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 Listen now · 7:34 |
1.
Here’s a common thing you will see in political media that annoys the hell out of me: presenting normative claims as descriptive reality. That is, dressing up what you hope to be true as what you actually believe is happening in fact.
Politely, speaking the future into existence or “manifesting” reality.
Less politely, LYING.
Yet most of the legacy media and party leaders are lying to each other, and to you. Expect that to get worse in the coming weeks on both sides.
Don’t fall for it.
Demand data, arguments, and analysis. And then, make up your own mind.
2.
This is a Substack for my friends, community, mentors, and any curious souls out there who have clicked ‘subscribe.’
I can’t promise you will always agree with me, or that I will always get it right.
I promise only that: (1) I won’t be boring (2) I won’t lie to you.
I am a Democrat and I want Democrats to do well – that is my inherent bias. I also make it clear – especially to fellow Democrats – that this political commitment doesn’t mean I am willing to live in a fantasy land, renounce logic, or stop observing reality.
For example, I think the president’s brain is cooked and he has dementia or something very much like it – so I say so. I also think the vice president is the worst candidate we could have nominated in his stead, and partly as a consequence, I predicted she will lose.
That does not mean there isn’t sexism and racism. I’ve seen enough YouTube clips of (especially young men) saying Harris can’t be president because she is a woman. Misogyny is real. But I also don’t think calling out suspected bigots is a strategy. If you’re complaining and scolding? You’re losing. Or worse, you already lost.
3.
I dislike the phrase “people of color” because it sounds too urban, coastal, and Ivy League. This loses Democrats votes in the heartland. It generalizes far too much. Also, white is a color.
But ask any woman or minority who has achieved in this country and they will tell you this: it was never enough for me to be above average; to get to where I am, I had to be exceptional.
Barack Obama was exceptional and popular.
Hillary Clinton was exceptional and unpopular.
Harris is unexceptional and unpopular.
Any honest Democrat sees this.
Were Harris not a woman of 2 colors, she would still would be a United States Senator. But she would have never become vice president.
4.
That does not mean she “didn’t earn it” (DEI). It was Biden’s prerogative as the Democratic nominee to select a VP on any criteria or no fucking criteria at all, and that’s who he chose. So, deal with it.
Politics is not merit-based.
It is based on, well, politics – a societal calculation about who gets what, when, and how. I voted for the Biden-Harris ticket in 2020 along with 81 million Americans, so Harris gets to be vice president whether she is “qualified” for that job or not.
Put another way, what makes Harris qualified for her job is that she has it. Same goes for Trump when he was elected, and if he is elected again.
That’s how democracy works: the only qualification for elected office is that you get elected. And then we all get the government we damn well deserve.
That’s why calling Harris a “DEI hire” is stupid. The moniker assumes there is some other objective qualification that has been illegitimately usurped by race and gender. But she’s a politician. And in politics, there are no objective qualifications. You don’t have to know how to change a light bulb, like electricians do, or like software engineers, how to code.
The qualifications are whatever the voters, donors, and party leaders decide they are – i.e., they are 100% subjective. You have to meet legal/constitutional requirements, of course. Beyond that, anything goes.
It’s not like JD Vance isn’t a diversity hire by Republicans’ definition. Being from Appalachia undoubtedly helped him get into law school – Yale likes geographic diversity. And coming from a single-parent household marked by poverty, domestic violence, and substance abuse undoubtedly helped him become Trump’s VP. Indeed, Vance’s bestselling book and entire career is based on the conceit that he is a disadvantaged hillbilly worthy of special attention.
Similarly, Harris’s race and gender has helped her tremendously, starting with her college and law school admissions and culminating in her rise to the vice presidency, because, affirmative action. It is also hurting her now, because, sexism and racism.
Reality is always complicated and inconvenient in these sorts of ways.
But I much prefer painful truths to comforting lies. Don’t you?
5.
Democrats like Pelosi and Obama were brave enough to oust Biden in the end, but not brave enough to do it in 2023 when they should have or to block Harris in July.
Democrats like winning. But, apparently, we like identity politics more.
Biography and diversity are always relevant in politics. But ultimately, you do need a baseline competence, or at least the appearance of it, that the vice president seems to lack.
I believe Kamala Harris is about as capable as George W. Bush – that is, good enough to become president if she were white, male, her daddy was president, and the Supreme Court were controlled by her party. Unfortunately for Democrats, Harris is non-white, female, her daddy was not president, and the Supreme Court is controlled by Republicans.
Trump is also a much more gifted politician than W. Bush or Al Gore. So more likely than not, Trump wins. If you are a pro-reality Democrat, as I am, that means Democratic House and Senate candidates should run their races accordingly. And the next time we have a shot at the White House, let’s improve our chances by having a real primary to nominate someone voters seem to like.
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