Learning to Read the Left at Kamala's Book Tour

When I wrote up my thoughts on what I saw at Kamala Harris’ book tour, I had two goals:

Plus, in my quiet life, I don’t get to attend many functions with former presidential candidates of any stripe, blue or red. It was fun to spend an evening around a player on the national stage.

But Jennifer – don’t we know what she says? Don’t we know who her fans are? Hasn’t the national media covered this ad nauseam? What is the point? 

Breaking Through the Barriers

What is the point, indeed? In your life, have you realized how narrow our personal associations have become? I started sensing a shift around the time of George W. Bush’s first election. I remember Thanksgiving becoming a tense family occasion back then, over 25 years ago. Prior to one holiday during the Iraq war, I asked my Adult Bible Fellowship to pray that I wouldn’t melt down and scream at any family members.

Since 2000, it’s gotten worse, with the rise of social media and its algorithms pushing us farther apart. In my conservative bubble, I’m sheltered from dealing with people who don’t have my political values. In real life, I live in a purple neighborhood in a blue city, even though I’m in South Carolina. In real life, I go to church with people far to the left of me. (On one of my first visits in 2018, a new acquaintance nonchalantly mentioned her big weekend organizing for the Bernie campaign. My raised eyebrows caused her to step away and talk to someone else.)

I went to that book tour to find out what her fans are thinking.

I’m Okay, You’re Okay

All the national reporting I’ve seen focused on her word salads, her gaffes, and her far-left political positions. I never bothered to listen beyond that. What I heard at the actual event was some Trump-bashing, sure. But it was coated in the language of empathy, of building community, of caring.

The people who attended her talk responded most to her therapeutic language. Harris spoke to her fans' emotions. They loved lines such as these:

• “We need to applaud ambition in each other; especially in our young people.”
• “Other people’s limitations are not your problem.”
• “There are so many touchpoints, things that can give us joy and hope.”
• “Part of hopelessness is powerlessness. When you help someone out, it feels good!”

Reading back over my notes, I understand why Stephen Kruiser talks about so much about the left and its Trapper Keeper Feelings Journals.

Reaching Out

Jokes aside, Harris is challenging her followers to talk to the people they know who aren’t on their side. She told them to engage others by checking assumptions; she’s cautioning her fans about the silos of social media. She told them to never assume others have the same information, instructing them to ask their friends: “What do you think is going on? What facts do you have?”

This would be good advice for anyone wanting to talk to a political opponent. Conservatives can easily put that to work in talking to the liberals in our lives.

The Uses of Power

It wasn’t all fuzzy warm feelings at the book tour. One chilling moment for any conservative: Harris talking about what the Democrats should do when they come back into power. She wants to implement a “project of civic renewal” – to clear away what she called the “debris” left behind after the Trump administration was termed out. All I could wonder was whether renewal = re-education.

Another gem: “Don’t talk about rebuilding in a way that is nostalgic.” She wants the Democrats coming back in to “have a real plan for affordable housing, childcare.” In other words, there’s no staying in any center. Once the Democrats come back, it’s all ahead full speed on the leftist agenda.

Flip the Script

We conservatives are never going to sway the hardcore left. But most people live in the mushy middle. Plus, there are Republicans whose spines we must stiffen.

We need to break through these silos not merely to "dialogue," but to win them over. We need to let others who share our beliefs but are too cowed to speak up know that they are not alone. It’s time to start talking to those in our lives whose opinions we can sway, and whose votes we can gain. After all, as the former vice president herself said: “The most influential opinion maker is someone in your life.”

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