Oh, please. Oh, please.
Admit it. You’d love to see the Democratic former district attorney debate the helmet-kissing, multiply convicted, sex-offending, Republican presidential candidate currently out on bail in three jurisdictions. You enjoyed the faces Senate Judiciary Committee witnesses made when it came time for Sen. Kamala Harris to ask questions and their sphincters puckered.
So what does the Donald Trump campaign think about the prospect that their strategy against Joe Biden might get chucked if Harris is their new nemesis?
Well, Republicans still plan to cheat, of course, while accusing Democrats of doing what they’ve promised they themselves will do. They claim the switch is no big deal. They’ll just tar Vice President Harris with the same policies they planned to tar Joe Biden with, especially on immigration. She’s brown-skinned like many immigrants they target, so it’s a bonus for them.
On the other hand (Intelligencer):
Republicans are bracing for the fact that Harris will be a more effective campaigner than Biden and certainly a better debater. And they think that should Harris ultimately become the nominee, she will be awash in positive media coverage from outlets like the New York Times and the Washington Post, which Republicans believe have been on a crusade to replace Biden. The positive media coverage will likely result in a modest polling bump for Harris — but Republicans believe it will only be a temporary one.
But Trump’s proclivity for spouting racially coded and misogynist comments “would come out should Harris become the nominee, further turning off college-educated voters and women.”
Thus, Republican pollster Frank Luntz is less than cocky:
“It would change the race significantly because it brings race directly into the picture and it brings gender directly into the picture,” said GOP pollster Frank Luntz. “If Trump goes back to the Trump we’ve known, then all bets are off.”
“I think the Republicans should be a little more careful about what they wish for,” he added. “It reminds me of the dog that catches the car. It doesn’t work out very well for the dog.”
[…]
If the Democratic Party were to execute a switch just months prior to the election, it would represent yet another unprecedented event in a campaign that has been full of them. Many Republicans said that in a year in which nothing has gone according to plan, it would be hard to predict how the latest twist in this race would go.
Oh, they still plan to use every lever at their disposal (including frivolous lawsuits aimed at reaching the U.S. Supreme Court) to monkey-wrench the election. But if Trump finds himself facing Kamala Harris instead of Joe Biden this fall, there will be no pucker. He’s all hole.
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