Kamala Harris Can Beat Donald Trump
With the power of a thousand laughing lions. Let's go, Coconuts.
I came down with COVID-19 the same day Joe Biden pulled out of the 2024 U.S. Presidential Race.
It’s laid me out flat.
For the last 11 days, I’ve been curled up on the couch with swamp throat, a racking cough, a mild fever, and total body exhaustion—hallucinating about the election news cycle.
Before I succumbed to this recurring contagion, I dashed together a YouTube video commenting on Biden’s announcement.
I wanted to capture the mood of the moment:
Somber, with percolating notes of horror.
I mean, the President of the United States, the Democrat incumbent, had just renounced his candidacy for a second term. An elected President giving up power? That’s unheard of. And it came on the heels of Project 2025 going mainstream, a corrupt Supreme Court deciding that Presidents are kings above the law for “official acts”, a failed assassination attempt against Trump with heroic optics, and the Republic National Convention officially nominating Donald Trump as their presidential candidate in 2024 despite being a convicted felon.
Amidst this dystopian backdrop, I could feel COVID-19 coming for me like a dark, creeping thing in an attic, hellbent on laying me low. My husband tested positive for COVID-19 earlier that day, so I knew I had only a few hours—a few days at most—to have enough energy to make a video about anything.
I praised Biden for stepping down. It showed humility, honesty, and more courage and competence than much of the media coverage is giving him credit for. I thanked him for his service, and for bringing kindness and normalcy back to the office of the President. I expressed my disdain for MAGA, my horror of Project 2025, and emphasized that a second Trump presidency could destroy democracy in America.
I also said that I loved Kamala Harris as a candidate to replace Joe Biden, and noted that she has the potential to go up in popularity between now and election day—maybe by a lot, hopefully enough to win.
Some people found this surprising—or confusing.
Like, who even is Kamala Harris? What has she accomplished? Does anybody know her enough to love her? Is America ready for a woman President? Am I just backing the blue horse?
FOLKS
Let me remind you that I am autistic. I don’t really connect well with people in general. If I say I “love” a politician, I mean it in the same way that I love grilled cheese sandwiches. Like, I will take one of those, please and thank you, any day of the week. I love Kamala Harris as much as I can love a person I have never met and who doesn’t know me or love me in return—which few people do.
I live most of my life in almost total isolation emotionally. People don’t talk to me. I don’t know what people are into. I have only the vaguest notion of celebrity gossip or which musical artists are hot right now. I have to actively look things up to know what is going on.
You might think this would make me a poor judge of which way the political winds are blowing, but the opposite is true. Because I am looking things up constantly.
What’s more, if I choose to pay attention to something, I have a unique tenacity to separate fact from fiction and dig in deep to really understand it. One of my interests is how people go from Republican to Democrat, or conservative to liberal, or visa versa. The search for truth and “side switching” in general is a special interest, and I approach it with less bias—or perhaps just more awareness of my biases—than most people do.
I mean, I did it—switched sides—so I know it is possible.
I grew up in a politically conservative, religious, MAGA loving family. My parents love Rush Limbaugh, Ronald Reagan, and Donald Trump. I voted for Bush in 2000. I was a very young and ignorant voter then. I have obsessed about it since. I understand the MAGA mentality intimately—the fear of difference, the hatred of deviance, the perception of persecution, the scarcity mindset, the enablement of abuse, and the overall emotional immaturity. I also know how and why I built my own moral compass and left all that behind—and also why WE’RE NOT GOING BACK.
I knew Kamala Harris was well-positioned to pull the Democrats’ campaign for the Presidency out of its downward spiral. I assessed her vibe from 10,000 feet away and thought “yep, that’s the ticket.”
A week and change later? Sweet, sweet validation.
Kamala Harris is KILLING it. As I write this, Kamala Harris is even with Trump in the polls and has pulled ahead in multiple swing states where Biden was trailing just one week ago. She has raised over $200 million dollars. She is putting out some amazing ads. She is dancing to Beyonce’s Freedom. There are coconut tree memes everywhere.
I believe that Kamala Harris can beat Donald Trump.
Everything I am seeing on both mainstream media and in social media—and I used to be a social media analyst and have a background in PR—tells me that Kamala’s star is not only rising, but blazing like the sun.
She can win.
She might even be able to win big, like Obama did in 2008.
Look, I love Joe Biden too. He is not as progressive in his policies as I would like, and he’s not able to galvanize crowds like Trump can, but he is a kindhearted man who loves his family and the American people and took the job of being President of the United States seriously. He has been a fine president. Considering the state of our political divide, he has actually accomplished quite a lot. I am proud of him. And grateful.
However, as a presidential candidate, he’s like vanilla ice cream. Even at his best, Biden was more of a return to business as usual than a swing toward the stars. And unfortunately, he is not at his best. His health is in decline, and whether that factored into his decision to step down or not, I think he would have lost the election to Donald Trump based on voter perception—true or untrue—that he is not up to the job.
Every Democrat was feeling that.
The despair was palpable.
But let me be clear.
It’s not about blocking conservatives from being represented in government, whatever the pundits say. I am not opposed to our democratic system that passes the baton back and forth, even when making progress for the American people slows to molasses thanks to scorched earth politics. If the Republicans were running Chris Christie as their presidential candidate, this whole election would be a lot less contentious. There’s room to debate different approaches to government. There’s a healthy conversation to be had around progressive policies that might overextend government reach, or cost too much, or are too idealistic to be practical.
I am open to reasonable discussions.
But there is no room in our democracy for contempt of government. Every American should object to the dismantling of our democratic institutions and the introduction of policies that strip rights from the people and give more money and power to billionaires.
That is what Donald Trump wants to do.
That is what J.D. Vance—a surrogate for tech billionaire Peter Thiel—wants to do.
They are the swamp.
It’s a fascist takeover.
Fascism is what happens when extreme ideologues try to take power through a populist movement that is a cover for autocracy. Fascism is driven by fear. It is fear of the rising power of the working class, fear of changing norms and traditions, and fear of the people’s power exercised through the vote—when you are losing democratically.
Fascism came to America just as it was foretold by Sinclair Lewis in It Can’t Happen Here—wrapped in the American flag and carrying a cross.
MAGA is Christian Nationalism.
MAGA wants Donald Trump to save America from immigrants, trans people, and liberal heathen women whose access to basic rights, like medical care, are somehow framed as destroying the country.
Under Project 2025, diversity and inclusion is allowed (insofar as workers need to be present in order to be exploited) but not equity. Equity is being dropped from DEI. Conservative Christians will be given more rights and more representation in positions of power. Meanwhile, other people’s rights—like trans people, gay people, childless women, and other groups that threaten “traditional family values”—will be taken away.
And MAGA was winning.
Fascism was winning.
Even after Donald Trump was convicted of 34 felonies, he was ahead in the polls.
Nothing was stopping him.
But then Joe Biden did The Incredible Thing: He stepped down.
I can’t emphasize enough how much humility, how much goodness, and—yes—how much cognitive awareness this decision showed. Joe Biden stepped down. And he has passed the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris.
Kamala Harris is fierce.
Kamala Harris is fresh.
Kamala Harris is fire.
Kamala Harris could be Trump’s greatest nemesis.
Trump was eager to face Joe Biden in an election rematch. But he won’t even commit to a debate with Kamala Harris. It’s easy to understand why. Kamala Harris is going to be like facing Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton rolled into one.
Except that she is also a prosecuting attorney.
Kamala Harris is ready to face Trump, a convicted criminal. Kamala Harris is as eager to debate Trump as Trump was eager to face an ailing old man too fundamentally kind to deliver the verbal slaps he deserves.
Let me tell you: Kamala won’t hold back.
Kamala Harris is bringing fight to this race.
She is a goddamn lion.
Her campaign messaging zeroes in on her leadership and experience winning court cases against fraudsters and abusers. Like Donald Trump.
Let’s repeat. She is a winner. Against fraudsters and abusers.
Her messaging also emphasizes her plans for the future of the United States, a future that is both more optimistic and more practical than anything Trump has said in years. In her stump speech, Kamala Harris emphasizes immigration reform, economic opportunity, strengthening the middle class, and bolstering democracy.
Under Kamala, “Yes, we can” becomes “Yes, we will.”
She also calls out Project 2025 and all the progress it would undo.
In the wake of growing unpopularity, Trump is now actively disavowing Project 2025 and trying to distance himself from it. That’s because he is an immature narcissistic weasel who will lie and obfuscate and chuck his own people under the bus to avoid losing. Unfortunately, he is inextricably tied to this published “blueprint” for his administration. It is what his fascist donors and followers are trying to elect him to do. J.D. Vance, his extremely weird Vice President, wrote the forward to the book Dawn's Early Light: Taking Back Washington to Save America, which is the manifesto of Project 2025’s founder and head of the Heritage Foundation, Kevin Roberts.
To sorta distance Trump from Project 2025, Paul Dans, a “director” of Project 2025 and a “former advisor” to Trump, has been forced to step down from both the project and the Heritage Foundation. Why this is meaningful beyond a throat to choke is anyone’s guess.
Still, in spite of Project 2025 and everything else about Donald Trump that is self-serving, reprehensible, and incompetent, this election is—at present—still a tight race.
Kamala Harris is the underdog.
But there is a groundswell.
In just a little over a week, the whole world feels different.
Kamala Harris is dominating the news cycle, both in mainstream media and social media. Her campaign has raised over $200 million dollars and counting.
People like her.
And Donald Trump doesn’t know what to do. He’s tried a few things, throwing insults at crowds to see what they react to. So have his followers, MAGA influencers, and political pundits.
He tried “Lyin’ Kamala” but that just reminds everyone how little of what Trump says is actually substantive, how much he gaslights his followers on where he stands on the issues, and how easy it is to prove that he is a pathological and malicious liar whose only abilities are praising himself and flinging ad hominem attacks at his opponents for popularity points.
What did Kamala Harris lie about? The only thing I have heard is that she didn’t run to the media with gossip that Biden is old (we know), or unwell (we know), or unfit to govern because he is old and unwell (I disagree), like that is something we should have expected from Biden’s Vice President, whose job is to support the President.
How about Lion Kamala? That’s more accurate.
Trump has also tried “Laffin’ Kamala”.
Because… what? She feels joy? Because she laughs with deeply heartfelt authenticity? Because she believes in the importance of community?
Coconuts!
Trump has also said that Kamala Harris is “low IQ” and a “DEI hire”. This is absolutely a racist and sexist remark that wildly misunderstands DEI. He qualifies it by noting that Kamala Harris didn’t pass the bar exam on her first try. She passed it on her second try—which is pretty damn good.
President John F. Kennedy had to take the bar examine three times.
Trump’s campaign has also gone on air with a plea to voters that Kamala Harris is dangerous because she will… take away plastic straws? Or beef? These ploys are so wild and weird. The absurdity is that these so-called detractors to a Kamala Harris presidency are both inaccurate and comparatively meaningless against the potential loss of our democracy, freedoms, and rights if Donald Trump becomes President.
None of this is working. None of it is sticking.
Kamala Harris knows how to handle herself. She is dismissive of trivial insults. She claps back when warranted. She looks powerful and unfairly victimized by an immature, petty, and vindictive abuser—which of course Donald Trump is.
I have so much more to say about all of this.
I could have made a post every day this week with all the thoughts I have.
I have just been too sick.
I still have COVID-19.
I took a rapid test on Sunday, a week after feeling the first signs of illness. I thought I was finally starting to feel better. But those two damning lines appeared immediately.
IMMEDIATELY.
My husband said: “you’re supposed to wait 15 minutes.”
I was like: “I think that’s for the lines to appear. I don’t think they go away, though.”
The lines did NOT go away.
I have been sick for 11 days now—11 days since Joe Biden resigned and Kamala Harris’s campaign took off with the roar of a thousand laughing lions.
On top of that, I did something to my neck. As I type this, I’m in head-splitting pain.
But that’s how excited I am.
Kamala Harris’s campaign is off to an absolutely crushing start.
So, can Kamala Harris beat Donald Trump?
I absolutely believe so.
She’s already tied in the polls and there’s another 99 days to go.
Critically, Kamala Harris is speaking to the people—not just progressive far-left liberals (whatever Trump claims) but to all the people. She is speaking clearly, cogently, and poignantly. She is speaking on issues that have been depressing broad swaths of working Americans. She is speaking to solutions that could unite a cohort of enthusiastic voters that could bury MAGA.
At least, that is my hope!
In my opinion, yes, Kamala Harris can beat Donald Trump.
Kamala Harris is the right candidate at the right time.
The torch was handed to her in a dark hour when we needed a fighter.
And now the tide is turning.
Anyone who still believes in freedom, opportunity, and democracy, or who has been even somewhat disquieted by the blathering, bloviating, and disjointed venom that drips out of Donald Trump’s mouth whenever he speaks, should listen to his opponent.
Listen to her directly.
Kamala Harris has a plan for the future.
Kamala Harris cares about this country.
Kamala Harris is someone we can fight for.
Kamala Harris is someone who can fight for us.
And when we fight, we win.
The title is misleading. There's plenty of blame to go around.
https://youtu.be/ZrJgWsj7Qhw?si=sDOCgGPxH9JorZkn
I agree the economic situation is not good. Jon Stewart recently did a podcast on economic populism that explores failed economic policy across the political spectrum. Kamala Harris has improved opportunity and strengthening of the middle class in her stump, though I can't say how much will change or how fast.
Economics in recent years are easier to explain. Manufacturing was in a recession in 2019. Then the pandemic hit. Supply chains crumpled. Prices skyrocketed. Companies fired 20 million people. Then had to hire them all back at accelerated rates. Inflation soared. Profits ballooned... and were pocketed or went to executive pay. Under Biden, interest rates were increased to tame inflation. Inflation is down to 3% but that doesn't lower prices. Now it is unclear if we are in a recession or about to hit a growth cycle.
I could elaborate on all of this as I look at labor market data frequently.