Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance (OH) has opened a new line of attack against Democrat presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris — the politics of ridicule.
If you can get voters to laugh at your opponent, you have done the all-important work of defining him or her. This from Vance is very effective, primarily because it’s true:
“You’ll say, ‘Kamala, Vice President Harris, what is your plan to lower the inflation caused by your policies?’ And she’ll say, ‘Well, I grew up in a middle-class family.'”
On and on Vance goes, even bringing up Harris’s disputed job at McDonald’s. The laughs from the crowd are genuine. These are not Stephen Colbert’s trained seals who applaud every time he panders to their partisan sweet spot. Laughs must be earned, and Vance earns them because his mockery is based on what everyone knows to be true.
This is how it’s done.
Complaining about Kamala not answering questions will get you nowhere. The politics of whining only makes the whiner look impotent and ineffective.
Insulting Kamala for not answering questions also gets you nowhere. The politics of insult only create resentment toward the person doing the insulting. This is something former President Donald Trump refuses to learn.
Ah, but if you can get people laughing — genuinely laughing — at your opponent, that’s as deadly as politics get. The best part is that it puts Kamala in a no-win situation. If she continues to dodge questions, the ridicule and laughs will only increase. If she actually starts to answer questions and get into the specifics of her policy proposals, then you go after those.
If I were the Trump campaign, mocking Kamala over her refusal to answer questions would be a leading part of my strategy. “I grew up in a middle-class family” could become this campaign season’s “I voted for the $87 billion before I voted against it” — the comment that unwound John Kerry’s 2004 presidential ambitions. The George W. Bush campaign blistered Kerry with ridicule over his flip-flopping. Once the “voted for it before I voted against it” stuck, it was all over for him.
For good reason, the Trump campaign was caught off guard when Democrats switched nominees. Trump was battle-prepped to take on President Joe Biden and damaged so badly that Kamala was brought in as a ringer. This had Team Trump scrambling for an effective line of attack against her. Well, this line of ridicule and mockery might just be the ticket.
I would add that those who claimed Vance was a poor choice for VP look pretty foolish today. He’s pulling his weight and then some.
John Nolte’s first and last novel, Borrowed Time, is winning five-star raves from everyday readers. You can read an excerpt here and an in-depth review here. Also available in hardcover and on Kindle and Audiobook.
