible news for Democrats, not merely because Walz is a chameleon who turns into whatever he needs to turn into for expediency’s sake – that’s no different than Harris, Newsom, Whitmer of any of them.
But there are two reasons to pick a Veep candidate:
- Shore up a key state, region or constituency: That’s why Mike Pence, George HW Bush, not to mention Biden and Harris themselves, got their nods; to shore up the POTUS candidates support respectively among evangelicals, moderates, moderates and progressives.
- To serve as the President’s political enforcer/”Bad Cop”: That was the purpose LBJ served for Kennedy, in terms of legislative support. I think it’s why Trump picked Vance.
HarrisNewsomWhitmer need the former; current polling shows them weak in all sorts of important states. Governors Josh Sharpiro (PA) and Andy Bashear (KY) could buoy a Democrat campaign’s chances in some key swing states.
What does Walz bring?
Minnesota.
A state the Democrats consider theirs as a birthright.
If the pick Governor Walz for Veep, that’s a sign the DNC is “breaking the glass”.
On a weekend talk show, I heard a new name pop up as VP candidate; Mark Kelly of AZ. I’m buying extra popcorn and beer for this one!
Listening to Kamala makes one long for the gravitas of Dan Quayle.
“The President in particular is very much a figurehead — he wields no real power whatsoever. He is apparently chosen by the government, but the qualities he is required to display are not those of leadership but those of finely judged outrage. For this reason the President is always a controversial choice, always an infuriating but fascinating character. His job is not to wield power but to draw attention away from it. On those criteria Zaphod Beeblebrox is one of the most successful Presidents the Galaxy has ever had — he has already spent two of his ten presidential years in prison for fraud.”
– Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams, 1979.
On those criteria, any of the major party candidates qualifies.