All this and more in this week's letter.
On the evening of Super Tuesday, March 5, shortly before Donald Trump effectively ended the Republican primary and earned a general-election rematch with President Joe Biden, I asked the co-managers of Trump’s presidential campaign what they feared most about Biden.
“Honestly, it’s less him,” Chris LaCivita told me. “And more—”
“Institutional Democrats,” Susie Wiles said, finishing her partner’s thought.
It was a revealing exchange, and a theme we would revisit frequently. The Democratic Party, Wiles and LaCivita would tell me in conversations over the coming months, was a machine—well organized and well financed, with a record of support from the low-propensity voters who turn out every four years in presidential contests. Ordinarily, they explained, Democrats would have structural superiority in a race like this one. But something was holding the party back: Biden.
“I don’t think Joe Biden has a ton of advantages,” Wiles told me on Super Tuesday. “But I do think Democrats do.”
She and LaCivita were right to worry.
This Is Exactly What the Trump Team Feared
By Tim Alberta
The Atlantic, July 21, 2024
Hi Friend,
In many ways, I’m feeling relieved. Biden is too old to run and govern; Harris is not. Biden couldn’t connect with voters; Harris can. Passing the torch must have been something akin to chewing and swallowing glass for Joe Biden, but it was the right thing to do.
But while I am relieved, I understand some folks are feeling bamboozled by the latest turn of events. Perhaps you are one of them? I understand your concern.
I’ll start by saying that serious discussion is again being torpedoed by certain talking heads. Commentators on Fox News (and former President Trump, not surprisingly), have breathlessly pronounced what transpired a coup, though that assertion only resonates with folks who don’t understand the definition of the term (a sudden, violent, and unlawful seizure of power from a government – Oxford Languages). Aside from the coup accusation, which is objectively false, plenty of regular folks are expressing real dismay, and this is what I care about. Someone commented on my last letter to say that Trump was a better candidate than one “pushed on us by shady backroom deals.” (Though, TBH, if you're not a fan of shady, backroom deals, I'm pretty sure Trump is not your guy. I digress.) The question before us, then, is whether there was anything either unlawful or unethical about the way this all went down and whether what happened in the past few weeks weakened our democracy. That’s what I feel like you are asking me to consider, yes? Good. Fair.
The answer, as I see it, is yes and no. On the one hand, even though primaries are not legally binding; even though we didn’t even have them in their current form until after WWII; even though turnout for presidential primaries is very low (in the 2020 primaries, a little over 20% of eligible voters participated for both parties and in 2024 the number was even lower than that) they are a thing. A chance for voters to make their voices heard. We should never take that lightly. If we care about the integrity of our democracy (I hear you, all who will again write to tell me we do not, in fact, live in a democracy – forgive my shorthand), we must acknowledge this breach and make sure it doesn’t happen again. (Biden Admin, I’m looking at you.)
Aside from that, I confess I’m a little confused as to the nature of the accusation. I feel absolutely sure that Biden informed Harris of his plan to drop out of the race and endorse her before he went public with the news, though I don’t see how that could be construed as unethical. Do people imagine this was some long, drawn-out scheme? Surely not. No political strategist worth their salt would suggest executing such a strategy, given the sheer number of unknowns. Because, while not unethical, switching candidates 100 days before an election was risky in the extreme. Switching candidates this late in the game could well have been a disaster. But as it happened, the Democratic party—"well organized and well financed” as it was, rose to the occasion, as did Harris, as did all those who might have challenged her. In the wild and woolly world of politics, it was as disciplined an effort as we’ve seen in recent years.
And now, one way or another, Harris is it.
This leads me to the other thing I want to address in this letter, which is the idea that we on the left love Harris because – and only because – she is a black woman. This is a perplexing idea, on the one hand, but evidently it’s one of real concern.
I can’t tell you how many times in the past couple of weeks I’ve seen some version of the following statement/question on social media: “Please tell me you don’t love Kamala Harris simply because she’s a black woman. Can you tell me one thing about her policies that you actually like?” The idea, it would seem, is that we on the left are so consumed with identity politics that we can’t see beyond identity.
I have, more than once these past few weeks, chosen to answer this question in good faith (which means I've spent far too much time on Instagram). Can I tell you one thing about Harris's proposed policies I actually like? Why yes, as it turns out. I can tell you many things.
Of course I despise the explicit accusation that Harris is inherently unqualified and that the only reason I like her must be because she is a black woman. Making such as accusation denigrates her intelligence and mine, and it's wildly inappropriate. And as much as I object to that question, I appreciate the one re policy. This is where we must point the discussion, again and again: away from political histrionics and insults and toward real, substantive discussion.
Re my take on Biden/Harris policy, I’ve answered this question in another letter and you don’t need me to answer it again here. The important thing, I think, is that we all do what we can to put actual flesh on the bones of these discussions. We all must do our own research. It doesn’t take a lot of time to read the following articles, peruse the following lists, and get a real sense of the substantive issues and where Trump, Harris, and Biden land regarding them:
Happy reading, friend,
Sara
Is it bad enough yet for you to admit that you've been misled?
How did she go from the lowest approval of any VP to competing against the most popular President since Teddy Roosevelt in less than a month?
You have no idea what's coming.
The death of the dimocrat party is at hand.
You whole heartedly support someone who systematically lied to you about the physical and cognitive decline of the President?
Who stole her position instead of earning it from the voters?
That doesn't seem good.
"And now, one way or another, Harris is it." That is not an endorsement. That is not a statement of support. That is an admission that you are not making your own choices. Think. For the sake of the nation, Think.