Item one: Once upon a time, he was must-see TV. Now he’s like The Office after Michael Scott left. At best. |
I got an email Thursday morning from a dear old friend of mine. He lives in Virginia. He’s a Democrat who was never susceptible to Donald Trump’s alleged allures. But he did make an interesting point. Years ago, my friend wrote, he used to watch Trump and maybe give some consideration to a couple of the points he made, or at least be entertained. "I turn him off when I see him now," my friend wrote—and he guessed millions of others did the same. Trump is staring down the business end of a number of problems right now. There’s Project 2025, and there’s his bragging about ending Roe, and there’s the hefty ankle weight that is J.D. Vance. But for all those things and more, public lack of interest may be Trump’s biggest problem as we enter the homestretch of the presidential race next week. Since the man sees life wholly in terms of acts and star power and ratings, let’s think of him on the terms he understands. The Trump Show has entered its ninth season. That’s a long run for any TV show. Many of the most iconic shows in television history didn’t last that long. There’s a reason for that: In TV world, longevity can be a curse. Shows lose their originality. They lose key characters. They introduce new ones who aren’t nearly as compelling. They jump the shark, in a phrase coined in 1985 by a radio personality who was discussing an iconically far-fetched 1977 episode of Happy Days when Fonzie literally jumped over a shark while on water skis. That’s Trump today. Fonzie on water skis. All in the Family after Meathead and Gloria moved to California. Buffy by season 6 (although they still delivered a few classics in the last two seasons). The Office after Michael Scott left, which pulled off the accomplishment of making even Will Ferrell unfunny. (I’m sorry I don’t have more recent reference points, but you can fill in your own.)
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Join us on Tuesday, September 10, to watch the Harris vs. Trump face-off with editor Michael Tomasky and staff writer Greg Sargent for interactive commentary and analysis.
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Trump’s ratings are down. Kamala Harris drew 28.9 million viewers for her convention speech; Trump, just 26.3. There are all those videos of loads of empty seats at his rallies, and columns of people streaming out while he’s speaking. His unfavorable rating, which ticked down
a bit after the assassination attempt and the GOP convention, is ticking back up. In poll after poll after poll, both nationally and in swing states, he’s going from four- and five- and six-point leads to one-, two-, or three-point deficits. The race is still close, but the swing is unmistakable. Trump’s act is old. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still offensive. That Arlington Cemetery stunt was gobsmacking. It’s now a three-day story, and as long as Trumpworld keeps fighting and escalating, trying to convince voters that they should distrust the not-handsomely-paid people who stand guard over ground that your average American considers to be among the most sacred in the nation, it’ll continue. Three days means it’s really getting through, becoming quasi-foundational. It’s reinforcing the view—potentially deadly to him—that he has contempt for veterans and soldiers who died serving the country. And of course he still says and promotes all kinds of offensive and alarming things. His repost of a "joke" mentioning Harris and Hillary Clinton and blow jobs (I’ll stop there). Those photos he posted of Democrats and others (Bill Gates?) in orange jumpsuits, reinforcing earlier promises about how he’ll pursue "justice" if elected. There’s still plenty of reason to be terrified of a second Trump term, especially if you’re an undocumented immigrant or a transgender person or anyone else he considers "vermin." But again, for now, let’s just judge him as an act. His act is way tired. It’s now nine years of "Fake news" and "You won’t have a country anymore" and all the rest. In 2015, all those Trumpisms were stupid and disgusting; but at least they were new. I actually laughed when he described Jeb Bush as a "low-energy person." He was! I could imagine then how, for voters who didn’t hate him, he was interesting and possibly amusing as a species that American politics rarely produces: someone who threw the script in the air and said whatever the hell popped into his mind. That was bound to be something people wanted to watch, for a while. And it was just as bound to be something that became less compelling over time. It’s an act. And this is a key difference between politics and show business that Trump can’t see. In show biz, and on TV, it’s all about whether the production values can sell the act. In politics, it turns out, the act needs more than slick production. It still needs to show some connection to people’s lives and concerns. Harris is better at that than Trump is. And her act is a lot fresher, too. And Walz’s act versus Vance’s? Not remotely close. Yes—Walz is so compelling, and Vance so repelling, that this is one election where the veep choices may actually make two points’ worth of difference. None of this means Trump is finished. Happy Days lasted several seasons after it literally jumped the shark. But the ratings did start to fall soon enough. No one ever hated Fonzie, like many do Trump. But even fans of the show became a lot less invested in it. My old friend reminded me of the quote by Elie Wiesel: "The opposite of love is not hate. It’s indifference."
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For this Inside Story, editor Michael Tomasky talks with Bill Kristol about Republican support for Kamala Harris, from regular voters to the big names.
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Item two: The Harris interview |
The main thing you need to know about the Kamala Harris–Tim Walz interview with CNN’s Dana Bash is that Harris did no harm. She was fine. She stumbled right out of the gate, obviously not expecting Bash’s first question: What are you prepared to do on day one? Harris muttered through some standard boilerplate, managing to utter the words "middle class" but nothing else of interest. Then Bash helpfully asked the question again, and Harris got more specific. (Here’s the full transcript.) On her changes of position from 2019, she mostly handled those fairly well. The line she tried to sell was that while her specific positions may have … grown, "my values haven’t changed." That rang a little false to me, or maybe she just leaned on it a little too much. I thought on fracking, she did plenty well enough (though I’m not a working-class Pennsylvanian, of course). She said in essence that, now that we’ve passed the Inflation Reduction Act, she saw how we can green the economy while still making room for fracking ("We can grow and we can increase a thriving clean-energy economy without banning fracking"). She also noted that once she joined Biden’s ticket in 2020, she adopted his pro-fracking position then. It was smart to say she’d name a Republican to her cabinet. This probably bothers some progressives, but it’s not very important—she could conceivably put a Never Trump Republican at the Pentagon, for example, or maybe give Veterans Affairs to Adam Kinzinger (an Air Force vet); neither of those would raise any eyebrows. He’s stuck his neck out and has arguably earned something. And to the extent that it sends a conciliatory signal to swing voters, fine. Her Israel answer was bad. My expectations here are low, but at least I’d like to see her say something, one sentence, about the death and carnage in Gaza. She devoted two sentences to the horrors of October 7, and that’s fine—horrors they were, for sure. But to refuse to balance that with even a sentence about Palestinian suffering … I think she’s going to have to tiptoe further out on that gangplank before November. Should she do more interviews? Sure. If nothing else, she can road-test different rhetorical approaches to see which ones land the best. And not just interviews with big outlets. I wouldn’t say she needs to do too many of those. Instead, she should emphasize more availabilities when she travels. I’ve been out on the campaign trail. It’s frustrating to cover a campaign, a job that’s actually filled with endless tedium and standing around waiting for something to happen and hearing the same speech over and over again, and not get 10 minutes of access to the candidate. Not that she should do it because of journalists’ bruised egos. I’m not saying that. I think it’s smart P.R. Give the reporters covering you a little access, they’ll give you better coverage. And finally: From the campaign’s perspective, if not from journalism’s, the interviews she really needs to be doing are with YouTubers and TikTokers. Alas, they reach a lot more people than even The New York Times.
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Our last quiz, back in mid-July: Who’s laughing now? Because I felt we all needed a laugh at the time (Joe Biden was still in the race!), the quiz was about classic stand-up comedy.
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1. Who wrote the joke, "I went to a psychiatrist. He told me I was crazy, and I said I wanted a second opinion. He said, ‘Okay, you’re ugly too!’"?
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A. George Burns B. Milton Berle C. Henny Youngman D. Shecky Greene
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Answer: C, Youngman. I love some of his jokes, which really define that brand of mid-twentieth-century Catskills humor, from the point of view of a people so relieved and delighted to have made it to a land where they need not live in fear and were grateful to be part of modern American life but still full of wisecracking insights about its silly contradictions. Another good Youngman joke: "Guy goes to the airline counter, he has three bags. Says, ‘I want you to send this one to Cleveland, that one to Chicago, and that one to Miami.’ Lady says, ‘Sir, we can’t do that!’ He says, ‘Whaddya mean,
you did it last week!’"
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2. Upon its release, his 1962 album My Son, the Folk Singer was the fastest-selling album—not comedy album; album—of all time.
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A. Morey Amsterdam B. Allan Sherman C. Carl Reiner D. Sid Caesar
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Answer: B, Sherman. Love him too. "The Drapes of Roth." "Harvey and Sheila." And so on. "Pop Hates the Beatles" doesn’t hold up so well, but even it has its moments. My three fake choices here, of course, were all geniuses—Amsterdam is not really in the other two’s league, but comedy will never forget Buddy Sorrell.
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3. What was the name of Phyllis Diller’s fictional husband?
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A. Wolfgang B. Fang C. Boris D. Prince Albert
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Answer: B, Fang. Here’s a fun fact for you: Diller made her stage debut at the relatively advanced age of 37 at a San Francisco club called the Purple Onion, where she sometimes shared the bill with Calypso dancer Maya Angelou (yep!).
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4. What was the name of Flip Wilson’s female alter ego?
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A. Geraldine B. Claudette C. Bernadette D. Diana Floss
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Answer: A, Geraldine. And Geraldine’s boyfriend was Killer. Wilson was huge in his day, and very funny. He accomplished the rare feat of putting not one but two catchphrases in the national vernacular: "The devil made me do it" and "What you see is what you get."
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5. Who had a routine that started:
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"I'm aware some stare at my hair. In fact, to be fair, Some really despair of my hair. But I don’t care, Cause they’re not aware, Nor are they debonaire. In fact, they’re just square."
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A. Robert Klein B. David Brenner C. Lily Tomlin D. George Carlin
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Answer: D, Carlin. Of course. ’Cuz he had the long hair and the beard. He was most famous for the "seven dirty words" routine, the words, he said, "that’ll infect your soul, curve your spine, and keep the country from winning the war."
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6. Who said, "I am not a comic. I have never told a joke"?
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A. Steven Wright B. Janeane Garofalo C. Andy Kaufman D. Chevy Chase
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Answer: C, Kaufman. He was an acquired taste that I never fully acquired—"Tony Clifton" was never funny to me, just obnoxious. But I understand the ways in which he was a total trailblazer.
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TNR Travel: New December Dates Added |
Join a special group of readers and supporters on a lovingly designed, all-inclusive tour of one of the most amazing places in the world. Drawing on The New Republic’s special contacts among local historians, artists, and chefs, we’ve created a first-class experience that will immerse you in Cuba’s colorful and unique history, politics, and culture.
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This week’s quiz: ,-La: fun facts about the Democratic presidential nominee. Yes, these quizzes are usually intentionally apolitical, but I’m making one exception.
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1. According to a video that went viral this week, what can Kamala Harris do adeptly with one hand that it takes most of us two to do?
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A. Crochet B. Play jacks C. Crack an egg D. Shuffle a deck of cards
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2. Harris has a large collection of what kind of sneakers?
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A. Adidas Superstars B. Nike Air Jordan 34s C. Puma Clydes D. Converse Chuck Taylors
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3. Harris grew up mostly in California but spent her formative teenage years in what Canadian city?
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A. Moose Jaw B. Vancouver C. Winnipeg D. Montreal
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4. What was the name of her Senate office’s softball team?
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A. The Kamala-La-Las B. The Oxford Kamalas C. The Harris Tweeters D. The Kamalots
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5. Which of these is not among her favorite books, according to Politico?
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A. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis B. The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan C. Dreams From My Father, by Barack Obama D. Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
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A. 5’4" B. 5’6" C. 5’8" D. 5’9"
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I especially like the name of the softball team. Answers next week. Feedback to fightingwords@tnr.com. —Michael Tomasky, editor
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