VICTOR JOECKS: Harris is wearing ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’

You’re likely familiar with Hans Christian Andersen’s classic tale. A king is obsessed with his clothes. Two con men convince him that they can weave an outfit with a special property: The garments are invisible to anyone who is stupid or unfit for their position.

The king sends a trusted adviser to check on the progress. Because it’s a scam, he can’t see anything. Fearing for himself, he tells the king that the robes are beautiful. When the king goes to see the progress, he’s worried because he can’t see anything.

Eventually, the con men help the king into his “robes.” As the king proudly walks through the streets naked, the people stay silent. They’re afraid of being exposed as the only fool in the crowd. Finally, a young boy shouts out the obvious, “But the emperor has nothing at all on.” His words pierce the mass denial of reality, and all the townspeople soon acknowledge the truth.

See if you can spot the parallels to the Harris campaign.

Start with the con. Throughout most of the past four years, Vice President Harris was widely viewed as a subpar politician. In June 2021, a three-byline piece in Politico reported on “dysfunction inside the VP’s office” and that “it’s emanating from the top.” That was shortly after her infamous exchange with NBC’s Lester Holt. She told him, “We’ve been to the border.” When he noted that she hadn’t, she replied, “And I haven’t been to Europe.” In January 2022, the BBC wrote a story titled, “Kamala Harris one year: Where did it go wrong for her?”

At the beginning of the year, her favorability rating was nearly 20 percentage points underwater. Her unfavorable rating topped 55 percent. In March, Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker called her a “burden to the Democratic ticket” and urged Harris to step aside as the VP nominee.

But after Harris became the de facto Democrat nominee, the media coverage changed. Suddenly, Harris was full of “joy” and enjoying a “brat” summer — a good thing in this case. “Kamala Harris is dressing to be president,” a New York Times headline declared in late July.

Her approval rating jumped more than 10 percentage points, even turning positive in September.

But then came the unspeakable problem. The emperor didn’t have anything on. Harris has no substance. She can’t explain how she would fix the economy. She can’t explain why the Biden/Harris administration left the border wide open for years. She can’t even explain how she’s different than President Joe Biden.

Her record is extremely liberal. She supports taxpayer-funded sex change operations for prisoners. She supports decriminalizing border crossings. She supports a de facto ban on gasoline vehicles.

Finally, there’s intimidation to keep up the illusion. In the classic fable, people are afraid of what others will think if they state the obvious. During this campaign, leftists have unleashed a slew of hyperbolic insults at Donald Trump and his supporters. Harris recently called Trump “a fascist.” Biden called Trump supporters “garbage.” Vice presidential nominee Tim Walz tried to paint Trump as a Nazi for having a rally at Madison Square Garden.

The left’s goal is to make it socially unacceptable not to support Harris. It’s why so many Washington Post staffers melted down when the paper refused to endorse her.

The fury didn’t stem from the belief that the paper’s endorsement would have swayed key undecided voters. The fury is that it’s now OK to point out that Harris has long been wearing the “Emperor’s New Clothes.”

Listen to Victor Joecks discuss his columns each Monday at 7 a.m. with Kevin Wall on AM 670 KMZQ Right Talk. Contact him at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow @victorjoecks on X.