Republicans walk fine line in flipping attacks to define Harris as ‘weird’

Kamala Harris’s ascension to the top of the ticket has energized the Democratic base and refocused Republican attack lines. With fewer than 100 days to go until the election, defining Kamala Harris will take place at break-neck speed. This Washington Examiner series will take a closer look at various aspects of her campaign and persona. Part Six is on “Kamala’s ‘weird’ factor.” Read parts one, two, three, four, and five.

Republican strategists are turning Democrats’ attacks on former President Donald Trump and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) back around to keep up a consistent stream of messaging over the last three and a half years — Vice President Kamala Harris is the “weird” one in the 2024 presidential contest.

“Weird” has become a centerpiece of the Harris campaign in recent weeks, with Democrats going above and beyond to portray Trump and Vance as “weird.” This may have been preempting a Republican effort to cast Harris as the true “weird” one, pointing to her famous long-winded comments and curious behavior. But, according to two GOP operatives, recent developments have completely changed the dynamics of the Republican strategy.

PART ONE: KAMALA THE COP
PART TWO: KAMALA THE ABORTION ADVOCATE
PART THREE: KAMALA THE LIBERAL
PART FOUR: KAMALA THE BORDER CZAR
PART FIVE: KAMALA THE CLIMATE HAWK

The Washington Examiner spoke with veteran GOP operative Terry Holt and a Midwest GOP official, both of whom agreed that to pull off a victory in November, the Trump campaign needs to tread carefully with its messaging and exert a great amount of discipline.

“I still think they’re grasping at the one silver bullet that’s going to take out Kamala Harris, but I think it’s going to be more a campaign of a death by 1000 cuts,” Holt said, referring to the Trump campaign’s efforts to attack Harris.

The past week, he argued, showcased that the main goal of the Trump campaign should be discipline.

“It’s going to require a more disciplined campaign than we’ve seen in the last few days,” Holt said. “It’s going to require some buy-in from Donald Trump if he’s going to be on message.” 

“I think there are an awful lot of instincts that Donald Trump has to tear someone down that may not work as well on Kamala Harris. But she’s got the record to be defined if they can be very disciplined about sticking to the conversation,” he continued. “And whether or not Kamala Harris is black is not on message.”

Both Holt and the Midwest Republican official said that the Trump campaign was taken off guard by the sudden transition from Biden to Harris, and has struggled to adapt its messaging.

“It’s like turning an aircraft carrier,” Holt said. “You’ve got everybody sort of bought into the message. You have your candidate who feels extremely comfortable with his stump speech. And you’ve got a set of factors that you’re going to identify in the polling, where she is stronger than Biden and where she needs to improve with Biden supporters. So it’s a pivot that that’s on a very truncated schedule, and it’s gonna be important to get it right.”

The GOP official expressed frustration with personal attacks against Harris from the Trump campaign, expressing skepticism that anything other than policy criticisms would be effective. They cast doubt on the rationale of Trump’s questioning of Harris’s racial identity, that is to portray her as a chameleon.

“You can point out someone’s a chameleon without delving into stuff that’s irrelevant or counterproductive,” they argued “Like voters care about the fact they can’t pay their bills. They care about border security. They care about inflation. Arguing over whether Kamala Harris qualifies as black, or Indian, or biracial. Who is that convincing in the Midwest?”

Certain attacks on Harris’s personality were fair game, they argued, if it could be connected to her political positions. 

“It definitely makes her seem less relatable,” they said, referring to Republican attacks based on Harris’s long-winded comments and gaffes. “So that stuff, for being long-winded, it’s not so much of an issue. In fact, it … does underline the point of her being out of touch. If she’s going on these weird, long soliloquies about … the passage of time and understanding, what understanding means… when she tries putting a hat on a hat, rhetorically, yeah, we’ll absolutely highlight that, because it’s just content of, ‘what are you talking about?’”

The official described Harris’s “weirdness” as a wildcard — they noted the Harris campaign leaning into her “goofiness” and memeability could go either way. They drew a parallel between Harris and former United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

“Look at Boris Johnson, his weirdness was what elevated him, and it’s also what killed him,” they said. “The weirdness was able to elevate him because he seemed like a goofy regular guy, it was like, ‘Oh, it’s just Boris.’ But then when he actually ran into stuff, and he started stumbling, people no longer viewed that as adorable.”

The official argued that if approached correctly, Republicans could cripple Harris going on the “weirdness” angle, but only if connected with her record.

“If you leave yourself exposed like that, you have to make sure you’re actually combining that weirdness with competency, and that’s why … if we lean into going after her record and her inconsistencies, the goofy person, goofiness is no longer endearing,” they said. “It comes off as slick. Oh, this person’s trying to be relatable. There’s nothing relatable about this person. They’re constantly changing positions. They’re trying to appeal to whoever. The goofiness is no longer just a nice little charm, it’s them just pandering it effectively.”