On Thursday's Morning Joe, Mike Barnicle echoed the Harris talking points:"It's literally -- the campaign is yesterday versus tomorrow." Donald Trump calling America a "Third World country" now is bizarre. "I don't know anyone who believes that," he said.
He said Trump's act is old and plays on fear factors about "immigrants raping your daughter," lots of "huge, huge, ugly racial overtones, especially when it comes to the Vice President."
Then Barnicle predicted that Kamala Harris will finish Trump off in their debate:
"You wonder how long will it be before he really goes out of control. And I think what's going to happen is that when that debate occurs, and he's in the ring with the Vice President of the United States, a woman, a very sophisticated, very intelligent, woman, and she hammers him like a prosecutor, and doesn't let him off the hook, he will go -- I can't say it. But something will snap [see screencap] in him, and that'll be it.
Earlier, Katty Kay struck a much more cautious tone:
"I think Donald Trump is one of the hardest people to debate. I think Kamala Harris is excited about the prospect of debating him. But he's not an easy person -- ask anyone who has debated him -- he's not an easy person to debate....And be careful about prepping for the debate, right, because it's not going to be easy for them.
You have to assume that the Harris campaign would prefer not to set debate expectations as high as Barnicle did. The way he projects it, unless Kamala scores a Mike Tyson-esque KO, she will have failed, in liberal lingo, to "meet the moment."
At least in theory—unless one of the moderators goes Donna Brazile and supplies the questions to Kamala in advance—debates are unscripted events where candidates must be quick on their feet. If Harris's handlers were certain of her ability to speak spontaneously—without stumbling into a word salad or musing on the passage of time—why haven't they dared let her do a sit-down interview or hold a press conference?
Which in turn raises the question: what makes Barnicle so confident about Harris's ability to relentlessly "hammer" Trump until he snaps?
Questions for Barnicle: If, as you claim, Harris is "very intelligent," why did she flunk the bar exam on her first go-round? And if she's "very sophisticated," why does she believe that in cloud computing, data is literally up in the sky?
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
8/15/24
6:13 am EDTKATTY KAY: When it comes to debating him, I think Donald Trump is one of the hardest people to debate. I think Kamala Harris is excited about the prospect of debating him. But he's not an easy person -- ask anyone who has debated him -- he's not an easy person to debate because of all of this. And I think Democrats have to be careful not to underestimate how, yes, everything is moving in their direction. Yes, like you say, Kamala Harris is a massive TikTok phenomenon at the momen. But they have to make sure that those young people actually turn out and vote. And historically, obviously, young people turn out to vote than older people.
And be careful about prepping for the debate, right, because it's not going to be easy for them.
. . .
MIKE BARNICLE: It's literally -- the campaign is yesterday versus tomorrow. I mean, we just saw it yesterday. We saw a man standing there on the stage saying we are literally a Third World country. I don't know anyone who believes that we are literally a Third World country.
WILLIE GEIST: Of course not.
BARNICLE: And the thing about the Trump campaign now that makes me wonder a lot about it is, Suzie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, running the campaign, are extremely good at what they do. But they seem to have lost control of their candidate. Their candidate has a tired, 20-year-old act. We just saw it. The, updates with figures from the past two or three years. But it's a tired old act. The election was stolen, we're a Third World country, crime is up. Immigrants are going to rape your daughter. All sorts of fear factors. And a lot of it, a lot of it with huge, huge, ugly racial overtones, especially when it comes to the Vice President.
And you wonder how long will it be before he really goes out of control? And I think what's going to happen is that when that debate occurs, and he's in the ring with the Vice President of the United States, a woman, a very sophisticated, very intelligent, woman, and she hammers him like a prosecutor, and doesn't let him off the hook, he will go -- I can't say it --
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Yeah.
GEIST: Yeah.
BARNICLE: But something will snap in him, and that'll be it.
