The political whiplash effect is Harris-Walz's secret weapon [View all]

The political whiplash effect is Harris-Walz's secret weapon
As happy and joyful warriors for democracy, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz present as antidotes to Donald Trump

By Chauncey DeVega
Senior Writer
Published September 9, 2024 6:00AM (EDT)


(Salon) This summer in politics has been a whirlwind. Democrats went from what seemed like almost certain defeat by Donald Trump to President Joe Biden stepping aside and handing the political torch to Vice President Kamala Harris. These last eight or so weeks also included the Republican and Democratic Party’s national conventions, an assassination attempt on Trump’s life, and a disastrous first debate between Biden and Trump. Many political experts have described this series of events as being some of the most consequential and rapid in recent American history in the shortest amount of time. We are now on the eve of one of the most anticipated presidential debates in history.

As I have tried to make sense of this summer, and the Age of Trump more generally, I have kept returning to the image of a car going around a racetrack in an endless circle at high speed and unable to stop. It is loud, fast, and disorienting while at the same time being very tedious and repetitive. Those of us in this car — and watching it from the stands — are suffering from motion sickness. With the sudden change of political fortunes in these last weeks, it feels as if the American people have gotten a whiplash or a concussion.

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During her first major televised interview since becoming the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, on Thursday, Harris, and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, provided an example of what that could look like. Harris, as expected, was confident and poised as she explained her policy positions and how her thinking has changed over the years. She dismissed Trump’s absurd claims about her racial identity in such a manner that it made him look even more ridiculous — as though that is possible. CNN’s host, Dana Bash, as is typical for the mainstream news media, recycled Republican and right-wing talking points and accusations as though they were truth and not partisan attacks. Harris and Walz deflected them, and in total did an excellent job of staying on message and credit-claiming for her accomplishments as Biden’s vice president. In short, Kamala Harris looked “presidential.”

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But at its core, Harris and the Democrats are trying to revitalize a faith and belief in the presidency, democracy, government, and a type of healthy normal that has been so greatly diminished by the Age of Trump. .............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2024/09/09/the-political-whiplash-effect-is-harris-walzs-secret-weapon/