Nun sind also alle „coconut-pilled“ – die ersten Demokraten und Kommentatoren verkünden es, manche fügen ihrem Profilnamen im sozialen Netzwerk „X“ ein Kokosnuss-Emoji bei. Schon kurz, nachdem Präsident Joe Biden seinen Verzicht auf eine erneute Kandidatur erklärt und Kamala Harris als Nachfolgerin empfohlen hatte, machten die Kokosnüsse die Runde. Harris hatte auf einem viralen Video einst ihre Mutter zitiert: Junge Leute würden manchmal so tun, als ob sie „gerade eben erst aus einem Kokosnuss-Baum gefallen wären“, statt sich im Kontext von allem zu sehen, was vor ihnen gekommen sei.
Der Spruch und die Tatsache, dass Harris wie auf dem Video gern über ihre eigenen Witze lacht, brachten ihr Spott ein. Aber nun haben ihre Fans es geschafft, der besonders bei Rechten beliebten Redewendung „red-pilled“, die aus dem Film „Die Matrix“ entlehnt ist und für die Empfehlung steht endlich aufzuwachen und zu erkennen, wie die Verhältnisse wirklich seien, etwas entgegenzusetzen im Namen der Frau, die Präsidentin der Vereinigten Staaten werden will.
Den Demokraten ist es dabei trotz des Eindrucks von Chaos schon am Tag von Bidens Rückzug gelungen, etliche Menschen mitzureißen – und andere zu ärgern. So kamen allein am Sonntag, in den ersten sieben Stunden nach Bidens Rückzug, fünfzig Millionen Dollar für die Kampagne von Kamala Harris zusammen. Das waren die höchsten Einzelspenden-Einnahmen der Partei an einem Tag seit 2020. Sie kamen nicht nur von großen Spendern, die im Streit um Bidens Alter Millionen Dollar zurückgehalten hatten, sondern auch aus kleinen Beiträgen.
Ein neues Ziel für den Verfolgungseifer
Verbündete von Trump wiederum sahen Millionen Dollar praktisch in Rauch aufgehen, hatten sie die Reden auf dem gerade zu Ende gegangenen Parteitag doch ebenso auf Biden als Gegner zugeschnitten wie ihre Fernsehspots. Der Trump-Vertraute Stephen Miller hatte einen Wutausbruch bei Fox News, als er auf das umsonst ausgegebene Geld zu sprechen kam. Zugleich versuchte Miller, der Entscheidung bei den Demokraten die Legitimität abzusprechen: Diese hätten schließlich einen Vorwahl-Prozess hinter sich. Kritiker sahen einen Versuch, damit Donald Trumps möglichen Rückzug aus dem TV-Duell gegen Harris argumentativ vorzubereiten.
This and other angry appearances by Trump supporters were a reminder that Biden’s withdrawal will not change the distortions in political culture that have occurred in recent years. The hatred and ignorance of facts that have made the Republicans around Trump the mainstream of their party will now simply be directed at someone else. Donald Trump showed once again at the party convention in Milwaukee that he dominates the party. From the “lock her up” chants during the campaign against Hillary Clinton to the insinuation that Biden is a president governing through “election fraud,” the Republicans have consistently pushed the spread of hatred as a policy – this persecution zeal will in future be directed against Harris and every other person running on the Democratic ticket.
A starting point
For the Democrats, however, the situation is initially an opportunity – with Harris as the most likely candidate, but also with possible alternatives. Voters can be presented with a generational change, even if the party’s leadership is not as progressive as many young supporters would like. The time to deal with the president, who is aging in public, is over. In addition, in the week after the failed assassination attempt on Trump, there was also the supposed contrasting image of a particularly defensive man with a raised fist and a bleeding ear, whose body was soon staged by his supporters as a living shield for America’s greatness. The heroization of Trump could now be somewhat toned down because the contrast of the frail Biden is missing, and the opponent may be almost twenty years younger than Trump at 59.
In another viral video of Harris, which is currently becoming a cult object rather than a laughing stock, she repeatedly says the phrase “What can be, unburdened of what has been” on different occasions with the same sweeping hand gesture. Now there is an opportunity to stage her candidacy as such a new beginning – at least as far as the generational change in American politics is concerned. For the first time in decades, there will be no Bush, Clinton or Biden on a ticket for president or vice president. Trump, on the other hand, will inevitably look old at the age of 78, because he is now suddenly the oldest person to ever want to be American president. And even if Kamala Harris could just about be classified as a “boomer” because she was born in 1964, she identifies culturally with Generation X – a starting point for many people who are in the middle of their professional lives and are often still responsible for children and older people.
By no means only in left-wing niches
The situation is different for many younger people – because the tone on the left has also become considerably harsher. While Biden was initially seen as an interim president who pursued progressive policies, at least in part, his popularity dropped considerably after Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7 last year. The left responded to the assurance of unconditional loyalty to Israel and the billions of dollars in arms deliveries to the country with the so-called “Uncommitted” campaign: in the intra-party primary, almost 704,000 voters left their ballots blank or entered a name other than Biden’s. An example of this is a text that Nausicaa Renner published in the “Parapraxis” magazine shortly after Biden’s withdrawal.
The president was able to briefly convince leftists with initiatives such as infrastructure policy, Renner said. But Biden’s Israel policy meant that the choice between him and Trump was ultimately “genocide” or “genocide and no abortion rights.” This Manichaean view is by no means limited to niches of the left-wing movement, and it can cost votes and campaign organizing power. Harris or other candidates will probably inherit the problem, as no candidate is likely to completely reverse Biden’s policies. Harris, the former Attorney General of California, will not score many points with this group of voters, even with the snappy contrast of being a “cop” against the convicted criminal Trump.
Serious obstacles
At the same time, Harris would have to counter another trend that could make things more difficult for the Democrats at the ballot box. The Republicans presented themselves at the convention as a party for workers, inviting Sean O’Brien of the Teamsters to speak for the first time ever. Right-wing circles have long been talking about a “re-alignment” in political culture, which is only inadequately described as “populism”. Biden’s successor would also have to quickly find an answer to these attempts by the MAGA Republicans to look for allies on the left.
With Harris as their candidate, the Democrats cannot avoid the tedious debate about whether the country is ready for a non-white woman as president. The willingness to endure this conflict seems to have grown: from the leader of the progressive “Caucus” in Congress, Pramila Yayapal, to Senator Elizabeth Warren, messages of support for a Harris candidacy began pouring in on the day of Biden’s withdrawal. After all, there was already a black man in office, as well as a woman who was able to win the majority of votes, if not the majority in the Electoral College. Nevertheless, racism and sexism remain serious obstacles that must be overcome. However, if the party were to circumvent Harris by holding an open vote with a contested candidacy at the party convention, this accusation of racism and sexism would undoubtedly come from within its own ranks.
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