Kamala Harris’s ‘People Power” bring new hope for climate action
At 1:46 PM (EDT) on the hottest day ever recorded on this planet, a digital flicker triggered a political earthquake that shook America to its core.
For the science-based, President Biden’s tweet was simply a coincidence. For the more spiritually inclined, Biden’s decision not to seek another four years as president was an intervention from Gaia, the ancestral mother of all life. What happened after the tweetstorm was even more divine. By the end of the week, Harris had erased Trump’s six-point lead in a Wall Street Journal poll.
TikTok and Zoom smoke Democratic bigwigs
One reason for this seismic shift is the exponentially expanding populist digital meeting places, including the much-maligned TokTok social media platform, Zoom calls with 200,000 participants or new virtual gatherings like WTF Wednesdays. Even men swung into action this week, with tens of thousands of “White Dudes for Kamala” gathering on Zoom.
Seizing the digital high ground, Harris went viral. Any thoughts senior Democrats had of heading to a politically correct, non-smoke-filled room to choose a Biden replacement ended when 44,000 Black women spontaneously gathered hours after Biden‘s announcement on Zoom to make sure their voices were heard before the candidate was chosen.
Then came the young creatives of TikTok and X, seizing mediums previously dominated by MAGA loyalists. By the week’s end, more than 150,000 women Zoomed into the party. Within days, Harris was endorsed and crowned while Trump stewed in Mar-A-Lago and running mate JD Vance sought refuge from millions of cat lovers. For Democrats, it was the biggest burst of populist energy since Obama—perhaps even bigger. The campaign raised more than $200 million and gathered 170,000 volunteers.
The American political drama could not have come at a more critical moment for Democrats, but more importantly, the planet.
Climate campaigners were overjoyed. Former Vice President Al Gore endorsed her on Sunday. “As a prosecutor, Kamala Harris took on Big Oil companies – and won. That’s the kind of climate champion we need in the White House,” Gore said in a statement.
Last laugh
Ironically, Harris was the last candidate legions of establishment Democrats and their passive-aggressive media enablers wanted at the top of the ticket. Publically, they earnestly questioned her tenure as Vice President, but privately, they denigrated her as ‘ditzy’ the moment she took office.
“I was disappointed that people in the party called for [Biden] to leave the race, and I thought they got out of control,” Ron Klain, Biden’s former chief of staff, said this week. Said. Pushing Joe Biden out of the presidential race.”
Klain was one of many senior Biden loyalists who infuriated many rank-and-file Democrats because they had been ready to let their party go down in flames rather than let Harris become the Democratic candidate.
This should surprise no one. For years, Biden loyalists had snickered that Harris was a loose kook from San Francisco mentored by her flamboyant ex-lover, San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown.
But last week, the former mayor had the last laugh. “In all the jobs she’s had, she’s always been outstanding,” he said, still looking dapper in his Wilkes Bashford pink Isaia blazer.
New hope for climate action
The American political drama could not have come at a more critical moment for Democrats, but more importantly, the planet. As Kamala Harris’ stature grew, so did renewed hope that President Biden’s historic climate legislation would be carried forward. “It’s more about building on the progress,” Tiernan Sittenfeld, senior vice president for government affairs for the League of Conservation Voters, told ABC News. “Vice President Harris is committed to doing just that.” |
