Lisa Simpson: Tis better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
Homer’s Brain: What does that mean?! Better say something or they’ll think you’re stupid.
Home Simpson: TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE!
Homer’s Brain: Swish!
Yikes. If Kamala Harris thought Bret Baier was tough, wait ‘til she meets Putin.
During the interview on Fox News’s “Special Report,” the Harris-Walz campaign found itself mired in a deliciously ironic situation: Their entire marketing campaign is predicated on the conceit that they’re Not Trump. Whether it’s Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, or Tim Walz, the Democrats’ raison d’etre is that Trump is an evil Orange Madman who’ll destroy democracy, and (checks mirror) they’re Not Trump.
In other words, they’re not asking the American people to vote FOR the Democrats. They’re begging them to vote AGAINST the Republicans.
From a marketing perspective, there’s nothing wrong with that approach. Lots of products differentiate themselves via comparison. When it’s done well, “comparison campaigns” can ring registers: Remember Apple’s “I’m a Mac!” and “I’m a (dorky) P.C.” ads?
Apple gave audiences a binary choice: Do you wanna be the cool guy in slacks and nice hair (Mac) osr do you wanna be that yutz in an ill-fitting brown suit? It’s gotta be one or the other.
But when you live by comparison, you die by comparison.
During today’s Fox News interview with Bret Baier and Kamala Harris, only two people were on the screen. And none of them were Donald Trump.
“Not Trump” wasn’t in the building.
It was just Bret Baier and Kamala Harris. Nobody else. Viewers couldn’t help but compare the two.
Bret Baier is soft-spoken (and sort of looks like a Cabbage Patch Kid who made a wish to be big). He’s a sweetheart! A perfect gentleman. Couldn’t imagine a nicer, more genteel guy.
And Kamala Harris?
It wasn’t just that she was rude, unsteady and off-putting. And it wasn’t that she’s absolutely incapable of improvising answers — when she’s not 100% reciting a script, she flounders about like a fish out of water.
Nor was it her penchant for constantly chanting, “Let me be clear!” before proceeding with the least clear gobbledygook imaginable.
It’s that she came across as the lesser.
That’s the liability of running a comparison campaign: When you ask audiences to compare you to something or someone else, they will. You can actually “train” an audience to think in terms of comparisons, and it’ll become part of your brand identity. But that’s NOT where the comparisons will end.
You can’t turn that switch on and off. Brand identities don’t work that way.
Audiences today were comparing and contrasting Kamala Harris with Bret Baier. And I don’t care if you’re a liberal youngster, a conservative oldster, or something in between: There’s NO scenario whatsoever where Kamala Harris was more likable than Baier!
No scenario where she came across as smarter. (See the above Simpsons quote.)
No scenario where she came across as more honest or trustworthy. Instead, she shamelessly B.S.’d when she didn’t know what the hell to say. (See the above Simpsons quote.)
The viewers’ lingering takeaway will be the contrast between the two. Advantage: Baier… and it ain’t even close.
Now, I don’t want to overstate it: This was NOT a game-changer. This will NOT fundamentally change the dynamics of the race. But from the MAGA perspective, it didn’t have to. Momentum is already on the Republican’s side, and the interview certainly won’t slow that down.
More likely than not, it’ll marginally speed it up.
