D. Allan Kerr
If I didn’t know better, I could almost believe Joe Biden planned the whole thing.
If he did, I’m sure it’s worked out way better – so far − than he could have even imagined. Especially after rival Donald Trump’s bizarre rants at a conference of Black journalists this week.
I have to admit, over the past couple of years I could not figure out why the Biden administration seemed to be keeping his vice president on the back burner. I wanted to see Kamala Harris out on the stage, fighting for her party with the kind of pitbull tenacity she had displayed repeatedly during her time in the U.S. Senate.
Certainly, shelving Kamala wasn’t going to help if she had to win over voters at some point, because people wouldn’t have an opportunity to really know her. Or so I thought. Shockingly, I was wrong.
Instead, lots of people were apparently just so freaking exhausted of seeing the same ancient mugs of Biden and Trump year after year after year that when Kamala’s moment finally arrived, she seemed like a fresh new face. In fact, after her boss’s recent campaign stumbles, she seemed like the Democrats’ savior.
If Biden did orchestrate this, he undoubtedly knew Trump and his minions could be counted on to respond to a Kamala campaign by showing their own true colors. But it’s been downright shocking to see how totally unprepared Republicans appear to be for Kamala’s turn in the spotlight. When the GOP falls back on the old flailing twin standards of racism and misogyny, you know they haven’t bothered to formulate a cohesive strategy.
But it reeks of pure desperation.
I know Republicans who won’t vote for any Democratic candidate because they disagree on just about every policy issue. Hey, that’s the American way. But at least for the moment, this isn’t the argument being put forward by many of the party’s leading motormouths.
A Tennessee congressman named Tim Burchett and a Wyoming congresswoman named Harriet Hageman – who should know better − are among those who have called Kamala a “DEI hire.” I only learned a few months ago this stands for diversity, equity and inclusion, which typically should be a good thing. But the implication here is that Kamala only achieved success because of her skin color.
Yeah, Moscow Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia has already been documented as one of the dumbest individuals to ever grace the House of Representatives, but her claim that Kamala was chosen for “her gender and maybe her skin color” just shows you what level of genius we’re discussing.
Their goal, for those fortunate enough to be unschooled in the ways of bigotry, is to diminish the vice president and provide MAGA folks angry with their own lives another scapegoat for their woes. It’s a well-worn tactic used to great effect among certain ignorant folks of previous generations.
But this approach ignores the fact that Kamala has served as San Francisco’s district attorney, California’s attorney general, a United States senator and of course America’s vice president. I don’t care what your party affiliation might be, that’s a hell of a resume. And by the way, she was elected to all of those posts, so the “DEI hire” tag is doubly stupid.
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska may have actually best summed it up when she agreed these attacks are inappropriate. “What, are they just going to say if you’re not a white male, it’s a DEI candidate?” she asked recently.
Just watch – the same Kamala traits which would be considered “tough” and “commanding” in a guy will be portrayed as “bitchy” by Republicans in the months ahead.
But as always, the icing on the cake of ignorance was courtesy of Trump himself this week, during a totally unhinged appearance before the National Association of Black Journalists. He still seems so bewildered by his new 2024 election opponent he can’t figure out how to go after her. At one point he actually asked, “Is she Indian, or is she Black?”
Apparently, the very idea that she can be both – much the same way he is both Scottish and white − is too much for Trump to comprehend. (Jon Stewart of the Daily Show had a typically hilarious take on Republicans grappling with this very issue just a couple days before Trump’s appearance, it’s worth checking out.)
Trump behaved in a deranged manner throughout the on-stage interview, starting when he claimed the very first question – regarding his many past racist comments – was “very rude” and “a disgrace.” By which, of course, he meant “uppity.”
It’s been pretty funny to see Republicans over the past few years underestimate first Barack Obama, and then Biden, time and time again. Wouldn’t it be hilarious to learn years from now that Biden intentionally botched the infamous June debate so Democrats would be on the verge of throwing in the towel, only to have Kamala Harris swoop in like an avenging angel to save the world? And also knowing Trump just might implode?
I mean, think about it – say Joe had decided a year ago he wasn’t going to seek re-election. Harris, if she ran, would have just been another typical political candidate slogging her way along the long and winding campaign trail. This way, she’s KAMALA! Exploding onto the stage in the third act with her own dazzling light show to fire up the crowd.
What’s really sweet is the thought of Trump’s cronies getting ready to move back into their old DC digs – at least the ones still pathetic enough to want to work for him again – when they had all the momentum on their side just a week ago. At the very least, they have a lot more work ahead than they anticipated.
D. Allan Kerr suspects Trump’s post-assassination-attempt promise to be a “unity” candidate has already expired.
