Opinion | Personal Attacks on Kamala Harris Are Not a Winning Republican Strategy - The New York Times
By: Christopher T. Sununu (nytimes)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
By Christopher T. Sununu
Mr. Sununu is the governor of New Hampshire.
- Aug. 1, 2024
As a Republican governor who has won four elections in a purple state, I've learned a thing or two about how to win. As Donald Trump and my fellow Republicans navigate the next steps of their campaigns, my message to them is this: The path to victory in November is not through character attacks or personal insults.
In fact, those attacks are unlikely to bring a single new voter on board. Catchy one-liners — calling Vice President Kamala Harris a "bum," "not a serious person" and "bottom of the barrel" — might rile up the base, but they do little to connect with independent voters needed to close the deal in November.
Independent voters are independent for a reason. They are not driven to the polls bypersonal attacks. Candidates need to give them a reason to turn out and vote. What solutions are you going to provide that will make life better for them, their families and their communities? This election will likely be a coin toss, and whoever turns out these voters will be well positioned to win.
Now, instead of giving independents a reason to show up and vote for the solutions the Republican Party can offer, our candidates are responding to comments by Democrats like Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota that the G.O.P. is led by "weird people." Don't get me wrong: Such comments from Democrats do nothing to move the conversation forward, either. The message from both sides must be inspirational and focused and about the results that can be delivered for the American people.
Politicians usually don't lose votes for laughing or smiling too much. Attacks like those waged against Ms. Harris are unserious and don't meet the moment that American families find themselves in. You have to connect with voters on their issues and their concerns. You earn their trust by appreciating that the job is bigger than yourself. You win tough elections by showing real empathy and addressing the anxieties that keep them up at night.
Donald Trump has led in the polls, and his return to the White House has seemed almost inevitable — and not only because Joe Biden was until recently his opponent. Americans are hungry for change. Under the Biden-Harris administration they have seen interest rates skyrocket. Housing prices have risen drastically. Families are struggling to pay their credit card debt and buy groceries. Those kitchen table issues have a real impact on millions of Americans.
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I have a good feeling that Chris Sununu is most likely a nice man, even a good man. He seems like it.
But he is what we could call a Trump chump.
These are people who keep calling for Trump to change. As if that could ever happen. As if Trump gives a flying fuck what Chris Sununu thinks.
The Trump plague has been with us for 9 years ( 13 if you count his birtherism era) and no one has given him advice yet that he respects. Trump could shoot Chris Sununu in the middle of 5th avenue and believe he was going to get away with it.
We cant rely on any current Republican to help rid of us Trump, they dont have it in them.
This too shall pass
The attacks on Kamala that she allegedly slept her way to her position is quite unmanly.
And this cannot be realistically deemed Biden's fault. Almost every issue that the Republicans are beating him and Harris up for are little kernels of half-truth surrounded by a whole whopper of big, slimy lie.
well Chris Sununu , I guess you are shit out of luck
In fact, those attacks are unlikely to bring a single new voter on board. Catchy one-liners — calling Vice President Kamala Harris a "bum," "not a serious person" and "bottom of the barrel" — might rile up the base, but they do little to connect with independent voters needed to close the deal in November.
Yep. Always liked Sununu. Would have liked him to be the republican candidate.
I would even take him as Harris's VP.
Think of the heads that would explode, lol.
But personal attacks on Trump are ….. at least that’s what I’m told by my many friends on the left.