ICYMI: If Kamala Harris Loses, What Will They Say?
Here are a few headlines for your consideration
NOTE: November 7, 2024—I feel slightly clairvoyant right now. Don’t get me wrong; I was wildly optimistic about the prospect of a Kamala Harris presidency but never entirely trusted America to deliver for her or us. I was not wrong.
I haven’t anything profound or new to say outside of what I mused about a few weeks back. I am still processing and taking good care of myself and my loved ones in this moment. I hope you are, too.
—There are only a few weeks before the Presidential election, and my anxiety is at an all-time high (it’s over now). On any given day, I vacillate between feelings of Zen (it’s out of my hands), doom (what the F is happening?!), or optimism (I can’t wait to elect our first woman President). The polls and the pundits aren’t helping matters. They all want to be right about the outcome, but what will they say if Kamala Harris loses in November?
To prepare myself, I have written a version of the headline, and here it is: Despite Tremendous Progress, America’s not Ready for a Woman President. The meat of the article will focus on Harris’s qualifications and fitness for office (she needs more experience), her temperament and personality (she laughs and dances too much), or her never genuinely connecting with voters (code for white men). Others will write replacing Biden with Harris was a costly mistake Democrats should have anticipated despite the polls and fundraising hauls that have demonstrated otherwise.
Articles will also attempt to lay the blame for her defeat on various sub-groups of voters – Black men, white women, Latinos, or the under-educated, among others. They will say voters didn’t buy what Harris was “selling,” or she didn’t do enough to win them over, never once pausing to seriously interrogate the reasons white men vote the way they do.
According to a recent CNN poll, 58 percent of white men say they will vote for Donald Trump, while just 35 percent say they will vote for Harris. About seven percent are undecided or refuse to say. Aren’t you just a little curious about what’s driving these numbers? Not even Tim Walz’ Harris’s running mate, has been able to loosen Trump’s chokehold on white men.
It’s because a good majority of white men vote to ensure the power, racial, and gender hierarchies in America remain undisturbed. And electing a woman as president does just that—it disturbs, unsettles, and signals hierarchies can be toppled. They don’t fear replacement; they fear the loss of power.
As a result, in the event of a Harris loss, I believe a more accurate headline might read: Democracy in Peril as White men (and their wives) tighten vise grip on power. American Women disappointed, but not shocked.
Now, this is a headline I can get behind. It shifts the conversation away from who is to blame for the loss to the tactics, strategies, and trickery deployed to maintain power and racial and gender hierarchies in America.
I’d happily read these articles with a big bag of family-size Doritos in one hand and a box of wine in the other.
This Time Around, Don’t Say You’re a Woman
Women rarely come out on top when they center their gender in work or politics.
Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, and their allies know this. They desperately want voters to focus on Kamala Harris’s race and gender. In fact, they are begging us to. They understand the potency of identity politics and how racism and sexism operate in America.
We’re all a little racist, aren’t we? We’re all a little sexist, right? We all know who should be running the country—wink, wink.
For Trump and Vance, no innuendo is too odious or line too far to cross in service of their larger power project.
Hillary Clinton (2016) and Kamala Harris (2024) have run very different Presidential campaigns with respect to race and gender.
The former up-played gender and the historic nature of her candidacy, while the latter has downplayed it, de-emphasizing gender (and race) so as not to make the election a referendum on whether or not America is ready for its first Black woman president. For the sake of strategy, it’s masterful. However, In the end, it might not matter.
The only group who wins in identity wars or politics is white men—no one else. Because what they are asking us to do is to go back to America’s default settings, where the hierarchy and order of things are clear. White men are on top and at the center, and everyone else is on the margins.
If Harris, another woman, loses this time around, I want us to be honest and admit it was never about her qualifications, campaign strategy, personality, pricey earrings, or policy positions. It will not be because a better candidate defeated her handily.
It will be because of racism and sexism—and the calculated and intentional use of both to undermine the credibility, integrity, and character of Kamala Harris and thwart her ascension to the highest office of the land.
But What if She Wins?
To be honest, or TBH, as my teenagers would say—I struggle to understand how the race is so close. If it weren’t for the Electoral College, voter intimidation and suppression, racism, and sexism, Harris would win in a landslide. Instead, I am fiddling with the Electoral College vote counter on the New York Times website, trying to predict the election's outcome near-daily.
As it stands, the entire Presidential election and the future of our democracy depends on a handful of votes in as many states. Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada, and Wisconsin, I am looking at you—WTF.
If Kamala Harris wins, I hope the headline reads: America Says Yes to Harris, Faith in Democracy Restored
Here’s another: Hilarious and Rhythmically Gifted Woman outsmarts Despot to become next American President
And then, the real work begins. STILL TRUE!
Here are links to white men and women doing fantastic work this election cycle.