A screenshot of what’s apparently a fundraising message from the Trump campaign on the occasion of the public reveal this Tuesday of Vice President Kamala Harris’ choice for running mate in this year’s general election suggests real turmoil in Trumpland.
Harris, who recently took over for Democrats in this year’s presidential election after the withdrawal from that race of President Joe Biden, who endorsed her, selected Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. Walz became known in recent years for helping spearhead a raft of progressive policy in his state after Democrats took unified control in the 2022 elections of its legislature and governorship. He also recently helped kickstart the campaign messaging that declares Trump and close allies of his to be “weird.”
The email screenshot was posted on social media by Frank Luntz, known for political communications work.
“He’ll unleash HELL ON EARTH and open our borders to the worst criminals imaginable,” the email claimed, referring to Walz. “He’ll rubber stamp [Kamala’s] GREEN NEW SCAM and light TRILLIONS of dollars on fire.” These claims are, of course, extreme misrepresentations of the governor. For one, neither Walz nor any other seriously powerful Democratic politician is calling to just open the southern border. Democrats, in fact, got behind a proposal for border reform that would have established new powers to largely close the border in periods of particular strain. Republicans sunk it in the Senate.
It’s unclear at this point whether Trump and Harris will ever actually debate each other. Trump said he was backing out of a debate scheduled for September when the expected nominee was still Biden — but Harris said she still intends to show up. Trump instead laid out an ambition for a Fox News-hosted event with a large audience, which would create a dramatically different environment compared to the June debate.
