Under Trump, “I Was Living Way Better”

By JenkoAtaman @Adobe Stock

Hello World, We Struggling Voters Are Still Here

The press continues its fist-pumping over Kamala Harris’s “win,” claiming she gutted Donald Trump before Veep Harris turned in, “one of the more resounding debate performances in recent decades.” “No joke,” laments Kimberley Strassel. 

The Real World Hasn’t Vaporized

Trump supporters, still stewing over biased moderators, grudgingly admit Mr. Trump blew it. “Social media is mixed on whether Taylor Swift’s endorsement seals victory for the vice president,” continues KS in the WSJ. 

Back in the real world, this is all ridiculous. There was no winner in this televised scrum; only a nation of hardworking losers.

Millions of Americans came home after a long day of work and tuned in hoping for answers to their daily struggles with inflation, migrants, crime. They instead got moderators obsessed with Beltway-bubble issues, and candidates who relitigated old disputes.

• Reuters, looking for answers, interviewed 10 swing voters after the event. The story provided an intriguing headline: “Some undecided voters not convinced by Harris after debate with Trump.”

“That’s one way to put it,” writes KS:

Six said afterward they would now either vote for Trump or were leaning toward backing him.”

One remained undecided. Three backed Ms. Harris.

• A New York Times interviewed eight undecided voters after the debate. The Times found two leaning toward Mr. Trump, one toward Ms. Harris, the rest extremely confused. CNN, BBC and The Wall Street Journal interviews with uncommitted voters produced similar mixed results.

Oopsie, Kamala, There’s a Problem 

Kamala has been successful in dodging questions about her past and her agenda. She was allowed to do so again Tuesday night. The press raved over her deftness. But whoops, not all is wine and roses.

Five of the Reuters interviewees faulted her for failing to explain how she’d help improve the economy—their top issue. “There was no real meat and bones for her plan,” said a 61-year-old entrepreneur from Florida, who is now leaning toward. Mr. Trump.

Harris AWOL on the economy 

A Nevada resident said he also moved toward Mr. Trump after hearing Ms. Harris tell him “not to vote for Donald Trump instead of why she’s the right candidate.” At least Mr. Biden in his basement spoke to the issue that in 2020 was voters’ top concern: Covid.

(Kamala) Harris is AWOL on the economy.

Yes, true. Donald Trump also was short of specifics. Unlike Ms. Harris, however, he doesn’t necessarily have to provide a plan, defends Ms. Strassel.

People lived life under his leadership and can compare it with the Biden-Harris economy. A 34-year-old black woman in Milwaukee explained to the Times why the debate nudged her toward the Republican: “When Trump was in office—not going to lie—I was living way better. I’ve never been so down as in the past four years.”

“We are voting for the leader of our country,” not “who we want in our wedding party,” said a Pennsylvania woman in the CNN group. She now plans to vote Trump. Of the six Trump converts in the Reuters article, “all said they did not like him as a person. They said their personal financial situation had been better when he was president.”

There is often not much to like about Donald Trump. Besides being unlikable, he is undisciplined and has proved his ability to lose. Remember, reminds Ms. Strassel, the last time the press and Democrats were this giddy about their candidate? In 2016, they were resolutely blind to the disconnect with average voters.

Remember how that turned out for Hillary Clinton?

Ms. Strassel concedes that the interviewees could be outliers and that the debate could be a Kamala Harris game changer:

But wouldn’t it be wiser to assume that Americans aren’t stupid, that they are unhappy with inflation, crime and chaos at the border, and that they do care about an agenda?

Until or unless Ms. Harris campaigns in a way that acknowledges as much, she’ll struggle against a beatable opponent.

The press won’t help her by spiking the football.