Trump 'flailing' as Harris supporters turn his attacks into 'rallying points': Strategist

'LOCK HIM UP'

Matthew Chapman
August 2, 2024 

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Former President Donald Trump was blindsided when President Joe Biden stepped down from his campaign for a second term and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place — but more than that, said political strategist Basil Smikle on Friday's edition of MSNBC's "The ReidOut," every attack he tries to throw at Harris ends up becoming weaponized against him.

"You're a veteran campaign operative, can you just put this in context?" asked anchor Joy Reid. "Have you ever seen, and we take into account that the Obama 2008 campaign was absolutely historic and had all of this energy. Compare all of this. Have you ever seen anything like this?"

"Well, I certainly haven't seen anything like it in such a condensed period of time," said Smikle. "And that's what is so extraordinary."

ALSO READ: 'That's a lie': The 10 quotes Trump said to Black journalists that led to outbursts

The really important thing to consider, he continued, is that "it's not just an anti-Trump campaign, it is a pro-Kamala campaign. That's why this is more than just a presidential race. It has turned into a social political movement."

"That's in many ways why Donald Trump is flailing," Smikle said. "He doesn't know how to land his attack. It's not going anywhere. 'Black jobs' turned into a rallying point. 'When you did you first learn that you were Black' turned into a rallying point. When you have that kind of — when you have that kind of energy and you see 60 percent of the donations were from women, two-thirds were new donations, people are engaged. They want to support — all those things that Donald Trump is running on, Kamala Harris represents the antithesis of that. She represents all of those things that are forward-looking and not in the rearview mirror."

"That's why when she says, forward never backward, and Trump comes with the Project 2025 and Make America Great Again, what are you talking about, dude? And he's feeling that, he's seeing that. You see how the campaign is responding. I can't even really compare it to obama in 2007, 2008, that was two years of a campaign that you had to drive up. This is an intense period."

Watch the video below or at the link here.