Democrats like Congressman Ted Lieu (D-CA), who shared the Donald Trump video below, are working hard to portray the 2024 election as a choice between darkness and light, with Trump and a looming Project 2024 representing the dark side and Kamala Harris representing youth, a breath of fresh air and a turning of the autocratic page.
Trump’s “American carnage” rhetoric gives those who wish to present this particular dichotomy plenty of ammunition — as Trump has not changed his content to aim more acutely at his younger, more dynamic new opponent, but instead doubled down on the doom script. Trump remains unwavering in his characterization of an “America in decline” — calling this a “beautiful phrase.”
In Pennsylvania this weekend Trump also insisted, as he says he often does, that America “is a failed nation.” The former president told his rallygoers: “I use the term, often times in closing: We are a nation in decline. We are a failed nation. And I think it’s a beautiful phrase.”
Then sounding enraged, Trump complained that Republicans “copy” him and say the same thing.
Here Trump sounds surprised, even though it has long been unofficial GOP policy to copy Trump’s talking points or risk party ex-communication via MAGA attack, a la Liz Cheney or Mitt Romney. Yet Trump asks about the Republicans who do, he says, repeat his accusations: “What the hell do they have to copy me for?”
Kamala Harris roots for America.
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) August 18, 2024
Donald Trump bets against America.
Never a good bet to bet against America. https://t.co/b3KBVy6uUC
When Lieu shared Trump’s denigration of America, he wrote “Kamala Harris roots for America. Donald Trump bets against America. Never a good bet to bet against America.”
Trump alternately says he barely knows who Harris, the current Vice President of the United States, is — “who the hell is Harris?” — and then tells the crowd that she is a “communist” and the “most radical Left person ever to run for office.” (See below.)
"Who the hell is Harris?" — Trump is still complaining about Biden stepping aside pic.twitter.com/sa0JsKTV0O
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 17, 2024
