Transcript: Trump’s Fury at “Sick” Tim Walz Gives Harris a Way Forward
Stoddard: I think that she needs to recreate the momentum that she had in August that dipped in September. She needs to be the story. She and her campaign are the story every day. And that makes her look like a winner so that late breakers, anyone who’s still holding out, right? Most of the double-haters went to her in early August. People who didn’t want Biden and Trump. The people who are still holding on, they’re pissed, OK? They’re hard-asses and it’s hard to break through. But the fact that she has made gains on the economy, the fact that she’s made gains with noncollege women, with whites, with seniors? People are listening. Those are actually impressive data points. They’re important. She needs to look like a winner. She needs to focus on the storm victims, do whatever she can, raise money for them, have a Live Aid. I don’t care what, just the Obamas everywhere, Bruce Springsteen, I want huge names so that there she’s the story in the news every day with big validators, lots of momentum, making Trump crazy.
It’s very important to actually surf a bunch of news cycles pretty regularly in the week, I believe, because the polls are close. Keep talking about the issue she’s talking about. More interviews. People who are looking for a gut check now need to see her on “All the Smoke,” the podcast, talking about family stuff. People just need a gut check. Like, she’s normal. They saw her at the debate. They’ve seen her. They know she has a good resume. Because that has totally helped her break into the lead, at this point, it’s a gut check. And she cannot take her foot off the gas on the border. That’s a huge issue. And I think she needs…It was interesting. In Sarah Longwell’s focus groups, a lot of people had not known about the Lankford bill, right? So people think everyone knows everything about Trump, but not everyone knows everything about what he’s done in this campaign. To go back to the Lankford bill, the most conservative immigration bill in generations, she would sign it if it came to her desk as president. Go back to that as much as possible. Voters, they don’t want you to avoid issues and to deny them, which is why she’s been so good on cost reduction and price increases. Again and again and again, say what you’ll do and say that Trump tried to stop you. It’s what she has, and she’s got to use it because that issue… I still want to see those numbers move in the next couple weeks.
Sargent: I wholly agree. She’s got to be everywhere. She’s got to be owning the news cycle. When Trump does things like curse wildly or rant wildly about Tim Walz, Harris can take that moment to take control, make it about how her character is preferable to his, how she’s a sane person now. She’s a real leader and he’s just a complete joke and buffoon and is dangerous. There’s a way for her to essentially take control of the news cycle and say you can’t let this man become president. She can do all those things at once.
