STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The Democratic nominee for president is relying on support from some Republicans, and they include Liz Cheney, who carries one of the bigger names in Republican politics.
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LIZ CHENEY: I ask you to stand in truth, to reject the depraved cruelty of Donald Trump. And I ask you instead to help us elect Kamala Harris for president.
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INSKEEP: Cheney turning up at a Harris rally. She was a leader among House Republicans, until she lost her job for insisting on the fact that Trump lost the 2020 election. Cheney's father, the former vice president, says he's voting for Harris, too. So how effective is this? We've called Rina Shah, a political strategist and a former Republican congressional aide, and a founding member of Republicans for Harris. Welcome back to the program.
RINA SHAH: Hi, Steve.
INSKEEP: OK. So if you're conservative and you don't like Donald Trump, you can say, I won't vote for Trump. But it's another step to say, I'm voting for Harris, and I want you to do that. What is an affirmative conservative case for Harris?
SHAH: Well, in the words of Liz Cheney, these conservatives who are not just lukewarm on Trump, but really done with him, need to take that extra step to vote for Harris. She made the most compelling argument I've heard this entire cycle for why it matters to, again, take that extra step. In backing Harris, what I've heard from her is, again, that strong argument of why it matters. It matters because it's our country's future, right? That's what everybody talks about. But I put it this way, Steve. And, of course, as a political strategist, I love coming up with acronyms. But to me, it's about PTP. That's priorities, trust and personality - not policy. And when I say personality, I mean temperament, who we believe has the right temperament to handle our nation's greatest challenges, whether they're coming from abroad and seeping into our borders or right here at home.
And so when I hear Liz Cheney speak, I know conservatives are listening. Because when she said it's a secret ballot - you can wrestle with your own conscience, in her words, but when you get to that voting booth, it is about trust. That T right there, to me, is paramount, because even when you talk about a range of kitchen issues, it seems that Trump registers as untrustworthy to a great many people who are right of center. And that's what I think she went to Wisconsin with last night. In campaigning for Harris, she really made a standout argument also about Trump's economic plans - of course, the concept of a plan.
INSKEEP: Yeah.
SHAH: But that last bit, where - she really closed with this and said, his sweeping tariff proposals are fundamentally anticonservative and a disastrous policy that essentially is going to kill our economy.
INSKEEP: OK, so it's interesting here. You're making arguments, then, that go beyond purely talking about democracy or constitutionalism or the rule of law. I think I hear you saying that just because Trump says, I'm going to be a dictator on Day 1, which he actually said, or that certain - the 2020 election justifies the termination of the Constitution, which he actually said, you need to make the argument about other things. You need to tell people that this guy would be bad for the economy, for example.
SHAH: Yes, because we still know that the economy is the top of issues for a range of people across the spectrum, right? So I've seen the Harris-Walz campaign essentially deploy an all-of-the-above strategy. And people say, well, can it be effective in this last 30-day stretch? And I say, yes, because they're running an ahistorical campaign. It's a condensed amount of time. And that gives them, actually, a greater ability to have their striking points be successful. And those striking points...
INSKEEP: Can you just say, though, if I may...
SHAH: Yes.
INSKEEP: Can you make the argument to somebody whose top issue is immigration, who's bothered by what has happened with immigration in the last few years, that Harris is the person to fix that?
SHAH: Steve, to me, it's a slam dunk on that one. Trump promised to build this great, big, beautiful wall. He didn't do it. He promised to curb the illegal immigration at the southern border. He didn't do it while he was in the White House. He could've deployed really sophisticated, innovative technologies to do that. He didn't do it at the time, and that's why Biden got in. And frankly, that's why he deserves to get out. He can't be trusted on all the major issues of the day because he hasn't come up with a good, solid plan, nor does he have any real successes to point to from his time in the White House. Harris appeals because she can do it really well, with policies that do appeal to people who are right of center.
INSKEEP: Rina Shah, thanks so much.
SHAH: Thank you, Steve. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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