Back in May 2022, I wrote about the then-leaked Dobbs decision, and called it We’re Not Going Back. On Wednesday, the Kamala Harris campaign released its campaign theme:

I have to admit, I’m pretty chuffed.

You can see the slogan float up organically from the crowd:

What I was most struck by during Harris’ first rally on Tuesday was her smile. She listed all of the challenges that her campaign faces, but she rallied people with hope and optimism. The entire launch of her campaign has hit absolutely the right notes. Those of us who oppose TFG are dying for a fighter who can lead the offensive against him, and VP Harris came through. I’ve written about joy and happiness this week, and I’ll close the week with a third theme, hope.

Everything about the TFG GOP is dour. TFG is sour and resentful all the time. JD Vance is a super angry dude. All they want is destruction and disarray and to hurt people, and while that negativity does draw a distinct audience–mainly because that dour attitude also contains the promise of retribution–it turns most people off.

They are also profoundly weird people. I don’t like to make fun of people’s appearances, but objectively TFG cuts a strange figure with his choice of coiffure and hulking stance and his obsession with Hannibal Lecter. Vance is even worse:  he’s a possible couch fucker with zero social skills. And watch this:

Vance is so fucking weird he can’t even connect with MAGA weirdos. Think about it.

Ian Bassin, the head of Protect Democracy, recently wrote:

A few months ago, I wrote about how authoritarianism thrives on hopelessness and fear. Democracy, on the other hand, grows in the soil of hope and possibility.

That shift you’re feeling is our national mood pivoting from the former to the latter.

It’s true. I knew it was the minute I saw that rally on Tuesday. VP Harris was upbeat, determined, and serious. And the upbeat part is going to get a lot of push back from the haters. For some reason the fact she is bubbly and positive is a real poke in the eye to a subset of losers. Here she is explaining where she gets her good humor from and the FOX response to it.

 

For a while I was mystified as to why so many men had such a strong negative reaction to her easy laughter. And then I realized that for many of them the only time they had been with a woman who laughed so heartily and easily was when she was laughing at them.

And that’s where VP Harris’ very relatable outlook comes in. She’s not afraid to mock the parts of TFGLand that need mocking, like how weird they are—here’s something the campaign sent out today:

She’s not afraid to confidently show us that there’s a viable alternative. And she’s not afraid to hope. She’s not afraid to laugh. Neither should we be.

I don’t think I’ve felt this reassured that we might be able to send the MAGAts packing since early in 2021. I’ll close my upbeat First Draft week with another ode to joy: