Dave Pell
Because there’s far too much hate in modern politics
My support for Kamala Harris is owed to joy. As an introvert who dabbles in misanthropy and who often has to be reminded to smile for photographs (“I am smiling!”), I have to admit that when I’ve attended events featuring Kamala over the years, I’ve been a little perplexed by the positivity and laughter. I spent the entirety of the Trump presidency hate-screaming in a darkened room with MSNBC news panels playing on permanent repeat. Somewhere along the way, I lost the ability to respond joyfully to joy.
Cut to the post-Biden debate debacle in summer 2024, when the entire Democratic Party was only taking breaks from moaning in the fetal position long enough to order online Xanax refills. It was mourning America. After weeks of inner-party tumult, the torch was passed to Kamala. I could almost hear Robert Plant interrupting his live version of “Stairway to Heaven” to wonder aloud, “Does anybody remember laughter?” Kamala Harris did. So did Tim Walz. From the darkest of political times, with democracy on the brink, Harris and Walz have, against all odds, brought the joy back.
During her epic 2024 DNC speech, Michelle Obama channeled the hopelessness many of us on the pro-democracy side of the aisle had been feeling. “I have mourned the dimming of that hope. And maybe you’ve experienced the same feelings, that deep pit in my stomach, a palpable sense of dread about the future.”
I felt that same pit, and it turned out that treating it with heavy doses of more hopeless dread wasn’t a great cure. Like millions of Americans, I followed the lead of Dr. Kamala and let the joy in. I feel better. We all feel better. We’re energized, we’re enthusiastic, and that stomach pit has been replaced by mosh pit-filling arenas across the country.
The politics of joy reinvigorated us, but it’s also a powerful force to attract those who don’t share our views. I’m hardly immune, but there’s far too much hate in modern politics. If a group of people feel looked down upon, maybe it’s worth wondering why instead of giving them more reason to feel that way. This contempt is both unhealthy for our society and counterproductive when it comes to the name of the game: attracting votes. You can’t beat divisions with divisiveness. You can’t beat hate with more hate. You can’t overcome what you’re convinced is the terrible reality about your fellow Americans by furiously screaming about them from the safety of your digital silo of homogeneity. (Trust me, I’ve been trying since 2016.)
The answer is to offer a more positive, and yes, joyful option. Americans have had enough of the same old, tired act. It’s time to pull ourselves up by our Converse bootstraps and provide an uplifting vision not just for the country but for the way we interact, a future where we laugh at the haters but invite everyone else to laugh along.
Dave Pell is the Managing Editor of the Internet. He writes the NextDraft newsletter and is the author of Please Scream Inside Your Heart: Breaking News and Nervous Breakdowns in the Year That Wouldn’t End.