Did Joe Biden’s “garbage” spoof just cost Kamala Harris the US election?

On By Littum

WJust days before the US election, American politics is a battle of thin margins. It will come down to a few thousand votes, maybe even a few hundred, in a relatively small number of precincts in seven battleground states—a small number set against, say, the 150 million votes that will be cast.

In the mostly winner-takes-all system of the Electoral College, where a single vote could throw an entire state behind one candidate, and in a close race like this one, you can see why party leaders care about every little thing.

Like, for example, what President Joe Biden just did or didn’t say about former President Donald Trump’s supporters.

After some sort of comedian at a Trump rally made the infamous quip about Puerto Ricans being “garbage,” Biden countered with an incoherent remark in an interview that either condemned the comic for his racist joke or condemned each of the roughly 70 million Trump. fans out there.

It all depends on whether you think Biden said “supporter” or “supporters.” Biden has always had speech impediments – but perhaps these days, like Trump, he is getting a little uninhibited in speaking out.

Or rather, it doesn’t really depend on it in the sense that Trumpians will choose to believe that Biden, the ultimate representative of what they see as “swamp” political culture, despises them — all of them.

Inevitably, and rightly so, it reminds people of what Hillary Clinton so foolishly said about the Trumpians back in 2016, mocking them for their “deplorable” opinions. Instead of reflecting on their unconscious bias, they instead rushed out to buy T-shirts with “I’m a deplorable” printed on them, proudly accepting the label.

I just wonder if the textile manufacturers in China will be able to produce a variety of “garbage” themed items in time for election day, but they will certainly be ready for the Trump inauguration. Maybe a little bit more likely now than before Biden opened his mouth.

What is the impact? Relatively small in itself, with outraged Puerto Ricans being balanced by outraged Trump voters, leaving an even smaller net effect – though of course it could matter in some places, rather tragically from Joe’s point of view. It will always be impossible to know the exact impact of a single fork or campaign event. How many votes is Beyoncé worth? Hulk Hogan? Trump at McDonalds?

The broader effect is the way it contributes to an impression that this has been a Democratic campaign that lacked something under both of its presidential candidates. It was, with good reason, relentlessly negative about Trump and the threat he poses, but that only seemed to motivate his base and those inclined to join it, especially in recent days when the (correct) label “fascist” was thrown around.

How did that make his followers feel? Rebellious, of course, and not averse to a bit of Trumpian fascism myself.

The missing element—not quite, but still a flaw—was the lack of a positive message, a plan, and reasons to believe that Kamala Harris would make the American voter better off for the next four years.

It’s kind of like the contests you used to find on the side of a sweet wrapper or a newspaper coupon where you’d be invited to complete a sentence and win a year’s supply of cornflakes. In this case, it would be to complete the sentence: “I’m voting for Kamala Harris for president because…”

As with Hillary, it’s not enough that it’s “because she’s not Donald Trump” or “because the other parties are deplorable/garbage” or “because she’ll be the first female president”.

Voters want to know what it gets them. Otherwise it’s just garbage.