DAVID WOIWOD: Emboldened Democrats issue blunt four-word slogan in new political fight against Donald Trump

“Stop shit-talking America.”

It’s the blunt, behind-the-bike-shed criticism of Donald Trump’s ultra-negative campaign, levelled by a new bench of emboldened Democrats.

The snappy line was trotted out this week by VP-wannabe, Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, and it’s heralding the party’s newfound appetite for a political dust-up.

But as well as demonstrating a plucky new level of Democratic guts missing under Joe Biden, it’s crystallising the stark choice US voters will now have in November.

Shit-talking America is the foundation on which Republicans are once again stacking their political fortunes.

It’s a risky strategy that self-combusted in the 2020 presidential race. It also failed to launch in the 2022 midterms.

Still, the MAGA fever never broke and the party is flocking back to the well in 2024.

There’s no denying Donald Trump’s slandering of his own country is the red meat his movement craves.

The former president regularly claims America is overrun by “murderers and rapists”, governed by “fascists and scoundrels”.

The convicted crim uses broad brush strokes to reveal a nightmarish portrait of a country in ruin, one that props up “thugs” and suffers from “record levels of violent crime”.

A nation with dwindling oil and gas production. And one that gives gruesome abortions “even after birth”.

All demonstrable lies.

Will Kamala’s inclusive push strike enough of a chord? Maybe. Maybe not.

Yet they reflect the bleak rear-view vision of a country going to the dogs, whipping up discontent amongst his most ardent supporters.

Under Donald Trump, Republicans have become the party of grievance and fear. And the twice impeached 78-year-old is their North Star.

Eleven days ago Trump’s messaging had Republicans riding high with expectations his darkened version of America would propel the party to ballot box glory.

But Biden’s stunning withdrawal has caused a tectonic shift in the foundations of this race, with Team Trump wrong-footed by the shifting sands of this contest.

By contrast, Kamala Harris offers Americans an optimistic alternative to Trump’s dystopian hellscape delusion.

It’s a choice that was there under Joe Biden, but got buried deep beneath concerns for his health and inability to communicate that message.

Harris has delivered Democrats a much-needed bounce in the polls. A sugar hit perhaps, with three months out from election day the party still has to win over independents and undecided voters in key battleground states.

But it’s a hopeful vision that looks beyond what’s wrong with America and instead forward to what America could be.

Harris’ battle cry “We are not going back!” is the counterpoint to Trump’s revisionist mantra “make America great again”.

And it’s casting Democrats as the party of “freedom” — a bold move encroaching on patriotic, deep-red territory traditionally reserved for their Republican rivals.

Freedom from gun violence.

Freedom from chaos.

Freedom of choice.

It’s a script-flipping play that has thrown the doors to the Democratic tent wide open to Americans looking for reasons not to vote for Trump.

By contrast, Republicans appear to be growing ever more narrow, uncharacteristically becoming the party of regulation, red tape and big government.

Claims the GOP dreams of controlling your body, your bedroom and your books are resonating.

And distractions like JD Vance’s bizarre claim that ”childless cat ladies … don’t really have a direct stake in (America)” are doing little to allay those fears.

Even the choice of JD Vance as Trump’s running mate failed to cast the party’s net any wider. Vance is a conservative teepee within Trump’s more expansive marquee.

Vance’s views are arguably harsher and more extreme than his boss’s.

And that’s doing little to soften the GOP’s appeal to moderate country club conservatives and those crucial independents, desperate for someone to knock the sharp edges off Trump’s campaign.

Will Kamala’s inclusive push strike enough of a chord? Maybe. Maybe not.

What is certain is the politics of fear is a potent force.

It’s already delivered Trump the White House once and we’ll know in 96 days if shit-talking America will deliver for him again.