The News Not Noise Letter: America’s Fierce Auntie
The News Not Noise Letter: America’s Fierce Auntie
VP Kamala Harris gives tough love as RFK Jr. endorses Trump and both sides prepare for a dogfight. Plus: lessons Kamala learned from Hillary.
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We’re writing this newsletter from Chicago, after a whirlwind week at the Democratic National Convention. This was the first time content creators were credentialed to attend a convention, and I spent a good bit of time dodging the question, “What’s your signature dance move?”
The Democrats had a successful week. Very. Early Nielsens show VP Kamala Harris’s acceptance speech got 22% higher viewership than former President Trump’s. The party faithful entered hopeful, fearful, and a little divided. They left ebullient, confident, and mostly unified. Dems managed to turn Harris – an incumbent – into the change candidate. They avoided disruptive mass protests over the war in Gaza. And they constructed a tent big enough to contain socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders and billionaire Gov. JB Pritzker, all humming to the same tune, more or less. The DNC was clearly persuasive to some: on CNN’s post-convention panel 6 out of 8 previously undecided Pennsylvania voters committed to vote Harris/Walz.
Now, the tough part. The campaigns and their super PACs will spend hundreds of millions of dollars over 11 weeks to tear down the opposition. Coming into the convention, the knock on Harris was that she hadn’t: run a winning national campaign; introduced herself effectively; revealed the policies she’d pursue as president; or demonstrated she has the mettle to succeed in the pressure cooker of the presidency. The DNC helped address some of this.
Later in the newsletter we’ll analyze the ways in which the Harris campaign is navigating the hurdles that damaged Hillary Clinton in 2016, and how she’s outmaneuvering the sexism that has stifled so many women’s campaigns.
Convention takeaways worth your time:
What shaped Kamala Harris?
“A brilliant, five-foot-tall brown woman with an accent”: That’s how Harris described her mother, a celebrated cancer researcher who immigrated from India and instilled a classic first-generation work ethic. She recalled her mother’s admonition to “never complain about injustice, but do something about it,” and “never do anything half-assed.”
“Family by Love”: Harris painted a Modern Family picture of her upbringing. She said she was raised by people who weren’t always her “family by blood” but were always “look[ing] out for one another” in a hardworking community of “firefighters, nurses, and construction workers” who “tend[ed] their lawns with pride.” In short, a nontraditional family with traditional family values.
How will Harris prosecute the case against Trump?
Witnesses to the Prosecution: A litany of speakers reminded viewers of Trump’s chaos and crimes – both personal and political.
Mounting the Case: Against a backdrop that looked like a courtroom, Harris used the language of the law to draw the contrast with Trump. She talked about Trump’s “explicit intent” to “set free violent extremists” of Jan 6, “to jail journalists, political opponents,” and “to deploy our active duty military against our own citizens.” And, she reminded, he’ll have “no guardrails” thanks to the US Supreme Court.
Making the Case: In 2 weeks Harris will attempt to make this case live during the September 10th debate.
What will she do as president?
Economy: Harris vowed to sign a middle-class tax cut that will benefit more than 100 million Americans.
Immigration: Harris pledged to sign the bipartisan Border Act that Trump derailed earlier this year.
Voting Rights: Harris pledged to sign the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.
Repro Rights: Harris pledged to sign “a bill to restore reproductive freedom.”
National Security and Foreign Policy: Harris embraced a traditional US foreign policy, committing to “ensure America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world”; and to “defend our forces and our interests against Iran and Iran-backed terrorists”; pledged to “stand strong with Ukraine and our NATO allies”; “strengthen, not abdicate, our global leadership”; and ensure “America, not China, wins the competition for the 21st century.”
Israel/Gaza: Harris also explicitly called Hamas a “terrorist organization”; named and condemned the sexual violence on October 7; promised to “always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself”; called suffering in Gaza “devastating” and “heartbreaking”; promised to work toward a path for “dignity, security, freedom and self-determination” for the Palestinian people.
Decoding the Convention: Harris still must close the deal with key voting blocs. Here’s how the DNC appealed to some of these groups:
Swing Women Voters: We heard about the horrors pregnant women are experiencing after the Dobbs decision, including firsthand accounts of women denied care. We also heard stories of strong women battling sexism, struggling to balance work and family, and fighting for change. Harris used the word “women” or “woman” 10 times in her speech. At this convention, women’s rights weren’t distilled to a single issue. Instead, collectively these issues represented the promise that “we’re not going back.”
Young Black Men: Rev. Al Sharpton brought onstage the Exonerated Five (formerly known as the Central Park Five), who reminded the audience that Trump called for them to be executed. This could appeal to a subset of young Black men who are leaning Trump, and – suspicious of a justice system that targets them – have been wary of Harris’s background as a prosecutor. One of the five, Korey Wise, said Harris “has worked to make things fairer.”
Latinos: In 2016, the Democrats suffered for taking the Latino vote for granted. This time the convention was packed with prominent Latino speakers emphasizing relevant issues.
Gun Violence Voters: The DNC centered stories of school shootings – with a teacher who survived Sandy Hook and a Uvalde mother. It’s an appeal to centrist parents and young adults in the school shooter generation.
Swing State Voters: Swing state voters were front and center – literally. The Pennsylvania delegation was seated right up front. Harris name-checked Wisconsin in her speech. Three prominent Arizonans spoke on the big night, and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper introduced Harris. Why? Simple – positioning all of them so close to Harris guarantees local news coverage in these key battlegrounds.
Republicans Who Don’t Like Trump: There’s one group you usually don’t expect to speak at a Democratic convention – Republicans. But this year, we heard from former Trump aides Stephanie Grisham and Olivia Troye, longtime GOP commentator Ana Navarro, and former Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who served on the House Jan. 6th committee. Their message: Trump is a threat to democracy, and they’re voting Harris to put country over party.
Dodging the Double Bind
As we head into this next phase – shall we call it “the dogfight” – one theme that deserves far more attention than it’s getting is the very delicate balancing act Harris must pull off as a woman trying to break the glass ceiling.
Social science shows that women candidates for office face a “double bind.” Voters demand that women leaders be both tough and warm, but see those qualities in opposition. Get too tough and the woman’s not “likable.” Get too “likable” and she’s seen as weak. Hillary Clinton spent years proving her toughness. Then when she hit the 2008 debate stage, then-Senator Barack Obama commented, “You’re likable enough, Hillary.” This “likability bias” doesn’t hold for men.
This week, Kamala Harris deftly avoided the tough/likable trap and here’s how: