Election 2024- a Tale of Two Visions for America
Election 2024- a Tale of Two Visions for America
“Where there is no vision, the people perish…” (KJV, Proverbs 29:18)
We are in 2024, an election year, a year I call “the Year of the Precipice” for our democracy. We are now examining forces in our politics that are abnormal to democracy but have come to seem normal to us. I call them “democracy destroyers.”
Is the Fever Breaking?
The Democratic National Convention in Chicago is underway. It’s been a “wild ride” for our nation over the last few weeks following President Biden’s decision not to run for president and his vice president Kamala Harris taking up that mantle.
At times we hear the term “inflection point” to mark the significance of current events. It seems to be hard to miss that Americans are dealing with a truly significant time in their democracy where they must choose between elected leaders with two very different visions for their nation. Is something new and different happening or are we not yet tired of all the victim and grievant rhetoric?
It’s Been Interesting to Watch “the Vibe” Unfold
During this time, if you can believe the polls (I know, that requires great care), the Republican nominee for president has been knocked back on his proverbial heels by polling data. This data that shows that he no longer has the commanding lead in the race as he did when Joe Biden was in the race. In fact, some polling suggests Trump is now behind in some key battleground states. And, as several pundits have opined, there seems to be a different “vibe” to this presidential race now that Vice President Kamala Harris is heading up the Democratic ticket.[1]
That “vibe” seems to involve several facets, including the collision of two very different leadership visions. Harris’ vision is blatantly optimistic, even joyful and future oriented about what she envisions the future of America to be. It is a stark contrast to Trump’s vision for the country (and a viable argument can be made that it is really not a vision). It is much darker, retrograde, and often vindictive. It seems, for the most part, to be unchanged from his unsuccessful 2020 election campaign or his 2016 inauguration speech that is often dubbed “American Carnage”.[2] The question is, why and how did this “vision collision” happen?
But to answer that, first it is helpful to understand the complexity of what has been happening to many Americans vis a vis the influence of Mr. Donald J. Trump since 2016. It has shaped Trump’s vision for America as well as his supporter’s willingness to “own” this vision with him because they have wholly appropriated it.
Submersed in Trump Psychology
Since 2016, when Trump descended the escalator at Trump Tower to announce his candidacy for president, we may not have realized it, but we were about to undergo enormous psychological manipulation. Certainly, most of the news media did not recognize it at the time. If they did, most of them chose not to spotlight it. A large portion of our major political parties also did not clearly recognize it or accurately understand it. However, today it is likely that they are more focused on it than previously. Even so, one of those parties still does not call it out.
But Donald Trump saw it and understood it, at least intuitively if not explicitly. As author Arthur C. Brooks describes it, in the decade prior to the 2016 election, Americans went through an economic crisis that was,
“…worse than anything since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Millions lost their homes or jobs or both. Huge swaths of people felt left behind by the economic recovery and forgotten by the political classes in Washington, who were offering them no solutions and didn’t seem to care much about their plight. Their despair didn’t register in public opinion surveys. Neither the conventional left nor the conventional right fully grasped it.”[3] (emphasis mine)
It did not escape Trump’s notice. He sensed that a sizeable part of the American electorate, whether they themselves realized it or not, would be receptive to what he was about to say to them. And he went to work using it and has been ever since. He’s doing it right now as he pursues the presidency in 2024. How and what is it that Trump tapped into?
The Elements of Trump Psychology
The basic psychological elements that Trump has used to develop and grow his support base are fairly simple. The first element is “interpersonal victimhood” which is an “… ongoing feeling that self is a victim, which is generalized across many kinds of relationships. As a result, victimization becomes a central part of the individual’s identity.”[4]
This victimhood has “four main dimensions: constantly seeking recognition for one’s victimhood, moral elitism, lack of empathy for the pain and suffering of others, and frequently ruminating about past victimization.”[5] Constantly seeking recognition of one’s victimhood is manifested with a need to have their suffering acknowledged and those who perpetrated the “wrongdoing” to take responsibility for it. Moral elitism is having “…immaculate morality and view everyone else a being immoral.”[6]
The second element is grievance. Psychologist Michael Bader argues that “…the central ingredients of the psychology of grievance are feelings of betrayal and envy which trigger rage and desire for revenge. Taken together, a toxic brew.” [7]
Harvesting Discontent Develops the Trump Vision
This describes the thinking of the people in the “fields of discontent” from which Trump has harvested and cultivated his base. Trump understood this thinking and exploited it. Of course, it also describes much of his own personal psychology, not including his own enormous narcissism. In that sense, it shows why Trump has been successful at this. He thinks this way too. Combine it with a strong dose of populism and isolationism and voila- you have a political culture that shares a vision for America- Trump’s vision.
It is a shared vision. Although again, it is arguable that it is not a vision, but instead a worldview. It is a vision of an America that is dark, full of retribution, and rests on a feeling of being “short changed and short shrifted.” It has been described by some as “conservative victimhood.” It taps into a perception that one is being “…unfairly marginalized, persecuted, or discriminated against by dominant cultural, social, or political forces, often those associated with progressive or liberal ideologies.” Further, this victimhood mindset believes that “…conservative voices are silenced or ridiculed by mainstream media, academia, and other cultural institutions…including the idea that traditional religious practices are under attack, that free speech is being curtailed in the name of political correctness, or that government policies are punishing success and rewarding dependency.” [8]
It is a vision that believes someone, whether they are immigrants, minorities, transgender people, gays, lesbians, foreigners, or whomever it is, is getting something or getting to do something that those feeling victimized and aggrieved are not. To add insult to their injury, the aggrieved believe they are entitled to whatever the “it” is they should be getting. On the other hand, the aggrieved believe that those who are getting the “it,” are not entitled to “it” at all, and they question if they should even be allowed in this country.
That is the vision these Trump followers share with their leader Donald Trump. They believe in that vision because they now psychologically share it with Trump, called “identity fusion.” [9] While it is a dark, fear based, unhappy place to be, it was probably the dominant vision in this year’s presidential race until recently when something else in the way of vision came along.
A Transcendent Vision has Now Emerged
That “something else” that has happened upon on the scene is the presidential ticket of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. And while having a new ticket with a new person leading it is significant, something that perhaps is even more significant has come along with it. It is a different style of campaign as well as a different way of talking about America and the American people. That “something else” is a vision, a vision that has emerged that strongly competes with the Trump vision and has emerged to capture the attention and psyche of many American voters.
A vision is the statement of a desired state, a desired condition, a desired outcome that one wishes to attain. It can be a vision for a person, or an organization, and yes, for a nation. The Harris-Walz ticket’s vision is using language that a large number of Americans have not heard in a long time, if ever. The vision is described in optimistic, joyful, upbeat, and motivating terms describing a bright future for all of us. A future that ensures our freedoms and encourages us to dream big, positive dreams both for ourselves and for our nation. This vision acknowledges the value of all individuals regardless of race, creed, country of origin, sexual orientation, economic circumstances, or ethnicity.
It Seems to be Catching Hold
At present the Trump campaign seems to be befuddled and confused by this new vision. In fact, this vision’s success thus far appears to rest on what sociologist James Davison Hunter describes as its ability to describe people as “…human beings underneath the abstractions of our inflammatory symbolic politics.”[10] It is speaking to the best in us, not the worst. As we begin to see people as people who are not so dissimilar from us, instead of negative “abstractions,” our receptivity to a positive vision like Harris’ increases.
As that has occurred, the transcendency of a vision can then lift itself above gravity like forces of the base name calling coarseness that has consumed our national psyche since 2016. We begin to discover or rediscover a way of thinking about our nation and ourselves and our fellow Americans that is affirming and even feels good. That good feeling happens even with us knowing key issues and problems remain that our nation must address. But this positive vibe” makes us feel like we can tackle it, especially if we do it together.
Keep in to mind, the threat to democracy that Trump and his MAGAites represents to the United States is not being ignored by the Harris-Walsh campaign. While they are stressing the threat to democracy that Trump and his authoritarian Heritage Foundation Project 2025 Plan represents, it is not spotlighted in the same way it was when Joe Biden led the Democratic ticket. Harris is transcending Trump with her vision[11] and she is doing it by not engaging in his vision or his “verbal mud wrestling” (or whatever it is you wish to call it).
The Power of Vision
Never underestimate the power of vision to move people. Yet, for a vision to motivate, the leader must not only have vision, but he or she must be able to “cast that vision” to others. The leader must be able to describe the vision using understandable language that engages and energizes large numbers, especially if they lead in the political realm. That’s when the vision gets “caught.” People begin to see something better than their current reality and it excites them.
If a vision “catches fire,” it is a powerful force because it is clearly describing for people an outcome of possibilities, and a destination for the nation that a majority of its citizens believe they can share in and enjoy together. Election 2024 is defining itself as a historical inflection point precisely because it is a “tale of two visions” for the country.
Is the American Spirit Reawakening?
So far, the vision cast by Kamala Harris and Tim Walz seems to be accomplishing exactly that. As political columnist Steve Schmidt describes it, “The American spirit is awakening again.”[12] Whether or not the Harris-Walz ticket can increase their vision’s momentum and sustain it, remains to be seen. But as several DNC speakers noted, something now feels different than it did just a few weeks ago.
There is a new energy in the air that seems to be consuming and overtaking whatever has been emanating from the Trump campaign for months. The “aspirational leadership language” that, until 2016, had always captured the hearts and minds of Americans seems to be in full play again, and many Americans seem drawn to it and like it.
Perhaps that is why the writer of the Book of Proverbs ascribes such power to vision saying that, without it, a nation’s people can lose itself, even perish. Hopefully, the American spirit is being reawakened with true vision.
We will continue exploring topics like this that are not given near enough time and emphasis in our civic education efforts if they are even taught at all. Democracy is so important. But it’s hard to keep, and it’s easy to lose. It’s up to us, and only us, to protect it. Support democracy, become a Democratist! Spread the word! Please share this Democraticus with others! For more information, go to www.tomthedemocratist.com
[1][1] “Embrace those Good Vibrations, the Case for Kamala to Keep It Simple,” by Bill Kristol and Andrew Egger, Morning Shots, The Bulwark, August 15, 2024.
[2] Donald J. Trump Republican Nomination Acceptance Speech, July 21, 2016, https://assets.donaldjtrump.com/DJT_Acceptance_Speech.pdf
[3] Love Your Enemies, How Decent People Can Save America From the Culture of Contempt,” by Arthur C. Brooks, pg. 69, Copyright 2019, American Enterprise Institute, HarperCollins Publishers, 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007.
[4] Unraveling the Mindset of Victimhood | Scientific American, June 29, 2020
[5] Unraveling the Mindset of Victimhood | Scientific American, June 29, 2020
[6] Unraveling the Mindset of Victimhood | Scientific American, June 29, 2020
[7] Trump and the Psychology of Grievance | by Michael Bader | Medium, November 20, 2019
[8] The eternal victimhood of the right-wing mind. | by Joan Westenberg | Medium, November 9, 2023
[9] “Identity Fusion,” by William B. Swann Jr. and Michael d. Buhrmester, Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2015, Vol. 24(1) 52-57, Copyright by the Authors, 2014, https://www.cdp.sagepub.com.
[10] Opinion | Harris is beating Trump by transcending him - The Washington Post, by E.J. Dionne, Jr. August 11, 2024.
[11] Opinion | Harris is beating Trump by transcending him - The Washington Post, Ibid.
[12] “The American Spirit is Awakening Again,” by Steve Schmidt, The Warning, August 22, 2024, Copyright 2024.