She Ran a Good Campaign
Some thoughts on the 2024 election…
She lost, and it wasn’t even close. This is an absolutely devastating reality about the core principles of the American people and what we value more on the ballot. It was always going to be an uphill battle, but the popular vote? I don’t think many could have seen that coming…
Naturally, we’re seeing a flurry of news stories piled onto each other in the last few days about why Kamala Harris lost, where Democrats need to pivot towards, and what a second Trump term may look like. All of these are a bit premature to fully analyze or predict, and we probably need the emotional shock of it all to settle, but there are a few things we can point out: she wasn’t able to perform at all relative to Biden in big counties, failed to sweep in key demographics that Democrats traditionally have a lock on, focused on messaging that clearly wasn’t enough of a priority in hindsight… even Hollywood didn’t matter.
With all that being said, she ran a very solid campaign with the cards she was dealt with. Harris only had a few months to rally the troops after a last-minute dropout from Biden, and she adapted very fast. Her social media team (especially “Kamala HQ”) ran stellar accounts that could hop on the cultural trends and flip Trump’s messaging fast with rapid editing. She captured the zeitgeist with her merch and gathered previous skeptics to support her campaign. Given that she needed to balance a “new way forward” while distancing herself from Biden and defending him, she developed a solid moderate stance on issues that felt different from post-2016 Democrat politics. Compared to Trump, she is a steady hand, came off as someone you could have a beer with, and tried to ignite some optimism and joy in her campaign.
Unfortunately, joy doesn’t work in mass. Positivity doesn’t always sell well in America. It’s partly why social impact studios like Participant Media shut down. I think for many, joy may feel like an unrealistic emotion if you’re stuck with real socio-economic struggles. Trump ran his campaign on fear and anxiety to his base and explicitly vilified the left. He has built an extremely effective and successful brand, so much so, that he (or Tony Hinchcliffe) can say whatever he wants and no one will scrutinize him. An uncancellable candidate.
There are so many issues with Trump that it’s actually difficult to talk about them all: felony charges, obstruction of justice, 2020 election overturn, impeachments, bankruptcies, sexual assault claims, racism, fascism, etc.. I would assume to many voters, this all sounds like noise. Giving people a list of problems with someone isn’t always as effective as focusing on one issue (ex. Hillary’s emails) which tends to have a higher emotional effect. Again, the way he manages to position himself is astounding.
Let’s be real, though. She mainly lost due to deep racism and sexism in America. We can argue many things about how she presented herself, but at the end of the day, America is simply not ready for a woman president. We have too many deep-rooted flaws when it comes to equality and we still cannot get past it. I do believe we’ll have a woman president in my lifetime; I just hoped that 2024 was the year.
So now it comes down to the aftermath and the next four years. Off the bat, our markets did well, so that’s something. (TSLA skyrocketed to no surprise, though, the Trump-Elon buddy love will inevitably fizzle as most of Trump’s relationships do.) Silicon Valley leadership is clearly going red, but everyone will try to play nice with his administration. Democrats will try to pivot more toward the center, but they also need to crack their online presence considering the MAGA movement performed well in this so-called “Podcast Election” (maybe Harris should have done that Joe Rogan interview). Journalism will need some reboot to appeal to a wider audience and battle AI creep. There’s a lot that needs to be done to reverse the red shift across the entire country.
Of course, the Democratic Party will also need a new rising star, so I would just like to put this here.*
- *Although I am the biggest Pete fan, it would also be a massive uphill battle for him in 2028 if he decides to run, not to mention Newsom would likely join in that race. (Also, my TikTok feed is blowing up about Trump v. Obama if he could actually remove a two-term limit… the internet…).
