Decryption | Kamala Harris’ dream week

(New York) The phrase seems hollow: “What can be, unencumbered by what has been.”

Last December, the Republican National Committee posted a four-minute video on X of Harris repeating it in various contexts. Its purpose: to mock a politician who was “unencumbered by competence,” as the message accompanying the video assured.

But these days, the vice president’s supporters are reclaiming the same phrase, which has taken on a special meaning since Joe Biden withdrew from the race for the White House. They repeat it with a touch of irony among themselves or insert it into their memes on TikTok, knowing that their country could elect its first woman president in November.

“What can be, without being encumbered by what has been.”

The same phenomenon occurs with another phrase from Kamala Harris, which has become even more iconic: “Do you think you fell out of a coconut tree?” The vice president uttered it in May 2023 during a swearing-in ceremony. She told her audience that her mother of Indian origin often repeated it to her to make her understand that “you exist in the context of everything you experience and everything that came before you.”

Republicans saw the statement as further evidence of Harris’s intellectual vacuity. But the viral clip they made of it continued last week to inspire or amuse the vice president’s fans on social media, including TikTok, the app used by 170 million Americans, including more than 62% of 18- to 29-year-olds.

And what a week! As these two recently ridiculed sentences illustrate, everything, or almost everything, has started to smile on Kamala Harris.

Perhaps we will come to speak of a honeymoon that only lasted a short time. But rarely has a political figure known a better period at a more crucial moment.

An organic reaction

Much of what happened happened organically, like every other meme on TikTok, including those inspired by British singer Charli XCX. In the hours after Joe Biden’s announcement, the group Win With Black Women (WWBW) held a Zoom meeting attended by over 90,000 women. Their goal was not only to rally for Kamala Harris, but also to raise $1 million in 100 days. After three hours, they had already raised over $1.6 million.

In the days that followed, groups of black men and white women, inspired by WWBW, held their own virtual meetings on Zoom, drawing about 232,000 and 200,000 participants, respectively.

In total, those meetings generated at least $10 million in donations for Harris’ campaign, which raised a record $81 million in the first 24 hours after Biden withdrew.

Another telling fact: From Sunday to Friday, more than 100,000 Americans, 85% of whom were under 35, registered to vote in November, according to the website Vote.org. In the week following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, the number of new voters registered rose to 27,077.

All of this reflects an enthusiasm that has reminded some Democrats of the 2008 presidential campaign, marked by the discovery and rise of Barack Obama.

Of course, this enthusiasm can deflate for various reasons, some of which have to do with the differences between Kamala Harris and the first black president. But it is part of a hope that we thought had disappeared from American politics.

Confidence and exuberance

Kamala Harris herself is no stranger to this enthusiasm, despite the doubts some Democrats had about her. Even before her first public speech, she proved energetic and strong-willed. In the 10 hours after Joe Biden dropped out, she made more than 100 phone calls, soliciting support from potential rivals, former presidents, congressional leaders—everyone who matters in her party.

THE New York Timeswho reported the story, noted that Biden made 20 calls to Democratic congressmen in the first 10 days after his disastrous performance in the first presidential debate.

Kamala Harris followed up with a series of speeches and interventions that displayed confidence and exuberance. Her audiences responded accordingly, especially when the vice president highlighted her experience as a prosecutor in California.

“I’ve gone after all kinds of bad guys,” she said. “Predators who abused women. Fraudsters who defrauded consumers. Cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So listen to me when I tell you: I know the kind of guy Donald Trump is.”

Part of that confidence and exuberance comes from all the speeches that Kamala Harris has given over the past few years to groups of women and young people in particular.

Speeches in which she places more emphasis on freedom, including the freedom to control one’s body, a visceral subject if ever there was one, than on democracy.

“The freedom to not just get by, but to get ahead. The freedom to be safe from gun violence. The freedom to make decisions about your own body,” Kamala Harris sums up in an ad punctuated by the song Freedom Beyoncé, who allowed her to use it as part of her campaign.

The coincidence of current events also allowed Kamala Harris to weigh in on international politics. After a 45-minute meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, she had the opportunity to assure the visitor of her unreserved support for his country’s right to defend itself, but also to insist on her refusal to “remain silent” in the face of the suffering of the Gazans.

A “radical” and a “bum”

Republicans are obviously trying to end this honeymoon as quickly as possible. Donald Trump has portrayed Kamala Harris as a “radical” and even a “bum” who wants to impose “the crazy liberal values ​​of San Francisco” on the White House.

A Republican Senate candidate has released a viral video of Kamala Harris stating her most controversial positions from her first, disastrous presidential campaign more than four years ago. She wanted to decriminalize illegal immigration, ban fracking and eliminate private health insurance.

Racists and misogynists have tried to do their part to denigrate the vice president, even though their efforts could backfire.

Sebastian Gorka, a former adviser to Donald Trump, described her as “this disaster whose only qualification is having a vagina and the right skin color.”

The woman who was elected to the positions of district attorney of San Francisco, attorney general of California, senator of California and vice president of the United States can take comfort. Towards the end of the week, Fox News published a poll that put her tied with Donald Trump in three key states – Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – where Joe Biden was trailing.

A great way to end a dream week.