AI transcript
0:00:04 Your mom hates it when you leave six half full glasses on your nightstand.
0:00:07 It’s a good thing mom lives on the other side of the country.
0:00:13 And it’s an even better thing that you can get six Ikea 365+ glasses for just $9.99.
0:00:17 So go ahead, you can afford to hoard, because Ikea is priced for student life.
0:00:21 Shop everything you need for back to school at Ikea today.
0:00:27 On August 9th, don’t miss the Borderlands movie, starring this summer’s biggest cast.
0:00:28 Everybody buckle up.
0:00:33 With Kate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Ariana Greenblatt, and Jamie Lee Curtis.
0:00:35 Wow, you’ve never seen that.
0:00:35 Borderlands.
0:00:42 I’m Scott Galloway, and this is No Mercy, No Malice.
0:00:43 It’s a new race.
0:00:47 It’s now the Harris brand versus the Trump brand.
0:00:52 And it’ll be perception, not reality, that recaptures the White House.
0:00:55 Brand Harris, as read by George Hahn.
0:00:59 [MUSIC]
0:01:03 A decent boot camp for marketing is to work on a campaign.
0:01:09 In these contests, there are two brands with few differentiating attributes
0:01:11 regarding the product that consumers discern.
0:01:17 Would you know who is president at any given time if you didn’t know who is president?
0:01:23 The race for president of the United States is a function of perception.
0:01:26 Whoever builds the better brand.
0:01:32 The product is purchased on a single day, and whoever captures 51% market share
0:01:36 is given the entire market for four to eight years.
0:01:39 And the number two is out of business.
0:01:42 Elections are full body contact marketing.
0:01:47 It’s not who’s better, but who does a better job depositioning,
0:01:49 i.e. trashing, the other brand.
0:01:56 Elections in America have become a contest between whom you dislike least.
0:02:02 An e-commerce company’s most valuable asset is its customer database.
0:02:05 Email drives sales.
0:02:10 Too many emails increases unsubscribes and churn.
0:02:14 There’s a sweet spot between growth and strangling the golden goose.
0:02:19 My first clue that read Envelope, the e-commerce company I founded and
0:02:25 which had subsequently gone public was in trouble, came during the 2007 holiday season.
0:02:31 When I started receiving four times the usual number of promotional emails.
0:02:35 I saw the same signal during the final weeks of Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.
0:02:40 In June, Biden outspent Trump six to one.
0:02:45 Polls had Biden either treading water or losing ground.
0:02:51 But the race between the septuagenarian and the octagenarian was always close.
0:02:54 This wasn’t about polls.
0:03:01 For Biden, the beginning of the end was when his big money donors withheld $90 million.
0:03:07 Money talks in American politics, and it usually says the winner’s name.
0:03:13 In the previous cycle, the better financed campaign won 93% of house races and
0:03:16 82% of Senate races.
0:03:19 Typical win rates in the 21st century.
0:03:25 In every election cycle since Citizens United, the money gets louder.
0:03:30 While Democrats pretend Biden stepping down was about his love of country or
0:03:34 believe the former speaker was the wizard behind the curtain.
0:03:38 The reason Biden is headed for the exit is less romantic.
0:03:41 Money didn’t talk.
0:03:44 It swore at Biden and told him to fuck off.
0:03:48 Specifically fundraising ground to a halt after the debate.
0:03:54 As the curtain dropped, the spotlight shifted to Vice President Kamala Harris.
0:03:58 There are tangible benefits to a Harris candidacy.
0:04:03 Serving four years as VP is the best training for the presidency.
0:04:08 She was on the ticket that won the Democratic primary.
0:04:12 With less than four months until the election, Harris starts the race at letter
0:04:14 F versus A.
0:04:19 Seamless access to Biden’s money and infrastructure is a big deal.
0:04:24 She also raised $81 million in 24 hours.
0:04:27 And half of that money came from small donors.
0:04:30 60% of those were first-time donors.
0:04:36 The day after his conviction, Trump raised $53 million.
0:04:40 But $50 million came from one billionaire.
0:04:45 Money appears to be serenading the former senator.
0:04:50 And yet, watching Democratic leaders quickly fall in line to endorse Harris
0:04:55 before a challenger could emerge is a coronation, not a contest.
0:05:01 If you thought party elites put their finger on the scale in 2016,
0:05:03 how does 2024 feel?
0:05:09 The bumper sticker is the same as it was a week ago, we’ve just swapped out names.
0:05:12 Get behind Biden, I mean Harris, or shut the fuck up.
0:05:18 While the elites may have picked their air, it was the same elites who pretended
0:05:23 there was nothing wrong and 75% of America told them to hold their beer
0:05:24 and find another candidate.
0:05:31 Historically, party bosses picked the candidates in smoke-filled rooms.
0:05:34 And there is something to be said for expertise.
0:05:39 But after a disastrous 1968 convention, Democrats sped up a shift towards
0:05:42 small-deed democracy to pick their nominees.
0:05:49 By 1976, Democrats selected 73% of convention delegates in primaries,
0:05:52 while Republicans chose 68%.
0:05:57 That year, Jimmy Carter beat Gerald Ford, the only person to become a president
0:06:01 without running for the office or being elected VP first.
0:06:06 For the next three cycles, Democratic voters nominated sacrificial lambs.
0:06:09 Carter, 49 electoral votes.
0:06:12 Walter Mondale, 13 electoral votes.
0:06:17 And Michael Dukakis, 111 electoral votes.
0:06:22 But that same system also gave us Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
0:06:28 There’s something to be said for a process where voters choose the nominees.
0:06:33 There’s no such thing as a perfect nominating process.
0:06:36 This one is remarkably imperfect.
0:06:39 The optics of a smoke-filled room and
0:06:43 a candidate who won’t have the benefit of combat in the primaries.
0:06:47 I believe the Democrats and the vice president would have benefited from
0:06:53 a shark tank-like series of debates in the weeks leading up to the convention.
0:06:56 Specifically, down-ballot candidates would have benefited from
0:07:00 a media spectacle highlighting how strong the D-bench is.
0:07:04 This, in my view, could have buttressed the blue brand and
0:07:10 made voters more likely to vote D when they weren’t familiar with a down-ballot candidate.
0:07:14 But angst and second-guessing are counterproductive at this point,
0:07:20 according to every fucking party elite, telling me several times a day.
0:07:25 As my Pivot Podcast partner Cara Swisher said, let’s get to work.
0:07:31 Laddering is an exercise that helps you zero in on the most effective
0:07:33 messaging for your product.
0:07:38 It’s also the subject of week eight in my brand strategy course at Stern.
0:07:42 Note, I invented the term for my course versus its original definition.
0:07:47 Messaging that doesn’t just highlight your brand’s strengths, but
0:07:52 deposition’s a competitor and illuminates a weakness.
0:07:56 You cast yourself in a specific light that elevates your cheekbones while
0:07:59 adding 15 pounds to your foes silhouette.
0:08:05 Apple CEO Tim Cook is a master at laddering.
0:08:08 In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal,
0:08:13 he declared that, quote, privacy is a human right, unquote.
0:08:18 This was a clear jab at Facebook and Google, highlighting Apple’s
0:08:23 commitment to privacy while contrasting it with its competitors’ weaknesses.
0:08:29 The George W. Bush campaign in 2004 executed one of the best
0:08:32 laddering strategies in marketing history.
0:08:38 They ran an ad titled, whichever way the wind blows,
0:08:43 showing John Kerry windsurfing as a metaphor for his flip-flopping on issues.
0:08:46 This indirectly cast Bush as resolute and
0:08:50 consistent while painting Kerry as indecisive.
0:08:55 We have an easier time believing people are bad versus good.
0:08:58 It’s a survival mechanism to assume the person or
0:09:01 animal in front of you is foe, not friend.
0:09:05 With a 38% approval rating, Harris has work to do.
0:09:09 She also has a lot to work with.
0:09:16 Her identity, record, and personal story are disco from 70s laddering heaven.
0:09:20 Also, she has a not-so-secret weapon.
0:09:22 She’s not Donald Trump.
0:09:27 So, the contrast the Harris campaign should illuminate.
0:09:30 Future or past?
0:09:36 A week ago, Trump looked relatively young, strong, and mentally fit.
0:09:39 But that’s only because Biden was none of those things.
0:09:41 It’s ironic that Trump’s age and
0:09:48 vitality has morphed from his biggest strength to his biggest weakness in a weekend.
0:09:51 Age will continue to be a big issue in the campaign.
0:09:55 The contrasts between Harris and Trump are stark.
0:10:00 He’s an overweight 78-year-old white man with a spray on tan.
0:10:05 She’s an attractive, fit, 59-year-old black and South Asian woman.
0:10:09 He rambles, swinging from dumb and dangerous to conspiracy theory.
0:10:13 While Harris has found a better footing recently,
0:10:17 her public orations as VP were best described as yoga babble.
0:10:23 However, I believe she’ll win the debates just by showing up.
0:10:29 As Kennedy and Reagan demonstrated, it’s not what you say, but how you look.
0:10:33 Harris makes Trump look like Biden.
0:10:36 Good economy or bad economy?
0:10:40 We haven’t had a normal election in more than a decade.
0:10:47 But even in abnormal elections, economic concerns, jobs, inflation,
0:10:53 wealth, income inequality, et cetera, top the list for voters.
0:10:57 As the Rage and Cajun said, it’s the economy, stupid.
0:11:07 The bad news, voters disapprove of Biden’s handling of the economy 51% to 39%.
0:11:13 The good news, the Biden economy has a lot to celebrate.
0:11:17 Impressive job growth, markets touching record highs,
0:11:22 the strongest GDP growth and lowest inflation in the G7.
0:11:27 The VP needs to come armed with receipts regarding job creation and growth and
0:11:33 be prepared to fact check Trump’s lies in real time at a debate if there is one.
0:11:35 And on social media.
0:11:40 Her campaign will need to do a better job weaponizing surrogates to stay on message
0:11:43 and pound home the strength of the economy.
0:11:45 While it’s fun to mock JD Vance and
0:11:48 the cable networks love the outrage at foments,
0:11:54 moderates vote on more boring shit, see above the economy.
0:11:56 Prosecutor or convicted felon?
0:12:00 Hours after being released from prison,
0:12:04 former Trump advisor Peter Navarro spoke at the RNC.
0:12:09 Steve Bannon couldn’t be there as he’s serving a four month sentence.
0:12:15 Paul Manafort, Trump’s 2016 campaign chair, did time before Trump pardoned him.
0:12:17 But wait, there’s more.
0:12:21 George Papadopoulos, Rick Gates, Michael Cohen, Roger Stone,
0:12:27 Helen Weisselberg, and 700 plus January 6th defendants have either been convicted
0:12:29 of crimes or pleaded guilty.
0:12:34 Harris began her career as a prosecutor and
0:12:37 served as the Attorney General of California.
0:12:40 She prosecuted sex offenders.
0:12:43 26 women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct.
0:12:46 And in Eugene Carroll’s defamation case against Trump,
0:12:49 the judge concluded that he had committed rape.
0:12:55 Harris shut down predatory for-profit colleges.
0:12:57 Trump University was a scam.
0:13:01 After the housing crisis, she took on the banks and
0:13:06 got back $25 billion for California taxpayers.
0:13:10 Trump was a slumlord who was found liable in
0:13:13 civil court for defrauding banks.
0:13:15 She’s running for president.
0:13:17 He’s running from prison.
0:13:22 Reproductive freedom or the handmaid’s tale?
0:13:28 For decades, the religious right worked to erode the separation of church and
0:13:30 state and overturn row.
0:13:35 Trump and his Supreme Court justices ultimately delivered on that promise in
0:13:36 Dobbs.
0:13:41 The decision restricts reproductive freedom and endangers lives.
0:13:46 It’s also deeply unpopular across the political spectrum.
0:13:48 I moved to London two years ago.
0:13:53 In that time, the most shameful shift in America is that one in five women
0:13:58 must now travel outside their state to terminate a pregnancy.
0:14:00 It will never be five in five.
0:14:04 This isn’t a war on women, but a war on poor women.
0:14:08 And wealthy people will always have access to family planning.
0:14:12 If age will be the implicit issue in the campaign,
0:14:17 bodily autonomy should be the explicit issue for Harris.
0:14:22 Harris’ best moment in the Senate was when she asked Supreme Court nominee
0:14:27 Brett Kavanaugh if he could think of any law that gives the government
0:14:31 the power to make decisions about the male body.
0:14:34 Can you think of any laws that give government the power to make decisions
0:14:36 about the male body?
0:14:46 I’m happy to answer a more specific question.
0:14:47 Male versus female?
0:14:51 There are medical procedures?
0:14:57 Okay, that the government has the power to make a decision about a man’s body?
0:15:00 I thought you were asking about medical procedures that are unique to men.
0:15:03 I’ll repeat the question.
0:15:07 Can you think of any laws that give the government the power
0:15:10 to make decisions about the male body?
0:15:15 I’m not thinking of any right now, Senator.
0:15:20 This is a perfect ad that should run in every market nonstop.
0:15:23 Harris fights for reproductive freedom.
0:15:26 Trump fights for white Christian nationalists.
0:15:34 In 1960, the conventional wisdom held that America wasn’t ready for a Catholic president.
0:15:38 In 2008, America wasn’t ready for a black president,
0:15:43 especially one named Barack Hussein Obama.
0:15:49 In 2020, we weren’t ready for a black South Asian woman to be VP.
0:15:53 In hindsight, historic breakthroughs feel like destiny,
0:15:57 but before you break one, doing so feels risky.
0:16:00 We’ve come a long way on gender.
0:16:06 Geraldine Ferraro threw a rock at the glass ceiling when she ran for VP in 1984.
0:16:10 In her first campaign for Congress, her slogan was, quote,
0:16:14 “Finally, a tough Democrat,” unquote.
0:16:16 She won.
0:16:21 But in the 1984 presidential race, she frequently faced questions like,
0:16:24 “Are you tough enough to be president?”
0:16:29 32 years later, Trump didn’t attack Hillary Clinton for being weak.
0:16:31 He called her “Cricket Hillary.”
0:16:35 She cracked the glass ceiling, winning the popular vote.
0:16:42 Meanwhile, America continues to normalize female leadership as it spreads across the world.
0:16:51 Also, many moderates likely look back to 2016 and realize the woman would have been the better choice.
0:16:55 Harris should wrap Trump in Project 2025,
0:17:02 intertwining his presidency with the manifesto for what the country would look like under his leadership.
0:17:05 Haven’t heard of Project 2025?
0:17:10 Only 20% of voters say they know about the 900-page Heritage Foundation plan
0:17:14 to dramatically rewrite life in America.
0:17:16 A few of its greatest hits.
0:17:20 Purging civil servants and staffing the federal bureaucracy with loyalists,
0:17:23 eliminating the Department of Education,
0:17:28 using the military to round up and deport millions of people,
0:17:29 banning porn.
0:17:31 This isn’t a policy agenda.
0:17:35 It’s a blueprint for white Christian nationalism.
0:17:40 Even the Kremlin and the Stasi allowed weather reports.
0:17:46 Harris will face her own challenges after the honeymoon period comes to an abrupt end in the next week.
0:17:49 Trump will position her as an uber-liberal,
0:17:55 a failed border czar who has yet to receive a single vote or delegate for president.
0:17:59 I imagine the Trump campaign running, and they’d be smart too,
0:18:07 a 24/7 media loop of footage of the zombie apocalypse of useful idiots on campuses after October 7th.
0:18:14 In addition, live footage from the downtowns across democratically controlled cities on the west coast.
0:18:23 In some, deposition of the Democratic Party and show the underbelly of institutions and metros controlled by Democrats.
0:18:32 A free gift with purchase, or the only thing I worry the Harris campaign will miss in their messaging, is even more boring.
0:18:38 A surprising number of young voters highlighted the growing deficit as an area of concern.
0:18:43 Harris stating, “We need to get our fiscal house in order,”
0:18:52 with tough talk regarding cauterizing reckless spending would piss off the far left while warming her to moderates.
0:18:59 The former are in her ear every day, the latter will decide the election.
0:19:08 It would also have a nice ring to it, i.e. true, as Harris is more moderate on economic issues than the perception.
0:19:14 Democrat’s strength is their weakness, idealism.
0:19:21 However, the quest and vision for a better world often strays into a mix of indignance and denial.
0:19:32 If Democrats were solely focused on beating Trump, they’d pick Mitt Romney as VP after throwing up in your mouth, think about it.
0:19:37 And Biden would step down to let Harris run as the incumbent.
0:19:47 And one final thing, Donald Trump is a rapist and an insurrectionist.
0:19:52 Life is so rich.
0:19:56 [Music]
0:19:59 (light music)
0:20:09 [BLANK_AUDIO]
0:00:07 It’s a good thing mom lives on the other side of the country.
0:00:13 And it’s an even better thing that you can get six Ikea 365+ glasses for just $9.99.
0:00:17 So go ahead, you can afford to hoard, because Ikea is priced for student life.
0:00:21 Shop everything you need for back to school at Ikea today.
0:00:27 On August 9th, don’t miss the Borderlands movie, starring this summer’s biggest cast.
0:00:28 Everybody buckle up.
0:00:33 With Kate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Ariana Greenblatt, and Jamie Lee Curtis.
0:00:35 Wow, you’ve never seen that.
0:00:35 Borderlands.
0:00:42 I’m Scott Galloway, and this is No Mercy, No Malice.
0:00:43 It’s a new race.
0:00:47 It’s now the Harris brand versus the Trump brand.
0:00:52 And it’ll be perception, not reality, that recaptures the White House.
0:00:55 Brand Harris, as read by George Hahn.
0:00:59 [MUSIC]
0:01:03 A decent boot camp for marketing is to work on a campaign.
0:01:09 In these contests, there are two brands with few differentiating attributes
0:01:11 regarding the product that consumers discern.
0:01:17 Would you know who is president at any given time if you didn’t know who is president?
0:01:23 The race for president of the United States is a function of perception.
0:01:26 Whoever builds the better brand.
0:01:32 The product is purchased on a single day, and whoever captures 51% market share
0:01:36 is given the entire market for four to eight years.
0:01:39 And the number two is out of business.
0:01:42 Elections are full body contact marketing.
0:01:47 It’s not who’s better, but who does a better job depositioning,
0:01:49 i.e. trashing, the other brand.
0:01:56 Elections in America have become a contest between whom you dislike least.
0:02:02 An e-commerce company’s most valuable asset is its customer database.
0:02:05 Email drives sales.
0:02:10 Too many emails increases unsubscribes and churn.
0:02:14 There’s a sweet spot between growth and strangling the golden goose.
0:02:19 My first clue that read Envelope, the e-commerce company I founded and
0:02:25 which had subsequently gone public was in trouble, came during the 2007 holiday season.
0:02:31 When I started receiving four times the usual number of promotional emails.
0:02:35 I saw the same signal during the final weeks of Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.
0:02:40 In June, Biden outspent Trump six to one.
0:02:45 Polls had Biden either treading water or losing ground.
0:02:51 But the race between the septuagenarian and the octagenarian was always close.
0:02:54 This wasn’t about polls.
0:03:01 For Biden, the beginning of the end was when his big money donors withheld $90 million.
0:03:07 Money talks in American politics, and it usually says the winner’s name.
0:03:13 In the previous cycle, the better financed campaign won 93% of house races and
0:03:16 82% of Senate races.
0:03:19 Typical win rates in the 21st century.
0:03:25 In every election cycle since Citizens United, the money gets louder.
0:03:30 While Democrats pretend Biden stepping down was about his love of country or
0:03:34 believe the former speaker was the wizard behind the curtain.
0:03:38 The reason Biden is headed for the exit is less romantic.
0:03:41 Money didn’t talk.
0:03:44 It swore at Biden and told him to fuck off.
0:03:48 Specifically fundraising ground to a halt after the debate.
0:03:54 As the curtain dropped, the spotlight shifted to Vice President Kamala Harris.
0:03:58 There are tangible benefits to a Harris candidacy.
0:04:03 Serving four years as VP is the best training for the presidency.
0:04:08 She was on the ticket that won the Democratic primary.
0:04:12 With less than four months until the election, Harris starts the race at letter
0:04:14 F versus A.
0:04:19 Seamless access to Biden’s money and infrastructure is a big deal.
0:04:24 She also raised $81 million in 24 hours.
0:04:27 And half of that money came from small donors.
0:04:30 60% of those were first-time donors.
0:04:36 The day after his conviction, Trump raised $53 million.
0:04:40 But $50 million came from one billionaire.
0:04:45 Money appears to be serenading the former senator.
0:04:50 And yet, watching Democratic leaders quickly fall in line to endorse Harris
0:04:55 before a challenger could emerge is a coronation, not a contest.
0:05:01 If you thought party elites put their finger on the scale in 2016,
0:05:03 how does 2024 feel?
0:05:09 The bumper sticker is the same as it was a week ago, we’ve just swapped out names.
0:05:12 Get behind Biden, I mean Harris, or shut the fuck up.
0:05:18 While the elites may have picked their air, it was the same elites who pretended
0:05:23 there was nothing wrong and 75% of America told them to hold their beer
0:05:24 and find another candidate.
0:05:31 Historically, party bosses picked the candidates in smoke-filled rooms.
0:05:34 And there is something to be said for expertise.
0:05:39 But after a disastrous 1968 convention, Democrats sped up a shift towards
0:05:42 small-deed democracy to pick their nominees.
0:05:49 By 1976, Democrats selected 73% of convention delegates in primaries,
0:05:52 while Republicans chose 68%.
0:05:57 That year, Jimmy Carter beat Gerald Ford, the only person to become a president
0:06:01 without running for the office or being elected VP first.
0:06:06 For the next three cycles, Democratic voters nominated sacrificial lambs.
0:06:09 Carter, 49 electoral votes.
0:06:12 Walter Mondale, 13 electoral votes.
0:06:17 And Michael Dukakis, 111 electoral votes.
0:06:22 But that same system also gave us Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
0:06:28 There’s something to be said for a process where voters choose the nominees.
0:06:33 There’s no such thing as a perfect nominating process.
0:06:36 This one is remarkably imperfect.
0:06:39 The optics of a smoke-filled room and
0:06:43 a candidate who won’t have the benefit of combat in the primaries.
0:06:47 I believe the Democrats and the vice president would have benefited from
0:06:53 a shark tank-like series of debates in the weeks leading up to the convention.
0:06:56 Specifically, down-ballot candidates would have benefited from
0:07:00 a media spectacle highlighting how strong the D-bench is.
0:07:04 This, in my view, could have buttressed the blue brand and
0:07:10 made voters more likely to vote D when they weren’t familiar with a down-ballot candidate.
0:07:14 But angst and second-guessing are counterproductive at this point,
0:07:20 according to every fucking party elite, telling me several times a day.
0:07:25 As my Pivot Podcast partner Cara Swisher said, let’s get to work.
0:07:31 Laddering is an exercise that helps you zero in on the most effective
0:07:33 messaging for your product.
0:07:38 It’s also the subject of week eight in my brand strategy course at Stern.
0:07:42 Note, I invented the term for my course versus its original definition.
0:07:47 Messaging that doesn’t just highlight your brand’s strengths, but
0:07:52 deposition’s a competitor and illuminates a weakness.
0:07:56 You cast yourself in a specific light that elevates your cheekbones while
0:07:59 adding 15 pounds to your foes silhouette.
0:08:05 Apple CEO Tim Cook is a master at laddering.
0:08:08 In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal,
0:08:13 he declared that, quote, privacy is a human right, unquote.
0:08:18 This was a clear jab at Facebook and Google, highlighting Apple’s
0:08:23 commitment to privacy while contrasting it with its competitors’ weaknesses.
0:08:29 The George W. Bush campaign in 2004 executed one of the best
0:08:32 laddering strategies in marketing history.
0:08:38 They ran an ad titled, whichever way the wind blows,
0:08:43 showing John Kerry windsurfing as a metaphor for his flip-flopping on issues.
0:08:46 This indirectly cast Bush as resolute and
0:08:50 consistent while painting Kerry as indecisive.
0:08:55 We have an easier time believing people are bad versus good.
0:08:58 It’s a survival mechanism to assume the person or
0:09:01 animal in front of you is foe, not friend.
0:09:05 With a 38% approval rating, Harris has work to do.
0:09:09 She also has a lot to work with.
0:09:16 Her identity, record, and personal story are disco from 70s laddering heaven.
0:09:20 Also, she has a not-so-secret weapon.
0:09:22 She’s not Donald Trump.
0:09:27 So, the contrast the Harris campaign should illuminate.
0:09:30 Future or past?
0:09:36 A week ago, Trump looked relatively young, strong, and mentally fit.
0:09:39 But that’s only because Biden was none of those things.
0:09:41 It’s ironic that Trump’s age and
0:09:48 vitality has morphed from his biggest strength to his biggest weakness in a weekend.
0:09:51 Age will continue to be a big issue in the campaign.
0:09:55 The contrasts between Harris and Trump are stark.
0:10:00 He’s an overweight 78-year-old white man with a spray on tan.
0:10:05 She’s an attractive, fit, 59-year-old black and South Asian woman.
0:10:09 He rambles, swinging from dumb and dangerous to conspiracy theory.
0:10:13 While Harris has found a better footing recently,
0:10:17 her public orations as VP were best described as yoga babble.
0:10:23 However, I believe she’ll win the debates just by showing up.
0:10:29 As Kennedy and Reagan demonstrated, it’s not what you say, but how you look.
0:10:33 Harris makes Trump look like Biden.
0:10:36 Good economy or bad economy?
0:10:40 We haven’t had a normal election in more than a decade.
0:10:47 But even in abnormal elections, economic concerns, jobs, inflation,
0:10:53 wealth, income inequality, et cetera, top the list for voters.
0:10:57 As the Rage and Cajun said, it’s the economy, stupid.
0:11:07 The bad news, voters disapprove of Biden’s handling of the economy 51% to 39%.
0:11:13 The good news, the Biden economy has a lot to celebrate.
0:11:17 Impressive job growth, markets touching record highs,
0:11:22 the strongest GDP growth and lowest inflation in the G7.
0:11:27 The VP needs to come armed with receipts regarding job creation and growth and
0:11:33 be prepared to fact check Trump’s lies in real time at a debate if there is one.
0:11:35 And on social media.
0:11:40 Her campaign will need to do a better job weaponizing surrogates to stay on message
0:11:43 and pound home the strength of the economy.
0:11:45 While it’s fun to mock JD Vance and
0:11:48 the cable networks love the outrage at foments,
0:11:54 moderates vote on more boring shit, see above the economy.
0:11:56 Prosecutor or convicted felon?
0:12:00 Hours after being released from prison,
0:12:04 former Trump advisor Peter Navarro spoke at the RNC.
0:12:09 Steve Bannon couldn’t be there as he’s serving a four month sentence.
0:12:15 Paul Manafort, Trump’s 2016 campaign chair, did time before Trump pardoned him.
0:12:17 But wait, there’s more.
0:12:21 George Papadopoulos, Rick Gates, Michael Cohen, Roger Stone,
0:12:27 Helen Weisselberg, and 700 plus January 6th defendants have either been convicted
0:12:29 of crimes or pleaded guilty.
0:12:34 Harris began her career as a prosecutor and
0:12:37 served as the Attorney General of California.
0:12:40 She prosecuted sex offenders.
0:12:43 26 women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct.
0:12:46 And in Eugene Carroll’s defamation case against Trump,
0:12:49 the judge concluded that he had committed rape.
0:12:55 Harris shut down predatory for-profit colleges.
0:12:57 Trump University was a scam.
0:13:01 After the housing crisis, she took on the banks and
0:13:06 got back $25 billion for California taxpayers.
0:13:10 Trump was a slumlord who was found liable in
0:13:13 civil court for defrauding banks.
0:13:15 She’s running for president.
0:13:17 He’s running from prison.
0:13:22 Reproductive freedom or the handmaid’s tale?
0:13:28 For decades, the religious right worked to erode the separation of church and
0:13:30 state and overturn row.
0:13:35 Trump and his Supreme Court justices ultimately delivered on that promise in
0:13:36 Dobbs.
0:13:41 The decision restricts reproductive freedom and endangers lives.
0:13:46 It’s also deeply unpopular across the political spectrum.
0:13:48 I moved to London two years ago.
0:13:53 In that time, the most shameful shift in America is that one in five women
0:13:58 must now travel outside their state to terminate a pregnancy.
0:14:00 It will never be five in five.
0:14:04 This isn’t a war on women, but a war on poor women.
0:14:08 And wealthy people will always have access to family planning.
0:14:12 If age will be the implicit issue in the campaign,
0:14:17 bodily autonomy should be the explicit issue for Harris.
0:14:22 Harris’ best moment in the Senate was when she asked Supreme Court nominee
0:14:27 Brett Kavanaugh if he could think of any law that gives the government
0:14:31 the power to make decisions about the male body.
0:14:34 Can you think of any laws that give government the power to make decisions
0:14:36 about the male body?
0:14:46 I’m happy to answer a more specific question.
0:14:47 Male versus female?
0:14:51 There are medical procedures?
0:14:57 Okay, that the government has the power to make a decision about a man’s body?
0:15:00 I thought you were asking about medical procedures that are unique to men.
0:15:03 I’ll repeat the question.
0:15:07 Can you think of any laws that give the government the power
0:15:10 to make decisions about the male body?
0:15:15 I’m not thinking of any right now, Senator.
0:15:20 This is a perfect ad that should run in every market nonstop.
0:15:23 Harris fights for reproductive freedom.
0:15:26 Trump fights for white Christian nationalists.
0:15:34 In 1960, the conventional wisdom held that America wasn’t ready for a Catholic president.
0:15:38 In 2008, America wasn’t ready for a black president,
0:15:43 especially one named Barack Hussein Obama.
0:15:49 In 2020, we weren’t ready for a black South Asian woman to be VP.
0:15:53 In hindsight, historic breakthroughs feel like destiny,
0:15:57 but before you break one, doing so feels risky.
0:16:00 We’ve come a long way on gender.
0:16:06 Geraldine Ferraro threw a rock at the glass ceiling when she ran for VP in 1984.
0:16:10 In her first campaign for Congress, her slogan was, quote,
0:16:14 “Finally, a tough Democrat,” unquote.
0:16:16 She won.
0:16:21 But in the 1984 presidential race, she frequently faced questions like,
0:16:24 “Are you tough enough to be president?”
0:16:29 32 years later, Trump didn’t attack Hillary Clinton for being weak.
0:16:31 He called her “Cricket Hillary.”
0:16:35 She cracked the glass ceiling, winning the popular vote.
0:16:42 Meanwhile, America continues to normalize female leadership as it spreads across the world.
0:16:51 Also, many moderates likely look back to 2016 and realize the woman would have been the better choice.
0:16:55 Harris should wrap Trump in Project 2025,
0:17:02 intertwining his presidency with the manifesto for what the country would look like under his leadership.
0:17:05 Haven’t heard of Project 2025?
0:17:10 Only 20% of voters say they know about the 900-page Heritage Foundation plan
0:17:14 to dramatically rewrite life in America.
0:17:16 A few of its greatest hits.
0:17:20 Purging civil servants and staffing the federal bureaucracy with loyalists,
0:17:23 eliminating the Department of Education,
0:17:28 using the military to round up and deport millions of people,
0:17:29 banning porn.
0:17:31 This isn’t a policy agenda.
0:17:35 It’s a blueprint for white Christian nationalism.
0:17:40 Even the Kremlin and the Stasi allowed weather reports.
0:17:46 Harris will face her own challenges after the honeymoon period comes to an abrupt end in the next week.
0:17:49 Trump will position her as an uber-liberal,
0:17:55 a failed border czar who has yet to receive a single vote or delegate for president.
0:17:59 I imagine the Trump campaign running, and they’d be smart too,
0:18:07 a 24/7 media loop of footage of the zombie apocalypse of useful idiots on campuses after October 7th.
0:18:14 In addition, live footage from the downtowns across democratically controlled cities on the west coast.
0:18:23 In some, deposition of the Democratic Party and show the underbelly of institutions and metros controlled by Democrats.
0:18:32 A free gift with purchase, or the only thing I worry the Harris campaign will miss in their messaging, is even more boring.
0:18:38 A surprising number of young voters highlighted the growing deficit as an area of concern.
0:18:43 Harris stating, “We need to get our fiscal house in order,”
0:18:52 with tough talk regarding cauterizing reckless spending would piss off the far left while warming her to moderates.
0:18:59 The former are in her ear every day, the latter will decide the election.
0:19:08 It would also have a nice ring to it, i.e. true, as Harris is more moderate on economic issues than the perception.
0:19:14 Democrat’s strength is their weakness, idealism.
0:19:21 However, the quest and vision for a better world often strays into a mix of indignance and denial.
0:19:32 If Democrats were solely focused on beating Trump, they’d pick Mitt Romney as VP after throwing up in your mouth, think about it.
0:19:37 And Biden would step down to let Harris run as the incumbent.
0:19:47 And one final thing, Donald Trump is a rapist and an insurrectionist.
0:19:52 Life is so rich.
0:19:56 [Music]
0:19:59 (light music)
0:20:09 [BLANK_AUDIO]
As read by George Hahn.
Brand Harris
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