Kamala Harris Deserved Better — And There’s No Easy Explanation Why She Didn’t Get It

He deserved better.

Kamala Harris lost by such a large margin that it doesn’t make sense for me to look for reasons right now. Certainly not for a glaring mistake made in his campaign that could have been a silver bullet in the race. We will find explanations in time. But these probably won’t be our primary reasons. Except for my past. She’s a black woman, and no, I don’t think Trump’s two victories over female candidates are a coincidence.

Yes, there are other reasons, we will find them too. But watching Harris accept Wednesday at her alma mater, Howard University, where her victory party was held last night, I couldn’t blame her for anything. I called her perfect on social media last night, but that’s ridiculous; no one is perfect. Yet consider how much he accomplished in his 106-day campaign: in eliminating the vote gap between himself and Trump after becoming the nominee; As he wiped the floor in his only debate against Trump; in congress; Raising more money, much more from small donors, than the Trump campaign has raised; in his ground game. Like Glenn Thrush said this“Democrats have completely mastered the forms and traditions of great, normal American politics… One problem: There is no such thing as normal American politics anymore.”

At the same time, he put forward great arguments about the future of democracy. We spend millions reaching voters with ads about the cost of groceries and prescription drugs and a truly transformative proposal to expand Medicare to include home care. Should he have put more distance between himself and Joe Biden? Biden has been praised during his term as the most worker-friendly president since Roosevelt, as he nominates agency heads who aggressively protect workers and consumers and passes legislation that would invest billions of dollars in business support work. There are no easy answers here, and I think this is a week of grieving, raging, and picking ourselves up for the long fight ahead. People who elect Trump may think that they are not resigned to fascism, but that is what awaits us if we are not prepared to fight back.

I had to make a round trip from Harris’ caucus, which failed to win on Tuesday night, to her concession speech on Wednesday afternoon. It was pretty devastating. There were many people crying. I could have been among them. There was such a large crowd that I couldn’t find my daughter and her friend, but there was a big empty space in the middle of the courtyard symbolizing all the people who told the pollsters they would vote for Harris, but there was no end to it.

But Harris kept her head up, and so should we.

Frankly, he did not threaten any uprising:

“A fundamental tenet of American democracy is that when we lose an election, we accept the results,” he said. “This principle, as much as any other, distinguishes democracy from monarchy or tyranny. And anyone who seeks the public’s trust must respect that.”

But he continued: “At the same time, in our nation, we owe allegiance not to a president or a party, but to the Constitution of the United States and to our conscience and our God. My commitment to these three is why I am here to say that while I accept this election, I do not accept the struggle that fuels this campaign; struggle: the struggle for freedom, opportunity, justice and dignity of all people. . A fight for the ideals at the heart of our nation, the ideals that best reflect America. “This is a fight I will never give up.”

I found the next thought exciting and yet a little sad.

“The proverb is: You can only see the stars when it’s dark enough. I know many people feel that we are entering a dark period, but for the benefit of us all, I hope that is not the case. But the thing is, if America is what it is, let’s fill the sky with the light of billions of bright, bright stars.”

I actually don’t know how we’re going to do this. There’s no way to sugarcoat these results; There is no way to single out the positives in an environment where the work against fascism and for rights, equality and dignity for all is so monumental. I found solace in just one small moment of human connection at Howard, which made me glad I made the round trip. A cute black toddler ran and threw herself into my arms. Her mother said her name was Joan (not knowing my name). As I stood there holding this bundle of joy, her mother told me that Joan was very shy and would never do anything like this. Maybe this Joan will make the world a better place. We didn’t do that for him in this election, but we can’t stop trying.

We can’t step back

Now we face a second Trump presidency.

There’s not a moment to lose. We must use our fears, our pain, and yes, our anger to resist the dangerous policies that Donald Trump will impose on our country. We are committed to our role as principled and conscientious journalists and writers.

Today we are also steeling ourselves for the fight ahead. It will require a fearless spirit, a knowledgeable mind, wise analysis and humane resistance. We face the enactment of Project 2025, a far-right supreme court, political authoritarianism, rising inequality and record homelessness, a looming climate crisis and conflicts abroad. Nation We will reveal and suggest, nurture investigative reporting, and stand together as a community to keep hope and possibility alive. NationTheir work will continue, in good times and bad, to advance alternative ideas and visions, deepen our mission of truth-telling and in-depth reporting, and foster solidarity in a divided country.

Armed with 160 years of remarkable bold, independent journalism, our mission today is the same as the mission of abolitionists when they were first founded. Nation-To glorify the principles of democracy and freedom, to be a guide in the darkest days of resistance, and to dream and struggle for a brighter future.

The day is dark, the marshaled forces are stubborn, but because it is late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote: “No! This is exactly when artists go to work. No room for despair, no room for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we make language. This is how civilizations heal.”

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Forward,

Katrina Vanden Heuvel
Editor-in-Chief and Publisher, Nation

Joan Walsh

National affairs correspondent Joan Walsh Nationis the co-producer Sit-Down Event: Harry Belafonte Hosts The Tonight Show and its author What’s the Problem with White People? Next Finding Our Way in America. His new book (with Nick Hanauer and Donald Cohen) Corporate Bullshit: Exposing the Lies and Half-Truths That Protect Profit, Power, and Wealth in America.

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