Telling voters that former President Donald Trump is a “fascist” is “not effective” and “isn’t working,” Future Forward, a predominate pro-Harris super PAC, acknowledged Sunday.
The admission is a serious blow to the Harris campaign, which began using the smear tactic only after her “campaign of joy” strategy produced a drop in the polls.
The Harris campaign and its media allies are all in on casting Trump as a Hitlerian dictator. MSNBC, for instance, told its viewers on Sunday that Trump’s historic rally at Madison Square Garden was equivalent to the 1939 Nazi rally at the New York City arena:
Harris told CNN last week that Trump is a “fascist,” though she provided no evidence for the characterization.
“Attacking Trump’s Fascism Is Not That Persuasive,” read one line in bold type in the email from Future Forward, the New York Times reported. “‘Trump Is Exhausted’ Isn’t Working,” read another.
“Focusing on Trump’s disturbing, ludicrous and outlandish behavior can be an effective lead-in to talking about substantive policy, but is not effective at moving vote choice on its own,” the email continued. “Purely negative attacks on Trump’s character are less effective than contrast messages that include positive details about Kamala Harris’s plans to address the needs of everyday Americans.”
Future Forward told the Times not to read too much into the email.
WATCH — Lindsey Graham: Harris Went from Joy to Trump Is Hitler, “That Is Desperation”:
The email was a part of “Doppler,” Fast Forward’s weekly messaging program to Democrat allies, who rely on the super PAC for messaging and talking points, according to the Times:
[T]he email’s warning reflects an underlying split among Democrats about what constitutes an effective line of attack against Mr. Trump, and how to persuade the small group of uncommitted voters to cast ballots against someone whose aberrant political and governing behavior has become familiar to them over nine years.
Ms. Harris’s team had made it clear immediately after the Democratic National Convention that they planned to switch from the message that President Biden had used most, that Mr. Trump is a unique threat to the country. They argued that making Mr. Trump smaller in the minds of voters was crucial. In her convention speech, she called him an “unserious man” but warned that restoring him to power would have “extremely serious” consequences.
In the last few weeks, Ms. Harris’s message on the campaign trail has been more in keeping with Mr. Biden’s earlier warnings about Mr. Trump as an unstable opponent. “Unhinged, unstable, unchecked,” all appear on the screen of one recent Harris ad.
With one week until Election Day, it seems unlikely the establishment media will be able to reverse course and backpedal on alleging that Trump is a “fascist.” In fact, members of Democrat resistance groups are indicating party members might be violent if Trump wins on election day, undermining the Harris campaign’s smear and her original “campaign of joy,” the Wall Street Journal reported Monday:
Others are channeling their nervousness into action: They are planning to attend Women’s Marches scheduled in Washington and beyond on the Saturday before the election. In Boston, they are joining pill-packing parties, where volunteers fill boxes with abortion kits to mail to women in red states with strict limits. “We feel like we’re doing something,” said Erin Gately, a 47-year-old physician assistant who last time took to the streets to protest after Trump’s election, but says this time she would focus on tangible actions like protecting reproductive rights.
“I think there’ll be some violence. I think there’ll be workplace fights. There’ll be fights at kids’ birthday parties. I think they’ll be protests and will turn violent,” Mark Halperin recently told Tucker Carlson about a potential Trump win.
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former RNC War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.
