DV Journal

Just moments before sitting down with Fox News anchor Bret Baier for a high-profile interview, Vice President Kamala Harris Wednesday gave a speech at an iconic Bucks County landmark, Washington Crossing Historic Park, joined by some 100 Republican leaders.

Several hundred people came to see Harris speak. However, they made their way through roads festooned with Trump-Vance campaign signs in purple Bucks County, which now has 3,590 more registered Republican voters than Democrats, according to voter registration guru Scott Presler.

Reading from a teleprompter, Harris spoke about standing where General George Washington led his troops across the Delaware River and marched into Trenton on Dec. 26, 1776, surprising Hessian soldiers, a move that helped turn the tide in the Revolutionary War. Afterward, delegates wrote and signed the Constitution in nearby Philadelphia, she noted.

“At stake in this race are the democratic ideals that our Founders and generations have fought for. At stake is the Constitution itself. We are here today because we all share a core belief that we must put country before party.

“We all have so much more in common than what separates us,” she said.

But she soon turned from statesman-like remarks to attacking her opponent.

Harris said she’s “never wavered from upholding that oath.”

“And that is the profound difference between Donald Trump and me,” she said. “He who violated the oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States, and make no mistake, he who is given the chance will violate it again. Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, and he refused to accept the will of the people in a free and fair election. He sent a mob, an armed mob, to the United States Capitol, where they violently assaulted police officers law enforcement officials and threatened the life of his own vice president. And he refused to engage in the peaceful transfer of power.

Harris also claimed Trump, who survived an assassination attempt, has threatened to turn the military against Americans who he called “the enemy within.”

She promised to “make life better for you” as opposed to Trump, “who I can guarantee will sit in the Oval Office, plotting retribution, stew in his own grievances, and think only about his own self and not about you.”

Former Republican Congressman Jim Greenwood said he’s also represented Bucks County in the state legislature and called himself a “lifelong Republican.”

“I have supported every Republican nominee from Richard Nixon to Mitt Romney. And then along came Donald Trump,” said Greenwood, who chairs Pennsylvania Republicans for Harris-Walz. “Donald Trump is utterly and unequivocally unfit for office.” He said psychiatrists call Trump a “malignant narcissist and a pathological liar…Trump cares only about himself and his ambition.”

Olivia Troy, a lifelong Republican, was a former Homeland Security adviser for Pence and also served under President George W. Bush.

When she was in the Trump administration, Troy said, “I witnessed firsthand his disregard for the American people. And his disregard for the rule of law. I had a front-row seat to the damage Trump created. And I can confidently and without hesitation say he is too dangerous to get near the Oval Office again.

“Trump has never cared about making our country safer,” she said. “Donald Trump’s north star is Donald Trump…She’ll be a president for all Americans. Donald Trump would be a president for one person: himself.”

Former GOP U.S. Reps. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.), Mickey Edwards (R-Okla.), Denver Riggleman (R-Va.), David Trott, (R-Mich.), former Georgia Republican Lt. Gov. Jeff Duncan, and former New Jersey Gov. Christie Todd Whitman were among the Harris supporters.

Former Illinois GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who joined Democrats on the Jan. 6 Committee and opposed Trump in Congress said, “The last four years I’ve taken stands that have put me on the outside of the party. Some have questioned why I’ve taken the stands. The answer is simple. We must put country first. We must put our country over our party, and like you, I’m putting my country first.”

He was drawn to the Republican Party for its support of democracy and the rule of law, he said. He’s always respected strong leaders, but said Trump “is a whiny, weak, small, tiny man who is scared to death. Donald Trump may be running as a Republican, but he does not share those long-held Republican values of supporting democracy, standing for the rule of law, and faithfulness to the Constitution. As a Republican, that saddens me.” Kinzinger said Harris does share those values. Kinzinger’s support for Democrats was repaid by the Democratic-controlled Illinois legislature gerrymandering his congressional district out of existence in 2022.

After the event, Dallas, Texas resident Patrick Mendoza, who worked in the President George W. Bush administration as a program advisor to the EPA administrator, told DVJournal, “One thing W. ran on in 2000 was restoring honor and dignity to the White House. And I think, after the Trump years that’s certainly what we need and what we needed. What you have is a clear distinction in this race. You have one person who is for the Constitution and one who isn’t. One who is for the rule of law and one who isn’t.  And I think it’s pretty crystal clear for a Republican who fights for limited government and for the rule of law, it’s a clear-cut choice of who that should be and who people should vote for in this race, regardless of whether there is an R or a D after their name.”

The Trump team responded.

“It’s quite pathetic to see former ‘Republicans’ of the past dug up out of irrelevance to have one last moment in the sun by campaigning for another four years of unlimited illegal immigration, rising prices, and endless wars under Kamala Harris. Fortunately, as with any other theatrical prop, they’re all going to be tossed aside the moment they stop being useful for Democrats – which will be November 5, when President Trump is reelected by Pennsylvanians,” said Pennsylvania Team Trump spokesman Kush Desai.

Vice President Kamala Harris says she will not ban fracking, she will not confiscate your guns and she will not take away your gas-powered car.

“Contrary to what my opponent is suggesting, I will never tell you what kind of car you have to drive,” the Democratic presidential nominee recently told a Michigan crowd.

However, like her previous promises, Harris has a record that contradicts her current stance. In fact, she co-sponsored the  Zero-Emission Vehicles Act of 2019, which would have ended the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2040. Except the version Harris backed actually moved that date up to 2035.

“Ending sales of new gas-powered cars is part of Kamala Harris’ climate change plan,” as the Sacramento Bee headline said.

“We’re facing a climate crisis that must be met with bold action,” Harris said.

Harris’s defenders argue that her aggressive proposals to end gas-powered cars were part of her 2020 presidential strategy of running in the progressive lane. Now that she’s the vice president, they claim her true colors are on display.

As vice president, Harris has supported “net zero emissions” by 2050 and ending the use of gas-powered cars to achieve that goal.

Harris also included a social justice element in her current arguments, claiming that low-income and minority communities are disproportionately affected by pollution from gas-powered vehicles.

“The pollution from vehicles powered by fossil fuels has long harmed the health of communities around our country — communities overlooked and underserved,” she said in 2021.

“But there is a solution to this problem. … Electric cars, trucks, and buses.”

So, what’s behind Harris’s shift on gas-powered vehicles? Americans don’t want EVs.

“It’s become very clear in the last year or two that there’s a lot of consumers that just don’t really want electric vehicles,” said Kenny Stein, vice president of policy at the Institute for Energy Research.

About 14 million new cars were sold in the United States in 2022, and 1.6 million were EVs. Many of those sales came with generous federal and state tax subsidies. As more Americans become familiar with electric vehicle technology, their interest in owning an EV is fading.

The 2024 Mobility Consumer Index found that only 34 percent of U.S. consumers plan to buy an electric vehicle — fully battery or hybrid —for their next car. That’s down from 48 percent a year earlier.

Meanwhile, the Biden-Harris administration has continued to pursue policies to push Americans into EVs. The Environmental Protection Agency wants tailpipe emissions standards that will make gas-powered cars mpossible to manufacture.

The EPA’s emissions standards mean that gas-powered cars can make up no more than 30 percent of auto sales by 2032.

“Make no mistake: This is a coerced phase-out of gas-powered cars,” the Wall Street Journal wrote.

Meanwhile, taxpayers who don’t drive EVs pay taxes to subsidize their sales.

According to the Texas Public Policy Foundation, direct state and federal subsidies for EVs average $8,984 per vehicle over 10 years.

To achieve the EPA and Harris’s goals, billions more taxpayer subsidies will be required. And most environmentalists concede that, regardless of Harris’s protestations that if you like your car, you can keep your car, regulations that keep gas-powered vehicles off the market will be needed, too.

The costs are already rising. The Inflation Reduction Act was primarily a green subsidy program. The Tax Foundation estimates that, over the next decade, its energy tax credits are likely to cost more than $1 trillion.

“The IRA’s credits for electric vehicles and charging infrastructure in particular are proving to be much more costly than anticipated, costing about $180 billion over the next decade,” it reports.

In September, House Energy and Commerce Committee chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., called out the Biden-Harris “radical rush-to-green energy agenda.”

“The EPA’s latest tailpipe emissions rule is not really about reducing air pollution — it’s about forcing Americans to drive electric vehicles.”

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Pennsylvania is in play and may end up in the win column for former President Donald Trump.

When historians write the saga of why Vice President Kamala Harris failed in her presidential bid, they may attribute it to one fatal choice: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her VP pick.

When I watched Ohio Sen. JD Vance take apart Walz in the vice-presidential debate, I imagined the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, sparring with Vance.

Shapiro would have held his own against Vance and perhaps scored a few points.

So, why didn’t Harris pick Shapiro, a slam-dunk choice who enjoys immense popularity in a state that she needs to win?

The first reason underlines why Harris does no real interviews and can’t answer basic questions about solutions to inflation and the illegal immigrant crisis. Shapiro would upstage her. He is much better on his feet and has a much more commanding speaking style, not to mention a commanding grasp of the issues. People would wonder why he is not at the top of the ticket.

The second reason he wasn’t chosen intersects with the anniversary of the Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel. Shapiro, who is Jewish, not only called out the horrors of the Oct. 7—horrific attacks by Hamas on Israelis—he pointed out the hatred and antisemitism on many college campuses protesting against Israel and told university officials to remove the encampments.

Shapiro forcefully and eloquently laid out the case against the haters.

Despite his political talents and the fact that he might have carried Pennsylvania for Harris, it seems clear that the far-left Democrats found his defense of Israel and Jewish college students abhorrent.

On the first anniversary of Oct. 7, the Anti-Defamation League released data indicating antisemitic attacks increased by 200 percent over the past year. And at least 1,200 of the 10,000 reported incidents occurred on college campuses.

I have found few, if any, messages from college and university presidents on the anniversary reminding people of the savagery of the original attacks and the fact that rape and torture were not acts of rogue outliers but the policy of Hamas when it massacred innocent Israelis.

The national office of The Council on American  Islamic Relations issued a statement that read, “ On the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks and the start of the genocide in Gaza, we reiterate our condemnation of such violence and demand that President Biden use American power to end this year-long disaster. It is long past time for President Biden to force Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a comprehensive ceasefire deal that ends Israel’s genocide in Gaza,” On the same day, Vice President Harris, in a “60 Minutes” interview, refused to say that President Netanyahu was an ally of the United States.

I visited Israel on a tour with 30 of my listeners, and I came away with a deep sense of Israel’s need for security. I support its need to continue to hunt down members of the terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah.

But stopping Israel from rooting out Hamas in Gaza is where many in the Democratic Party have landed, and each week we get further away from the memory of Oct. 7, the more they will push for a ceasefire.

Amanda Greenberg, writing at Broad  + Liberty, makes the point many try to disguise as DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion). She writes, “According to believers of DEI, Jews are “White” and are, therefore, oppressors.”

This oppressor-colonizer narrative that’s now taught in many schools plays into the ongoing criticism of Israel and is used ultimately to mitigate the appalling Oct. 7 attacks.

So, as we move past the first anniversary of Oct. 7, I contend that Josh Shapiro was not chosen as the Democratic vice-presidential candidate because of bias. The Democrats will see the result of that bias when Trump wins Pennsylvania and is once again president of the United States.

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No Republican has carried Bucks County since 1988, but GOP vice presidential nominee JD Vance was in Newtown Saturday to try and break that streak. And trends show the purple county may be in play.

Vance was greeted by an enthusiastic crowd of some 1,500 at the Newtown Athletic Club, with supporters chanting “U.S.A.!” and “JD!”

Donald Trump’s running mate delivered the message they wanted to hear, making the case that Vice President Kamala Harris isn’t capable of doing the job.

“The problem with Kamala Harris is she’s got no substance,” said Vance. “The problem with Kamala Harris is she’s got no plan. The problem with Kamala Harris is she has been the vice president for 3 ½ years and has failed this country. Let’s send her back to San Francisco where she belongs and put Donald Trump in the White House.”

Vance hit the three issues Republicans believe are their best sellers with Pennsylvania swing voters: Inflation, energy and immigration.

“We’ve got natural resources in the state of Pennsylvania,” Vance said. “Great natural gas. Let’s get it out of the ground for Pennsylvania workers. When Donald Trump is president, we’re going to drill, baby, drill and bring back the great American economy.”

“Kamala Harris wants us to buy energy from every tin pot dictator from all over the world,” said Vance. “Kamala, we say, ‘no way.’ We’re going to buy it from our own people, right here in the state of Pennsylvania.”

“We’ve got inflation at 40-year highs,” added Vance. “We’ve got groceries at 25 percent higher than when Kamala Harris took office. That’s because Kamala Harris cast the tiebreaking vote to on almost $4 trillion in new spending, printing money that we don’t have to juice inflation and destroy the middle class in the state of Pennsylvania.”

He also blamed Harris, “the border czar,” for the “wide open southern border.”

“It is an invasion in this country,” he said. “When you let in 25 million people, many of whom are bringing fentanyl into this country, and they’re competing against Americans, buying homes that ought by right go to American citizens, that is why we have sky-rocketing housing costs here in Pennsylvania and across the country.” And illegal immigrants are driving down wages for American workers, he said.

Not only will the Trump-Vance administration continue to build the border wall, they’ll deport illegal immigrants. “We’re going to go to war against the Mexican drug cartels,” he said.

Vance said they would deport the criminals first. “There are 13,000 illegal immigrant murderers in the United States America right now,” he said. “They’re in this country because Kamala Harris let them into this country.”

While polls consistently show Pennsylvania is too close to call in the presidential race, the assumption is that Philadelphia’s suburbs are a deep-blue corner of the Keystone State. But Bucks County could be a key exception.

In 2016, Hillary Clinton narrowly edged out Donald Trump in Bucks County by one percent and fewer than 3,000 votes. And it’s the home of Republican U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, whose held onto the seat even in blue-wave elections.

While it’s true that Joe Biden beat Trump solidly in 2020 with a four percent and 17,000 vote margin, since then, Biden’s been bounced from the ticket, and there are now more registered Republicans than Democrats in the county for the first time since George W. Bush was in the White House.

How important is Bucks County?

“If you win Bucks County, you keep the Southeast close, you win Pennsylvania and he’s president of the United States,” said Jim Worthington, owner of the Newtown Athletic Club where Vance spoke.

During his speech, Vance called out Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for what looked like a partisan campaign stop at a munition factory in Scranton with Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) and Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D-Pa.).

“We spent $200 million on Ukraine.  You know what I wish Zelenskyy would do when he comes to America? Say thank you to the people of Pennsylvania,” said Vance. “Donald Trump is the candidate of peace.”

After the speech, DVJournal asked Vance how a second Trump administration would handle the Ukraine/Russia war and Israel’s military actions against Hamas and Hezbollah.

“I have a very detailed plan for how we’re going to bring peace and prosperity back to the world: elect Donald Trump,” said Vance. “When you have weak American leadership, and you have an American leader that nobody respects, you have wars breaking out all over the world.  If Donald Trump was president, Russia would have never invaded Ukraine. If Donald Trump was president, Hamas would have never attacked Israel.”

“We’ve got to get back to commonsense American deterrence,” said Vance, a Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq. “You’ve got to make the bad guys worry that if they do something screwed up, somebody is going to make them pay for it…Peace through strength.”

Vance also scoffed at Democrat claims that they’re for the middle class.

“If she stands for the middle class, why does she want to tax the middle class to give rich people money to buy electric vehicles made in China?” he asked. “Why does she want to destroy Pennsylvania energy? If you stand for the middle class, unleash Pennsylvania energy workers.”

Harris has flipped on various positions from banning fracking and private health insurance to embracing them now that she’s the presidential nominee.

“She’s not actually governing that way,” he said. He’s told Trump, “Sir, I think she’s going to show up at your next rally with a red MAGA hat.”

Vance also rejected the claim that Trump is only appealing to the GOP base. He said their campaign is reaching out to Democrats and moderates who agree with them on many issues, noting that former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard and former Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are backing Trump.

“There are a lot of Democrats out there who want an economy where normal people can afford to buy food and housing, and to those Democrats, I say, ‘You are welcome on the Trump-Vance team.’”

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Tuesday’s debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris continues to trigger reaction from Delaware Valley voters. Most tell DVJournal they think Trump missed an opportunity to win undecided voters.

Philadelphia resident John Featherman, a Republican who ran for mayor in 2011 and Congress in 2012, said, “Harris won on debate points, but I’m not sure it will make any difference in how people vote. Most people watching this debate already had their minds made up. The question is whether it had any effect — even marginal — on undecided voters.”

Skippack resident Debbie Jr. “D.J.” McGinley said, “There were so many lies with Kamala. Why do they continue letting her lie? It won’t change my vote even though Trump was flustered: Trump 2024. She had three and a half years and has done nothing. Also, it’s 9/11 today. This should’ve been a conversation last night between the two of them (to) close the borders.”

“Both candidates were losers as neither did anything to convince undecided voters that they were the better choice,” said Tim Daly, of Lower Makefield. “Harris was overly rehearsed and confirmed again to the public she is disingenuous. Trump was Trump, acting boorish while taking the bait with stupid responses to Harris’ prepared script about rallies and getting money from Fred Trump. Nobody cares and she did this to use up time and get the spotlight off her.

“The biggest loser of the night was (moderator) David Muir, who carried out the orders of ABC execs to gang up on Trump to demand answers to questions of and fact check Trump, while not doing the same to Harris when she did the same,” said Daly. “Worse, Muir pushed liberal false narratives on the fact checks as there is badge cam video of the Haitian migrant arrest over the cat and the National Crime Victimization Survey data produced by the BJS (Bureau of Justice Statistics), which details the increased crime seen across the nation.”

Felice Fein of West Goshen also believes the moderators were unfair to Trump.

“Having watched the CNN debate between Biden and Trump, which I thought was well done, I was disappointed to see that the ABC moderators did not press Harris to provide specifics like they did Trump. There are some very simple facts regarding policies, economic numbers, and immigration about which moderators could have questioned Harris’ record, yet they did not. Overall, she seemed well rehearsed, ready with bait to draw Trump’s ire, and he took it. Had Trump stuck to the Biden-Harris record and juxtaposed it to his own, then Trump could have wrapped up the election last night. As it is, voters still have more candidate and policy research to do and potentially another debate to make decisions about the future of this constitutional republic,” said Fein.

New Hope resident Gee Moses said, “It plays into the Democrats’ side for sure. Kamala and the Democrat operatives from ABC baited Trump over and over. It was clear he wasn’t prepared, seemed frazzled and rambling. Pushing things that may be true but (they) seemed exaggerated, especially to a majority of the country who gets its news from MSM (mainstream media). So, they would not of heard of the realities on the ground, like animals being eaten. The 21 million-plus illegals, and other comments will seem like a lie especially after MSM will claim they are.

“Trump blew his opportunity to define Kamala for 31 percent of people who said they need to learn more about her,” said Moses. “He missed his opportunity to challenge her and put her on the defensive, exposing what a weak and flawed candidate she is.

“The Democrats have exposed the American public for being shallow and easily manipulated,” said Moses. “They turned Harris from an extremely unlikable anchor on the party to the next coming of Obama without her doing interviews or having policies. It was a pure PR campaign, and they learned from COVID if you just tell the lies enough, people will not only believe them but pass them along as truth. Trump needed to push back and expose this hollow shell of a human, and he failed miserably.”

Springfield’s Joy Schwartz ran for Delaware County Council last year.

“Trump appeared somber and pre-occupied,” said Schwartz. “His demeanor may not have been attractive to some, but it was completely appropriate given the gravity of the problems facing our country, and his obvious frustration with having to debate the two biased moderators as well as the candidate. Trump won on the issues.”

“Vice President Harris’s fake gravitas, smugness, and over-rehearsed facial expressions did not enhance her otherwise confident and polished delivery.  As usual, she was short on substance. All fluff, no stuff,” Schwartz added.

Scott Presler isn’t a Delaware Valley resident, but he’s been active in getting Republicans in the area registered to vote. He’s widely credited with helping Bucks County GOP registrations pass the Democrats for the first time since George W. Bush was president.

“What I saw during the debate is a Vice President — Kamala — who currently has the power to make changes & has failed to use her position for the last 3 and 1/2 years,” Presler posted on social media.

“I saw a politician who doesn’t care that her failure from the Afghanistan withdrawal killed 13 soldiers; her failure to secure the border killed daughters, like Laken Riley; her failure to cut our bloated spending budget has resulted in crushing working class families; her failure to show strength lead to Putin invading Ukraine; & her plans to increase taxes are going to drive Americans into homelessness. Kamala came off as pompous, smug, & arrogant.”

But Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) posted about Trump’s mention of reports of immigrants eating pets in Ohio: “I don’t know who needs to hear this but stop asking me about fracking when the other side’s call-to-arms is people eating dogs.”

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Crime and the porous border were the focus of a pre-debate telephone press conference held by the Trump campaign.

While Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) and other speakers honed in on those topics, most reporters asked questions about the debate.

One topic that’s rarely reported is the so-called “bipartisan” immigration bill that Democrats blame former President Donald Trump for tanking.  Schmitt said the bill “fell apart because it would have made the problem worse.”

“It would have created a process outside of the judicial system that we have now for asylum agents to fast-track illegal immigrants to become citizens through asylum claims. That doesn’t exist now.”

“It would have supercharged. It would have created an express lane to more illegal immigration,” said Schmitt. “Secondly, it would have taken jurisdiction out of the state of Texas.” Instead, cases would be heard by the D.C. Court of Appeals. “This was a bad bill. It fell apart under its own weight because it didn’t help the situation. It made it worse.”

The DVJournal asked if Trump would hold Vice President Kamala Harris accountable during the debate for her flip-flopping on fracking, defunding the police and mandating EVs. That question did not get a direct answer.

“The president is certainly full of surprises,” said spokeswoman Danielle Alverez. “I know that we can expect him to be his charming self. We know he’s incredible when it comes to weaving in and out of topics. He’s incredible on those policy issues.”

Mace said, “Kamala Harris has been a disaster as border czar and unleashed a wave of violent migrant crime across the country and plenty of people in the mainstream media for years now dubbed her the border czar…The Harris-Biden administration took more than 94 executive actions on immigration, including halting construction of the border wall and ending the successful remain in Mexico policy.”

Crime Prevention Research Center President John Lott said despite recent claims that crime has fallen during the Biden-Harris administration, “violent crime has soared dramatically over the last few years. Total violent crime fell 17 percent during the Trump administration, and then it’s increased by 43 percent under Biden.” He explained of the two measures of crime statistics, the FBI data and the Bureau of Justice Statistics National Crime Victimization Survey, the latter is more accurate.

Many crimes are not reported to the police, who then turn that information over to the FBI, he said.

“If you look at total crimes in those cities using the National Crime Victimization data, only 8 percent of total violent crimes and only 1 percent of total property crimes result in arrests,” he said.

National Border Patrol Council President Paul Perez said he’s worked under five different presidents, and “this is by far the worst we’ve seen in the 27 years I’ve been down here.”

“We have apprehended over 10 million people,” said Perez. “The scary number is the 2 million year-to-date are known gotaways.”

Many of those crossing the board, who come from 170 different countries, are gang members, he said.

“They’re taking over cities and towns, making every state a border state,” said Perez.  A Venezuelan gang, Tren de Auragua, and an El Salvadoran gang, MS 13, are very violent, he said.  “Not to mention the cartels that have profited under border Czar Harris’ reign.”

“They made money hand over fist,” bringing in people and illegal drugs, he said. And it’s not just the southern border. Illegal immigrants are also coming across the northern border from Canada, he said.

Answering a press question, Schmitt said Harris “was the tiebreaking vote on the Inflation Reduction Act, which pumped $1.4 trillion [into the economy], which supercharged inflation. That’s her record. She proudly boasted about undoing all the successes that we had under President Trump’s term…This is her record, and he can’t really run away from it, although she doesn’t want to do press conferences, and she doesn’t want to handle the back and forth with reporters.”

Mace said Harris was the tie-breaking vote 33 times.

“She owns everything this administration has caused,” said Mace. “She celebrated. She cheered [President] Joe Biden on as the border czar…She can’t hide from border policy, that has seen spikes in inflation and spikes in crime. And she’s not taking the tough interviews. She’s not taking tough questions, and Donald Trump is out there every single day. He’ll talk for an hour and a half…There’s just no way out of flip-flopping or lying. She has lied over and over again on her policy. She has now taken policies from Trump’s website multiple times over. She’s plagiarized from Joe Biden’s policies and website.”

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The Democratic presidential ticket’s watchword is the thematic term: joy. 

When the news broke, I thought of an episode of “Hogan’s Heroes” in which Col. Klink was reminiscing about his pre-war outings with the Nazi program “Strength Through Joy.” The program was pure propaganda that promoted Nazism and monitored dissident and anti-state behavior.

Who said you couldn’t learn anything from a sitcom?

Albert Einstein said, “Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous.”

Barack Obama was once the Democrats’ “hope” candidate and Kamala Harris is their “joy” nominee. Hope and joy are not campaign slogans but rather Christmas words.

What is there to be joyful about? Let’s count the ways.

Joy is someone else paying your student loan and your mortgage down payment.  Joy is a universal income and does not have to work for free healthcare. Joy is more debt, inflation with increased oversight and regulation. Joy means high energy prices and power outages. Joy is eliminating the filibuster and packing the Supreme Court. Joy entails public school indoctrination and unrestrained illegal migration, with no police or prisons. Joy is knowing Planned Parenthood has a mobile bus offering free abortions and vasectomies. Joy is higher food and gas prices and tens of millions of undocumented aliens and drugs flooding the border. Joy is taxing unrealized capital gains while supporting a wealth tax. 

What’s not to like?

The most memorable Democratic National Convention moment was opening night when President Biden yelled for all to embrace the joy that you could bottle and wash your dishes with it.

Harris’ campaign slogan might surprise her innumerable staff members who left her employ, overdosing on all the joy. Perhaps reporters should interview them. 

The Democrats plan to ride the wave of obfuscation into the White House as their allies work the oars and sails.

Three months ago, if someone said Harris would own the top of the Democratic ticket, they would have been laughed at, Kamala-style on steroids. The worst president in modern history has passed the baton to an even worse candidate. Her meteoric rise is totally fabricated, forced and fake. Yet, this inept and awkward vice president is somehow the most qualified, the most wonderful and the most inspiring figure in American politics.

Barack Obama was created into a celebrity where accomplishments, intelligence and work ethic were irrelevant. Now, it is Harris who will save democracy despite not winning one primary. It’s all counterfeit, resembling a high school popularity contest. All the while, the mindless masses continue to digest this narrative hook, line and joy.

Making joy a virtue of frivolity was the highlight at the Democrats’ kumbaya convention. Subsisting on vibes rather than substance.

The last thing Democrats want is the issues front and center, believing the formula: “personality plus policy equals joy” is enough to keep the White House. As Robert Kennedy Jr. recently said, “Who needs policies when you have Trump to hate?”

Those who think Harris is making the calls on policy are the same as those who think Biden has full mental acuity. Biden was “sharp as a tack” before they (including Harris) couldn’t hide it.

Yet, Kama-chameleon and her cheerleaders joyfully run away from everything they have stood for. Ignorance is bliss. It is also Harris’ foremost strategy.

Accepting the nomination as a cackling caricature of the Wicked Witch of the West draped in mournful black does not project joy but is a ghoulish facsimile that underscores a campaign out for blood. Harris’ constant crackling does not perceive optimism but of mental limitations — the notorious giggling fool — the epitome of style over substance.

Can you feel the joy?

Instead, that is your wallet being emptied.

If you haven’t figured it out, the Harris campaign of J.O.Y. is precisely an acronym: Joke’s On You.

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Philly’s NFL team is shooting down reports that it’s “Fly, Eagles, Fly” for Kamala Harris.

Fake ads suggesting The Iggles are in for Vice President Harris and Gov. Tim Walz have popped up around Philadelphia, outraging some loyal fans.

“I hope the #Eagles lose every game this year,” Jamie Cohen Walker of Chalfont, Pa. posted on Facebook. “No one is interested in the owners’ politics.”

Jen Lawson Scheurer responded, “I don’t think it’s real. That would be really stupid if they picked a political side.”

“I guess I’m no longer an Eagles fan,” said Kris Ten.

Leslie Bachinsky posted to Facebook, “Sell your season tickets now.”

And Richard Pruet also responded to the post, “This has to be a joke.”

Marie Ridel added, “Hope no one goes to the games. Go woke, go broke!”

Say it ain’t so, Eagles! Well, the Eagles say it’s not true. They have not put up ads around Philadelphia touting Democratic Presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris, although someone has.

“This has to be a fake,” added Pamela Roseann. “They would never intentionally deny revenue.”

The skeptics were correct.

The Sporting News reported Sunday that the Eagles have denied they are supporting Harris and say they aren’t responsible for the ads.

The ad with Harris wearing an Eagles helmet and with the team endorsing her has appeared at some SEPTA bus stops. When photos of the ad started circulating on social media, the Eagles issued a statement: “We are aware counterfeit political ads are being circulated and are working with our advertising partner to have them removed.”

Walker updated her post: “It’s just Democrats lying…sorry #Eagles.”

In its report, The Sporting News noted, “There is no known example of an NFL team endorsing a political candidate ahead of an election.”

Talk radio host Rich Zeoli also posted to X, “The @eagles say the Kamala Harris endorsement is a fugazi. Fake. Like all of Kamala Harris’ new policy positions.”

His fellow talk radio host, Dom Giordano, called for an investigation.

While Republican-leaning fans, like Walker, were outraged, Harris supporters like Ed Krassenstein welcomed the ads.

“Always been an @eagles fan. Even more so now,” Krassenstein posted to X.

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Vice President Kamala Harris wants to make groceries cheaper. However, her vague proposal to ban “price gouging” will have the opposite effect.

Economists, not known for consensus, agree on one thing: Price controls don’t work. By mandating price ceilings, government price controls always lead to shortages.

And this isn’t some abstract economic theory; instead, it’s a real-world observation of their historically bad track record.

Anybody who bought gasoline in the 1970s can attest. To curb high fuel prices and inflation, the U.S. government instituted price controls on gasoline. This disastrous policy resulted in long lines of cars at fueling stations that spilled into the streets.

The 1970s fuel shortages gave Americans, in the words of Hugh Rockoff, “a little taste of what life was like for people in the Soviet Union.” Under oppressive price controls, citizens endured “the Soviet queues,” waiting in long lines to buy household necessities. In its callous efforts to control inflation, the Soviet system also reduced its citizenry to a brutally low standard of living.

Interestingly, an American grocery store began the downfall of Soviet central planning. In 1989, Boris Yeltsin—who supported the USSR dissolution and, in 1991, became Russia’s first elected president—visited a Houston neighborhood market. The abundance of affordable goods and the lack of lines amazed Yeltsin.

“I think we have committed a crime against our people by making their standard of living so incomparably lower than that of the Americans,” said Yeltsin during his return flight to Moscow.

The USSR wasn’t the only Marxist-Leninist country to abandon its centrally planned economy.

China emerged as a global superpower because of markets, not socialism. In the 1980s, the Chinese Communist Party instituted several market reforms, including privatizing its industries, removing state monopolies, and lifting all price controls. Since then, China’s economic output has grown 36-fold.

Assuredly, China is no bastion of liberty. To call the country’s human rights record appalling is an understatement.

However, Harris’s unforced error borrows from the economic failures of these authoritarian countries. “When your opponent calls you ‘communist,’ maybe don’t propose price controls?” writes Catherine Rampell, an opinion columnist at the Washington Post.

Harris is correct about one thing: Groceries are expensive. Since President Joe Biden took office, grocery prices are up about 20 percent. Even Harris concedes—despite rosy claims of reduced inflation—prices remain too high.

Yet, while Harris and her followers correctly identify the problem, their diagnosis is wrong.

During his most recent State of the Union address, Biden claimed that “shrinkflation”—companies reducing product sizes to cut costs—was the root of the problem. The President encouraged lawmakers to pass legislation, sponsored by U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), that would empower the Federal Trade Commission to crack down on these corporations.

Casey’s bill is a direct attack on his constituents. Pennsylvania is home to “the Snack Belt,” with more than two dozen snack food companies competing internationally. Over 80 percent of pretzels consumed in the United States originate in the Keystone State. Penalizing these companies with arbitrary regulations would wreak havoc on Pennsylvania’s already vulnerable economy.

Moreover, shrinkflation didn’t cause grocery bills to skyrocket. Instead, injecting trillions of federal dollars into the money supply—coupled with pandemic-related supply chain failures and pent-up demand from locked-down consumers—destroyed the dollar’s value.

Now, politicians—often the ones who claimed inflation would be “transitory”—offer policies that undermine the foundation of our market economy.

Prices provide essential signals. When low, they tell producers to throttle down production and avoid costly surpluses. When high, they influence producers to ramp up production and meet increasing demand. Without a market-defined price, this natural equilibrium cannot achieve the proper balance between supply and demand.

To make matters worse, price controls, especially on groceries, are a solution in search of a problem. Profit margins at grocery markets are already razor-thin—1.2 percent compared to 8.5 percent across all industries. Due to competition, grocery stores can’t afford to be “greedy.”

Artificially controlling prices amounts to shortsighted economic suicide.

If we want the United States to compete internationally, the last thing we should do is hobble our economy with price controls. In the long run, citizens benefit from marketplace competition, not unnecessary government intervention.

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A new Franklin & Marshall College poll of Pennsylvania voters found 46 percent support Vice President Kamala Harris and 43 percent support former President Donald Trump in the race for the White House. Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. received six percent support while Libertarian Chase Oliver and progressive Jill Stein each received one percent.

The results reflect how tight the presidential race is in the Keystone State.

“The size of a Beaver Stadium football crowd is going to determine the outcome of this election,” quipped Mercury Senior Vice President Vince Galko, a longtime state GOP strategist.

Harris’s margin in the Franklin & Marshall poll is similar to the leads she held in the Quinnipiac and New York Times/Siena polls released this week.

“The greatest change in the presidential race comes from the consolidation of support for Harris among the Democratic factions,” said Berwood Yost, director of the Center for Opinion Research and the Floyd Institute for Public Policy at Franklin & Marshall College.

About half of the 920 registered voters felt Pennsylvania was “on the wrong track.” Residents tagged the economy, specifically unemployment and gas and utility prices, as the most important issue in the state at 31 percent.

Seventeen percent of voters who support Harris said it was because she wasn’t Trump. Another 17 percent cited women’s rights while 15 percent praised her character.

Almost 30 percent of voters who support Trump cited the economy. Another 20 percent said the issue was immigration.

Galko thinks Harris will experience a reality check once next week’s Democrat convention is over.

“The more America sees the Democratic Party of 2024, the more they’re gonna realize, ‘This is not my cup of tea,’” he said.

That won’t stop the Harris and Trump campaigns from spending millions on campaign ads in Pennsylvania. They’re expected to pay a combined $211 million on TV, digital, and radio ads in the state this election cycle. About $42 million has been spent since Harris replaced President Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket. That’s the most of any state in the U.S.

In the high-stakes U.S. Senate race between Democrat incumbent Bob Casey Jr. and Republican challenger Dave McCormick, Casey leads McCormick 48 percent to 36 percent. Another 15 percent said they weren’t sure. Of that bloc, 20 percent were considering McCormick to Casey’s 12 percent.

Galko suspects the undecided are mostly made up of Republican suburban voters who left the party due to dissatisfaction with previous statewide candidates. He thinks McCormick has the resume to bring them back into the fold, so long as he focuses on issues that matter to the state.

“He obviously knows Pennsylvania, he’s invested in Pennsylvania, [and] he has deep roots in Pennsylvania,” said Galko.

At the same time, Galko suggested McCormick turn his campaign from a statewide campaign into more regional one with ads tailored to different Pennsylvania markets. Galko said that was how Republicans like Pat Toomey and Arlen Specter succeeded in winning their U.S. Senate races.

The F&M poll results appear to agree with McCormick’s message resonating with certain sections of Pennsylvania. He led Casey 46 to 39 percent in Northeast Pennsylvania, 47 to 40 percent in Central Pennsylvania, and 50 to 29 percent in Northwest Pennsylvania. Casey’s support coalesced around Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley where he leads McCormick 60 to 20 percent. He also led McCormick 51 to 34 percent in Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas.

On the generic congressional ballot, Democrats led Republicans 44 to 42 percent. Thirteen percent were undecided.

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