A Crunch Time Primer for the 2024 Election: How to Stay Sane and Help Kamala Win

It's time to focus on the endgame instead of hand wringing

(Photo: The New York Times)

Look, I realize that the information superhighway is already stacked to the rafters with pieces about why you should vote for Kamala Harris. I mean, this is pretty basic shit given that she’s running against a criminal, sociopathic, Nazi-sympathizing autocrat in training. (Well, maybe not for Jeff Bezos.)

Under traditional notions of what a Presidential race would customarily look like, this should be an easy Harris landslide rather than a white-knuckle ulcer factory.

In fact, one HOUR—not day, not week, not month—of Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign would have been disqualifying for any other candidate in American history. This isn’t supposition, it’s a stone-cold fact. And this doesn’t even take into account that he’s an adjudicated sex offender felon who’s been trying for four years to overturn a free and fair American election without a shred of evidence while signaling his allegiance to the most disgusting political villains out there, like Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orban. The fact that we’ve grown numb to the lies makes them more dangerous than ever.

Fact checked as “Pants On Fire.”

Yet here we are.

I’ve seen enough Democratic handwringing over the last couple of weeks to make my pavement bubble. “Oh no! The polling. The polling. THE POLLING!” But setting aside the fact that much of this polling is recently added, heavily Republican funded noise (likely) intended to feed a narrative that a Trump second term is inevitable (a la the 2022 Red Wave that hilariously fizzled out), sometimes you simply need to rely on what your eyes and ears are telling you.

As this exhausting election (fuck off, Electoral College, you craven relic) draws to a close (and the associated Trump-fueled post election bullshit should he lose begins), one party is doubling down on/shrinking its message to appeal to the most rabid in its base, while the other is sticking to popular core Democratic messages, while forging a coalition with moderates and Fascism-averse Republicans. Is it perfect? Uh, no, but we are where we are and the stakes are too high to do anything but embrace it.

So, here is my advice for the next week to hold on to your sanity and, hopefully, our country’s great experiment in representative Democracy:

1. Tune out the bullshit: Kind of like Googling a medical symptom, you’re always only a few clicks away from a nightmare scenario like terminal cancer. Early voting has generally been good for Harris, and polling from reliable sources has been consistent, yet a hefty gaggle of nervous nellies are so focused, for example, on things like the gender distribution in early voting in notoriously quirky Nevada to conclude that a Trump coronation is nigh. Look, I 100% get why y’all are worried given the high stakes, but ultimately this isn’t helpful or mentally healthy. And the simple truth is that there are more than a few signs that suggest Harris is in very good shape right now.

2. Underestimate Kamala Harris at your peril: Speaking of Harris, whatever your view on her was when she ascended to the top Dem spot in this race, the reality is that she’s run a positive, issue oriented, and impressive campaign—one that has left no doubt to anyone still inexplicably teetering on who to vote for that there is one grown up in the room. And the lone candidate committed to Democracy, freedom, and the Constitution. Those principles are so often reduced to electoral window dressing, but with Harris, it’s sincere and obvious. She’s also been held to a preposterously high and unfair standard compared to her opponent. Just one of Trump’s multitude of craven statements and disgraceful faux pas would have likely ended Harris’ chances to win. It’s a disgusting double standard that we should be ashamed to have let happen. Additionally, the Right’s go-to whoppers about Harris have been clinically dealt with: she’s actually a very good speaker who can effectively relay policies, a skilled debater who beat down Trump in the only match up he had the guts to grant her, a proven and effective leader and politician at a number of levels, and an intrepid candidate who was willing to wade into the lion’s den of Fox News instead of cherry-picking soft landing spots like a tired and rambling old man has. So, they’ve reduced themselves to pronouncing her name wrong. Whoa, sick burn.

   

   (Photo: Thrive)

3. Stay calm and focused: Yes, we’re dealing with a cult in this election. And the stakes are stratospheric. But, for example, hand wringing about how the election is already Trump’s when you could be relaxing your mind for a spell, ain’t it. Yes, there’s no way to get rid of that nagging fear of Trump 2.0 and that’s perfectly normal but find some optimism and calm in the storm. Trust me, it’s out there just like the doom and gloom. Remember, polls don’t vote, people do and a shitload of people who can’t accept a Project 2025 President have been/are foaming at the mouth to vote down Trump.

   

4. Please don’t get cute: The days of protest votes and going with your conscience got us Bush in 2000 and, probably, Trump in 2016, Don’t be selfish and shortsighted enough to make the same mistake again. No candidate is perfect, but making the election about one issue you disagree with Harris on when you agree with 100 others is some wild logic—especially when Trump is likely far worse than Harris on that single issue anyway. Your principled 3rd party vote (or abstention) will be little comfort when a national birth control/abortion ban goes into effect in early 2025. Or when the “people getting put into camps” promise is followed through on. Or when the economy and longstanding strategic alliances tank because the declining guy in charge thinks he’s playing a fucking board game in between Big Macs. Or when he uses the military against “enemies from within.” The stakes are far too high for electoral purity. Grow up.

   

   Hey, look, it’s the most insufferable douche on your block

5. Believe: This one is simple: Do the things that you can in order to make sure the right thing happens and then have the faith to believe that it can. Maybe this seems old fashioned, but craving a happy ending is a good thing. Let’s go find one.