Out of nowhere, Kamala Harris’s campaign was suddenly about “joy.” Until it wasn’t. Now it’s a campaign to stop the “fascist.” Wow! That was fast.

Maybe now it’s easy to understand. The word salads. The staged “town halls” with no real, live questions. “Shopping” in convenience stores with no customers. The contrived “important calls” — with iPhones conveniently recording the calls on both sides. Or even the flip-flops on major policy positions. 

As we learned during the CNN town hall with “undecided” voters, Harris can’t articulate why she wants to be president or what she would do as president. 

It’s much deeper, and yet very basic: Harris isn’t comfortable in her own skin. 

She isn’t ready to be president, and she either doesn’t have her own actual policy positions — or, at some level, her handlers know her values probably don’t match up with a majority of Americans.

Which is why, when in doubt, her safe space is to attack former president Donald Trump, repeatedly — not just his policies, but him personally. It’s why, when in doubt, she defaults to the cornerstone of the Democratic Party to get applause: unlimited “abortion rights.” Those are her “safe spaces.”

She wants to be president; it’s the why that she has a problem with. Maybe it’s why her positions on almost all other issues flip-flop so easily, and her priorities shift with the polls.

Maybe it’s why her campaign started as a commitment to finish the good works of Bidenomics and the Biden/Harris administration — until that wasn’t working. Then, suddenly her campaign became about “joy” and turning the page to a “new generation of leaders.” 

Then, just as suddenly, as she fell behind in the polls and with Election Day looming, Harris turned-up the attacks on Donald Trump. He’s now (again) a “fascist” and, worse, her allies began either calling Trump “Hitler” or alleging that Trump admires him.

Not very “joyful.”

Most Americans have a functioning “BS meter.” A growing majority realize that she doesn’t seem to understand — and isn’t focused on — what most Americans are looking for. We see the flip-flops. We’ve noticed the shifting priorities. And we hear the screeching, angry rhetoric.

At her wit’s end, on October 24, she held a three minute “press briefing” in front of the Official residence of the Vice President of the United States, standing behind the Official Seal of her office, and angrily called the former President a “fascist.”

Yes, the “joy” is certainly gone.

She rambles, in part, because she’s not a gifted orator — which is fine. But she rambles in part because she seems to have “swallowed” every TED Talk and every briefing paper created by her staff and she’s searching for the phrase or aphorism that she’s supposed to say. Most of her answers aren’t genuine or effective. She either hasn’t thought about these important things, hasn’t decided what she thinks, or knows that her beliefs are out of step with most people. So she pauses, cackles, and goes on a word search in her head. 

This is also why it’s so easy for her to not only flip-flop on issues, but also easily change her priorities and themes.

In the days leading up to the Democrats’ convention — out of nowhere — we heard the word joy. We heard it so often because not only every Harris surrogate and Democratic operative was chanting it like Benedictine monks, but every major legacy media outlet repeated it: Harris for President would be a “joyful” campaign. 

Until late October, when she was falling dangerously behind across the “swing states.”

Goodbye “joy” and hello “fascist.” 

The campaign was no longer about spreading joy; it is about stopping the fascist — stopping “Hitler.” And everyone on Team Kamala and the legacy-media chimed in.

America’s BS meters are exploding. We see the joy evaporating and we hear the anger and hate. We doubt that Harris was ever joyful, just like most Americans know the “Hitler” garbage is, in fact, garbage. Activists and DC Democrats have been calling Trump a fascist, a dictator, and a “Hitler-admirer” since 2016. Heck, they’ve called every Republican nominee “Hitler” since Thomas Dewey. Yawn.

When you’re obsessed with power, you say and do anything to get it. The road from joy to fascist looks a lot like the road traveled on so many issues that she cavalierly, shamelessly, “pivoted” on.

On illegal immigration, she proudly spoke about defending the Biden/Harris record. She wanted to offer not only emergency services to those illegally crossing into America, but also free health care and education — even that American taxpayers should pay for sex-change operations for illegal immigrants. Until that didn’t play well. So, she was for tougher borders—and hiring more border agents!

She was for “defunding the police” and “reimagining” how we police our cities, until…she was going to be tough on crime.

“Bidenomics is working!” she lectured us. Until her operatives realized that few Americans believed it. So she suddenly grew up “middle class.” Until she spoke at an Hispanic conference, then she became “working class” — with a bizarre accent. 

Whatever else, Trump is authentic. He never claimed to be poor. He never faked an accent. He doesn’t change his positions to suit an audience or kowtow to special interests. He is who he is. 

In a nation paralyzed by the traditional partisan battles, and a world of war and chaos, maybe the answer is strength and confidence.  He often stands alone on stage or with citizen-heroes at his rallies. She is surrounded by — even protected by — celebrities and VIPs.

We are a deeply divided nation. With many people suffering or impacted by the policies of this administration — where she was at Biden’s side, Harris has given many more Americans reasons to feel cynical and forgotten — and taken for granted.

Kamala changes her positions, her priorities—even her accent. She is not comfortable in her own skin. She just so desperately wants to be president. 

Maybe someone so unsure, so desperate and willing to change, so removed from reality isn’t the right choice.

Guy Ciarrocchi is a writer for Broad + Liberty and RealClear Pennsylvania. He is a former Republican nominee for Congress and a strategist. Follow Guy at @PaSuburbsGuy.