Women of the world, take over

When I was editor of National Review Online, I had a rule: Never post pictures of Nancy Pelosi or Hillary Clinton looking bad. I’m not a fan of their politics, but most of us have our moments when we don’t look our best and wouldn’t want it captured on camera. Cheap shots aren’t winning moves.

Similarly, Donald Trump and JD Vance need to establish some rules about Kamala Harris. Making fun of her past verbal gaffes are cheap shots. Remember when Republican Rick Lazio walked over to Hillary Clinton’s podium during a 2000 debate in Clinton’s run for the Senate, and it didn’t go well for him? He looked like a bully. And for all our faults, most of us recoil at bullies — especially, I’d like to think, men bullying women.

Trump also needs to be self-aware. The "Me-Too" moment is still in our cultural memory, even with the short attention spans our phones have imposed on us. We know Trump’s history. Even if everything about him on the cover of the New York Post over the years hasn’t been true, we know enough of it is. Unfortunately, there is video evidence. An awful comment he made to Megyn Kelly during a primary debate and a Billy Bush interview come to mind, for starters. (If you don’t know, do yourself a favor and don’t look it up.)

It’s not breaking news that abortion is going to be a major motivating factor in this election. Maybe it’s because I’m in New York, but I see young girls looking up to Harris. They don’t really care about politics or policy, but they see someone who looks like them, and there is something comforting about that. I have no polling to base this on, but I think women who have had abortions are going to vote for her. She’s one fewer person who seems to be judging what they did.

Pro-lifers are seen as judgy, I get it. I’m sorry if I have contributed to that stereotype.

If Trump and Vance want to win, they should rely on women to make the case for voting for them. The simple fact that they are men is a liability if the top-ticket opponent is a woman. Have rallies where they take a bit of a backseat and let women share their experiences.

Eleanor McCullen comes to mind. She was a plaintiff in a Supreme Court case involving buffer zones outside abortion clinics. She’s a beautiful, grandmotherly figure who smiles and says, "Good morning" and carries a sign offering "hope, help, love". She’s often told by women that she provided what they longed for — a way out of the abortion appointment. (The opportunities for such encounters are dwindling because abortion pills are more readily available to take in the privacy of one’s home, leaving women even more alone and isolated when they terminate a pregnancy.)

Everywhere I go, I encounter people sick of politics and politicians. A progressive woman in New York told me the other day how relieved she was to watch the Olympics and pay attention to something other than the election.

I’ve always encouraged men to not be shy about talking about abortion, as an act of chivalry. But right now, women need to be leading the discussion. The Republicans were wrong to decide that leaving abortion to the states is the way to go, but they were on the right track that a different approach is needed. If Harris is the Democratic nominee, the ways of Trump, in particular, are not going to cut it.

Perhaps it is a honeymoon period, but Kamala Harris is resonating with people who don’t usually care about politics. Even if she never even said a word on the campaign trail, that would be the case. If Republicans want to win, attacking her is not a winning strategy. They need to give the microphone over to women who can convey something tender and powerful. Vance tells a redemption story, but his mother was the star of his convention speech.

Enough with the ugliness of politics. There’s a country full of women with stories to tell and messages we need to hear. These early days are critical for changing the feel of the Trump campaign. Even if they don’t win, they would be making a life-saving contribution to a culture desperate for hope.