Kamala Harris's D-Day and how she can defeat Trump

How to clinch a presidential nomination in 31 hours, and the playbook for how the former prosecutor and state attorney general can make the case against Donald Trump.

We have just witnessed one of the most extraordinary 24-hour periods in American political history. A lazy summer Sunday afternoon yielded a sudden lightning bolt, as Joe Biden tweeted out a letter announcing that he was no longer running for re-election. Then within minutes, he issued a second tweet, endorsing his vice president, Kamala Harris, to replace him at the top of the ticket.

And yet somehow this was not the most extraordinary thing about July 21-22, 2024.

Rather than representing the first shot in a battle for the nomination, Biden’s endorsement of Harris was the starting gun of a sprint in which Harris shattered fundraising records by bringing in over $231 million, lined up the endorsements of virtually every major sitting Democratic elected official, and secured enough delegates to clinch the nomination (in 31 hours rather than 24, ok, but still). The enthusiasm from the Democratic base has been off the charts, and in particular, a veritable army of volunteers from the Black community has instantly formed, with hundreds of thousands of participants on conference calls regarding organizing and fundraising.

This was a political D-Day, although even that isn’t the right analogy. It’s like a political D-Day that also liberated Paris on the same day. We’ve literally never seen anything like it.

So there will be no rushed primary process, no open or brokered convention, no grounds for a legal challenge, no worries about what happens to Biden’s campaign funds (they automatically transferred to Harris as the veep), and no passing over Harris in favor of some poll-tested, focus-grouped, donor-approved stuffed suit.

This also sets up a fascinating new dynamic, as the 2024 election now features a convicted felon facing a former prosecutor, district attorney, and state attorney general.

I must confess, I wasn’t specifically thinking of Kamala Harris when I wrote Taking Down Trump — but now it turns out that it was for her, perhaps most of all.

It’s time to take the lessons of the New York AG’s office in defeating Trump and apply them to the task now facing the former California AG.

• The first main factor, zealous leadership, is already obviously present. Harris has already embraced her prosecutorial role in the election with gusto, for example noting multiple times that Trump is a lot like the other perpetrators she brought to justice over the years. She understands the assignment.

• Rule 5 from the book refers to Trump’s former vendors and business partners, in the context of an economic fraud case — but in the political context, Harris and her campaign should be seeking out Trump’s former allies and discarded cronies and seeing how they may be able to help. John Kelly would be a good starting point. And could she actually get an endorsement from someone like Chris Christie? Or let’s dream bigger: what about Mike Pence? Or perhaps a call to Nikki Haley is in order, after Trump snubbed her and her constituency by picking JD Vance as his running mate. Or what about the fact that 40 of Trump’s 44 cabinet members have refused to endorse him for president this year? Outreach to those who’ve been cast out of Trump’s inner circle is always a good strategy. Trump demands loyalty but rarely reciprocates. That can be used to Harris’s advantage.

• Rule 6 from the book gets into the legal weeds about statutes of limitation, but there’s another lesson to be mined here. While a legal statute of limitation may have run on, say, some of the claims from the 26 women who’ve accused Donald Trump of sexual assault, that does not apply to politics. If I were Harris, I would do at least one event where I invite E. Jean Carroll and all of the other accusers to attend, and to speak if they wish. Just having them together in the audience — maybe to a debate, if Trump mans up and decides to participate in one against Harris — would send a very powerful message and potentially anger Trump and throw him off his game.

• Rule 7 concerns scouring the public record to find every statement of Trump’s, and of course any campaign has already done such a comprehensive research project. And now that project is extending to JD Vance, who it turns out deleted many extremely disparaging tweets against Trump, including ones in which Vance indicated his belief that Trump had committed sexual assaults on numerous occasions.

• Rule 9 regarding the extra effort to make a polished, airtight argument also goes without saying for any serious campaign. But yet it’s still worth saying. The famous “it’s the economy, stupid” line from inside the 1992 campaign of Bill Clinton is an illustrative one. The “stupid” in question was not, as some may think, the media or the public. It was Clinton. The line was an inside joke that originated with James Carville, because on any given day Clinton had a tendency to go off on tangents about 17 different policies he liked, or wanted to enact, or had already enacted in Arkansas. Carville was trying to get Clinton to focus on one big thing — making a more powerful, memorable message. Harris will need to do the same thing. Even if there are lots of details that she can share on a website, or via campaign surrogates (like Pete Buttegieg, who excels at explaining policy details), she needs to stick to a handful of big themes. I am for democracy and the rule of law; my opponent tried to overturn the last election and is a convicted felon. I am for choice; my opponent wants to force women to risk their lives just to get healthcare. Add a few jokes about Trump’s age and craziness, and you’re good to go.

• Rule 11 is perhaps the most important rule for anyone who’s made the commitment to defeat Trump, and this is especially true for Harris. Trump cannot win on the facts or the arguments, so he tries to win dirty, and his three main moves are delay, distract, and destroy. He can’t delay the election, and as we get into the fall, there will be no other distractions. So his primary move will be to destroy Kamala Harris, personally, in any way possible. He will be particularly vicious here, because he’s always at his worst with women, with people of color, and especially with women of color. He accused former New York AG Eric Schneiderman of political corruption, and he accused me of fabricating witness testimony, but he trots out racial verbiage when going after current New York AG Letitia James. (Or Judge Alfonso Curiel. Or Judge Juan Merchan.) He invariably smears any female opponent as crazy and a liar — just ask E. Jean Carroll. He’ll go after family members, he’ll go after staffers and associates, and he’ll go after people’s personal lives — just ask Fulton County DA Fani Willis. Harris needs to stand firm and to refrain from taking the bait. Don’t show any response; don’t fall into the trap of rebutting everything he throws at you. Ignore him. Stick to your arguments, your facts, your case. Counterpunch on your terms, not his. And perhaps point out what any of us who’ve ever been in law enforcement or the justice system already know: typically the only time you ever see a defendant lash out at prosecutors and judges like Trump does is when the person has mental health issues. Don’t engage with the crazy. At most, point it out, almost clinically. And then calmly continue making your case. That is how to win against Trump.

Coming up next here — yes, really, the long-awaited beginning of my breakdown of Project 2025. Part 1 will be dropping soon!