There is no question about the American masses’ fascination with Donald Trump. No matter how much he shocks, disgusts and grosses out the more refined segments of the population, the spell he wields on his MAGA believers remains intact. Donald Trump is to American politics what reality TV is to entertainment: The abdication of long convened-to standards in the name of the outrageous, the out-of-limits, the unheard and not-to-be-heard. “What I really like about him is the will to go where he is not told to go”, says my good friend E., a fully committed Trumper (arguing with E is akin to arguing with a committed communist in bygone times: you face a totally closed world view backed up with a ready quote, clip or video against every possible objection). “They tell him, Sir, you can’t do this because we never did it this way, and he says why not? Let’s try”. Of course, E. dismisses the racist remarks (“they poison our blood”), the authoritarianism and the manly-man dogwhistling of the Caudillo. When his fascism came up, the conversation got a bit tense.

***

The way for Democrats to battle Republicans has always been the Main-Street-vs.-Wall-Street argument. On the last leg of a presidential campaign, the Democrat usually infuses his campaign with a dose of class struggle (“His”, because Hillary Clinton neglected it in her losing effort 2016) . And look, today’s New York Times writes a story about “working class voters are pivotal, both candidates are vying for their support”. Surely, Kamala Harris does it. In her rallies she flags the raise of the minimum wage, new government money for first kids, first homes, first business ventures, and she generally praises “hard work” and a pat on the shoulder of “the middle class”. But she does not convey the sense of “decline” and downhill sliding Donald Trump trumpets when touting to make America “great again”. The Harris campaign paints the picture of a recovering economy on the good track. Low unemployment (4,1 percent), lower inflation (2,4 percent), nice growth rate (2,8 percent).

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However, from a working class point of view, Trump is right. Socialist senator Bernie Sanders regularly rubs it in: Inequality of income levels and wealth distribution is as high as ever. “3 people own more wealth than the bottom half of American society”. The CEOs of the largest corporations make 400 times as much as the average worker, up from 20 times more in the 1950s. “Millions of ordinary workers are working longer hours for lower wages”. And so on. No wonder, folks are pissed and disillusioned with governments which do not seem to be able to reverse the trend. Trump tells them that things get better if migrants who take “black jobs” are kicked out and imports from competing foreign lands are hit with high tariffs.

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Kamala Harris does paint a Trump presidency in dark colors, but not in economic terms. She does not evoke the pretty foreseeable further progress toward what Sanders calls “the oligarchy” but the prospect of an authoritarian dictatorship. This is an appeal to the decent and the civic-minded but less so to the disaffected middle class.

***

On a rest stop on the way to lake Michigan, I got to talking to Chad, a truck driver. Chad does not like either candidate” and considers not to vote at all. He does not like Trump for the rhetoric and the denigration of the political opponents. He despises the big money in politics and the influence of donors and lobbies on political decision-making. And he hates the growth in government spending: “There are more and more handouts which means more taxes on us, the people who keep the economy going”. Harris? He sees more of the same. He distrusts her promise to give 25000 dollars to first home buyers: “This will increase demand which will increase prices which will make homes even less affordable”.

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Chad is not alone. At a homeless shelter in Ann Arbor I meet D.J., a middle-aged guy waiting for the free dinner. He will vote for Trump and does not like Harris. Why? “Sleazy”, he says. “She does not speak the full truth” (another client, homeless Hi will vote for Trump and against Harris because “a women in menopause is moody and unpredictable and we cannot afford this in a President who has to face the chinaman”). At the reception of my hotel I chat with three women working there. One is fully for Harris (“first woman President”). One is vague. And one is uncommitted: “Trump is a jackass and Harris I don’t like”. Why not? “She is sneaky. She says what her audience wants to hear”. My interlocutor claims that Harris changes her accent according to where she speaks and she disagrees with the very quick pivot of the Democratic after President Biden’s exit. “There were better people than Harris”. A very astute 35 year old in Boston agrees with the less than sterling assessment of Ms. Harris: “she’s a lawyer. She is trained to speak and say nothing”. She dislikes the vacuity of Harris’ pronouncements.

***

They have a point. Kamala Harris comes across as a savvy operator and fast learner who quickly adopted her new role as standard-bearer. She speaks well. She shows the same studied enthusiasm as the celebrities who introduce her at the rallies, and she glibly talks about “turning the page” and “not going back”, but she does not project the image as an agent of change. How could she? She obviously cannot break with the President she tries to replace like an Obama or a Clinton could. She has to square the circle of promising change while running on the record she built with Biden. Hence the “sneaky” impression. Mrs. Harris comes across like the oily Human Resources lady who tells you that it’s no go with the promotion, and no, the vacation cannot be granted as asked for.

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According to opinion polls, more people “disapprove” of Kamala Harris than “approve” of her. The ratio is 48-43. That’s better than Trump (52-43), but still not very good. Perhaps Kamala Harris is not a very good candidate. Or not good enough.