The Trump Era Came Into Sharper View This Week. God Help Us.

But at this point a campaign is mostly about gestures and stagecraft. The Harris campaign could use some events that create mojo. A surprise endorsement from a prominent Republican or some other unexpected person from the corporate world or the military or some such. An event that tops Trump’s on the same day—in a stadium, maybe, if she can fill it—and totally steals his thunder. That could take the form of a concert featuring some of her celebrity supporters if they can all be pulled together on the same date—Beyoncé, Bruce, Billie Eilish, John Legend, and most of all, you know who.

And just campaign, campaign, campaign. Look hungry. Look like you want it. I remember in 2000, Al Gore campaigned nonstop for the last 48 or maybe even 72 hours. I recall it making a difference. He was generally behind in the polls, and while yes, he did end up losing that race, he lost it on First Street Northeast (i.e., the Supreme Court) on December 12. He won it on November 7.

The Harris campaign has received criticisms, many of them deserved, in these recent weeks. But the campaign has also done a lot of things right. The polls say she has become the candidate of change, which is an extraordinarily hard thing for a sitting vice president to pull off. She has narrowed or, according to some polls, eliminated Trump’s advantage on the economy. She’s catching up among working-class voters, as Timothy Noah noted this week. So some of those ideas that the press finds boring, the small-business tax credit and so on, must be getting through to somebody.