This is an adapted excerpt from the Aug. 4 episode of “Inside with Jen Psaki.”
Kamala Harris could announce her running mate at any moment, with the vice president set to reveal her pick ahead of their first rally together in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
No matter whom she chooses, the announcement of this pick will only build even more momentum for the Harris campaign.
But the fact is, no matter whom she chooses, the announcement of this pick will only build even more momentum for the Harris campaign.
The vice president has already held a series of big, energizing rallies, like last week’s event in Atlanta featuring Megan Thee Stallion, where the rapper coined the phrase “Hotties for Harris.” She’s also brought on all-star campaign veterans like David Plouffe, Stephanie Cutter, Jennifer Palmieri and Mitch Stewart — adding to an already seasoned team.
The money continues to pour in at a crazy pace. The Harris campaign said this week they raised a record-breaking $310 million in July. She’s also up in the polls. Harris has a one-point edge nationally over Donald Trump, and the two are neck and neck across the collective battleground states, according to a new CBS News poll.
What’s also clear is that all the attention on Harris is driving Trump kind of crazy
Harris’ momentum is clear to anyone watching.
What’s also clear is that all the attention on Harris is driving Trump kind of crazy — and he is twisting himself into a pretzel as a result.
At his rally on Saturday in Atlanta, Trump said some very strange things. Like when he congratulated President Vladimir Putin of all people for the historic prisoner swap that freed American citizens from Russia.
He also repeatedly attacked Georgia’s very popular, very Republican Gov. Brian Kemp for not being sufficiently loyal. Despite their contentious past, and Kemp not supporting Trump in the primary, the governor was reportedly open to campaigning with the former president this fall. However, after Trump’s latest comments, that’s unlikely to happen.
Like I said, he’s twisting himself into a strange pretzel.
Earlier on Saturday, before sending his congratulations to a dictator and bashing a popular member of his own party, Trump made another self-sabotaging move — pulling out of a debate he already agreed to participate in.
Trump now says he won’t attend the scheduled audience-less ABC News debate on Sept. 10. Instead, he proposed a debate on Fox News a week earlier with a full arena audience.
Let’s pause on that for a moment: Trump’s saying he will not participate in a debate he already agreed to unless it turns into a MAGA rally with Fox moderators. Got it.
This is what it looks like when one candidate has momentum and the other has no idea what to do about it.
Harris quickly called out the former president: “It’s interesting how ‘any time, any place’ becomes ‘one specific time, one specific safe space.’”
As someone who’s worked on campaigns, I can tell you exactly what this is — this is what it looks like when one candidate has momentum and the other has no idea what to do about it. Here’s the thing: Harris will continue to own the spotlight for a while here. Her vice presidential pick is coming, she’ll hold rallies with her running mate all across battleground states next week, and a couple of weeks later, we’ll have the Democratic National Convention. And Trump is going to hate every second of that because he loves attention. As a result, he will get more and more outrageous and unhinged. That means we’re likely to see even more ugly, racist attacks like the one we saw from Trump in Chicago when he questioned the vice president’s racial identity. But there is good news: Harris seems ready to respond to these attacks. She told a crowd in Houston that Trump’s comments were just more of “the same old show,” and said the American people “deserve better.” Harris doesn’t make it about her. She makes it about the people they are running to represent. “The American people deserve a leader who tells the truth. A leader who does not respond with hostility and anger when confronted with the facts. We deserve a leader who understands that our differences do not divide us — they are an essential source of our strength,” Harris went on. That’s sort of the perfect response to all of this — to the racist attacks, to the unhinged rallies, to the games over debates: It’s the same old stuff, and America deserves better. Harris doesn’t make it about her. She makes it about the people they are running to represent. Not a bad message if you ask me. Join Jen Psaki, Rachel Maddow and many others on Saturday, Sept. 7, in Brooklyn, New York, for “MSNBC Live: Democracy 2024,” a first-of-its-kind live event. You’ll get to see your favorite hosts in person and hear thought-provoking conversations about what matters most in the final weeks of an unprecedented election cycle. Buy tickets here.
Jen Psaki is the host of "The Briefing with Jen Psaki" airing Tuesdays through Fridays at 9 p.m. EST. She is the former White House press secretary for President Joe Biden.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW.
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