There was One (very) Angry Man at the Georgia State University Convocation Center last Saturday. Donald Trump had harsh words for everyone. He insulted his general election opponent, “Crazy Kamala” Harris, for her “low IQ,” and jeered at President Joe Biden for “choking like a dog” during the debate that started the campaign to convince him to step aside for Harris. Trump slammed several Georgia Republicans, including “disloyal” Governor Brian Kemp, who Trump said should “get off his ass” and do something about Atlanta murders. The GOP nominee even went after the host university itself for not letting more people into the at-capacity stadium to see Trump.
That’s a lot of grievances to air at an event meant to rally supporters of the former president as he seeks another term in office. And it’s understandable why Trump—who has appeared flummoxed at times over how to handle a head-to-head campaign against Harris—would go back to his old, winning 2016 playbook: Insult people and groups of people. Blame immigrants, city-dwellers, Democrats, and insufficiently loyal Republicans for the ills of the country and the world.
But anger, a driving force in 2016, is a weakening tactic, eight years after Trump shocked the world by defeating Hillary Clinton. Enough voters were tired of politics as usual that election that they were willing to see if a blunt talker could be better. Biden prevailed in 2020 because voters wanted to turn on the TV and be bored by the president.
The important thing is to keep up progressive pressure after the election. The big mistake of 2008 was progressives thinking “we put Obama in there, and now we can relax and let him take care of it”. The administration wore itself out pushing a health care bill that managed to be both overly complicated and weak at the same time. A highly astroturfed Tea Party then wins in the midterms, and Obama doesn’t have the opportunity to do anything else.
Celebrate wins and keep pushing this enthusiasm. It can’t end in November or January.
My impression is that Bernie and AOC were putting pressure on Biden even during the 2020 runup based on articles I remember seeing at the time. (I’m sure “putting pressure” doesn’t mean exactly the same thing when it’s POTUS and you are a fairly new representative, but you know what I mean) I hope that the same is going on here and/or that they and others have already established a relationship with Kamala during the previous years that will be of benefit in that regard.