During NABJ-WHYY panel, Harris showed us again that she’s not going to let Trump define the conversation
Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
There’s one moment from the NABJ-WHYY panel with Vice President Kamala Harris that really stood out to me. It came near the end of the event, and it demonstrated a lot of what Harris’ campaign is about. The question came from theGrio’s Gerren Keith Gaynor who asked Harris about being a joyful warrior, laughing in public and being called out by the Trump campaign for being joyful. Some politicians might have responded to Trump’s attack on her laugh, but Harris avoided that and answered with something much deeper. She embraced the attack. She confirmed that she is what Trump says she is. She is indeed a joyful warrior.
“There’s sometimes when your adversaries will try and turn your strength into a weakness,” she said. “Don’t you let them. Don’t you let them.”
Right there she cast her joyfulness and her laughter as strengths and Trump as someone who would try to trick her and all of us into thinking those are not strengths. It shades Trump as a thief of joy — an almost cartoonish Grinch-type villain — but without actually or overtly saying anything inflammatory. Trump’s campaign is full of attempts to draw Harris into ridiculous conversations like whether or not immigrants are eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. Harris has been steadfast throughout her campaign in her refusal to ever let Trump set the frame for a conversation or pick the locus of a moment. She is not here to respond to his crazy. She is running her own race.
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She went on to answer Gaynor’s question with more comments about joy. “I find joy in the American people,” she said. “I find joy in optimism … I find joy in the ambition of the people.” She listed several places where she finds joy, poetically linking each one with “I find joy in …” It was the sort of repetition you might get from a Black preacher. She concluded the list with “I find joy in believing that the true measure of the strength of a leader is not based on who you beat down but who you lift up.”
All of that reminded me that this is a campaign built on optimism running against one that’s powered by pessimism, grievance, anger and fearmongering.
In another moment, she was asked about Springfield, Ohio, the town that’s home to immigrants who Trump and Senator JD Vance have baselessly accused of eating pets. She refused to let Trump frame the conversation. When asked about the town, she pivoted to speak about the people. She said it was school picture day, and they had to evacuate the children. She started by speaking about the children. Again, Harris insisted on thinking about people and refused to follow Trump’s conversational lead. Watch for her to continue doing that as this race goes on — it’s clearly a choice she’s making. Harris is being thoughtful to avoid responding to Trump. She’s not following the conversation into the mental gutter that he wants to take it down to. Instead, it seems like he’s a babbling old grandpa, and she’s above the fray and above him.
Toure is a host and writer at TheGrio. He hosts the TheGrio TV show “Masters of the Game,” and he created the award-winning podcast “Being Black: The ’80s” and its upcoming sequel “Being Black: The ’70s.” He is also the creator of “Star Stories” and the author of eight books, including “Nothing Compares 2 U an oral history of Prince.” He also hosts a podcast called “Toure Show.” He is also a husband and a father of two.