This is the massive catch 22 of this election. if Kamala loses, then Trump becomes president and all of the obvious negative consequences will happen.

If Kamala wins using the strategies she has chosen then she legitimizes the dog shit strategy she has pursued. I think leftists are wish casting when they talk about Kamala moving left after being elected.

I will admit part of me doesn’t want to believe that the campaign strategy Kamala Harris has pursued this election is a good strategy. To some extent, I am wish casting that America is not the type of country where being a dick Cheney Democrat is a good strategy. 

I’ve heard Hasan talk about it and describe it as one of the worst political strategies he’s ever seen. I’ve also heard Emma vigeland talk about it and basically give the opinion that Kamala Harris doesn’t believe these things but she’s doing it because it helps her win. Emma argues that leftists aren’t factoring in that she’s a black woman, and unfortunately, just being a black woman leads most low information voters to view her as very liberal despite that not being true. so she needs to overcompensate to fight against the perception. Emma argues that Kamala is being smart and will govern as more of a leftist than Biden.


Kamala Harris has done the following:

1. Try to appeal to Republicans who think Trump does not have enough decorum. Eg. Liz Cheney actually used to talk about post birth abortions, and has said some horrible things in regards to immigration, but she has more decorum than Trump and Kamala Harris literally held a campaign event to highlight that she now endorses her. 

2. Making a huge part of her economic policy being pro small business owner. economics is somewhat of a zero sum game. if you constantly talk about how much you want to help small scale capital owners, you’re kind of signalling that you care less about labour.

3. She’s running as a Warhawk. Multiple times, she has talked about wanting the US military to be the most lethal fighting force in the world and threatened to destroy Iran if they touch Israel. (Emma argues she doesn’t actually believe this and is not an ideological Zionist but needs to compensate for being a black woman)

4. She has completely abandoned Arab and Muslim Americans, and signalled to them that she doesn’t care about them at all. Among Her surrogates she has chosen to include people like Richie Torres and Bill Clinton. Her campaign refused to give 5 mins to a Palestinian voice at her convention. She spreads the belief that this conflict started on October 7 and the unproven accusation that hamas went into Israel to rape Israeli women. Despite Israel committing genocide, she has promised on multiple occasions to never stop giving them weapons and describes what Israel is doing as self defence. 

Also according to international law an occupier does not have the right to defend themselves against military effort of the people they are occupying to end that occupation. Eg. The Russian federation does not have the right to defend their forces from Ukrainian attacks on internationally recognized Ukrainian soil. Very similarly the IDF does not have the right to defend its soldiers in Gaza and Lebanon (Somehow Emma vigeland still argues that she isn’t a Zionist.)

5. She has almost completely abandoned the left. She never mentions wanting universal healthcare. She never mentions wanting to limit carbon emissions and get rid of stuff like fracking. In fact, she talks about how much she supports fracking and how she’s the type of person that is always strapped and loves guns and will shoot you with her Glock to protect her home and property. (Emma argues that this is overcompensating for being a black woman.)

6. She Has run her campaign as being anti-immigration. She literally accuses Trump of not actually caring about the border. Basically she highlights that Jim Lankford wrote an extremely right wing order bill that Biden tried to pass in Congress, but Trump called the Republicans and told them not to support it so that immigration would still be an issue during the election. She has openly stated that she would have passed that bill and she would have built the wall. Her Basic argument has become that she actually cares about stopping immigration and that Trump is only using it for politics.

7. When asked about what’s the biggest difference between her and Joe Biden and what she would do different from genocide Joe Biden she has openly stated that she intends to appoint a republican to her cabinet in an important position. She has literally signaled that the one thing she disagrees with Joe Biden on is that he hasn't appointed a republican to his cabinet.


I will Admit that a part of me is wish casting that this is a bad strategy.

Do you guys agree with Emma that this is actually a smart strategy? The basic premise being that America is not as progressive as leftists like to believe and leftists need to lie to some extent to get into office.
user
If Kamala does win on the back of this strategy I think it’s fair to say that’s more an inditement of Trump than it is a vindication of Harris.
assistant
I’d agree with this. If she wins my worries will move to 2028 where I have almost 0 faith she can be re-elected with the same strategy. Hopefully Dems would be smart and move to build a new coalition over those 4 years but since when does that happen
user
If Kamala wins in 2024 she's 100% going to be the candidate in 2028. 

Let's be honest if Biden had not lost the ability to speak coherently and to walk off a stage without his hand being held he would still be the nominee.

Kamala's young enough that she's not going to become an invalid in 4 years
assistant