Kamala Harris and the Democrats

It’s convention week for the Democrats, which brings me to the concerns that a few loyal readers have been raising. They say that I’m being too hard on Kamala Harris and the Democrats. They say that I’m missing a much bigger picture when I criticize them. That bigger picture is the threat of another Donald Trump victory, which could very well end the election in America, or at the very least create a much more conservative and reactionary judiciary than the one we have now. They point to Project2025 and challenge me to write about it and expose it.

At the same time, there is one reader’s optimism for a Harris presidency. She may not be the best choice, this reader concedes, but she has demonstrated progressive credentials. And her strong support within the party has grown organically, as she has raised more than $200 million from mostly smaller donors, money that could help her move away from corporate agendas and in progressive directions.

And I’m fine with that. I’m open to criticism of my positions and priorities. That’s also a big reason why I started Bracing Views, not just to air my thoughts, but to hear the reactions of others.

As I was thinking about this feedback, I saw this headline and story on the New York Times this morning:

Harris’s Muscular Patriotism: Kamala Harris on her first meeting with Tim Walz delivered a riff about their distinctly American backgrounds. She grew up in Oakland, California, raised by a working mother, while he grew up on the plains of Nebraska, she explained. They were “two middle-class kids,” she said, and are now trying to reach the White House together.

“Only in America,” Harris said, as the crowd in Philadelphia erupted in a chant of “USA! USA!”

This kind of unapologetic patriotism doesn’t always come naturally to today’s Democratic Party. But it has been central to Harris’ presidential campaign. In her ads and speeches, she has portrayed herself as a tough, populist, progressive patriot.

Source: New York Times/Siena College Poll, September 2022 | By The New York Times

Given all this, it is not surprising that most voters consider the Republican Party to be the most patriotic party:

Source: YouGov Poll, April 2024 | By The New York Times

The far left part plays a role here. Parts of it — think of Noam Chomsky— can be dismissive of the US, describing it as a fundamentally oppressive country. Liberals, not conservatives, often argue that immigrants are forced to move here because of the consequences of US imperialism. Liberals are more likely to have a problem with national institutions such as Thanksgiving, the military, or the flag.

The most prominent left-wing movement of the past year — the Gaza protests — is a case study. The movement has not only drawn attention to the high number of civilian casualties in Gaza; it has also sometimes portrayed the war as an extension of American immorality. Protesters have torn down American flags and defaced a statue of George Washington with the word “genocide.”

The America-skeptical left is not the Democratic Party, of course. But the left does exacerbate the concerns many swing voters have about the party — namely, that the party is unclear about a dangerous world. These swing voters generally don’t like Trump, but they do appreciate his apparent toughness on trade, immigration, crime and more.

Harris combines patriotism with bold promises to defend the interests of ordinary Americans. “Being president is about who you fight for, and she’s fighting for people like you,” the narrator says in a campaign ad. Her ads explain that as a prosecutor, she’s taken on murderers, child molesters, drug cartels, big banks and big pharmaceutical companies.

Harris’s turn on immigration embodies both the themes of toughness and patriotism. As a presidential candidate in 2019 — when the left was more influential in the Democratic Party — she supported decriminalizing border crossings. Today, she promises to protect Americans from the gangs and fentanyl flooding across the border, and she criticizes Trump for blocking a border security bill.

The image accompanying this story showed a person wearing a Kamala Harris T-shirt, which depicted her as Captain America.

Considering this article and many others like it, I don’t think my two readers have to worry that Kamala Harris will be treated unfairly by the commercial news channel (the CON)!

According to the New York TimesHarris will surpass Trump in being tougher on crime, drugs, and illegal immigrants. As Captain America, she will be even more muscularly patriotic (or blindly nationalistic, my wife joked) than Trump. The only concern is the killjoys on the “far left” who think mass destruction and genocide in Gaza are wrong. They don’t think America is the best, best, best country in the world. But Kamala does!

Unfortunately, Bracing Views does not have the same market penetration as the New York Timesso my criticism of Harris and the Democrats will hardly put a dent in all the celebration and enthusiasm for Kamala this week. However, it seems to me that the tactics being used here are yet another case of the Democrats feigning left and running right.

Anyway, here’s a response I sent to a loyal reader and friend about my approach to Kamala and the Democrats:

I’m not anti-Harris per se. She has such a thin record that no one knows how she would make decisions.

I am against the way Harris is being shoved down our throats as an almost savior figure. I am against the Democratic party, that is why I left it and am now an independent.

I am also against Trump and the MAGA crowd. I have written article after article condemning them from 2016 to 2021. Do I need to repeat all that again to be “fair and balanced”?

I understand that you see Trump and MAGA as major threats, much more so than the Democrats. I see a different threat, I think, a uniparty that embraces empire, militarism, colossal spending on wars and weapons, and a foreign policy that could start World War III, whether the figurehead at the top is Trump or Harris.

I had hoped that the Democrats would offer a REAL alternative to Trump on the issues I listed above, but Harris is a foreign policy lightweight whose description of the Russia/Ukraine war should really scare you for its ignorance and superficiality. She, like Trump, will spend $2 trillion on new nukes. She, like Trump, will brag that the US military is the best in the world, which will keep the Pentagon budget climbing to $1 trillion, while the Pentagon continues to shrink audit after audit. She, like Trump, will keep the weapons flowing to Israel, so that Gaza can be made Palestinian-free, giving Israel and Bibi more living space.

Will Harris be more populist at home? I think so. Will she be friendlier to LGBTQ+ and pro-choice movements? Absolutely. Is that enough to vote for her? That’s for voters to decide.

Harris is essentially trying to play the Obama playbook, “Yes, we Kam,” backed by big donors expecting a big return on their “investments.” Again, maybe she won’t be as bad as Trump was domestically, but as they say, the lesser of two evils is still bad. How long do we have to wait for a candidate who isn’t bad?

If we don’t force the Democratic Party to provide resources other than corporate resources, I think we’re going to continue to get corporate resources, as Harris did.

I stand by that answer. For many Americans, the Kamala/Walz ticket is attractive, but I will continue to criticize it, as will Trump and the MAGA crowd. Because I don’t think either party, and certainly neither candidate, is America’s last best hope.

Readers, what do you think? Should we get excited about the Harris/Walz ticket? Is it time to embrace the politics of joy? Should we not criticize Democrats because MAGA Republicans are worse? Should I write more articles critical of Trump because there aren’t enough of them in the CON already? Fire away!