The Price of Eggs: Why Harris lost to Trump
It takes some skill to make Donald J. Trump look good. Two Democrats have succeeded in doing so: Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Kamala Harris in 2024. The conceit of both presidential campaigns, and the belief that attacking a staggeringly grotesque moral character for being such, was laughable. (When a Clinton mocks groping philanderers and creepy molesters, one must reach for, well, the Starr Report?) In certain countries, abominating and execrating your political adversary for being a moral defective might work. In the United States, such figures can draw benefit from being outside the constraints of law-abiding society. They are quite literally outlaw spirits that still speak of that nebulous notion called the American Dream while encouraging everyone else to come for the ride. Realising it involves treading on toes and breaking a few skulls on the way, but that’s the expectation.
From the start, the Democrats had tied themselves in knots by convincing President Joe Biden that he could not only last the tenure of his office but run against Trump. Doing so, and deriding those wishing to see a change in the guard, created a needless handicap. Throughout late 2023 and early 2024, it became clear that the party worthies were doing their best to shield Biden’s cognitive decline. The sham was cruelly exposed in the June 27 debate with Trump.
Panic struck the ranks. With little time to regroup, Vice President Harris was close at hand, selected by Biden as the appropriate choice. But Harris landed with a punctured parachute weighed down by the crown of presumptive nomination. There were to be no opponents (the 2016 challenge of Bernie Sanders against Hillary Clinton which annoyed the party mandarins would not be repeated), no primaries, no effective airing of any challenge. It was easy to forget – at least for many Democrats – that Harris’s 2019 bid for the nomination had been spectacularly poor and costly. An ailing president would also keep his occupancy in the White House, rather than resigning and giving Harris some seat warming preparation.
While the change caused the inevitable rush of optimism, it soon became clear that the ghost of Hillary’s past had been working its demonic magic. The Harris campaign was unadventurous and safe. All too often, the vice president hoped that messages would reach the outer reaches of the electorate from cocooned comfort, helped by a war chest of fundraising that broke records ($1 billion in less than three months), and a battalion of cheerleading celebrities that suggested electoral estrangement rather than connection.
Then there was the problem as to what those messages were. These, in the end, did not veer much beyond attacking Trump as a threat to democracy, women’s rights and reproductive freedoms. They tended to remain unclear on the issue of economics. From foreign to domestic policy, Harris failed to distinguish herself as one able to depart from the Biden program in her own right. Instead, it was hoped that some organic coalition of anti-Trump Republicans, independents, Black voters, women and American youth would somehow materialise at the ballot box.
In a September 16 meeting with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, longtime allies of the Democratic Party, Harris failed to convince its leaders that she would protect the livelihood and jobs of workers better than Trump. Within a matter of days, the union publicly revealed that it would not be endorsing Harris as Democratic presidential candidate, the first since 1996.
Her interviews were minimal, her exposure to the outside treated with utmost delicacy. The Republicans, on the other hand, were willing to get their hands dirty with an extensive ground campaign that yielded electoral rewards in such battleground states as Pennsylvania. The Early Vote Action effort of conservative activist Scott Presler proved impressive in encouraging voter registration and increasing absentee and early vote counts. His efforts in securing votes for Trump from Pennsylvania’s Amish community were strikingly successful.
Trump, in sharp contrast to his opponent, was so exposed to the point of being a potential assassination target on two occasions. He showed the electorate he was worth the tag. He personalised with moronic panache. He babbled and raged, and made sure he, as he always does, dominated the narrative. Alternative media outlets were courted. Most of all, he focused on the breadbasket issues: the cost of groceries, housing and fuel; the perceived terrors of having a lax border policy. He also appealed to voters content with reining in the war making instincts so natural to Harris and neoconservatives on both sides of the aisle.
Fundamentally, the Democrats fell for the old trick of attacking Trump’s demagogy rather than teasing out their own policies. The Fascist cometh. The inner Nazi rises. Misogyny rampant. Racism throbbing. This came with the inevitable belittling of voters. You cast your ballot for him, you are either an idiot, a fascist, or both. Oh, and he was just weird, said the unknown and already forgotten ear-scratching Democrat vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, whatever that means in a land where weird is so frequent as to make it its most endearing quality.
It is remarkable that Trump, a convicted felon, twice impeached in office, a person so detached from the empirical, the logical, and the half-decent, would be electable in the first place. Even more remarkable is that such a figure has won both the Electoral College and the popular vote. The glorious Republic likes its show and treats elections like marketing exercises. Its defenders often pretend that those reaching its highest office are not mirrors but transcendent figures to emulate. Trump – in all his cocksure hustling and slipshod approach to regulation and convention – shows many in the electorate that the defect and the defective can go far.
A few final lessons. The Democrats would do best to listen to those who would otherwise vote for them. Focus on the economy. Talk about the price of eggs and milk. Ditch the lexicon on ill-defined terms of supposedly useful criticism such as fascism, a word the users almost always misunderstand. And always be careful about pundits and pollsters who predict razor small margins in elections. Polls, and people, lie.
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Return to home pageI thought about this and commented a few weeks ago, but without heart, force or risk of offending, that Harris was to be subject to a hidden groundswell of refusal, inactivity, denial. She was a woman and an African American one, so nonvotng and non registering was a factor to be observed, As well, she had the entirely useless Biden, his policy continuum, his dead weight. Harris following Biden was a withdrawal, a discontinuum, a low lying near invisibility. The USA psyche will not cop that, for it must be drive, energy, hope and supremacy even if all that is utter lying bullshit. My guess was for five to ten percent lower support for Harris than polling might suggest. “They” have voted for insanity and illusion.
Phil,
“They” had to choose between steady-as-she-goes delusion and disruptive delusion. “They” opted for the latter. Can we really blame “them”?
No questioning America’s sanity now. It doesn’t have any. Period. After his miserable last term in office where he showed Americans and the rest of the world just how much of a psycho nutcase and undiplomatic bigoted loud-mouthed embarrassment he was they are so disillusioned with the status quo that they voted a multi-bankrupted failure ‘businessman’ groper of women and convicted felon back in to office because nobody else has the skills and qualifications to do the job properly?? I guess you need to be born and raised in “Land of the freaks and the home of the brainless” to understand why or how so many people they can make such a pitiful choice.
Nah. Stop putting the public on a pedestal, and giving them undeserved credit. American masses fell for a self serving, lying, criminal, and election denier.
American masses just showed their lack of moral character, and poor judgement. Most apparently still believe the 2020 election was stolen. The fact they believe that, show they would believe anything from the real elite Trump.
I agree John C.
Trump had lots of empty slogans, and no solutions for “bread and butter issues”. So that couldn’t be it.
Trump was; “Say lies often enough, and plenty will start to believe it”.
So no calls of this election being stolen from the Trump camp? He must be a hypocrite.
And how many manly men and religious nutters just couldn’t stand the idea of a…gasp…woman being president?
GL’s on to something; in the land of 35 oz steaks, root beer, huntin’, fishin’ & drivin’ massive utes with massive V8 motors, the notion of a female head of state is deeply anathemic, and given that country’s insularity, it’s also unlikely that many (any?) would be aware that other countries have successfully elevated women into premium political positions.
Gem of a piece. What happens when you beleive your own bullshit. In the end the lies over Gaza and loss of credibility set up this fall.
I am personally glad that I am not an American. I don’t have to come up with any convoluted reason or reasons why a country that urges every other country to uphold high ideals of freedom and democracy ends up with such appalling choices themselves. An immoral philanderer, convicted criminal, prolific liar with the demeanour of a thug is reinstated, forgiven, and embraced by such ‘lovely’ people who devoutly pray and offer allegiance to some grey eminence up in the sky.
Kamala Harris was always on the backfoot, not being the choice of young black men and young white men, who could not or would not deign to be ruled by a woman, a black one at that. She was only embraced by the vast majority of women but which was never going to be enough.
I don’t pretend to know the answers but wonder if running a genocide wasn’t a great election policy.
What a nightmare. Clearly Harris did nothing – or not nearly enough – to court the male vote, in particular the working male vote. The comment about the International Brotherhood of Teamsters is right on the money. And of course the whole crapshow is exacerbated by America’s crazy and inconsistent voting laws, which change from state to state, and between elections. And since there is no impartial Electoral Commission to run elections, they’re managed by state governors, all of whom are partisan. You really couldn’t create a worse political system if you tried. What’s even worse, there will be no checks and balances for Trump’s unhinged and demented ideas; the Republicans will likely control both Houses of Congress, as they already do the Supreme Court.
He’s been invoking the name of William McKinley, who was indeed a master of the tariff: McKinley made it his business to understand the economics and geopolitics of tariffs as well as he could. Trump has a vague idea of what a tariff is; no more than that. However, he’s welcome to compare himself to McKinley, seeing as McKinley was assassinated…
The majority of Americans are rednecks, some have a veneer of gentility, but underneath that very thin veneer beats the heart of true blue, dyed in the wool, redneck, and not just the men, the women as well.
The idea that a woman could run a country is anathema to the majority of Americans, to them women belong in the home, having babies, scrubbing floors, being under the influence and control of a man, the fact that most brides in America still have a man walk them down the aisle to be handed over to another man is not just a symbolic action, it is how the majority of them think the order of things should be. Mother of the bride, who probably did the majority of the work to get their daughter to adulthood, is not even acknowledged.
For the majority, their abiding belief is that women don’t belong in public life, they don’t belong in government making decisions that men have to follow, there will not be a female president in the US for a very long time, and especially not a black woman, to think that even in the 21st century that the majority of the American people would vote for a black woman as president is to think magically. Many other countries, some considered to be highly patriarchial, on the planet have had a woman leader, but the US still cannot bring itself to do that.
American society is male dominated and misogynistic. There is no getting away from that.
The fact that women voted for a man who has been married three times and cheated on each of his wives while still being married to them, a man who has cheated is way to a billion dollar fortune by underpaying or not paying his bills, seems to make him some kind of god to those who worship him, as though not having a moral compass is not only a positive character trait but a benefit, someone to be emulated.
Way back when she was nominated I told my husband ” they will never elect a woman as President”. Wouldn’t have mattered if she’d promised them all a million dollars.
They’d rather have a mysogynistic, philandering, bankrupt, morally corrupt, unethical felon.
Anybody notice how less than enthusiastic Melania was??? What’s that about ???
Spot on Keitha I won on trump in 2016 when a white strong woman got to be favourite and this time my son had a site with Trump @$2.80so my $15 and his $85 was good.
The Pope’s women believe their god deliberately made the only 75% of men, with one week in 4 unclean, and the hand clappers believe their god endows boys with power over women on their 12th birthday.
So with 270 the target both Harris 226 and Clinton 227 were closer than I thought.
Watch us and the Qld go down the anti-women and anti-Aborigine road.
And don’t forget emu’s contribution (emu – E.MUsk).
Well, I think we can say that the Ukraine is now utterly screwed.
@6.37AEDT. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/nov/07/us-election-2024-live-updates-donald-trump-victory-kamala-harris
Taiwan will be watching nervously. Netanyahu will be rubbing his bloodstained hands in glee. Fun times ahead.
Makes me wonder if Dumpster will pardon Ghouliani if he can drag it all out until the January inauguration.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/07/rudy-giuliani-court-surrender-assets
In perhaps the most cynical move ever in the Middle East it is now becoming clear that Netanyahu has done a deal with Trump to continue the bombing of Gaza (and Lebanon) during the ‘lame duck’ period until Trump is crowned in January.
Come the inauguration of the Trump dynasty in January, Netanyahu will announce a ceasefire and Trump will claim credit (within twenty-four hours of his ascendency).
Then you can expect Netanyahu to announce the permanent occupation of Gaza for security reasons (i.e. Israel reserves the right of self defence) with Israeli settlements to spring up as was the plan all along.
Job done and Trump is seen as the Messiah bringing peace to the Middle East and Netanyahu triumphs.
Spare Me !
Not a single mention of how media – both major social media playes and msm – have distorted both campaigns. All of Kampmark’s articles about USAnian politics tend to a certain level of disingenuity, but this one takes the cake.
A old Turkish proverb:
When a clown moves into a palace he doesn’t become a king. The palace becomes a circus
Even if the clown moves into a circus, and lasts the distance for four years, then that’s the end, he’s finished, caput! Goodbye!
Yes, Binoy, but in fact the Fascist HAS cometh. The inner Nazi HAS risen. Misogyny IS rampant. And racism IS throbbing. This is not rhetoric and never was. Trump showed us who he really is, over and over and over again. And now Americans have shown us who THEY really are. https://pazzoredento.wordpress.com/2024/11/07/potus-ebola/
To give an analogy of what went wrong for Labor with The Voice. When I was in Year 11, Channel 10 News reported that my old high school had to be evacuated because of a gas leak. If someone who knew me had rung up and said, “Are you okay? I heard your high school had to be evacuated today?” I could have said, “No, it didn’t.” What happened was, Channel 10 arrived shortly after 3pm and filmed us coming out of school at the end of the day! And when I saw the footage, I thought, “That would have to be the most disorderly evacuation I have seen.” When I was in Year 12, we had two bomb scares in the space of one month, and we didn’t stroll down to the evacuation point, but nor were we marched in two lines; the teachers had to take a roll call to ensure that everyone had left the buildings. Labor expected that people would research the truth for themselves, and they didn’t, not because they’re time-poor but because they’re lazy!
The same thing happened in the USA! The rednecks in their Chevy or Ford pick-up trucks with “Buy American!” stickers on the back wouldn’t consider the fact that the Toyota Camry that Ed was driving in his bowling alley lawyer series may have been assembled in the USA, to them it would be Unamerican for him to drive one! And the same rednecks are, “I ain’t drivin’ no sissy Corolla! Or no sissy Prius! I want my gas-guzzlin’ pick-up truck!”
Another problem is that Americans see gun ownership as a civil liberty.
This person appears to be the living embodiment Chucky. Creepy.
https://thehill.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/susiewiles_ap_11724.jpg?w=640&h=360&crop=1
And she’s going to Trumpsters chief of staff.
https://thehill.com/homenews/4979786-susie-wiles-chief-of-staff/
I got rubbished for saying:
Does Americans suck?
The septic society should consider why a loud braggard who cannot string coherent sentences together on any given topic, is the next POTUS.
Given that he had 3 opponents. Two, 2016 and 2024, intelligent, competent women and one, 2020, bumbling, stumbling, close to senility, ex-vice president.
Given that he won two and lost one.
Given the washington post asked for one word to describe trump.
The ten most common words that respondents gave were: “incompetent,” “arrogant,” “strong,” “idiot,” “egotistical,” “ignorant,” “great,” “racist,” “a——” and “narcissistic.”
given Reddit asked ‘describe Kamala Harris in one word’
influential
the Beautiful. That might sound shallow, but I think she’s beautiful on many levels. She is leading with warmth and compassion and for me, that is beautiful.
Smart
Positive
chronic_insomniac
Normal
Deco_Rose
Protector
Notarapistfelonweirdo
Her codename is suitable. Pioneer 👍
Exploited
Baddass
Presidential
Qualified
HippieJed
Inspiring
theKinkajou
Fierce
Winner
golden palomino
Strong
Joyous
Courageous
Dynamic.
too hard to find clinton but biden
cantankerous
crazy
crotchety
histrionic
juvenile
loony
maniacal
puerile
spaced-out
Created on October 13, 2012
HTF did Biden win and Hilary/Kamala not win?
Teiresias,
Don’t bet on the fool leaving after 4 years, either on his feet or in a box. His handpicked Supreme court will somehow find a way to change the constitution to enable him to carry on.
What went wrong with America !!!!!!!!
Oddly, am not in complete agreement with Michael Taylor over the Musk-rat. I figure Murdoch and tabloid media/press, even, are much closer; Musk turned up as the last piece in the reactionary jigsaw. I rebel at the attacks on soc meeja by older tabloid forms and Musk is a symptom as much as a cause as are most of the rest of us, in one way or another.
Ultimately, Binoy Kampmark is right, to me. It wasn’t the “hard right” that brought them down, per se, but an ugly- enabling for Republicans- composite of neoliberalism and imperialism typified by Gaza, as well as the snub to american blue collars unemployed and disillusioned by ugly policies the Democrats embraced. Labor. unthinkingly, takes to its breast the same malarkies here and also heads toward a nasty reckoning next year in the wake of a cognitive vacuum.
Of course, I’d be reminded that the neolib process- dominant capitalist version- has been developing over a very long time. Government, hence governance, was captured by the oligarchies ages ago.
What we see now is the ugly true face of “globalism” with its euphoric promises of a better world, as a stalking horse for hegemonist authoritarianism with the public’s brains rotted to a homegenised pulp by meeja in an electronic Panopticon.
I suppose, eventually, we are all products of the system, including the likes of Harris, Musk, Biden and Trump, as well as the politicians and public.