Harris’s Toxic Endorsements

You can tell a lot about a person by the company they keep. You can tell a lot about a politician by the kind of people that support them. Kamala Harris has been garnering many endorsements since the start of her last-minute campaign, spanning a hell of a spectrum.

She’s been endorsed by major celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Taylor Swift, as well as some of the worst living war criminals, like Alberto Gonzalez and Dick Cheney. The support that she’s receiving from that latter group, from some of the worst human scum to crawl out of the US political cesspool, is troubling. It could be that they’re turning their backs on the Republican party out of genuine concern for what their current demented candidate will do to the country and world, though a sober analysis would be that they simply don’t want a dramatic upset of the status quo, but it also could mean that they share interests with Kamala Harris, that they see something of themselves in her, and expect to benefit from her presidency.

You’ve got to ask yourself, do you feel comfortable being on the same side as Dick Cheney?

I don’t. I don’t want to share anything with Dick Cheney. He’s a megalomaniacal, evil, avaricious, heart-thieving, repugnant old mass-murderer who doesn’t deserve to share space and oxygen with decent folk.

Given that, what can we surmise was Cheney’s intention in endorsing Harris? Does he actually believe that his endorsement will help her campaign? What godforsaken soul could possibly be swayed in their political decision-making because of an intellectual or ethical kinship with Dick fucking Cheney?

If anything, Cheney’s endorsement could have the opposite impact of the Swift-effect. Getting praised by Taylor Swift is perhaps the closest thing in contemporary context to having the public blessing of a literal angel. Her tweets may as well be heavenly mandates. Not everyone is going to be swayed, but her believers, her followers, are loyal and passionate, and they are a massive and powerful force. Swift’s endorsement can only have a positive effect. Contrarily, it’s inconceivable that Cheney’s could result in anything positive. Who’s he going to win over? Neoconservative octogenarian warmongers who haven’t already been pulled into the Trump cult?

We therefore must consider whether that was the point, that Cheney, cognizant of his status as a loathsome pariah, is hoping to poison Harris with his endorsement. What better way to make people jump out of the pool than having a vile degenerate proudly announce that he’s just shat in it?

Even with Cheney’s toxic endorsement dragging her down, Harris still has Trump soundly beat in the celebrity-support game. She has endorsements from celebrities that people actually like, many of whom are still relevant, which can’t be said as much of Trump’s heavy hitters, Hulk Hogan and Kid Rock.

It sucks to be in the same camp, even tangentially, with the gaggle of Republicans that have jumped ship to endorse Harris. Just as a candidate’s supporters say a lot about who the candidate is, it says a lot about who the other supporters are, to be united with such people. But, we can’t forget that Trump’s base of support has literal nazis and fascists, so… at least it’s not that bad?