Can Trump Beat Harris With Common Sense ? – WSJ

The Democrats are very much alive heading into their convention in August, but their likely nominee s nonsenility can t fairly be counted as an advantage. The wiser among the party s power brokers may sober up when they realize they ve chosen a West Coast progressive of minimal political skill to defend Mr. Biden s record on inflation, the border, student debt cancellation, the Afghanistan withdrawal and attendant international chaos. Already the political action committee aligned with Mr. Trump has issued an ad pointing out that Ms. Harris zealously pretended that Mr. Biden was A-OK in mind and body up to the moment he withdrew from the race. Expect more such material on Ms. Harris s liberal crime policies as San Francisco s district attorney and California s attorney general, her propensity to speak in indecipherable sentences, and her neglect of the border crisis for which the White House gave her responsibility.

Democrats may feel, to adapt a line from Casablanca, they ll always have Mr. Trump. His address to the Republican convention in Milwaukee proved that surviving an assassination attempt hasn t turned him into the serious and disciplined politician many Republicans wish he was. Then again, who among us is at his best five days after taking a bullet to the ear? At a rally this Wednesday in Charlotte, he wasn t what anybody would call serious or disciplined, but his asides were more coherent, his complexion healthier, his comedic timing back to its usual high standard.

Plainly Mr. Trump has sensed Republicans disappointment with the convention speech. After calling Ms. Harris a radical left lunatic typically for Mr. Trump, only two-thirds of the phrase is true he departed from the teleprompter. You know, he said, I was supposed to be nice. They said something happened to me when I got shot. I became nice. And when you re dealing with these people they are very dangerous people when you re dealing with them you can t be too nice, you really can t. So if you don t mind, I m not going to be nice. Is that OK?

The crowd erupted. Mr. Trump s fans don t want a new, sober Mr. Trump.

via www.wsj.com

Barton Swaim