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I just can’t believe she’s the focus on a movement. Trump definitely is, as he represents something different from the status quo. In pretty much every way imaginable, Trump is just built different from other political leaders. He isn’t lawyered in his speech, mincing words and using “technically the truth” statements to lie. He’s loud, proud and brash. He’s not an institutionalist. He does things and if the state apparatus doesn’t like it, so much the worse for the deep state. That in a nutshell is why Trump ever got so big — he’s not like anyone else in the political class, he doesn’t act, think or speak like they do. He’s his own thing.
Kamala is the status quo. The biggest difference for her is her race/class and her age. If she were a white male democrat, nobody would be excited for her. She’s not special, she talks and acts like anyone else in the field. Her positions are the same as Biden’s, except girlboss.
Future history will consider this the age of Trump, because like him or not, he’s the zeitgeist of our era. He’s the one calling the shots whether by advocating things or by causing extreme reactions in his opponents.
You're right. Maybe it's all just gaslighting, astroturfing etc. But I'm sure she has more political influence behind her than Trump.
I mean thinking about how we define political eras, it’s almost always the political forces that are making changes or doing big things that get the notice of historians. Lincoln is important because he ultimately freed the slaves and saved the union. Teddy Roosevelt busted the trusts. FDR did the New Deal. Even in the revolutionary era, the ones that got eras named after them were the ones making things happen.
Trump is somewhere between Napoleon and Teddy Roosevelt. He believes in things he wants to do, he wrestles with the institutions of American government to get things done. He doesn’t care what anyone thinks about his ideas. That’s the kind of thing that gets your name on an era of American politics. Doing things that leave a mark on society.
Kamala has some hype. But if you look at her, she doesn’t have any influence, no big signature ideas, no changes to the direction of the country, nothing really to set her own mark on the institution. She’s just a run of the mill democrat.
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