Associated Press
At the top of his first speech as her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz turned to Vice President Kamala Harris and declared, “Thank you for bringing back the joy.” The next day, Harris took the theme a step further, branding the Democratic ticket “joyful warriors.”
Contrast that with former President Donald Trump, who opened a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida a few days later by saying, “We have a lot of bad things coming up,” and predicting the U.S. could fall into an economic depression unseen since the dark days of 1929 or even another world war.
“I think that our country is, right now, in the most dangerous position it’s ever been in, from an economic standpoint, from a safety standpoint,” Trump said Thursday.
Democrats are playing up their sunnier outlook, promoting the idea that voters can be inspired to support someone and not just cast their ballot against the other side. The Trump campaign argues their candidate is reflecting the dour mood of the country and dismisses the idea that a growing contrast in tone and upbeat attitude will decide the presidency.
Two-thirds of Americans reported feeling very or somewhat pessimistic about the state of politics, according to polling by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research from last month. Roughly 7 in 10 said things in the country are heading in the wrong direction.
Jason Miller, a senior adviser to the former president, said people don’t care about “vibe checks.”
“That’s not making gas or food or housing less expensive,” Miller said.
Walz promotes positivity
Still, just how hard Harris is betting on the opposite approach is evident in her decision to pick Walz, whose personal story includes being on the coaching staff of a high school football team that had gone winless just a few years earlier to clinching a state championship in 1999.
The Minnesota Governor’s relentless positivity is meant to give supporters a jolt of new energy and keep the momentum that Harris has built after President Joe Biden — facing mounting pressure from within his own party and increasingly pessimistic views about his chances in November — stepped aside and endorsed his Vice President.
Walz spent his first week as Harris’ running mate traveling to swing states with Harris and underscored the point during a rally in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, celebrating what he said was “the ability to talk about what can be good.”
“This idea of caring for our neighbor and kindness, and a hand up when somebody needs it. And just the sense that people go through things and to be able to be there when they need it, that’s who we are,” he said. “It’s not about mocking. It’s not name-calling.”
Biden often ended his speeches saying he’d never been more optimistic. But he built his now-shuttered reelection bid around branding Trump an existential threat to democracy. The President offered dire predictions about the former President, suggesting he’d dismantle the nation’s founding principles should he retake the White House.
Harris’ campaign still relies on many of the same themes, decrying Trump as a threat to democracy, warning that he’ll impose draconian limits to abortion and voting and that he will follow Project 2025, a plan championed by top conservatives to remake large swaths of the federal government.
And despite Walz insisting that smiles were more powerful than insults, he and Harris have continued their share of denunciations, decrying Trump’s conviction in New York on 34 felony counts in a hush-money case and his being found liable for fraudulent business practices and sexual abuse in civil court.
Still, even before she named Walz her running mate, Harris was suggesting that she could help make politics fun again.
“We love our country. And I believe it is the highest form of patriotism to fight for the ideals of our country,” Harris declared in campaign speeches before picking Walz. She now tells crowds that she and her running mate “both believe in lifting people up, not knocking them down.”
Paula Montagna, who went to see Harris and Walz at a rally outside Detroit last week, highlighted the shift in messaging since Harris took over from Biden.
“Kamala is so positive, and it’s nice to hear positive instead of negative,” Montagna said.
Trump team says their candidate is reflecting reality
Trump’s senior campaign advisers counter that the mood of the country right now is sour over the economy, the state of the U.S.-Mexico border and turmoil in the Middle East and beyond. They see their candidate as reflecting that reality rather than what they believe is a temporary exuberance igniting the Democratic base after months of discouragement over their ticket.
Trump has tried to harness that with his repeated predictions of stock market crashes and war. His campaign appearances have included a long list of other warnings that have veered into the apocalyptic, saying that if he’s not elected, “we’re not going to have a country anymore,” that “the only thing standing between you and its obliteration is me,” and that under a Harris administration, “Social Security will buckle and collapse” and “the suburbs will be overrun with violent crime and savage foreign gangs.”
During his Republican National Convention speech last month, where his advisers said Trump would seem changed and more personal after surviving an attempted assassination, the former President did strike a different tone — at least to start.
He said early on that he had “a message of confidence, strength and hope” and sought to “launch a new era of safety, prosperity and freedom for citizens of every race, religion, color and creed.”
But by the end, Trump had returned to predictions of doom, twice warning, “Bad things are going to happen.”
Ohio Sen. JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, has drawn a sharp contrast with Walz. Vance has been cheered on the right for being an aggressive fighter on behalf of the former President, particularly when engaging with reporters.
“Right now, I am angry about what Kamala Harris has done to this country and done to the American southern border,” Vance said at a campaign stop in Michigan. “And I think most people in our country, they can be happy-go-lucky sometimes, they can enjoy things sometimes, and they can turn on the news and recognize that what’s going on in this country is a disgrace.”
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, not himself known for a sunny disposition, offered much the same assessment Friday at a conservative conference in Atlanta hosted by radio host Erick Erickson.
“The country is obviously in a bad mood,” McConnell said.
Trump supporters waiting to see him at a rally in Bozeman, Montana, said they felt the former President’s campaign made them feel positive — even if his message often isn’t.
“Just looking at the state of the country now, I don’t think Kamala Harris’ campaign is one of joy and hope. I think that’s Trump’s campaign,” said Alex Lustig, a 23-year-old from Billings, Montana.
Fred Scarlett, a 63-year-old retiree from Condon, Montana, said that “everyone understands that we need to be here to support Trump because he has never let us down.”
“They shoot at him,” Scarlett said, “and he still keeps firing back.”
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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
24 comments
Day 22
August 12, 2024 at 7:03 am
Pushing joy huh? Well she and the media certainly won’t bring up her past positions and failures. Keep reading that teleprompter Kammy and act as if you had nothing to do with the current administration. It is working for now.
Ocean Joe
August 12, 2024 at 7:31 am
If only Donald could read anything.
Day 22
August 12, 2024 at 8:38 am
You sure that you aren’t referring to Nancy Pelosi?
Ocean Joe
August 12, 2024 at 9:05 am
She read the country and forced Sleepy Joe to pull out.
Tom
August 12, 2024 at 9:05 am
Ah yes, how soon we forget – trump, the man who couldn’t read his daily security briefings because his attention span was so short – and that was years ago now. I can’t imagine what he’s like now that the dementia is setting in.
Day 22
August 12, 2024 at 11:10 am
I liked his security message to the Middle East. It was one word MOAB and no one messed with us. A far cry from today with The Houthi’s and others. No one fears Joe and Giggles.
rick whitaker
August 12, 2024 at 7:05 pm
DAY22, AKA, HOWLER MONKEY, there you go again thinking MOAB is the answer for everything. you’re like a kid that’s facinated by big firecrackers.
TJC
August 13, 2024 at 11:08 am
Bullshit.
Woke over Weird
August 12, 2024 at 8:53 am
I don’t get the “look at her history!!!!’ screeching. Same for Tim Walz and denigrating his service. What’s the play here? A quick glance into the Republican candidates’ history shows huge moral, ethical and criminal shortcomings. Convictions and sentences. This is not an apples to apples comparison.
If you would rather have Donald Trump at your dinner table than Tim Walz, I got nothing for you bro. One will sexualize your daughter, the other will talk to you about high school football. You’re making it clear you don’t care.
Yrral
August 12, 2024 at 4:43 pm
You can dance,you can live, having the time of your life,ooh see the MAGA girl,watch the scene, digging the MAGA girl Queen Google JD Vance Drag Queen
Yrral
August 12, 2024 at 7:25 am
Ode to Joy Harris,Bar Humbug MAGA,lots of Americans misery is of their own making, taking up crazy unattainable policies that are in the Twilight zones
Day 22
August 12, 2024 at 7:32 am
We still don’t know what Kammy stands for now do we? There is plenty of documentation on what she believed five years ago and she was the most liberal senator in the US. It appears she is flip flopping now just like our very own Charlie Crist. Will the real Kammy Harris please stand up?
SUPER ELVIS THE MAN OF STEEL
August 12, 2024 at 7:35 am
Yrral’s dream is to follow the Democratic Party off the cliff of Financial ruin, Invasion, and mass suicide. Wouldent it be more humane if all like thinkers would just pick a day and off themselves?
What is this desire to take all my, ELVIS’ Sage Patriots & Besty Leftys with you?
EXPLAIN YOURSELF YRRAL if indeed Yrral is even your REAL NAME.
Yrral you are hereby CHASTIZED!!!!
Yrral
August 12, 2024 at 4:47 pm
See Trump MAGA girl,watch the scene, digging the MAGA Dancing Queen Queen V
I. Duasc
August 12, 2024 at 7:39 am
So far in debt we’ll never pay it off, pouring billions of dollars of arms into a country that is now using them to invade the world’s biggest nuclear power, enemies pouring into our country daily unchecked and mostly un-monitored, and bringing deadly poison by the ton with them, two burgers and two drinks are $20, and now we’re letting one of histories greatest shysters maneuver our state into accepting dope for the masses, and what is there to be happy about, I ask.
Ocean Joe
August 12, 2024 at 7:49 am
You are obviously a conservative. Step outside, take a walk in the woods if you can find them. Get some sun. Adopt a dog.
The darkness will pass, and no, we dont live in a failed state as the imbecile likes to say from the balcony of his giant mansion. Don’t fall for the con. He just wants to stay out of prison for his January 6 shenanigans.
Dont hate Ukraine for trying to protect itself, or immigrants who want a better life and are willing to take jobs others wont,
understand drug addiction must be treated not ignored, recognize market forces will bring prices down when you eat at home, and as for marijuana quit trying to control others.
Woke over Weird
August 12, 2024 at 9:01 am
Bro, take a deep breath. Which one of those things affects you personally? The only, and I mean ONLY, thing you have here that actually has any weight is your $20 complaint, and blaming a presidential administration for inflation is just blatantly ignoring every other factor that goes into it. Blaming a president for McDonalds food prices is incorrect.
I Duasc
August 12, 2024 at 9:24 am
I don’t hate Ukraine for defending itself, or Israel either, but I wonder why our taxes have to fund their weapons. As for drug treatment, fentanyl gives you about five minutes and that’s it. The reason we have good jobs here is we are a nation that lives according to laws, and I welcome immigrants who obey the laws. But these folks deliberately violate the laws, and then they want to be trusted with the responsibilities of earning a paycheck. Come off it! Trying to control others? Okay, and then lets stop trying to keep fentanyl our of the country, too. After all, to each his own, right? And I notice no one mentions that 34-35-36 trillion in debt. We’re all just hoping we croak before the bill comes do. BS
SUPER ELVIS THE MAN OF STEEL
August 12, 2024 at 3:53 pm
Trump is offering life & prosparity.
Kammy is offering death and distruction.
ELVIS
rick whitaker
August 12, 2024 at 7:13 pm
ELVIS, AKA EARL PITTS is offering ,……..well nothing really ,except fear, hatred, lies, and racism. what do you expect from a maga nut like earl ( elvis ) .
SUPER ELVIS THE MAN OF STEEL
August 12, 2024 at 8:15 pm
Thank you Rick, my Besty Lefty, I’m so proud of you!
Keep up the great work my “Big Pard”,
ELVIS
rick whitaker
August 15, 2024 at 6:58 pm
earl, does pard mean someone that wouldn’t put you out if you caught fire? go to bed lonely old perv you. i may be your best lefty, but you aren’t even on any of my list. what an inane POS you are.
Jules M
August 12, 2024 at 8:23 pm
So Trump’s Gloom and Doom tour is being replaced by the idea we, as Americans, need to help each other rather than hate each other? What is this country coming to?
Michael K
August 12, 2024 at 8:29 pm
His “press conference” last week clocked in at 162 lies.
Comments are closed.