◼ Having worried for years that Kamala Harris’s political radicalism would make her a poor candidate for office should she be obliged to replace Joe Biden, the Democrats have hit upon a clever way of getting around the problem: They are simply not going to tell the public what she stands for. While in the Senate, Harris built up a voting record that put her to the left of Bernie Sanders. Among the positions that Harris endorsed in her failed 2020 primary campaign were the abolition of private health insurance, the prohibition of fracking, the confiscation of modern sporting rifles, the expansion of Medicaid to cover illegal immigrants, and a “jobs guarantee” program. Simultaneously, she endorsed reparations, talked approvingly of defunding the police, and was comfortable enough with devastating riots to encouraged donations to a bail fund for their perpetrators. Now, all that is gone. In a series of terse statements, Harris’s campaign has summarily confirmed that she no longer believes any of that. Why not? Because she doesn’t, that’s why. What is this, the Spanish Inquisition?

◼ We are told that history repeats itself first as tragedy, then as farce—and how else might we think of the Democratic Party’s decision to host a series of fundraising calls for Kamala Harris that are segregated by race? In July, the party hosted both a “White Women for Kamala” call and a “White Dudes for Harris” call, during which participants flitted wildly between transmuting the proceedings into group therapy and condescending to racial minorities. On the “White Women for Kamala” call, a TikTok influencer named Arielle Fodor instructed her fellow participants: “As white women, we need to use our privilege to make positive changes. If you find yourself talking over or speaking for BIPOC individuals or, God forbid, correcting them, just take a beat. And instead we can put our listening ears on.” That, suffice it to say, is not what Frederick Douglass had in mind when he demanded equality. It is, however, what you will inevitably get when you conclude that the problem with racial discrimination is not the discrimination per se, but whether those who practice it have their hearts in the right place.

◼ Donald Trump deserves credit for fielding questions from the National Association of Black Journalists. His opponent was conspicuously absent. What he did with that opportunity was another story. Bristling at the hostile reception he received, Trump repeatedly called his interlocutors “rude.” The headlines were dominated by his claim, backed up by his campaign, that Kamala Harris only recently started identifying herself as black after previously identifying as Indian American. It is true that like many people and especially politicians, Harris has emphasized different aspects of her ethnic background at different times and in different situations. Trump’s approach will offend some voters, reasonably, while not winning him any new supporters. He should be working to define Harris by her record, character, proposals, and personality—quickly.

◼ His running mate, Senator J. D. Vance (R., Ohio), is on the defensive for his years of remarks about the “sociopathic” influence of “childless cat ladies” on our politics and culture. He has said that taxes should be higher for childless adults and that parents should be given additional votes to cast for their children. The first proposal is debatable—U.S. tax policy has long included it, with bipartisan support—but the comments were obnoxious. Many good citizens have no children, not all of them voluntarily. There are many ways that government policy could and should be changed to enable families to form and thrive. Attacking and shaming those without children should play no part in that effort.

◼ It seems that many of Vance’s economic views come from his ruminations on kitchen appliances. He has said that an old refrigerator he used to have proved that “economics is fake” because it could keep lettuce fresh for longer than newer fridges. Now he says, in his stump speech, that “We believe that a million cheap, knockoff toasters aren’t worth the price of a single American manufacturing job.” A single one? Republicans should be cooking with a little bit more gas than this.