The Washington Examiner, November 2024
As she sits in the homestretch of her presidential campaign, Vice President Kamala Harris has followed in the footsteps of many of her political predecessors by labeling her opponent as a “fascist.” From former President Donald Trump labeling Harris as “Lyin’ Kamala” to President Joe Biden responding to Trump’s campaign rally in Madison Square Garden by denigrating the former president’s supporters as “garbage,” slurs from both sides of the aisle have echoed during the 2024 election cycle.
But in the waning days leading up to the election, one of the loudest insults has been Harris’s move to repeat words comparing Trump to Hitler and repeatedly brand him as a fascist. During an election year where voters’ top concerns are the economy and immigration, why do candidates seem often to be more focused on slurs than solutions? Is there a strategy behind negative campaigning?
