Kamala Harris reaches out across the aisle — but points a finger at Trump voter

Harris has been consistently described as an amazingly competent and compassionate human being by colleagues, family, and friends for the past few days. Personal testimonies have poured forth from people who knew her from the beginnings of her public life as San Francisco District Attorney, California Attorney General, Senator, and recently, as the US Vice President. It would not be out of place to describe the mood at the DNC as one of religious fervour, and of course, faith, in a much-needed saviour.

Texas Representative Jasmine Crockett’s speech summed up this mood perfectly. When she met VP Harris, she was very emotional, she said, and then, “the most powerful woman in the world wiped my tears and listened to me.” Confronted with tales of such empathy, what else can human beings do but believe?

Even the hip cartoonists at the New Yorker couldn’t resist representing the metaphysics of hope emanating from Chicago. One cartoon shows passengers in a plane shaking in their seats while the captain warns them of “moderate turbulence” from the “energy field pulsing up from the Democratic National Convention.”

Naturally, this mystical energy field has pulsed its way all the way up to an ecstatic climax with the breathlessly awaited appearance of the final speaker at the DNC – Harris herself. To start with, her speech was consistent with the description of her as someone capable of wiping away tears from the face of suffering Americans. She called for an end to bitterness and divisiveness. She noted that people with all political views were watching, and promised to be a leader for all Americans — “country over party,” as the saying goes. That was a much-needed gesture. Whatever the differences in positions and proposed policies of the two parties, the fact that she did so when no one expected her opponent to make generous “reaching across the aisle” moves was indeed welcome. But then, that promise was ephemeral.

Democratic presidential nominee and US Vice President Kamala Harris waves after speaking on Day 4 of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., August 22, 2024. (REUTERS)

Her attention then turned promptly to Donald Trump, whom she called an “unserious man”. She turned to issue grave warnings about what his return might do to America. It was an unexpected grasp at a gratuitous rhetorical crutch after all the lofty presidential image-building exercises at the convention. The “bogeyman” trope about Trump was perhaps par for the course when other speakers used it (“vindictive, vile, villain” was one of the more colourful phrases), but a step backwards when heard from someone working diligently towards greater gravitas in a darkly cacophonous time of political history. When you demonise an opponent who is still incredibly popular with many Americans, you run the risk of being seen as demonising those Americans you just promised to be a President for as well. On that count, despite all his obvious communication tics, tick-offs, and tactics (including his latest physical gag of mocking his advisers who tell him to talk about policies and avoid personal attacks on opponents), Trump still has some references to a familiar everyday American reality in his rhetorical arsenal that the Democratic campaign has failed to offer a persuasive alternative to.

The Democrats may chant “USA!” like Trump fans, but then the sight of American flags and monuments being desecrated in protests and riots these past few years under Democrats — slogans such as White Supremacy and Palestine — will not be forgotten by many people, across race, religions, and cultures, for whom “country” still symbolises an honourable form of association and identity. More importantly, it is quite apparent that the Democrats are also attempting to turn some of the unignorable social concerns highlighted by Trump such as crime and safety, and prices, into wins for them by highlighting Harris’s prosecutorial record, and the Republicans’ proximity to wealth, respectively. There are empty spaces in both houses.

The convention has come to an end, and so has an incredible experience in the meaning of politics to some in this, supposedly post-religious, age. “After the ecstasy”, as the title of a famous book goes, is the laundry. That it will get dirty is obvious. But much more than we know will be at stake if we are unable to avert our eyes from the spin and see it all for what it is.

The writer is professor of Media Studies, University of San Francisco