Love at Second Sight

KAMALA HARRIS’ ENTRY into the presidential race created quite a buzz all over. The Democratic National Convention (DNC) turned out to be a mass confession of love-at-second-sight. At first sight, in the popular mind, Kamala Harris was a burnt out matchstick of a vice president. But now, she is on fire.

Lately, she has gone around re-centring her vice presidential record and her party is cheering her on. The news now is that she was the last woman standing in the Oval Office when the momentous decision to pull out of Afghanistan was taken. Now, that is being really close to the epicentre.

Given her surging ratings, the Democratic Party rank and file are filling up their lungs to shout this out. At one time, not too long ago, Trump was skating past Biden but now that ice is thinning. In some battleground states, Harris has an edge, a slim one and that is the cause of much public excitement.

On the other side, there is a buzz too but it is somewhat tentative. Once again it was love-at-second-sight when Robert Francis Kennedy Jr (RFK Jr) was welcomed into the Trump camp. At first sight, they only saw flaws in each other which changed when RFK Jr abandoned the Democrats for Trump.

In those bad old days, Trump called RFK Jr a “dangerous left candidate” and the “dumbest member of the Kennedy family”. RFK Jr, too, found Trump to be “barely coherent”. After RFK Jr switched, all that changed. Trump now says RFK Jr is a “brilliant guy”, and “I like him a lot, I respect him a lot.”

RFK Jr’s turn to the Republicans made for both a slow release and a low-level explosion. It has not really shaken up the press long term nor the gossip circles except for some enthusiastic far-right activists who do not really count. RFK Jr’s obvious opportunistic move may be the reason why.

As a longstanding Democrat, like the rest of his famed family, his attempt to wrest the nomination from Biden was resented by the party. It was then revealed in court, to RFK Jr’s embarrassment, that his nomination papers carried false signatures and an incorrect address. The court was not pleased.

Though RFK Jr’s first appearance with Trump made the headlines, he was soon sidelined. This is rather a sad turn for the man who had done a few exceptional things in his legal career. He successfully fought against major corporate biggies who wantonly exploited innocent people.

He took on giants like Monsanto, SoCalGas, Ford Motor and DuPont chemical company who polluted the waters and damaged the earth. He fought against corporate intrusion into Native American territories. As an underdog warrior, he championed Black entrepreneurship and prison reform.

These engagements led him to believe that conspiracies rule the world. This thought, over time, just ran wild in his head. He was now sure that his uncle, President Kennedy, was killed by the CIA, WiFi causes brain leaks, Prozac is the reason for mass school shootings, and all vaccines are lethal.

A clear instance, one might say, of a good warrior self-destroying. With a little tweak, here and there, who knows he may well have been the presidential nominee today? The rumour is, as an Independent, RFK Jr might have hurt Harris, but not now. But will he help Trump? Republicans are hoping he will.

Trump is happy that RFK Jr advocates the army coming in to block migrants from Mexico.

This lines up with Trump ramping up his demand for a border wall. He has rewarded RFK Jr by making him and Tulsi Gabbard head the transition team that will make appointments should Trump be elected.

This is also the season for name-calling. Trump matter-of-factly refers to his opponent as “Comrade Kamala”, insinuating she was a communist before she became a flip-flop Democrat. As Trump’s bumpy life is an open book, even in court records, it makes it tough to tag a fresh scandalous label on him.

What appears counterfactual is that Trump’s tendency to repeat himself may not be a turn-off. For instance, his constant caricature of “crooked Hillary”, which some found grating, could also have hammered the idea deep in the heads of those who wavered.

Post the Democratic National Convention there has been a lull. The presidential campaigns barely merit a few slim columns in some leading dailies. That will change when the Harris-Trump debate happens early September. Then it will be difficult for anything else on the front pages.

About The Author

Dipankar Gupta

Dipankar Gupta is a sociologist. He is the author of, among other titles, Q.E.D.: India Tests Social Theory and Checkpoint Sociology: A Cultural Reading of Policies and Politics