One of Donald Trump's most effective attacks on Kamala Harris can be turned back against himself.
The former president pulled off his best line in the Sept. 10 debate against Harris by asking why she hadn't already accomplished any of the "wonderful things" she was promising if elected to replace president Joe Biden, but The Atlantic's David Graham pointed out that Trump himself was an unpopular president as recently as four years ago.
"Time and again during the 2024 campaign, he’s promised to do something that he failed to do in his first term, that he didn’t bother to do during his first term, or is the opposite of what he did during his first term," Graham wrote. "Whenever he makes these claims, it’s worth remembering that Trump was president once — a fact he seems to hope you’ll forget. Maybe he doesn’t remember himself."
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The Republican nominee is still making his long-promised border wall a centerpiece of his campaign, just as he did in 2016 and 2020, and he's again threatening to deport all unauthorized immigrants – and some who are in the U.S. legally, as well – although he actually deported fewer than Barack Obama or Biden did as president.
"One of the curious things about the gap between record and promise is that in some cases, Trump is promising to do more than he did before (deport immigrants, build the wall), and in others, he’s promising to do less (give power to employers, limit abortion)," Graham wrote. "Trump critics have been frustrated by a certain amount of amnesia among voters about how chaotic and unpleasant the Trump years were — not just by the critics’ standards, but based on popular impressions at the time."
"This amnesia depends in part on voters being willing to believe promises that cut directly against what he did as president," Graham added. "No one could seriously argue that by the end of his term, Trump had managed to 'unite our country by bringing it to new and record levels of success,' as his platform says he will this time."