Kamala Harris promises America an “opportunity economy,” while Donald Trump promises America she is “the worst,” and “a disaster” who—trust him—will be “very bad.” To Republicans wondering how this race could be so close, here’s your sign.
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The GOP may still win this election; it’s the “may” that elicits the wince. Less than 30% of Americans believe the country is on the right track under Joe Biden and Ms. Harris. Gallup reports that of 10 indicators of election outcomes, Republicans are ahead on eight. The Democratic nominee is a San Francisco progressive who covered for the president’s decline, evaded a primary, and uses vapid legerdemain to camouflage a radical agenda. All this has the makings of a 1980 trouncing.
The race is instead deadlocked because Mr. Trump lacks a topic sentence. And while there is no Reaganesque orator in this bipartisan word-salad toss-off, you don’t need the man to remember his wisdom. The job of a party leader is to lead, with a message that connects with the public. Reagan crafted one for the ages, and if Republicans had two brain cells to rub together they would know it as one that obviously needs revival now: Government is the problem.
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Americans already know it. The country is reeling from failed big-government management. Americans know government spending caused inflation. They know government checks created today’s help-wanted signs. They know government chose to let millions of illegal migrants flood their communities, and government failed to police crime. They know government has driven debt to once-unimaginable levels. They’ve been to the post office; they get it.
This theme makes sense of the past four years. It allows Mr. Trump and Republicans to contrast Biden-Harris failures with their own “freedom and choice” alternative. Democrats spent the bank on government programs that don’t work; Mr. Trump will cut taxes and return money to Americans who know what to do with it. Ms. Harris will keep voters on a treadmill of inflation-feeding subsidies to relieve inflation; Mr. Trump will reduce spending, get prices and interest rates under control, make life affordable again.
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That theme is also the umbrella under which Republicans could capitalize on powerful issues that they are inexplicably frittering away. Why aren’t Trump & Co. comparing the horrors of government- and union-ordered school closures with their plans for school choice and parental rights? Why aren’t they daily reminding Americans of the Harris march to take away SUVs and gas stoves? Where are the warnings that a Harris administration means thousands more IRS agents and a bureaucracy that dictates everything from the rules of grade-school bathrooms to how woke your 401(k) must be? Here’s a line: Ms. Harris will give Americans the “opportunity” to choose whatever Democrats decide is best for them.
Why aren’t Republicans even warning of Democrats’ stated plans to dismantle institutional norms and seize unfettered power? Ms. Harris has come out for eliminating the Senate filibuster, paving the way to federalize elections, confiscate firearms, add new states, eliminate private healthcare. Betting the Supreme Court will check this? Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden this week introduced a bill (which Democrats could pass with 51 votes if they abolish the filibuster) that would add six justices to the high court and purportedly limit the court’s authority to overrule Congress.
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Mr. Trump isn’t known for themes or focus. His bigger problem this time is that his campaign has lost the policy plot. Faded are the powerful Reaganesque promises of his 2016 run—to end crushing regulations, reform taxes, restore a freer healthcare market, rebuild the military—replaced and muddied by conflicting aims.
He is today whispered to by new-right advisers who believe they are “realigning” politics by reviving zombie GOP ideas and moving to the left. Down with profitable corporations! Up with lunch-pail unionism! Government checks for the “right” people! Who needs a free market when Washington finally—after 250 years!—has smart people (us) to manage the economy with tariffs, tax carve-outs, price controls and authority over “sensitive” industries. JD Vance, meet Nelson Rockefeller (who, unlike Reagan, doesn’t have the word “revolution” after his name).
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It’s hard for Mr. Trump to extol workers’ “choice and freedom” when pandering to union bosses. Hard to celebrate America’s role as leader of the free world and the need to rebuild our military, while catering to isolationists. Hard to revel in American free enterprise while threatening to kneecap businesses that respond to insane unions, which Mr. Trump won’t criticize because, well, see above. What a mess.
It isn’t too late. Winning the election isn’t that hard, folks. It’s Reagan’s nine-most-terrifying words: I’m from the government and I’m here to help. If the GOP continues failing to communicate that obvious and simple message to this most predisposed of electorates, let the nail-biting continue.
