Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is joyous about the joy.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the things that make me mad about those other guys and all the things they do wrong, the one thing I will not forgive them for is they tried to steal the joy from this country. They try and steal the joy,\u201d Walz, the Democrats\u2019 new vice-presidential candidate, said at a boisterous Detroit Metro Airport rally Wednesday for his new running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris. \u201cBut you know what? You know what? Our next president brings the joy! She emanates the joy!\u201d<\/p>\n
Ever since President Joe Biden stepped aside as the Democratic presidential nominee a little more than two weeks ago, the heady combination of Democratic relief and genuine enthusiasm for his replacement has transformed the Democratic ticket \u2014 a metamorphosis turbocharged by Tuesday\u2019s addition of Walz as Harris\u2019s No. 2.<\/p>\n
Now, a stark split-screen of two very different campaigns has come into focus.<\/p>\n
Former president Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, are offering a dark and dystopian vision of Democratic rule, running an operation laden with name-calling and trolling and rife with grievance. Their calculation is that the country believes things are way off track and that their darker message will resonate with how voters see reality.<\/p>\n
Harris and Walz, meanwhile, are offering a sunnier vision and tone \u2014 and seem to be having a heckuva good time doing so. Gone are Biden\u2019s sober exhortations about the battle for the soul of the nation and a democracy under attack; in its place are promises of \u201cfreedom\u201d and \u201ca brighter future\u201d and, at times, audible giggles and laughter.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy promise to you is this: Our campaign will reach out to everyone from red states to blue states, from the heartland to the coasts, in rural, urban, suburban and tribal communities,\u201d Harris told a crowd in Philadelphia on Tuesday, seeming to channel the 2004 Democratic convention speech that catapulted former president Barack Obama into the national spotlight. \u201cWe are running a campaign on behalf of all Americans. And when elected, we will govern on behalf of all Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even when attacking Trump \u2014 and responding to attacks by him \u2014 Harris and Walz seem to be having fun.<\/p>\n
Comparing the r\u00e9sum\u00e9 of Walz, a former high school social studies teacher and football coach, with that of Vance, Harris reached for a gridiron analogy in Philadelphia: \u201cSome might say it\u2019s like a matchup between the varsity team and the JV squad,\u201d she said, as Walz steepled his fingers out toward the crowd and chuckled just behind her.<\/p>\n
When parrying Trump\u2019s attacks, Harris has toggled between almost dismissive boredom and defiant amusement \u2014 a sort of can-you-believe-this-guy brushback seemingly designed to irk the former president.<\/p>\n
After Trump criticized Harris \u2014 who is Black and Indian American \u2014 during an interview last week with the National Association of Black Journalists, saying \u201cshe was always of Indian heritage\u201d and only recently \u201chappened to turn Black,\u201d Harris barely acknowledged the slight.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the same old show \u2014 the divisiveness and the disrespect,\u201d she told a Houston crowd later that day, adding: \u201cThe American people deserve better.\u201d<\/p>\n
A day earlier, at a rally in Atlanta, Harris seemed to relish teasing Trump, noting, \u201cSo he won\u2019t debate, but he and his running mate sure seem to have a lot to say about me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, Donald,\u201d she continued, \u201cI do hope you\u2019ll reconsider to meet me on the debate stage, because as the saying goes: \u2018If you\u2019ve got something to say, say it to my face.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Among Democratic voters, the enthusiasm is palpable. Tammy Hanley, 53, a special-education teacher from Anchorage, was visiting family in Minnesota and changed her return flight to be able to attend Harris\u2019s Wednesday rally in Eau Claire, Wis.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to cry when I see her,\u201d Hanley said. \u201cI feel so much more hopeful about the future. Everyone is feeling more hopeful.<\/p>\n
Hanley laughed as she likened the Democratic and Republican tickets to \u201cunicorn sparkles versus puke.\u201d As she finished eating a doughnut that volunteers were handing out to attendees entering the Harris-Walz rally, Hanley added that the Republican side felt chock full of \u201cthe-world-is-doomed rallies,\u201d whereas the Democrats were now offering \u201cdoughnut rallies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Caitlin Legacki, a Democratic strategist, said \u201cthe overall vibes right now should not be ignored,\u201d arguing that the Harris-Walz \u201centhusiasm makes people want to join in.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re choosing between two parties, and you can go to the one where this guy is yelling at you about politics or you can go to the one where people are having a good time, you\u2019re always going to choose the one that\u2019s more fun,\u201d Legacki said. \u201cAfter the last 10 years of American politics, people are just exhausted. They\u2019re tired of being angry. And so giving people something to be excited about, telling them there\u2019s a role for you in this space, is hugely important right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Trump campaign, for its part, began Wednesday morning with a fundraising email titled, \u201cThe world has gone to s*** in the last 2 weeks!\u201d Inside, the missive warned that \u201cthe stock market is CRASHING! Unemployment is RISING! Wars in the Middle East are spiraling OUT OF CONTROL!\u201d \u2014 and all the while \u201cKamala is asleep at the switch.\u201d<\/p>\n
And on Tuesday, as Harris and Walz were making their first exuberant joint appearance, Trump took to TruthSocial, unleashing angry screeds, including one that posted shortly after midnight. In his messages, Trump disparaged ABC News\u2019s George Stephanopoulos as \u201cLiddle\u2019 George\u201d and \u201cGeorge Slopadopolus\u201d; dismissed Harris \u2014 whom he called \u201cCrazy Kamabla\u201d \u2014 and Walz as \u201cthe most RADICAL Left duo in American history\u201d; and claimed, with no evidence, that \u201cCrooked Joe Biden, the WORST president in the history of the U.S.,\u201d was going to crash the Democratic convention and take back the nomination from Harris, which Trump claimed was \u201cUnconstitutionally STOLEN from him by Kamabla\u201d in a \u201cCOUP.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump and his aides have closely tracked right-track, wrong-track polling about how voters feel about the direction of the country, and they believe that many people are not optimistic about the way things are heading. One adviser in Trump\u2019s orbit said fundraising numbers go up with more negative messages. \u201cWhen you\u2019re under siege, you\u2019re raising the most money,\u201d said the adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal data.<\/p>\n
Asked about Trump\u2019s dark rhetoric and angry rallies, Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt argued in a statement that only Trump \u201chas a proven record of success\u201d and proceeded to criticize the Democratic ticket.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are given four years to implement their radical liberal policies, America will spiral into a socialist, open border, crime-ridden hellhole that resembles Kamala\u2019s hometown of San Francisco or the streets of Walz\u2019s Minneapolis in the summer of 2020,\u201d Leavitt wrote. \u201cOn the contrary, President Trump and Senator Vance have detailed policy plans to end Kamala\u2019s invasion of illegal immigrants and brutal migrant crimes, bring down inflation and end the wars around the world that began because of the weak Harris-Biden foreign policy agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n
At his most recent public campaign event, a Saturday rally in Atlanta, Trump painted a dystopian portrait. He described crimes being committed in Atlanta, violent riots in American cities, immigrants killing Americans and a range of other societal ills. He blamed Democrats and, at times, even Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a fellow Republican.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are a nation in decline. We are a failing nation. We are a nation that has lost its confidence, lost its willpower and lost its strength,\u201d the former president said near the end of his speech.<\/p>\n
The doom-and-gloom strategy, however, is a potentially risky one.<\/p>\n
Stephanie Grisham \u2014 a former Trump press secretary who has since become a sharp Trump critic \u2014 said using fear has always appealed to the former president, in part because it riles up and motivates his far-right base. But she said the appeal is starting to becoming wearying.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can only be hit over the head so much and be told your own country sucks so much before you get fatigued by it,\u201d Grisham said. \u201cI think people yearn for a message of hope. Now that I\u2019ve taken a step back and watch it more as a citizen, it\u2019s just sad and depressing to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brendan Buck, a former aide to former GOP House speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there are a lot of people who are yearning for something exciting and something fun, something we have not had since the Obama era,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is something appealing that you want to be a part of when people are having fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Buck said that the Harris campaign will be tested to see if it can continue to radiate joy when things take a challenging turn, and that they need to be careful to make sure the joy seems \u201cfor everyone, and not just the elites.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Wednesday in Detroit, a Fox News reporter specifically addressed the issue of negativity with Vance, saying that he can look \u201ca little too serious, too angry sometimes\u201d and asked, \u201cWhat makes you smile? What makes you happy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI smile at a lot of things, including bogus questions from the media, man,\u201d Vance said, forcing a chuckle. \u201cIf you watch a full speech I that give, I\u2019m actually \u2014 I\u2019m having a good time out here and I\u2019m enjoying this.\u201d<\/p>\n
He continued: \u201cSometimes you\u2019ve got to take the good with the bad. And right now, I\u2019m angry about what Kamala Harris has done to this country and done to the American southern border. And I think most people in our country, they can be happy-go-lucky sometimes, they can enjoy things sometimes, and they can turn on the news and recognize that what\u2019s going on in this country is a disgrace.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meryl Kornfield in Philadelphia, Marianne LeVine in Washington and Sabrina Rodriguez in Eau Claire, Wis., contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is joyous about the joy. \u201cAll the things that make me mad about those other guys and all the things they do wrong, the one thing I will not forgive them for is they tried to steal the joy from this country. They try and steal the joy,\u201d Walz, the Democrats\u2019 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":7510,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}