Kamalapalooza, baby!

The demographic landscape of Planet Kamala is many-hued, not very old and wild as vacationers during Beach Week. I haven’t seen such mass exuberance since a 1970 Led Zeppelin concert in this city, and the congregants at that event were likely dosed with, shall we say, mood accelerants. Harris’s crowd was amped-up on Bojangles chicken and gallon buckets of popcorn from the venue’s concession stands. Outside, vendors peddled buttons, banners, stickers and T-shirts emblazoned with slogans such as “We’re not going back” and “I’m speaking,” referring to Harris’s 2020 comment to then-Vice President Mike Pence when he tried to interrupt her during their debate.

As the, ahem, most mature member of the audience (I’m pretty sure), I’ve needed some help getting up to speed on Kamala Culture. “Brat” is a thing, as they say, or rather a meme, in the 2024 election. According to KnowYourMeme.com, the “Kamala Is Brat” meme began on June 30 — and I have to quote here because I understand nothing of what follows — “when TikTok user @temhota36 posted a video that applied the Brat Summer aesthetic to Kamala Harris’ famous Fell Out of a Coconut Tree quote. The video, which used the song ‘360’ by Charli XCX and applied the lime-green filter to the clip, was the first meme to recognize Harris as part of the brat movement, but it wasn’t the last.”

Feeling old yet?

Harris is nothing if not hip, which is fun in a Taylor Swift sort of way. (Swift’s endorsement of the Harris-Walz ticket was followed by more than 400,000 new voter registrations.) The diminutive Harris (she’s 5’4”) walked onstage wearing a black suit and black Converse lace-ups. Everyone who spoke — all of them politicians running for office in hopes of turning North Carolina, an important swing state, blue — seemed to be literally running. Each hit the high and low notes of the Democratic Party playlist, including abortion rights (yay), Trump (boo), affordable housing, better schools and teacher pay, and tax cuts for the middle class.

The star of the warm-up show was Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, who jogged onto the stage, ran a lap around the perimeter and, when finished with her remarks, jogged offstage. I can see how she has won two terms since 2017, the first African American woman to lead the city. She’s smart and adorable. If she’d promise not to run fast, I’d follow her anywhere.

At this juncture, just days from early voting in some states, it’s not implausible that Harris could win, even if the general election is a squeaker — and despite all the legitimate ifs and buts. Harris has made her share of statements that aren’t quite true, including references during the rally to Trump’s “abortion ban.” As most readers of the opinion pages understand, Trump nominated justices to the Supreme Court, who were then confirmed by the Senate. The court sent the issue back to the states to determine their own policies on reproductive rights. Trump had no role in that process, though he sometimes likes to claim credit for ending abortion. And, of course, sometimes he doesn’t.

Harris’s other problems stem from her repackaging as a moderate Democrat after having been one of the most liberal U.S. senators during her tenure in Congress. Her record is far from moderate, especially in light of a recent CNN report about an ACLU questionnaire Harris filled out in 2019. Among her responses, she approved of providing taxpayer-funded transgender surgery for prisoners and detained immigrants. She also supported drastic cuts to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations and pledged to end immigration detention.

But a rally is a rally is a rally, and excitement is the goal. The enthusiasm Harris exudes and inspires is hard to find in or around her opponent. Where Trump scowls, she smiles. Where he provokes anger and resentment, she laughs and projects optimism. Then again, in the good cop-bad cop scenario, the bad cop very often prevails.

The question is whether voters can trust Harris to be the moderate she now says she is. She has said that although she has changed some of her positions (no fracking, ever!), she maintains her same values. I’m not sure policies can be separated from values and vice versa. Policies are inspired by — and are created to support — one’s values. She might want to rethink that explanation.

But this much we do know: Trump can’t be trusted. He proved this when he refused to accept the legitimate results of the 2020 election, even posting on Truth Social that “False & Fraudulent Elections” should be grounds to terminate the U.S. Constitution. He has also said he’ll be a dictator (only) on Day 1, then he’ll close the border and start drilling. Oh, and he’ll prosecute and imprison his political opponents while pardoning the “political prisoners” serving time for attacking the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Worth a gamble? Not a chance.