'Flailing' MAGA Republicans are 'in a tire fire' — but still pose an 'existential danger': conservative

08 August 2024

During a huge rally with her new presidential running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, in Philadelphia on Tuesday, August 6, Vice President Kamala Harris cautioned supporters that she is still running an "underdog" campaign against GOP nominee Donald Trump. Harris' message to supporters was clear: Be energetic, but not overconfident.

Nonetheless, Harris has small single-digit leads in many national polls released in early August.

According to those polls, she is now ahead of Trump by 3 percent (NPR/PBS/Marist and Survey USA), 4 percent (Morning Consult) or 1 percent (CBS News and I&I/TIPP). But Democratic strategists are the first to say that key battleground states like Pennsylvania, Arizona, Michigan, Georgia and Wisconsin — not national polls — will ultimately decide the election.

Among Harris' conservative Never Trump supporters, there has been a lot of discussion over whether Harris should have chosen Walz or Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as her running mate.

Never Trumper Tom Nichols, in an article published by The Atlantic on August 7, stresses that the Harris/Walz ticket is overflowing with energy while Republicans are "flailing" — yet warns that Trump could still prevail in November and continues to pose an "existential danger" to U.S. democracy.

The conservative journalist observes, "Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party have defied the expectations of many observers — and as usual, when I say 'many observers,' I mostly mean 'me' — by making an almost flawless transition from President Joe Biden's faltering chances to a new and energized campaign…. Meanwhile, JD Vance's excruciating flameout as Trump's running mate seems to have some Republicans wishing they could just drive him back to Ohio and leave him there."

Nichols goes on to mock Trump's new name for Harris: Kamabla.

"Trump's reactions lately are so unhinged, so hysterical, that they could pass for one of those scenes in a soap opera where a drunken dowager finds out that her May-December romance is a sham, and she begs him, as mascara flows down her cheeks, to fly off with her to Gstaad or Antibes to rekindle their love," Nichols argues. "In reality, of course, this is all a disturbing reminder that Trump is a deeply unwell person who is not fit to be the commander in chief, and that should he return to office, other Republican officials cannot be counted on to protect the nation — especially Vance, who reveals himself daily as every bit the intellectual lightweight and political fraud his critics believe he is."

Nichols adds, "The Democrats are doing well, and Republicans are sitting in the middle of a tire fire. But Trump is still in a commanding electoral position, and he could still win. The pro-democracy coalition has every reason to enjoy some good news, but these past few weeks should not obscure the existential danger America faces in November."

Tom Nichols' full article for The Atlantic is available at this link (subscription required).

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