DNC showed Harris campaign is dismissing the noise from Trump and pundits. It’s working.

It seems, from the jubilant success of last week’s Democratic National Convention to Donald Trump’s public writhing, that when presidential nominee Kamala Harris replaced President Joe Biden at the top of the ticket, she threw a switch that made her party smarten up.

The Democrats stopped acting scared of Trump and his false aura of inevitability and started behaving like they’re running against an almost comically bad candidate who carries more baggage than Chicago's O’Hare International Airport at Christmastime.

They stopped fearing the pundits who were holding Biden to an entirely different standard as a candidate, effectively normalizing Trump and glossing over his serial dishonesty, age and rampant incoherence.

Harris showed up, and the lights went on for the Democrats

It’s as if the entire Democratic campaign apparatus around Harris stopped and said: “Wait a minute. We have a sitting vice president and vibrant former prosecutor who reflects the American story better than Trump ever could, and we’re facing an undisciplined 78-year-old guy with 34 felony convictions and a cruelty schtick that has grown old and boring. Let’s act like it!”

And so they have, with the convention brightly illuminating that change in attitude.

Trump isn't powerful. Harris labels him 'an unserious man.'

Trump was brought up often during the DNC, but largely to highlight his anti-democratic actions (see Jan. 6, 2021, and constant election denial) and the flatly absurd things he has said.

In her nomination acceptance speech Thursday, Harris said: “In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man.”

Unserious? Why would she think that? Trump was being very serious as he rage-posted dozens of times on his Truth Social account during Harris’ 40-minute speech, including a bizarre call out to President Joe Biden’s son ? “WHERE’S HUNTER?” ? and “IS SHE TALKING ABOUT ME?”

Trump is a joke at this point: Harris accepts Democrats' nomination at boisterous DNC. Sorry Trump, no 'coup' here.

Harris and other speakers at the convention didn’t suggest Trump poses a threat to the country because he’s some great, powerful being.

They made him out to be a washed-up clown.

Harris and Democrats are stealing Trump's power by dismissing him

They framed the real threat as the policies Trump might enact ? crafted by Trump allies behind the extreme governing blueprint outlined in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 ? and how an unstable person like him might behave now that the U.S. Supreme Court has given presidents broad immunity.

In other words, Trump isn’t strong ? he’s just weird and weak enough to implement whatever policy people around him suggest while he gets to recklessly abuse the power of the office.

It’s a smart and accurate approach by Democrats that will drive the Mar-a-Lago menace bonkers. Trump thrives on getting into people’s heads with his lies and bullying, often putting them on the defensive when there’s actually nothing for them to defend.

Harris and Co. have figured that out. They are dismissing rather than responding. It negates one of Trump’s primary tools of distraction.

If media won't demand specifics from Trump, why should Harris abide?

Beyond that, it was evident at the convention that Democrats are not going to be cowed by either liberal or conservative pundits.

For starters, the convention credentialed a slew of “influencers” and “creatives,” people who could bring Harris’ message and potentially viral moments from the week to voters via more direct means rather than the mainstream news media.

Trump's lies about crime: Crime has declined since Donald Trump was president. He insists on lying about that.

Many journalists were bent out of shape about a lack of space and credentials, but I don’t think the Harris campaign cared. And I can’t say I blame them.

Too often in the age of Trump, mainstream news outlets have bent over backward to normalize such a wildly abnormal and destructive politician.

A Trump social media post gets treated as a thing we should believe?

Take this example from Friday. Trump posted on social media: “My Administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights.”

That resulted in this New York Times headline: “On Truth Social, Donald Trump Tries to Refashion Himself as Supportive of Abortion Rights.”

Are you kidding me? Trump has boasted endlessly about appointing the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, even saying, “We broke Roe v. Wade.”

He represents a party that wants a national abortion ban and has even eyed banning IVF and contraception.

So one Truth Social post claiming, with no specificity or evidence, that he will be “great” for reproductive rights is not Trump refashioning himself as “Supportive of Abortion Rights.” It’s not him refashioning anything. It’s just another lie. That The Times would treat it as anything less is ridiculous.

Harris isn't ducking. She's charting her campaign's own path forward.

The same political press that sanitizes Trump’s nonsense will turn to the Harris campaign and demand one-on-one interviews and press conferences and greater detail on the vice president’s policy proposals.

Her message in response seems to be something akin to: “We’ll speak on my terms, not yours, and we’ve already released more policy particulars than our opponent. Have you considered asking him to better detail how he plans to conduct a ‘mass deportation’? Or how he plans to vote on the Florida ballot measure seeking to do away with the state’s six-week abortion ban. Will Trump’s refashioned support of abortion rights apply to his vote on that issue?”

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Ideally, I’m not in favor of politicians ducking the media. But what Harris is doing is not ducking. She’s smartly seeking a level playing field from news outlets that have failed to accurately reckon with a congenital liar and, to quote Harris, an unserious man.

The DNC showed us that the Harris-Walz campaign is hardwired to deliver its own message and dismiss the bully in the race. Those are savvy tactics when your opponent behaves like a child and the press props him up to seem like an adult.

Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on X, formerly Twitter, @RexHuppke and Facebook facebook.com/RexIsAJerk

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kamala Harris showed us why Donald Trump's campaign is struggling