With Joe Biden stepping down from his re-election campaign and passing the torch this election has become one of the wildest and least predictable in modern history. This shake up is a welcome development for the vast majority of people who support labor rights, women's rights, civil rights, and don’t want the radical fascistic Christian nationalist agenda which had seemed all but inevitable in the wake of Biden’s growing trainwreck of a campaign. As we discussed last week, this change to Vice President Kamala Harris has opened up the possibilities space for new policies and the new type of Democratic Party. It's reinfused excitement into the youth and allowed a glimmer of hope that perhaps there is more to offer than just the same old tired politics that's failed so many Americans.
Were she to win, the type of president Kamala Harris will be remains undetermined. There are mixed signals, both good and bad in her record: She supported the Green New Deal as a Senator when running for President in 2020, but has rejected calls for a ban on fracking. She has ties to labor, being the only Biden administration official who walked the line with picketers, but she’s also been tough on crime as a prosecutor in California. Her inconsistency here can be both a sign for concern, and one for hope: Any grand promises should be treated with skepticism , but her open engagement with these kinds of policies shows a level of willingness to be pushed in the right direction on these issues.
These inclinations open up the space for a strong and united political and economic activism to make real inroads towards changing the policy agendas of the Democratic Party and getting this country back on track towards a livable future. Harris’ choices going forward and the policies she espouses will determine the difficulty or ease of creating that pressure, but even in the best case scenario, organized outside pressure will be needed.
All this is putting the cart a little bit before the horse, however, because the victor in November is still very much up in the air (although you’d prefer to be Harris than Trump currently). Politics-wise the campaign is off to a good start. It has leaned in to the enthusiasm of the youth and embraced the new strategy of being willing to attack and ridicule the Republican opposition. Probably the most effective line of attack to come out so far have been the accusations of “weirdness” leveled at conservatives, leaving Republicans, and even Trump floundering and on the defensive. Weird works so well, because fundamentally it's true. The views of people like JD Vance and Trump Are weird. They are not some silent majority, but a weird fringe cult. That truth cuts at the very core of their identity, and so far no one on the right seems to be able to cope.
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