US Vice President Kamala Harris is in a difficult position. The economy of the United States is doing relatively well, but its presidential campaign cannot build on it, because a large part of Americans do not see it that way due to the increase in the cost of living, according to the former American ambassador to the Czech Republic Andrew Schapiro, who is now a member of the Democratic Party committee in charge of selecting contributions to campaign.
In the interview, Schapiro also talked about the “catastrophe” that would be brought by the re-election of ex-president Donald Trump, the role of money in the presidential election or Harris’ departure from many of the proposals she promoted during her first candidacy. He acknowledged that her campaign was largely based on emotion rather than concrete plans.
“I think feelings play a big role in American politics,” Schapiro said, using the English term “vibes.” According to him, the difference between Harris and outgoing President Joe Biden lies in “energy, emphasis and feeling” and that the 60-year-old former senator represents “a new generation”.
“What you feel is ‘wrong’. You can’t tell people that,” the lawyer and former diplomat mused. | Photo: Libor Fojtík
The Democrat, who was the ambassador to the Czech Republic from 2014 to 2017, alluded to the central problem of the Harris campaign. As the second-highest-ranking member of the current administration, she does not want to deviate from Biden’s course, but at the same time she has to respond to voters’ dissatisfaction with conditions in the country. At the same time, Harris promises a “new way forward” in her slogan, but in interviews she does not give a clear answer to the question of what she would do differently than Biden.
A large part of the people think that the country is going in the wrong direction
Asked what Harris’s election would mean in practice, Schapiro paused for a few seconds before talking about Democrats’ “frustration” at not being able to tout economic achievements. “But you can’t do anything about it. A large part of the people think the country is going in the wrong direction. And as a politician you can’t tell them, ‘Your feelings are not valid. What you feel is wrong’. You can’t tell people that,” the lawyer reasoned and former diplomat. “She is in a difficult position where she has to balance like a tightrope,” he added to the vice president’s address.
As usual, the US economy is a central theme of the election campaign, especially the rise in the cost of living over the past three years. Inflation has slowed significantly after a sharp rise in 2022, but accumulated price increases are weighing on many American households ahead of the election. However, even at its peak two years ago, inflation was not as high as in the European Union, while the growth of the US economy after the covid-19 pandemic has surpassed other developed countries, and unemployment has remained very low in recent years.
In this situation, Harris promises new tax breaks aimed at the middle class, as well as measures to support the construction of new apartments and houses or to fight manipulation of the prices of ordinary goods. “I think her positive message has to be, ‘I’m the one who’s going to fight for you. I really care about you. I’m focused on creating jobs for the middle class,'” Schapiro said.
The uncertainty surrounding Harris’s positions is also exacerbated by the fact that she rejected many of the more strongly left-wing positions with which she appeared in the Democratic primaries in 2019. At that time, she supported an ambitious plan for the green transformation of the economy known as the Green New Deal or a significant expansion of the state health insurance Medicare. These and other proposals do not figure in her new campaign, and Harris presents herself with rhetoric significantly closer to Republicans on issues ranging from energy to immigration policy.
Kamala Harris and Joe Biden. | Photo: Reuters
“Trump is an existential threat”
Asked if the change was the right choice, Schapiro said: “Purely from a policy perspective, yes.” “I think what you see today is in many ways a more authentic Kamala Harris than she is in 2019. I think instinctively she’s actually quite centrist and quite moderate,” he continued.
A native of Chicago, he has been active in the ranks of the Democrats for about 20 years, and today he is a member of the “National Finance Committee” of the party. “I wish we had a system where candidates and campaigns didn’t have to spend so much time and energy selecting contributions,” Schapiro noted. At the same time, he talked about the influx of money that the Democrats experienced after Biden withdrew from the campaign in July, both in the form of small contributions and from wealthy donors.
The Democrats have raised over a billion dollars (over CZK 23 billion) for the presidential campaign since the summer, surpassing the Republicans in this regard. Schapiro described the campaign money as helping reach undecided or less politically engaged voters and helping build a network of “hundreds of outposts” in swing states. In a tight race, financial reserves can play an important role, however well voters know Harris and Trump.
In an interview, Schapiro described the Republican ex-president as a potential disaster for the US and an “existential” threat. “He has no ideas of his own, except that he hates immigrants and wants to cut taxes for billionaires,” he said.
According to polls, Trump has a very real chance of winning, despite being found guilty of falsifying financial records, another jury found him responsible for sexual assault and after the last election he tried to block the confirmation of their results. Schapiro explained this fact by various factors, but not by mistakes on the part of the Democrats.
“First, for some reason there is a general strong dissatisfaction with the parties in power,” he said. He also mentioned the influence of the specific electoral system in the USA, Trump’s ability to entertain people or the phenomenon of “raised middle finger politics”. “It works for a lot of people. They’re like, ‘You know what, I’m not happy with the way things are going in my life. And yeah, this guy’s actually pretty nerdy, but he’s my nerd,'” Schapiro said.