The 2024 race is now “Fearless Kamala" versus "Duckin’ Don”

Trump is a coward.

When I worked on the production staff of the late-night comedy show “Saturday Night Live” in the 2000’s, I’ll never forget reading the notes of executive producer Lorne Michaels after he watched the auditions for new cast members.  Next to the name of a person who auditioned, he didn’t jot down if they were very funny, a great impressionist, good writer, etc. Instead, he had written this simple word with a question mark: “Fearless?”

Fearless is a necessary attribute for someone being considered to be on the cast of a live national comedy show that is watched by millions. Fearless is also the quality you want in an American President given they must stand up to other world leaders, terrorist threats and challenges to our nation that are literally life and death.  That’s why VP Kamala Harris’s new ad, “Fearless”—together with and her line of attack on Trump as “Duckin’ Don”—make such a compelling case for her to be our next President.

On Tuesday morning, Harris released the ad titled, “Fearless” that shows Harris through the years as a prosecutor, California’s Attorney General and Vice President where she stood up to big banks and big drug companies on behalf of people in need.  Powerful corporations and billionaires did not intimidate her—nor did dangerous criminals. (Watch ad below.)

The ad also rightly notes Trump’s idea for America is to give tax cuts to billionaires, big corporations, end the Affordable Care Act, etc. The ad ends with the powerful line, “Donald Trump wants to take our country backwards... but we are not going back."

That’s a compelling message in its own right. But Team Harris was not done with taking the fight to Trump.  Their other line of attack came Monday night after convicted felon Trump appeared on Fox News where host Laura Ingraham pleaded with him to debate Harris. Instead, Trump gave a wishy-washy answer that he “probably” would debate her but added he “can also make a case for not doing it.”  He then added as an excuse not to debate, stating that the American people “know who I am. And now people know who she is.”

Ingraham continued to press Trump even saying that by not unequivocally committing to the debate, “they’re going to say you’re afraid of debating her. That’s what they’re going to say.” Trump responded by talking about the past with the comment, “Well, they said that with Biden, too. You know, ‘I was afraid,’ I did great with Biden and I did great in every debate.”

That exchange is why right after Trump’s Fox News appearance, the Harris campaign released a statement with headline calling Trump: “Duckin’ Don.” They also asked why won’t Trump give a straight answer to Ingraham on debating Harris? They then answered the question by writing, “Trump's scared he’ll have to defend his running mate’s weird attacks on women or his own calls to end elections in America in a debate against the vice president."

Trump tries to fashion himself as a “strongman.” In reality, he’s nothing more than a bully who talks a tough game but backs down when it comes time to show real courage. As President, one of the most glaring examples of this came in 2018 at the Helsinki Summit when Trump cowered to Vladimir Putin. There, Trump sided with Putin over US intelligence agencies about Russia’s documented interference in the 2016 election. The spineless Trump declared on the world stage, “I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.”

And on Sunday, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg reminded us of another example of Trump’s cowardice while delivering a master class on Fox News of how to battle the network’s pro-Trump hosts. That is when Buttigieg—while going through a list of Trump’s broken promises—noted that Trump “even broke his promise to that Jan. 6 mob when he said, ‘I will be at your side when you march down to the Capitol.’”

That is 100% true. The “tough guy” Trump told his angry fans cheering at the Ellipse on Jan 6 that, “Now it is up to Congress to confront this egregious assault on our democracy. And after this, we’re going to walk down and I’ll be there with you,” adding, “we’re going to walk down to the Capitol.” Trump never went down to the Capitol because that is what cowards like Trump do.

Cowardice is the same reason why Trump didn’t serve in the Vietnam War. As we have learned, Trump’s doctor made up the allegation that Trump had “bone spurs” to avoid service in the Vietnam War as a “favor” to Donald’s father. (The daughter of the doctor came forward with this truth in 2018.)

Now we have Trump too scared to debate Harris. What a far cry from last week when Trump was filled with bravado, stating when asked about debating Harris, “Oh, yes, absolutely. I’d want to.” Obviously, Trump has seen what we have all witnessed over the past week with Harris building momentum, breaking fundraising records and closing the polls to be tied if not leading Trump. (A new poll released Tuesday show Harris up by 4 in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.)  

Trump also has seen Harris pound him ferociously at events and in press statements as a convicted felon and as a sexual predator who attempted a coup—as I wrote about Sunday.  Trump knows Harris will prosecute him for his crimes—and for overturning of Roe v Wade--on the national debate stage and he wants to avoid that.

Harris though is not going to let Trump slither away so easily from debating her. Over the past few days she has repeatedly slammed Trump as “scared” and stated point blank, “I think that voters deserve to see the split screen that exists in this race on a debate stage, and so I’m ready,” adding, “Let’s go.”  And her campaign on Monday night  even trolled Trump with a statement about the previously agreed to Sept 10 presidential debate, “Vice President Harris will be there on September 10th — we’ll see if Trump shows.”

Harris is fearless. Trump is a coward, a convicted felon, an adjudicated rapist and a man who attempted a coup and incited the Jan 6 terrorist attack. The choice for president has never been so clear.

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