The Kamala Harris story is gaining traction

At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago 19–22 August, Kamala Harris, whose mother was Indian and father Jamaican, is scheduled to be anointed as the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party. She will be the first non-white woman to be nominated for the highest executive post in arguably the world’s most powerful country.

On 12 August, in a display of extraordinary partisanship, Elon Musk, the owner of the social media platform X, threw Harris’ primary adversary Donald Trump, the Republican Party candidate, a lifeline—a two-hour interview reportedly watched by 1.3 million people.

CNN concluded, ‘Musk tries to help Trump halt the Harris surge.’ A fact-check by the same network unearthed at least 20 false claims made by Trump in the course of the conversation. CNN further commented, ‘The former president has been floundering—struggling to cope with the soaring start by the new Democratic nominee.

At times, during their expansive chat, Musk seemed to be using the power of his profile and platform to coach Trump on how to mount a better argument against Harris.’ Meanwhile, Narendra Modi’s North America and neighbourhood policies have blown up in his face.

The Indian external affairs establishment appears to be convinced that Washington played a decisive role in evicting Bangladesh’s pro-India Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from office earlier this month, to the gross detriment of India. If true, then the US has brazenly disregarded its strategic partnership with India and Harris as vice president could not prevent it.

If she wins, she will inherit this baggage, though India is not exactly among America’s priorities, despite 4.9 million Indian Americans living in the US. An editorial in The Washington Post expressed the feeling that Harris needs to open up on her policies, including her outlook on defence and foreign policy, which are relatively unknown.

She may have been brought up by a Tamilian mother and influenced in her impressionable years by her maternal grandfather. She may even be emotional about India. But can she right the wrong perpetrated by the US towards India on the Bangladesh issue? Her hands will be tied. As President of the US, she cannot be seen to be favouring India.

It’s widely perceived that Trump back in the White House poses an enormous danger to the world. North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) member States from Canada to Europe fear he will reduce US funding to the military alliance, thereby weakening its ability to act as bulwark against Russian expansionism.

By comparison, Harris at the top is likely to mean continuity of incumbent President Joe Biden’s supportive policy. If, as Politico thinks, Europhile Phil Gordon becomes her national security advisor, this would undoubtedly relieve tensions both at NATO and in Ukraine. On the Israel–Palestine conflict, a certain amount of light has emerged between Biden’s softer approach and Harris’ impatience over unceasing civilian casualties in the Palestinian territory of Gaza.

After an Israeli air strike on 11 August caused at least 90 deaths, Harris reacted, ‘Far too many’ civilians have been killed ‘yet again’; and reiterated her call for a hostage deal and ceasefire. It’s been a dramatic turn of events. On 27 June, 81-year-old Biden fared disastrously in a television debate on CNN with Trump.

This triggered demands within the Democratic Party for Biden to step aside due to his apparently failing faculties, which could potentially worsen in the course of a second term in office. On 21 July, he announced his withdrawal from the race and recommended that his vice president Harris replace him as the Democratic candidate.

While confirmation of the succession was subject to official endorsement by delegates elected for the Democratic National Convention (up next week), within 48 hours of Biden’s pronouncement, Harris had received enough backing to render the ratification a mere formality.

Besides, Harris moved swiftly to unveil her running mate, the popular governor of Minnesota, Timothy Walz, who ticked many of the boxes that matter in American politics— his background as a school teacher, a football coach and a member of the Army National Guard.

The excitement post Biden’s announcement intensified with the Harris–Walz pairing. The US electorate generally scrutinises whether the vice-presidential candidate is capable of assuming the reins, if called upon to do so. In this respect, Walz’s track record as five-time member of the House of Representatives and current governor of Minnesota is impressive.

Moreover, in 1989, Walz went to China as a college graduate to teach English. His knowledge of the country acquired over several trips since makes him an asset, despite his not mincing words about the ‘culturicide’ (cultural genocide) taking place in Tibet and Xinjiang.

On 13 August, The Economist poll had Harris ahead with 47.8 per cent support to Trump’s 45 per cent. The previous day, a New York Times–Sienna College survey had Harris leading in crucial swing states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin by an average of 4 per cent.

“She’s a believer in being radical left,” Trump ranted about Harris in his interaction with Musk. While that is an exaggeration, her liberalism might make fence-sitters, including anti-Trump Republicans, hesitate about plunging in her direction. She was slated to combat this by unveiling a sweetening economic package.

A Financial Times sounding might have come as a pleasant surprise to her when it said: ‘Kamala Harris is more trusted than Donald Trump on the US economy.’ This is significant, since US voters have been unhappy with Biden on inflation, while overlooking record employment created under his administration, not to mention steady GDP growth from the third quarter of 2022.

Domestic issues, especially the state of the economy, are primary determinants in the US presidential election. The Harris–Walz duo have barnstormed the states where they have campaigned so far. In contrast, the Trump–Vance combination has been grasping at straws, seemingly thrown off balance by the fact that Harris and not Biden is now their target. They are either lost for words or causing self-harm with their salvos against her, such as questioning her black roots.

However, a Harris presidency is by no means a done deal. The media exposure a party convention gets normally provides a boost to the chosen ticket, as happened last month in the case of Trump–Vance after the Republican jamboree. Harris’ rating could thus shoot up further post the Democratic convention. September and October, though, are likely to be the deciding months.

The US Supreme Court’s rejection of a bid by the state of Missouri to halt Trump’s sentencing for conviction on felony charges (involving hush money paid to a porn star) extends a virtual red carpet for Harris—an erstwhile attorney general of California state—to enact a prosecutor versus felon showdown in the TV debate scheduled on ABC on 10 September. Whether the judgement on 18 September by a New York court is imprisonment, a financial penalty or both, Trump will most likely appeal against it.

One of Trump’s attack lines against Harris has been her avoidance thus far of a sit-down TV interview or news conference. Modern-day big player politicians tactically remain as vague as possible on issues.

Harris probably thinks she can prevail if the discussion is simply about Trump’s many flaws. This has invited media criticism as well as suggestions that she should share ‘new, positive information about herself’ with the public.

While a commentator in the Post read her ‘reticence’ differently by stating that ‘Harris has embraced an entirely new strategy: she’s not just pushing back against Donald Trump’s politics of cultural division. She’s bidding to transcend it’.