A.B. Stoddard on the Current Moment in Politics—and What Is to Come

“Doing things like eliminating the filibuster is just going to put us on the path to more gridlock and anarchy at this point.”

On August 14th, Merion West’s Henri Mattila was joined by A.B. Stoddard for a conversation about the current moment in national politics and what she anticipates after the election in November. Ms. Stoddard is an associate editor and columnist at RealClearPolitics, and a writer at The Bulwark. She has covered the U.S. Congress since 1994, for States News Service, The Hill, and ABC News. Ms. Stoddard appears regularly as a guest on the FOX News Channel, CNN, and MSNBC.

During the conversation, Mr. Mattila and Ms. Stoddard discuss the choice of Sen. Kamala Harris as Joe Biden’s running mate, what the country would look like if the Democratic Party were to win majority control in November and how the Republican Party should adapt, the accuracy of election polling, and President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

This conversation has been lightly edited for brevity.

A.B. Stoddard, thank you for joining me today.

Thanks for having me.

I wanted to get started with the the big topic that’s been on everybody’s mind recently. So, after much anticipation, Joe Biden picked Kamala Harris. And I’m curious, what are your first impressions of that choice from a strategic angle?

Well, it was always the do no harm choice. It was always going to do the least damage to his standing in the polls. And that by disappointing the progressives, he would be able to continue to persuade Obama-Trump voters, former Republicans, Independents. Joe Biden has made it clear from day one, he’s not interested in just mobilization. He wants to mobilize and persuade. And he’s not running a base election designed to excite young voters who don’t usually vote and non-white voters.