By Noah Rothman
Monday, August 12, 2024
Like its overused predecessors “gravitas,” “maverick,”
and “gaslighting,” it’s past time to retire “vibes” from the political lexicon.
The word now serves as shorthand to convey a variety of concepts, the
proliferation of which has diluted the word’s meaning to the point of being
useless as a tool of communication. Today, it signals more the insider status
of its user, who hopes to relate his own credentialed cynicism as much as his
insight. Insofar as the word represents a stand-in for sentimentality, romanticism,
or even schmaltz, the English language is at no loss to describe the display
Democrats have now put on for the past three weeks.
What we’re witnessing is bathos on a level that rivals
precedent. The Democratic Party’s presidential campaign — once a drawn and
somber affair preoccupied with the existential threat Donald Trump posed to the
republic itself — has been transformed into a giddy pageant organized around
the gratification that is to be found in happiness.
In lieu of a governing agenda, the Harris-Walz ticket
retails “joy” to a Democratic audience that has not experienced jubilation for
the better part of three years. The political press is part of that audience,
and they’re lapping it up.
The “Democrats’ joy is unconfined,” the Guardian’s Lauren Gambino
recounted. That is apparent in the fact that the Democratic Party’s
presidential and vice-presidential nominees keep telling us how joyful they
are. “Thank you for bringing back the joy,” said Tim Walz of his running mate.
His delight is apparent in his demeanor as well, based on Gambino’s analysis of
the Minnesota governor’s body language: “He waved. He bowed. He pointed to the
crowd, and back to Harris. He grinned and laughed and bowed again,” she
observed. Could someone who gesticulates with abandon and bends so fluidly at
the waist really be faking it?
An Associated Press analysis notes that by reading the subtext
aloud — the campaign is “branding the Democratic ticket ‘joyful warriors,’” for
those of you who might not pick up on the overtones — Harris and Walz’s
comportment contrasts with the Trump campaign’s “predictions of doom.”
“Walz had the politician’s gift of making everyone he
encountered feel special,” a USA Today profile of the governor read. “Walz isn’t the
first soldier of good vibes for a VP ticket,” it continued, but his “grounded
character and amiability” set him apart from many in his party. That is, save
for the top of the ticket, who is felicity personified. The Harris campaign has
cultivated a “party atmosphere,” NPR reported. The vice president’s aides can be seen
dancing and soaking in the adoration of their candidate’s crowds as the
Democratic ticket “barnstormed joyfully” across the country.
The campaign has engineered what Time magazine’s Charlotte
Alter called “the swiftest vibe shift in modern political history.” It’s
not hard to see the play here. “Vibes matter,” Salon declared amid its artless reading of the stage
directions aloud. “Trump can hardly restrain his jealousy over the Harris
campaign’s joy.” What kind of heartless gargoyle would dare strike a posture at
odds with joy? Dare to harsh the Democrats’ mellow by observing the degree to
which the Harris/Walz campaign has festooned itself with fripperies, and you’ll
be castigated as the dismal scold you are. Who needs to know what the potential
next president of the United States wants to do with the power she seeks? Just
pour yourself another Franzia and enjoy the effervescence while it lasts.
This is all hollow, and it wouldn’t take much probing to
expose it as such. The problem for the Trump campaign, as I noted on Friday, is that its effort to market itself
as sober and serious can be tarred as joyless because the GOP’s
presidential nominee is genuinely irritated, and it shows.
As the New York Times reported, citing sources who
attended a closed-door fundraiser in the Hamptons in early August, Trump
“described himself as ‘angry’” over the conditions to which Democrats consigned
him. “Indeed, Mr. Trump has often been in a foul mood the past few weeks,” the dispatch read. “His quickness to anger has left him
susceptible to manipulation, even among close allies.” As evidence, the Times
cites the Trump campaign’s attacks on erstwhile Republican allies — from the
late Sheldon Adelson’s wife to Georgia governor Brian Kemp. Trump “is
struggling to get past his anger,” one “top Republican” told Axios over the weekend.
Well, he’ll have to. And soon. “Happy warrior” is an
unspoken affect, not a billboard. The Trump campaign had it when the former
president was riding high in the polls, and they lost it when the Democratic
base recovered its enthusiasm for this election. Trump wears his emotions on
his sleeve. His voters can sense the trajectory of the presidential race in the
candidate’s mood. But thoughtful earnestness is not incompatible with
cheerfulness.
“Vibes” is a catch-all stand-in for nebulous ephemera.
The Trump campaign’s job is to challenge the Harris camp on specifics without
being indignant about it. That is an achievable objective, but the Republican
nominee will have to stop stewing over what the universe has done to
him first.
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