It’s yet another No Kings Day. Oh joy. Well, at least this one has a bit better timing and purpose attached than the ones prior. Regular readers know prior musings have not been kind to those.
But hey, at least this one has enough proximity to Halloween for folks to test the waters of the costumes they might think will be prize-winning at whatever community social they plan on attending. Or maybe they’ll be inspired to trot out something more original than orange paint, a ridiculously long red tie and a stuffed diaper. I, for one, saw way too many of those before, and unlike its subject it wore thin quite early.
More significantly, the rallies appear to be tied directly into campaigns for people to actually get out and vote, and early at that. Here in California there’s outsized urgency considering how jaundiced the current adminstration sees us anyway–witness the hail mary action they took earlier this week. The blurb for a rally planned for Beautiful Downtown Burbank confirms at least this noble intention:
Unlike previous No Kings actions, No Kings: Vote Early, is not purely a protest. Instead, on October 17th, it’s a day of nonpartisan voter participation: we are bringing our community together to make a plan to vote early and ensuring every eligible voter understands their options for how to vote and has the opportunity to make their voice heard.
All well and good. Except from what I’m seeing on my social media platforms I’m honestly not sure anyone knows or cares who actually is running this year. Because I’m seeing a remarkable amount of Kamala Harris support no matter how hard I try to avoid it. “Kamala was right about everything!” “Look at the polls!” “Imagine what she’ll do with more than 107 days!!” As well as a host of other less filtered ones that blame white men for stifling her seemingly pre-ordained rise to save the world. Virtually nothing about the actual candidates that are on their ballots anywhere in the country THIS year.
These are among the most consistent supporters of anyone who retweets any disdain of a certain octogenarian toddler who blathers incoherently to his minions to “pretend I’m on the ballot”—giving zero time nor even respect to those who have groveled before him and his handlers to make a guest appearance at his odes to fealty. He’s not running, not this year and despite what he might delusionally believe, not likely in 2028, either. But neither is Kamala Harris, and if you believe anything that’s being written when hands are forced she’s not necessarily decided on 2028 either.
Look, I’ve made it pretty clear I’m no fan of Harris; she didn’t get my vote in 2024 and she likely won’t get it in the future, either. But why that’s the case has ZERO to do with her gender or ethnicity. It has to do with her inability to effectively articulate an original vision at any point in the 107 days she did have to do so and, more significantly, what I’ve learned about her motivation, character and intentions from people I trust who actually know her. Much the same as my views on Fat Orange Jesus have been crystallized by folks who afford me a similar one degree of separation level of insight.
I’m going to trust these people far more than I will a poll–especially one conducted at this point in the actual election cycle. Any survey conducted now is framed within a landscape where he traverses the country spewing some other inane insult or theory on a daily basis while whatever perception participants have of her is based upon what she’s done or said months or years ago. I equate any such survey–even those legitmately done with proper sample sizes and weighting–to the timing and degree of predictability of a pre-season college sports poll. In August USA TODAY’s Jared Beilby shone a flashlight on that:
USA TODAY Sports analyzed the history of Coaches Poll preseason rankings and compared the eventual champions to their initial rank, spanning the UPI and USA TODAY-administered versions of the poll since 1978. Across the 48 years of the Coaches Poll since 1978, the No. 1 ranked team has won the championship just five times. Oklahoma did so in 1985, Florida State in 1993 and 1999, Southern California in 2004 and Alabama in 2017.
I’ll cop to being unfairly critical given the fact that like it or not at least he’s been schlepping his outsized ass and his fluffer aide-de-camp on his new shiny toy plane to at least show his face, which is a lot more than Harris has done. Maybe that’s because I didn’t see her name on the guest speakers list for any of the 3000 planned No Kings rallies today. I guess she and Dougie were committed to whatever busy couples do on a fall weekend–maybe shop for their pumpkim? But as the byline-shy ASSOCIATED PRESS trumpeted on Thursday, that’s about to change:
Spanning from Oct. 21 to Oct. 30, Harris’ expanded closing stretch will now include New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Mississippi, along with a Florida virtual event, according to a schedule her office shared first with The Associated Press. Harris already had announced late October stops in Georgia and Nevada.
Her late October tour focuses on nominees for governor and U.S. Senate, including pairings that put the first Black woman to serve as vice president alongside potential history-making candidates.
Harris will open Oct. 21 in Nevada with Aaron Ford, the state’s first Black attorney general who would be the state’s first Black governor, and other candidates. She’ll also meet with Culinary Workers Union members. Nevada holds the second 2028 presidential nominating contest, after South Carolina. On Oct. 22, she will be in Mississippi with Scott Colom, who would be the state’s first Black U.S. senator since post-Civil War Reconstruction. Colom has recently begun to garner more attention from national Democrats as he faces Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith.
From Mississippi, Harris will head to New Hampshire on Oct. 24 to campaign with Senate nominee Chris Pappas and participate in a discussion on reproductive care and abortion rights. As vice president, Harris was the Biden White House’s foremost abortion rights advocate, especially during the 2022 midterm campaign. New Hampshire comes third in Democrats’ 2028 primary order.
Harris and Wisconsin gubernatorial nominee David Crowley will campaign together Oct. 26. Harris will finish with a three-day swing in Georgia that begins Oct. 28. She will campaign with Sen. Jon Ossoff, attend voter protection events and speak Oct. 30 at the Fulton County Democratic Party’s annual gala in Atlanta.
While in Georgia, Harris will headline a virtual organizing event with Florida Senate nominee Angie Nixon, who would be her state’s first Black U.S. senator. That will put Harris, who hails from the Democrats’ liberal establishment, alongside one of the party’s most progressive nominees. A state lawmaker, Nixon identifies as a democratic socialist and draws support from many left-flank activists who in 2024 criticized Harris as too moderate.
Noticing a pattern here? An emphasis on candidates of color seeking victory in contentious states and a stumping with someone who might very well be her running mate–if he doesn’t have the financial backing and/or huevos to make a run of his own. Dissing a certain presidential aide does carry a great deal of street cred these days.
Kinda funny how that’s pretty much the itinerary and “strategy” of the guy that seems to be the focus of everything that’s happening today–19 days from when the actual polls open.
And for the record yet again, he didn’t have my vote then, and not a chance in hell he will down the road should his cult get their way.
So what am I looking for?? Maybe someone who isn’t so obvious who deserves to be amplified. Somewhere in 3000-ish protests someone should be on a speaker’s list that would merit such free pub. Especially since a preponderance of existing candidates seem to also have their pumpkin shopping as a priority. I’m not of the belief that someone needs to be elected somewhere to have the capability to have a plan and a vision worthy of consideration by voters–especially the ones that are being leaned on most to actually show up.
And since there’s so much emphasis on aligning No Kings with Vote Now–did anyone think of organizing a march on a nearby ballot box, bringing local officials to offer instructive advice on how to fill them out properly and stuffing them to their brims–cameras on, well ahead of any intimidating forces that are being planned for Election Day? That would be both an early start and potential evidence.
As long as there’s someone actually worth voting for in your area who’s on the ballot this year, go forth and multiply, servants of G-d. Just don’t let the clarion call of “vote blue, no matter who” sway you. If that’s all you require–as well as a woman of color–allow me to offer this suggestion:
Right, she’s not on any ballot. Neither is Kamala Harris.
Until next time…