Fil-Ams: Kamala Harris pick sealed Trump’s shellacking

The palpable sense of rejoicing among Filipino Americans was understandable. Kamala Harris, the California senator with roots in India and Jamaica, was finally announced as Joe Biden’s vice presidential pick. The choice of Harris and her Asian blood was historic for Americans of Asian descent.  The fact that the charismatic Harris was in dramatic contrast to the sinister, antediluvian conservatism of Mike Pence (he can’t be seen one-on-one in public with a woman not named his wife, ha ha)  all added to the Fil-Ams unabashed expression of triumphalism.

There was also this sense that the flailing, failing, chaotic Trump reelection campaign got more desperate with the selection of Harris. Trump had an instant reaction — he called her “nasty,” then labelled the Biden-Harris ticket “socialist.”    That was classic clutching at straws. In private, Republican political strategists, who were praying for a pick not named Kamala, acknowledged the many pluses — for Biden — of the Harris choice. Republicans thrive on demonizing political rivals (does this sound familiar?) and not on solid political and policy arguments. With Harris, a former prosecutor with close ties to the San Francisco elite and the Bay Area tech moguls, the tag “socialist who will take away your wealth “sounded downright empty.