Who’s afraid of Kamala Harris?

OPINION:

If you have to lie in politics, you might as well make it the biggest lie you can think up.

“Donald Trump is running scared and trying to back out of the debate he already agreed to,” according to Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign.

Of course, a campaign spokesman made this statement, not Ms. Harris herself. Letting her say it herself without a teleprompter in front of reporters would put her entire campaign at risk. She might even — danger of all dangers — start cackling like a hyena after she said it.

The campaign spokesman continued: “We’re happy to discuss further debates after the one both campaigns have already agreed to.”

This, of course, is a lie. The debate the Trump campaign agreed to on Sept. 10 — moderated by hostile reporters from ABC News — was made with the Biden campaign. The Biden campaign is no more. And ABC News has only come further unhinged in its vitriol toward Mr. Trump since the Biden and Trump campaigns reached their agreement on debates.

Mr. Trump so thoroughly trounced President Biden in their June 27 debate that Mr. Biden was promptly ushered into forced retirement after a 50-year political career.

Again, tell us, who is afraid? And of whom?

Democratic politicians and the big-money bagmen who control the party became so deeply unnerved by that first debate against Mr. Trump that they cashiered a sitting president, tossed aside the entire Democratic primary cycle and installed a new nominee.

Set aside the unprecedented corruption, dishonesty and hypocrisy of such a move. Think of the deep fear that must have motivated such a massively humiliating public immolation. 

Now, Democrats are stuck with Kamala Harris — at least for the moment.

And no matter how obediently the political press strives to prop her up, and no matter how much the political press hates Donald Trump, Ms. Harris remains even worse than Mr. Biden.

First, she is the most deeply unpopular American vice president in the history of public polling. That is a mathematical fact.

Second, she is so terrible at the art of politics and campaigning that she flamed out of the Democratic primary cycle four years ago after entering the race as the odds-on favorite to win. She had the backing of the entire political media and yet failed to earn a single delegate in the Democratic primary.

Third, as bad as her polls and her political skills are, her record is even worse. No major party candidate in American history has racked up a greater, more painful record of disastrous policies than Kamala Harris.

Her two-week honeymoon — thoroughly faked and pumped up by a groveling press and their juiced polls — has demonstrated why voters dislike Ms. Harris.

All her lying, flip-flopping and obfuscation cannot reverse her clear record of wars abroad, intentionally open borders, heinous crimes committed by illegal aliens she ushered into the country, high gas prices and punishing inflation. 

Now Democrats are running Ms. Harris as a friend to working Americans and defender of law and order — like she just arrived on the scene and is somehow not responsible for all the misery Americans feel personally and see all around them.

“Fearless,” they call her — even as her campaign scrambles to play the clock out as long as possible before submitting to a debate or even an interview with her fawning press. 

“Let the future begin,” they say, as if Ms. Harris were not the very hand from the past four years that crafted the nation’s current malaise.

Democrats know they have the worst hand possible in this election. Their only ace is an obedient, fawning press that will do anything to help them win. Their strategy is to start banking as many votes as possible before allowing their current puppet to face Mr. Trump in a debate or answer any questions without a teleprompter.

But yeah, “fearless.”

• Charles Hurt is the opinion editor at The Washington Times.