Well. Thanks, team.
They wouldn’t let me do the Al Smith dinner. Catholics represent 25 percent of the vote in the US. And I don’t go to one of the most revered events that raises money for Catholic charities.
It’s a tradition going back a billion years — the Presidential candidates go to the dinner. They do light-hearted jabs at each other then they smile and pretend they don’t want to stab each other with their steak knives — it’s generally a nice “unity” moment in the middle of the campaign.
And my team — they say, “no Harris — you can’t handle it. A speech without a teleprompter? You just can’t. You may offend 25 percent of the voters by NOT going, but you could turn off 100 percent of the voters if you go and try and give a speech in that room without a teleprompter. You’re not funny, you’re not good without a teleprompter — other people are. And you will laugh. Because everyone else is funny. And no one likes your laugh.”
So we declined the invitation, said I had “scheduling conflicts” and sent in an embarrassing taped segment that took like 1000 takes and still made no sense. I looked good though. Slick hair, nice makeup.
It was a calculated risk. I miss the dinner and upset 25 percent of the voters that don’t like me much anyway, or I piss off the Muslims which I need in Michigan and perhaps risk turning off ALL the voters if I bomb. Which my team says I would have. Definitely, without a doubt. Again, thanks team.
But the mistake in all of it I didn’t see coming? Trump was great, won a few points with the voters … and I wasn’t there. The preliminary focus group hated my absence and said the video I sent was awkward and “cringy” and dumb.
I’m sure there is some media spin that will help. But at this point — it feels like an embarrassing miscalculation made worse by a lame attempt at a funny video that wasn’t funny and was booed loudly on live TV.
I’m bad at math but when your opponent wins points and you lose point on the same day, I don’t think that’s good.
Thanks, team. Not good.