Kamala Harris is now a historical footnote who is heading for the dustbin of history. Yet this harsh truth is avoided by many Black people, who cast aspersions and scorn when they should see the election result as an opportunity to forge a new political reality, instead of clinging to a party that has lost legitimacy with many of its voters.
“More directly, the Black electoral imperative to seek protection from the Republican/White Man’s Party reduces African Americans to an appendage of the Democratic Party apparatus, and thus of the capitalists that fund and control the Party. It subverts the essentially progressive nature of the Black polity, objectively enfeebling Black America, even as rich white Democrats pander to Black voters as the “soul” of the party.”
Glen Ford
The always prescient Glen Ford wrote those words in February 2016 as he correctly hypothesized that Black voters would continue their tradition of supporting the candidate they believed was most likely to defeat a republican in that presidential election year. Eight years later his words still ring true. Donald Trump’s defeat of Kamala Harris has engendered anger, fear, and retrograde politics, but surprisingly little criticism of the Democratic Party which failed its most loyal voters so spectacularly.
The Kamala Harris/Tim Walz campaign raised more than $1.5 billion, more than the Donald Trump/J.D. Vance campaign was able to raise. Harris had the support of Democratic Party donors, corporate media, and the entire liberal class establishment yet received 7 million fewer votes than Joe Biden did in his 2020 race against Trump. Trump received 2.5 million more votes in 2024 than he did in 2020.
The reaction of many Black voters was epitomized by MSNBC commentator Eddie Glaude, who insists that Trump only gets votes from people who feel their “whiteness” is under threat and dismisses the idea that there is any other explanation for Trump’s victory. One can never underestimate the power of racist and supremacist feelings among white people in this country, but that sentiment is not only simplistic in political terms but ignores the flaws in the Harris campaign and in Harris herself. But any such analysis seems to be off limits to millions of Black people, who are capable of navigating many other contradictions in their lives but who demur whenever there is a need to honestly address the party which would never win presidential elections without them.
The notion of choice, even the choice of how to think or express oneself has been declared off limits. There is not nearly h dismay and anger that the party with resources to do anything it wanted still could not make enough of a case to win. There is precious little curiosity about the wisdom of making a top down choice after the donors’ coup against Biden’s re-election campaign.
There is a suspension of disbelief from otherwise intelligent people who claim not to notice the famous Harris “word salads” and odd pronouncements about coconut trees. There is an unwillingness to understand that people who depended on the covid era stimulus payments, child tax credits, and expansions of SNAP and medicaid benefits would not bother to vote for the democratic candidate who served with the president claiming to be the “most progressive president since FDR” but who stood down when these programs ended.
The trancelike state of much of Black America is a result of a deep fear of republican control of government, particularly if Trump is the republican in question. The fog is so heavy that it blocks out logic, empathy and even the need for self-preservation.
It should be clear to anyone that a candidate who can raise more than $1 billion is automatically compromised. Having buy-in from the wealthy means that any message that might motivate voters will be off the table. The obedience to the oligarchic class that doomed the Build Back Better legislation is now permanent for the party and unfortunately for its voters as well.
The spending spree didn’t even help Black democrats much. The Harris campaign paid $350,000 to Nu Vision Media, which is run by hack propagandist Roland Martin, before Martin’s softball interview with her. The money was not well spent, as Martin is only capable of reaching the choir Harris already preached to. Similarly, Al Sharpton’s National Action Network was also the recipient of useless largesse to the broader community when it received two payments of $250,000 each before the good reverend also held a very friendly interview with Harris. When the payments were revealed, Martin’s only comment was that “It should have been a hell of a lot more. More should have been spent on Black-owned media.” While Black people clung to the hope of a Harris victory, the grifters saw the campaign as just another opportunity for a chump change payday. Well connected party consultants got rich, some of them making millions of dollars as they do every four years.
Despite the resounding defeat, this columnist noticed a stubborn unwillingness to even question Harris’ campaign strategy. Her website was devoid of policy statements for 50 days, she chose to pursue non-existent “never Trump” republicans, and she was unable to explain how she would differ from Biden or Trump even when speaking to friendly interviewers. Loyal Black democrats have rendered these and other critiques as being off limits for discussion or even of thought.
The people who were once so organized that their actions changed U.S. politics and whose activism created programs like medicare and medicaid, now see themselves as powerless supplicants who can only support whomever the system spits out for consideration. Having decided to narrow their analysis only to how racist and misogynistic white voters are, there is no room to confront their predicament of Democratic Party loyalty.
Lamentation about Trump 2.0 supersedes critical thought or discussion of options or how to change the Black relationship to the Democratic Party which has now been brought to such a low point. Money and the Black misleadership class are the main culprits in the continuation of this perverse relationship. The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and the civil rights organizations are bought off. Like Martin and Sharpton they are brought out every four years to prevent any hard questions from breaking out and to be paid off for their meager efforts.
The hapless and hollow Harris has now been raised to a strange demi-goddess status. Her spectacular failure goes unexamined and so does any discussion of a new politics for Black people to seek. Even rudimentary questions about making demands or even asking questions are dismissed in favor of anger directed at Trump voters.
There are certainly reasons for anger but they should not be directed at Trump supporters and non-voters. All blame should be placed squarely on the shoulders of the democrats. Black people need a new political vision, one that does not depend solely on electoral politics at four year intervals. Black people have achieved many great things but that won’t happen again if there is no willingness for introspection and for denunciation of the people who have driven them over a political cliff yet again
Margaret Kimberley is the author of Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents. You can support her work on Patreon and also find it on the Twitter, Bluesky, and Telegram platforms. She can be reached via email at margaret dot kimberley at blackagendareport dot com.
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