Donald Trump does NOT……
Kamala Harris and Tim Walz want to make America joyful again.
The vice president’s rocking rollout of her running mate on Tuesday sent jolts of energy through a huge crowd, as the pair personified the extraordinary transformation of the 2024 election campaign.
Such a scene would have been unthinkable even three weeks ago — in a Democratic Party that believed it was doomed to a disastrous defeat as an aged president resentfully faced a revolt that ultimately ended his reelection bid.
Yet inside Temple University’s packed basketball arena in Philadelphia, activists and Harris supporters beamed smiles of deliverance, marveling at the turn of events and a second chance against Donald Trump they can barely believe.
It’s hardly new for a political party to sell hope and aspiration — it’s a staple of presidential election campaigns. But the fresh vibe in Philadelphia was striking because it emerged after one of the darkest chapters of modern US politics
Americans have experienced a Trump presidency that threatened to tear the country apart, suffered through a pandemic that killed more than a million citizens and endured grinding years of economic insecurity caused by inflation and high grocery prices. For most of this year, the former president has promised a second presidency of retribution. President Joe Biden, meanwhile, had been delivering searing warnings that his rival was tarnishing the very soul of America, even as the haunting signs of the president’s advancing age became increasingly painful to watch….
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While Harris is yet to prove she can alter the fundamentals of a race against Trump, she’s proving Haley’s point, bringing some unexpected sunshine to an election year.
“We both believe in lifting people up, not knocking them down,” Harris said of her new running mate, Minnesota Gov. Walz. “Do we believe in opportunity? Do we believe in the promise of America? And are we ready to fight for it?” the vice president asked before adding, “We both know the vast majority of people in our country have so much more in common than what separates them.”…
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The optimism, laughter and positive energy in Philadelphia on Tuesday felt like a different planet from the dystopian dirge of Trump rallies, which devolve into festivals of personal vengeance for a candidate who has tripled down on the American carnage mantra of his first inaugural address.
“We are a nation in decline, we are a failing nation,” Trump said at a typical event in Manchester, New Hampshire, in January, portraying the US as a hellscape of energy shortages, drug-infested cities, out-of-control immigration and crime. He added: “We are a nation that has lost its confidence, its willpower and its strength. We are a nation that has lost its way.”
On Tuesday, Trump reinforced his favorite conceit – that if Americans don’t vote for him, they won’t have a country anymore, reacting to the vice president’s running mate pick with a warning that hardly seemed apt, given Walz’s Minnesota nice manner. “TIM WALZ WILL UNLEASH HELL ON EARTH! He’s already pulling in MILLIONS to WIPE MAGA OUT,” the ex-president said in a fundraising email…..
