Trump’s Campaign Strategy for Kamala Harris Is to Link Her to Joe Biden

First official Republican salvo against Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential candidacy — attack announcement on X — launched Sunday in Pennsylvania, just one hour and two minutes after President Joe Biden’s stunning speech announcement which ended his re-election campaign.

Advertisement created by MAGA Limited Liability CompanyA super PAC supporting former President Donald Trump accuses Harris of “covering up” President Joe Biden’s “mental disability.”

He claims, “Kamala knew Joe couldn’t do it. So she did it. And look what she did: an invasion of the border, runaway inflation, the death of the American dream.”

Linking Harris to alleged Biden administration missteps is now a core GOP message, and it’s being used in the key swing state of Pennsylvania as many Trump supporters surprised see the older opponent they usually fought give up and let the younger substitute in.

“It’s a very easy transition from Biden to Harris,” Alex Pfeiffer, MAGA Inc.’s communications director, said in an interview Monday. “It’s a very easy transition to highlight how Harris is to blame for Biden’s failures at the border and elsewhere.”

Beyond the border, GOP activists and officials are eager to pin numerous supposed weaknesses, massive and petite, on Harris. Among their claims: She opposes fracking; her laughter is a problem; she is unqualified; the proposed transition is bad for democracy; she is tender on crime; and she likes it Venn Diagrams but he is against it plastic straws.

But Trump himself had a simpler message: “Kamala Harris can be described in two words: cruel and stupid,” he said. New York Post on Monday. “It’s a bad combination.”

Harris, who was a prosecutor before taking national office, is poised to respond to those attacks in her race against Trump, the first former president to be convicted of a crime.

During a speech in Wilmington on Monday, she said she was going after fraudsters, con artists and abusers. “I know Donald Trump’s type,” she joked.

“A threat to democracy”

Referring to the national Republican Party discussion topicsPennsylvania officials and candidates were quick to denigrate Harris and her rapid rise.

“Sixteen million voters across the country are now learning that their votes for President Biden no longer count,” state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, a Republican, said in a statement Monday.

Her words echoed comments made by Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance, who called Harris “threat to democracy” on Monday because, he said, she will most likely become the Democratic presidential candidate without voters participating.

Vance’s words were meant to reflect criticism of Trump by Democrats, who has not conceded his 2020 election defeat and faces pending lawsuits related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Republican Party strategist JJ Balaban said in an interview Tuesday that he was confused about the GOP’s messaging plan.

“How can Republicans think Harris is secretly running the country and yet she’s not qualified to be president?” asked Balaban, the Philadelphia ad creator. “That shows a lot of skill.”

Balaban also criticized what he saw as hypocrisy in Republicans’ accusation that “undemocratic” for Biden to make way for Harris.

“The idea that the party January 6 and the candidate who I will not accept “The 2020 election result, which includes claims about the sanctity of democracy, is an impressive achievement,” he said

Garrity also claimed that Harris’ policies are “far from the mainstream… and inconsistent with the views of Pennsylvanians in all 67 counties.” She cited Harris’ co-sponsorship of Senate version Green New Deal, as well as her support for Fracking ban and “Bernie Sanders” health care plan “which would eliminate employer-provided health insurance for millions of people.”

Harris endorsed Medicare for All as a presidential candidate in the 2020 primaries.

“Let’s not lose sight of the fact that we have a Medicare system that already works,” she wrote in 2019, when she was competing with Biden and Sanders (Ind., Vt.) for the nomination. “Now let’s expand it to all Americans and ensure everyone has access to comprehensive health care.”

U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser, a Republican representing east-central Pennsylvania, echoed the GOP’s message about Harris in an interview Tuesday, saying that “from national security to the border to the economy, she owns it all.”

Meuser added that Harris was “more interested in bailing out some of these people who were setting fires and robbing and smashing windows on Chestnut Street in Philadelphia than she was in stopping them from doing it. I think the people of Philadelphia need to remember that.”

Meuser was apparently referring to a statement Harris posted on Twitter in June 2020 after the killing. George Floydwherein she said“If you are able, “Support the @MNFreedomFund and help pay bail for protesters on the ground in Minnesota.”

A year later, Rep. Tom Emmer (Republican, Minnesota) he said that by persuading people to donate to a bail fund, Harris and others “freed” a man from prison who “then murdered another man.” Check disputed that claim, saying the statement was misleading and distorted the facts.

How does McCormick intend to tie Casey to Harris?

Trump’s line of attack on Harris has already been adopted by Pennsylvania Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick, who is running to unseat Democratic Sen. Bob Casey.

Elizabeth Gregory, McCormick’s communications director, linked Harris to the senator in a statement Monday. McCormick’s campaign had focused heavily on the senator’s ties to Biden before his withdrawal.

“Career politician Bob Casey votes for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ failed liberal “Border Czar” agenda 98% of the time. Casey and Harris have been a disaster for Pennsylvania, enforcing a joint open border agenda, raising the cost of living for middle-class families, enabling violent crime, and banning Americans from fracking.”

While Biden has never appointed Harris or anyone else as “border czar,” in 2021 he tasked Harris with leading diplomatic efforts to address the issue. the main causes of migration from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, amid a pointed boost in migration from these countries.

Asked to analyze the issues Republicans are raising about Harris, Stephen Medvic, director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin and Marshall College, said the Republican Party seems to be “flinging around aimlessly right now.”

He said that “pairing Harris with Biden is the best outcome for them,” but also cautioned that “the American people know that the vice president is in a supportive role and they may not agree with the president’s agenda.”

He also said personal attacks and “veiled racial slurs” are likely to backfire, whether they come from Trump or Rep. Tim Burchett (R., Tenn.), who said Monday that Biden had been rejected in favor of “our DEI Vice President.”