In a society that worships the self, identity politics is a very powerful force. We see this now in Kamalamania – the dizzying speed with which the vice-president and presumptive Democratic nominee has been turned, through mass acclamation, from national embarrassment to Democratic saviour.
Will Kamalamania last until the election is over?
The fact that Harris’s transfiguration doesn’t make much sense is sort of the point – the more improbable it seems the better. We are memetic creatures, especially in the digital age, and the meme of the moment is that Harris has magically invigorated the Democratic base and turned the 2024 US presidential election around in their party’s favour. It’s quasi-religious in that you don’t have to believe you just have to repeat the message until you accept.
Nobody who has seen Harris speak believes that she is the next coming of Barack Obama, but many millions of people will now express faith in the sudden excitement around her campaign because they want to believe in the idea of Harris, a mixed-race woman, delivering them from what they see as the horror of Donald Trump. For
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