Talk about delicious irony. In 2016, Donald Trump was swept into office in part by the racial and cultural backlash to the election of the first black president, as many analyze have noted. But eight years later, he was able to help elect the second black president and the first woman, because of the opposite reaction to misogyny and outright racism.
The prospect, amid enthusiasm for Vice President Kamala Harris who has form again presidential race for Democratic advantage, modified Democratic convention this week from the potential awakening to a wingding. Thursday night Harris closed the celebration with an address accepting the nomination to take on Trump.
But underneath the hoopla, there’s a lot of anxiety about November.
Opinion columnist
Jackie Calmes
Jackie Calmes brings a critical eye to the national political scene. He has decades of experience in the White House and Congress.
Democrats are bedridden, suspicious of irrational pleasures. That’s right. He feared the outcome in 2016, when he went to sleep knowing that Hillary Clinton would become the first woman president to be elected and woke up to a nightmare. Now Democrats are asking Americans to vote for women who are also black and American Indian. It’s not for nothing that they let him pick up a white man with white bread as his walking mate.
For pessimists, the question of whether voters will choose a woman to be the commander in chief, let alone a woman of color, is settled for our time in the negative by Clinton’s humiliation. He was wrong.
Clinton’s experience is a flawed test of whether the country can finally join other developed countries, and some less developed countries, in choosing to be led by women. (It’s been 45 years, for God’s sake, since Margaret Thatcher became prime minister of England. But England, like few other countries with female leaders, is a parliamentary democracy: Thatcher was appointed by a majority of the Conservative Party, not a nationwide electorate. )
Yes, misogyny was a factor against Clinton, including among white women, 52% of whom voted for Trump, according to exit polls. But Clinton is a uniquely polarizing politician. He has been in national politics for a quarter of a century by 2016, vilified by the Republicans for all that time. For her own part, Clinton failed to display the humor for which she was personally known. Barack Obama, during his 2008 campaign, famously condemned her with praise: “You’re quite likeable, Hillary,”
As exit poll data shows, Clinton’s groundbreaking candidacy is noted for not galvanizing women voters as much as it should. He remembered in 2017 memories as she watched the Women’s March on Washington protesting Trump’s inauguration, “I can’t help but wonder where the feelings of solidarity, anger and passion were during the election.”
Time seems to have reconciled Clinton to her fate. At her convention address Saturday night, the country’s serene old country basked in the adulation of her party and implicitly took credit for helping to make Harris’ offer reasonable: “Together,” she told her appreciative audience, “we have put a lot of cracks in the highest, hardest ceiling.” – glass sky.
“Nearly 66 million Americans voted for the ceiling-free future of our dreams,” Clinton continued, not adding that her total was nearly 3 million more than Trump’s. “We keep our eyes on the future,” he said. “Well, my friends, the future is here.”
Don’t expect Harris to emphasize gender, or race, in his address either. He has not done so on the campaign trail, as his record shows he is not focused on “firsts” in the California campaign. His attitude seems to be: Let the obvious speak for itself, then let others – such as Clinton – drive the history. In that approach, he is more like Obama. “People can see,” said former Obama strategist David Axelrod toward Washington Post. Some voters “may feel excluded if you focus.”
A number of pre-convention poll give reason for Democrats to hope, showing Harris took the lead over Trump nationally, though within the margin of error, and at least battle country. Voters are more likely to see him favorably now that he’s out in front, not in the shadows, and more likable than Trump, according to AP/NORC Center poll. Trump continues to be seen among more voters as better able to handle the economy and immigration, while Harris is favored to tackle abortion policy, health care and the preservation of democracy.
Critically, she got more support than Biden did from groups in the Democratic base: women, young and minority voters, especially educated women and black women. He did a better job than Biden of rousing pro-abortion rights voters in this first presidential election since the Trump-imposed Supreme Court overturned Roe. But Pew Research poll indicated that they would also reduce Trump’s lead among men.
Polls, as a snapshot in time, can change again. But Trump, being Trump, unwittingly did his part to help Harris. They is focus on her gender and racial identity, obnoxiously so, down to juvenile shows of disrespect like calling her by her first name and deliberately mispronouncing it. He regularly says he is “dumb” and suggests he’d be “toy” for foreign leaders. And his allies have dismissed him as a “DEI hire” — including former White House aide Seb Gorka, who said that for Democrats, his winning qualification is “having the right complexion and color.” smooth
Some other Republican allies and Trump’s own campaign advisers wish he would stop the sexism and race-baiting. “Donald Trump, the provocateur, the showman, may not win this election,” South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Friday. On CNN there, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu warned that women will vote “in large numbers” against Trump with Harris now in the race.
Hopefully. And Trump-phobic people too. Now we know we can count on Trump to ignore his wiser advisers and stick to his schtick. Humiliating women, especially black women, is what they do. Create a backlash.
@jackiekcalmes