I have sat down to write this newsletter three times in the last nine days. The first time was last Friday, when it appeared that our democracy was doomed to be reduced to a diss-off between two diametrically opposed men, neither of whom could tell it was time to leave the soirée. I felt compelled to write something about this crazy time. But truth was so much stranger than fiction that day that I didn’t know where to begin. So I abandoned the effort for a more fun fiction project about a dystopian future.
The next time was mid-week last week, after Biden pulled his name off the ticket, and Kamala Harris became the heir apparent. I couldn’t believe the nation’s good fortune to have fresh blood and an entirely different kind of election on our hands. I reveled in the record-breaking fundraising for Harris’s campaign that Black women and men, and white women voters achieved in a few short days through organized Zoom calls that broke the platform numerous times.
The obvious follow-up question at that time was: What about white men? Would they rise to the occasion and actively work to elect the first female President? Would they help to save our national ideology from Trump’s despotism (“In four years, you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good you’re not going to have to vote.”) and Project 2025’s clear intention to revoke the hard-won rights of women, minorities, and LGBTQIA Americans — i.e., anyone who is not white and male?
My procrastination paid off again. “White Dudes for Harris” is hosting its own Zoom fundraiser on Monday, July 29, at 8pm. As of this writing, 42,000 white dudes have signed up for the call. It remains to be seen whether this group can garner the 100,000+ combined callers that the Win With Black Women call and it’s Black male counterpart did. Or the 160,000 white women who signed in for “White Women: Answer the Call” and have raised $11 million for Harris to date. Still, it started to look like Democratic voters were unifying under a common cause in the face of tyranny.
And then, last night, I opened Instagram. All my buoyed hopes for decisiveness and coalition among Democrats quickly deflated. Democracy’s chances seemed to dim again.
Democrats have, once again, become their own worst enemies. If social media is any indicator of popular discourse, or at least a bellwether of people’s concerns, blue voters would rather infight over the finer points of policy before the election, in an attempt to hold their own party hostage on principle, than dedicate their energy to winning. It’s giving Ralph Nader temper tantrum circa 2000.
In Washington state, delegates are threatening to withhold their votes for the Democratic nomination until Kamala Harris does something about the war in Gaza, saying she must earn their votes. Shouldn’t national election delegates be better informed? Harris already has more than enough delegates to clinch the nomination, and she is not yet President. She can do nothing about Gaza as VP. Literally nothing. And yet, this position was posted to almost 500K followers combined and reposted innumerable times.
In other progressive activist circles, author Rachel Ricketts has begun reading excerpts of her 2021 book Do Better: Spiritual Activism for Fighting and Healing from White Supremacy on her own Instagram feed with 204k followers. She quotes the book as a verbal finger wag to criticize the “White Women: Answer the Call” fundraiser. Ricketts accuses white women of “spending their privilege” towards the election of a “cop” former prosecutor whose tenure as Attorney General in California brought suffering to black and brown people.
While her assessment of Harris’s time as AG may be semi-accurate, she misses some key points about the events leading up to the White Women call. In a rare and overdue move, white women were absolutely taking their cues from Black women and men who have historically set the bar and example for successfully getting out the vote. They were listening, learning, and executing. Ricketts glosses over this very important historical moment.
I don’t cite these examples in order to dismiss or discount them. I think being an educated and conscientious voter is a crucial part of democratic participation. Knowing your candidate is key. American involvement in the war in Gaza is a mess. And the unjust policing of brown and black people deserves a more serious reckoning than it has been given to date. Further entrenchment of white supremacist systems is, in huge part, at the heart of what we are working against this election cycle.
But in the bigger picture of our current historic moment, these are just two recent examples of how Democratic voters have derailed their own cause in the fight against the GOP’s power-hungry and harmful agenda by nitpicking single issues.
Our country was headed for a disastrous result before Biden stepped aside. His own party couldn’t decide to rally behind him or not. Ultimately, he made the wise and patriotic choice. He is the last of a withering group of career politicians who understand country over self. The Democrats were given a life raft in his departure. Sadly, the Democratic electorate still wants to dicker over who is holding the oars.
It really all comes down to one word: UNITY. This one word is why Trump won in the first place. His tactics for fostering unity are dubious, to be sure. He lies, he makes false promises to the most vulnerable, he bullies, he skews facts at will, he is convicted of crimes, to name a few. But he has done something in all of that that galvanizes his base, voters and politicians alike, that makes even his harshest critics come to heel under his faux Christian nationalist umbrella.
Granted, it often feels like Trump loyalists are selling their souls to the devil. Nikki Haley, Mitch McConnell, JD Vance. Even the use of the word loyalty to describe his toadies leans a little fascist for my taste. I am not recommending this approach. But the skill of fostering unity is one Democrats must learn as a less threatening, more collaborative tool. Unity is what we need to get any Democrat elected and defeat the Trump/Project 2025 agenda.
Policy-making doesn’t happen by candidates during an election. (Trump already knows this because he has to have his policies spoon fed to him any time he opens his mouth.) And it is not the doing of one person alone. Policy-making is a non-stop intersectional juggling match to get a million smaller agendas to coalesce into a workable national approach. It does not and cannot work for all individuals at all times. But it has a greater chance of success if we are united behind a single leader with a more inclusive platform.
It’s simple to me. If you believe that existing humans have more value than theoretical ones; if you know or work with or love anyone who is not white and male; if you have a wife, or daughters, or nieces, or sisters, or female friends, Harris must be your candidate.
This election is unprecedented in its threat to American democracy as a concept. The GOP ticket has not even tried to hide its plans to erase the rights of huge categories of people. Under their “round everyone up,” “childless cat lady,” “never vote again” thinking, I would not be able to make this plea without fear of retribution. This is not something we can take our chances with.
Voting is not once every four years and resigning ourselves to complacency. Issues don’t die between cycles. Get the Democrat in the seat, and then fight for righting all the political and social injustices you can with the leadership who will listen. The GOP will not.
For right now, UNITY must be the goal. It’s time for everyone to answer the call. It’s coming from inside the house. Are you in?
Have a great week.
-IWW