7 people who wrongly predicted Kamala Harris victory

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Wednesday, November 06, 2024

Ross Douthat

Democratic presidential nominee U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks on stage during the final day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on Aug. 22, 2024, in Chicago, Illinois. | Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Ross Douthat, a conservative columnist with The New York Times, had a speculative piece published in September titled “How Harris Wins (and Trump and the Republicans Blow It).”

“To understand Kamala Harris’s narrow victory over Donald Trump, you have to think about Marie Kondo, the Japanese style guru famous for her ruthless minimalism, whose prescription for a cluttered home is to remove any object that doesn’t immediately ‘spark joy,’” he wrote.

“She didn’t offer a comprehensive moderate agenda or seek out a Sister Souljah confrontation with some left-wing interest group. Instead she offered a form of progressive minimalism, reducing a cluttered agenda to a few popular promises and just leaving everything else out.”

Douthat went on to write that Harris’ “minimalism sparked a sincere and unfeigned relief among many Democrats,” while “the absence of a coherent conservative policy agenda” existed on the other side.

“All the way to Election Day, his supporters complained that he was too undisciplined — which is to say, too much himself — to drive a consistent anti-Harris message,” he added.