Hear Me Out: Kamala Harris Knows She’s in Trouble

Journalist Mark Halperin recently noted in a video shared to social media that Kamala’s path to the presidency is anything but smooth. Between her lackluster tenure as vice president, historic unpopularity, mishandling of staff, and her notorious inability to articulate her positions clearly, there’s little reason for Democrats to feel confident in her ability to maintain the enthusiasm she got upon becoming the presumptive nominee, and there have been signs that the left isn’t confident she can defeat Trump.

There are also signs that Kamala Harris knows she’s in trouble. Well, her campaign, anyway.

Just look at her attempts to adopt Trump-Vance policies as her own. From copying his “No Tax on Tips” plan, pretending to be tough on crime and supporting border security, or proposing an increase in the child tax credit, her blatant move to the center by embracing Trump campaign policies was the epitome of desperation. Yet, this week, she doubled down on copying him by embracing Trump’s border wall.

J.D. Vance really hit the nail on the head when he dubbed Harris-Walz a “copycat” campaign and called her out for pretending to agree with Trump on the most important issues for voters. "If you look at her campaign the past week and a half, she pretends that she agrees with Donald J. Trump on every issue,” Vance pointed out during a rally in Erie, Pa. “She is running a copycat campaign.”

Recommended: The Biden-Harris Administration Is Acting Like Trump Is Going to Win

Harris’s sudden shift toward Trump’s policies suggests that she’s well aware of how precarious her position is. As Halperin warned, the polling data — especially in key battleground states — could soon tilt in Trump’s favor. Harris’s lead is within the margin of error, and as Election Day approaches, she might find herself trailing behind Trump in the states that will decide this election.

“There's some public polling already,” Halperin said. “There's more coming, and there's some private polling that suggests that nationally, in the battleground states, she's not ahead. She might be ahead on paper, but well within the margin of error. And there's some battleground states now where I think Donald Trump's on this trajectory [where he] is gonna be ahead.”

According to Halperin, the same Democratic insiders who once doubted Harris's ability to win might soon be saying, “I told you so.” He argues—and I agree—that the media’s favorable coverage of Harris doesn’t reflect the reality on the ground. While she appears ahead on paper, her lead isn’t solid. Halperin cited voter registration trends in Pennsylvania — they heavily favor Republicans — and Trump's polling better than he was in 2020, which as you know, was very, very close.

If Trump gains ground in key states like Pennsylvania, as Halperin predicts, Harris’s campaign could be in serious jeopardy. Her recent flip-flops may have come too late to prevent a defeat that would shake the Democratic Party.

"I'm warning those of you who want Trump to lose that by the middle of next month, there's a real possibility, based on what I've seen in terms of public and private data and data that I think we'll see in the next couple days, that suggests that she could be where Joe Biden was," Halperin observed.

“I’m warning those of you who want Trump to lose that by the middle of next month, there’s a real possibility, based on what I’ve seen in terms of public and private data … that Kamala Harris could be where Joe Biden was,” says @MarkHalperin. “Only one electoral college path… pic.twitter.com/yFZTN8gijS

— 2WAY (@2waytvapp) August 28, 2024

If Kamala Harris were winning big, she wouldn't be copying Trump. She'd be doubling down on the agenda she ran on during the 2020 primaries and governed on as vice president. She's not.