It didn’t take long for former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, to put Vice President Kamala Harris’ race and ethnicity at the center of the campaign. First, Trump said at a National Association of Black Journalists convention that Harris had identified as Indian American for most of her life and then at some point "happened to turn Black." That’s not true. Harris wrote in her memoir that her mother knew her half-Jamaican daughters would be seen “as black girls, and she was determined to make sure we would grow into confident, proud black women.” Vance, whose own children have an Indian American mother, then called Harris “a chameleon” because, he said, she has changed her position on issues. As every grade-schooler knows, a chameleon is most known for changing its color, not its policy preferences. It’s rhetoric that carries significant risk for the GOP ticket. Sure, Trump can do what he did before the 2020 election and run up the score with his base voters while alienating everyone else. Here’s how that worked for him: He vastly increased his raw number of votes, adding nearly 18% compared to 2016, while Democrats’ total jumped by more than 23%. He lost Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Georgia — all states he had won in 2016 — and the presidency. But beyond the object lesson he should have learned four years ago, Trump is feeding into the Democratic narrative — borrowed from his attacks on gone-from-the-ballot Joe Biden — that he is an out-of-touch old man. He sounds like Archie Bunker, a character who last appeared on television the year before his running mate was born. Injecting race into the debate is also more fraught when he is running against a candidate of color. Harris can choose whether, when and how to respond to Trump in ways that might be more difficult for a white candidate, who would be expected to defend members of his or her coalition or risk a backlash. Harris doesn’t have to apologize to anyone for dealing with the attacks as she sees fit. If Harris’ response so far has demonstrated anything, it’s that she doesn’t intend to be distracted by what she termed “divisive” and “disrespectful” rhetoric from Trump. To the extent it’s useful to her, she’ll use it. But it doesn’t have anything to do with the economy, immigration, abortion or any other issue that affects voters’ lives. If Trump is obsessed with Harris’ race and ethnicity, rather than voters’ needs, that’s a political loser — as long as she doesn't take the bait. |