Ever since Kamala Harris became the Democratic ticket’s frontrunner, Donald Trump has faced intense opposition in the polls. However, according to a presidential historian, he may have one more opportunity to recapture his momentum. According to Douglas Brinkley, said historian, Trump has very little time to change things around, as he discussed on Morning Joe on MSNBC.
As reported by Raw Story , Brinkley stated, “Donald Trump is a usurper of democracy , he is a wrecking ball. You’ve been talking, rightfully reminding people of Jan. 6 but the hellscape he has developed of dividing our country. We have a chance to unite, Harris is doing an incredible job, momentum’s [going] her way, and I think it’s just getting some more young people engaged, and North Carolina is the state – I know everybody is waiting on Pennsylvania — North Carolina is really interesting that Harris has a chance of winning there.”
Additionally, the historian added, “But the big moment is Oct. 1. It’s going to be the most important vice presidential debate, I think, in U.S. history when we put [Tim] Walz against Vance. That’s coming our way, and it may be the last chance Trump has, if somehow Vance can score points and get an edge out of that.”
Two apparent assassination attempts were made against Trump over the summer, but Brinkley denied claims made by Trump and his associates that Democrats were to blame for labeling him a danger to democracy. Brinkley said that he is a devout Catholic and that his prayers are extended to Trump in light of recent events, such as the near-miss at Mar-a-Lago and the shooting incident that injured his ear.
“A second Trump term could bring “the end of our democracy,” says presidential historian Douglas Brinkley, “and the birth of a new kind of authoritarian presidential order.” https://t.co/NmrffilU1X pic.twitter.com/Bb8r3AN55i
— Maya Contreras (@mayatcontreras) May 1, 2024
Yet, the historian added, “But if you are talking about the danger, the inherent danger of Donald Trump – he’s radioactive. He wants to come in and gut government because it’s rhetoric that sounds good. You start trying to get rid of civil service, collapse the federal government, you are going to find a country in disarray.” He continued by saying that the world is about to end in a catastrophic fashion if Trump is elected.
Nevertheless, previous polls suggested that Joe Biden was falling behind former President Trump in the months before he decided to withdraw. However, Harris’ entry onto the campaign trail caused the contest to heat up, and she has since held a slim lead over the GOP frontrunner. Just over 67 million people watched the televised debate in Pennsylvania on September 10th, as the two contenders faced off against one other. As reported by BBC , several quick surveys conducted just after the debate indicated that the majority of viewers felt Harris had done a better job.
Although her overall support has remained relatively the same, Harris’ advantage grew from 2.5 percentage points on debate day to 2.9 points a week later, according to most recent national surveys. Her polling average has also remained relatively unchanged. However, Trump’s statistics were mostly responsible for that little rise. Even while his average had been going up leading up to the debate, it dropped by half a percentage point in the week after.