Kamala Harris, Choke Artist Extraordinaire

Donald Trump long ago coined a term that so perfectly describes the disastrous results of Kamala’s past week of politicking: Choke Artist.  If there was ever a perfect encapsulation of what that term means in real time, it would be the series of unfortunate events that has now precipitated a nightmare scenario for the Kamala campaign. These events have culminated in President Trump leading in every one of the critical seven designated battlegrounds by the Real Clear Politics public polling average, a trajectory that foretells a man headed for a lopsided, landslide electoral college victory.  Did somebody say October surprise?

Indeed, even the betting markets showcase that the 45^th President is well on his way for a second presidential term.  Polymarket, one of the leading prediction markets for elections, now gives President Trump a commanding 20-point advantage in its presidential election forecast.  It also has the President forecasted to win each of the seven all-important battlegrounds – Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona, North Carolina, Georgia – and even Nevada, a state the President neither carried in 2016 nor 2020, by a slight margin.  

Kalshi, another prediction market, and the first of its kind that allows American citizens (as opposed to just foreigners) to directly place bets on election outcomes (and thus may be perceived as more accurate), has given the 45th President a roughly 15-point advantage over his Democratic counterpart.  Kalshi’s forecaster also indicates that Donald Trump now leads in each one of the seven key battlegrounds – corroborating the polling averages on RCP.

For her part, Kamala’s much talked up “honeymoon” is now a long forgotten memory.  She has found herself mired in a political quagmire over the past week in particular, committing unforced error after error, public gaffe after strategic mistake, resulting in an embarrassing public spectacle.  Her failure to handle even relatively mild pushback from Fox News’ Bret Baier, nobody’s idea of a MAGA enthusiast, on basic questions such as how many illegal aliens have crossed the border under her and Biden’s watch over the past four years, was the portrait of an individual woefully ill-equipped to handle the duties of the presidency.  Her vagueness and rank ignorance to address basic inquiries about her record, coupled with her awkward demeanor and dismissive attitude made easy political fodder for the Trump campaign, which turned the entire 30-minute train-wreck of an interview into a full-fledged campaign advertisement, no edits or cuts needed! 

Kamala Harris even had a minor implosion on friendly territory: a few days earlier when asked on “The View” (maybe the most hospitable platform in existence for a Democratic candidate) whether she had any regrets about any of the policies of the Biden administration, or would change anything, Kamala demurred.  She said she could not think of a single thing that she would change about the Biden administration.  This, even though Biden had regularly polled as the president with the most unpopular record since the advent of polling itself!

To make matters even worse, Kamala Harris decided to outright slight the annual Al Smith gathering in New York City, the first time a Democratic candidate decided against attending the Catholic dinner since Walter Mondale in 1984 (not a great precedent, given that he lost 49 states to Ronald Reagan).  Her decision to not show up in person and instead submit a video message, which presumably also doubled as a pathetic attempt at “comedy,” was a total flop.  This is a case of someone not staying in her lane, the ultimate expression of sophistry.

As expected, the video message was received very poorly. Critics lampooned it as amateurish at best, but the general consensus – even among New York’s generally favorable — to her— liberal elite (who responded with a chorus of boos) – was that it was noxiously incomprehensible. 

Strategically, it was also a colossal failure for Harris.  

First, the Catholic constituency is essential to win for any presidential candidate, but particularly this race, where large concentrations of this important voting demographic are found in battleground states like Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.  Catholic voters, like Independents, are typically a good litmus test for how the general electorate goes: the candidate they decide more often than not wins the election outright.  Thus, speaking to these voters directly is crucial.  But considering Kamala’s radical platform – one that allows for abortion up until and maybe beyond birth, coupled with green-lighting the FBI to declare open season on Latin mass attendees, whom Biden viewed as comparable to domestic terrorists – Kamala likely sensed that being at a Catholic dinner, no matter how liberal the guest list and current Pope, would be a political liability for her.

Maybe she’s correct on that count. But it was also a strategic blunder in another way.  Her no-show made it easy for her opponent to steal the show: and that he did, with a charismatic, larger-than-life touch that is trademark of the Apprentice (his, unlike hers, was met with thunderous applause).  Donald Trump’s withering barbs – directed at Chuck Schumer, Bill De Blasio, and his counterpart, Kamala Harris – were equal parts biting and humorous.  His tone, slightly more subdued than his devastating roast of Hillary Clinton eight years ago at that same dinner, was apropos to the occasion.  We are in solemn times and Donald Trump in a statesmanlike fashion acknowledged this cold and bitter fact.  The country truly is on proverbial life support – its beating heart, the Constitution, is barely palpitating. Donald Trump was correct to express this somber fact — and he should be commended for doing so.

That Letitia James, one of the architects of the New York-based lawfare against the presidential frontrunner, was seated behind him, captured the extraordinarily high stakes of this election cycle. It further underlined the President’s tenacity for entering this den of vipers. Right behind him was the persona of weaponized justice in the flesh: with the New York Attorney General’s unrelenting crusade against Donald Trump, and the First Amendment.  That our current political class – which the emcees christened as “dignitaries” (perhaps the greatest joke of all) – cannot put aside partisan differences and personal gripes for the greater good.  And would even trample over the law of the land, the United States Constitution, to get even with a political opponent, is a travesty of untold proportion. It is that mentality which is also quickly catapulting a nation that once revered the rule of law into banana republicanism.

Fortunately, the election gods appear to be favorable to those who champion the good, even at the seeming twilight of American history (conversely, as another saying goes, it’s always darkest before the dawn).  And so, Kamala, maybe even despite herself, continues to blunder herself to virtual political oblivion.  At this point, it has even been reported that many top Democratic Party donors (or maybe we shall take the Trumpian cue and sever the “ic” from the party nomenclature) are questioning the switcheroo (what future historians might properly call a coup d’état) that exchanged the decrepit Biden for the derelict Harris.  Were we wrong to do this? They say to each other behind closed doors.  Was this a mistake?  Who let this happen? She is not as strong as Joe Biden! That is true.

The last two statements are verifiably true – and were spoken by none other than Barack Obama and Joe Biden, who appeared together at this past week’s funeral of Ethel Kennedy, whose son, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is of course supporting Donald Trump.  Although completely delusional, as Biden himself was heading for a Mondalesque loss to Donald Trump before his unceremonious ouster in June, it is probable that the current Oval Office Occupier is reconsidering his decision, probably getting angrier and angrier by the day.   He must see — even with his diminishing faculties — what is obvious to the rest of us: Kamala’s campaign is collapsing, and at a Titanic magnitude, if the early polling and voter trends are even remotely believable, making it much harder to rig than in 2020. 

That is not to take anything for granted.  Nor to say another cheat is impossible. Far from it. But it is to say that the momentum is indubitably behind the 45^th (47^th?) President’s back.  That is undeniable. It is also to say that nature clearly has a law that bends to those who work hard and persevere, despite insurmountable odds, even in America in 2024.  Even in a nation half occupied by what is effectively a foreign virus that has overtaken our institutions, and bleeding the life out of the rule of law and traditional Americana.

But it is the lionhearted over the entitled brat who is foreordained to be consecrated, if not by a polity steeped in ignorance, than by the laws of nature and nature’s God who wind up raising that most excellent statesman to rule nevertheless; so that he might fulfill his duties to his fellow countrymen, a responsibility conferred upon him seemingly by Providence. 

At this time, under these circumstances, it appears to be Donald Trump’s mandate to rule another term as president of the United States.  That is not a normative statement, but an expression of what many increasingly perceive to be divine right; he, like Abraham Lincoln, is chosen to lead us from the abyss of our own self-inflicted debasements, to ensure America, that last best hope, persists for another generation.  As well as to ensure that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Paul Ingrassia, a graduate of Fordham University and Cornell Law School, is an Attorney; Communications Director of the NCLU; a two-time Claremont Fellow, and is on the Board of Advisors of the NYYR Club and the Italian American Civil Rights League. He writes a widely read Substack that is regularly posted on Truth Social by President Trump. Follow Paul on X @PaulIngrassia, Substack, Truth Social, Instagram, and Rumble.

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.