Do Not Fear Blue Qanon

Let libs enjoy their K-drops

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July 2024 was a crazy time for politics—the month started with Joe Biden’s absolutely disastrous debate performance, escalated to an attempted assassination on Donald Trump (which, I’ll just say it, was a total red herring and shark-jump in terms of plot structure), and just a week later, Biden had dropped out as the nominee and was replaced by Kamala Harris, ushered into her candidacy by a semi-ironic slew of Twitter memes. It definitely had a “bird in the auditorium” vibe to it. Substitute teacher showing the class a sex ed movie vibe. The same feeling we all got the infamous night that Trump got COVID (You had to be there.)

When Biden finally dropped out of the race, something major shifted with the perception of the Democratic party (especially among those who are very online) and I think this week’s antics at the DNC more or less confirm my theory. We’re kind of doing Blue Qanon. But it’s okay! Let me explain!

I’m hardly a “Bernie or Bust” person, but I do understand where they’ve been coming from ever since 2016. The Democratic Party seemed both eternally powerful and yet completely helpless, to the point that one could speculate they were controlled opposition. I’m not saying I personally felt this way, but it was the perception that they were powerful enough to rig a primary to insert their unelectable Reverend Mother, and yet so helpless that they were unable to pass universal healthcare, forgive student loans, or do anything about January 6 or any of Trump’s other hijinks (It’s clear at this point that Trump will die at the age of ninety-seven, after saving his body’s finite energy and consuming only McDonald’s and Coca Cola.) Take, for example, this famous screenshot from The Simpsons which more or less sums up how many progressive Democrats, especially young people, feel about the parties:

When Biden lost the debate so miserably, I briefly wondered if he would drop out of the race. And then I thought, No he won’t. He’s going to stay in and he’s going to lose. Nothing ever happens. Because—and it’s possible I only feel this way because of how many doomer leftists I’m exposed to on Twitter—it often feels like Democrats don’t do anything. Not that they don’t enact policies, they do. But when the time comes to do something dramatic—legal, but really weird and out-there and last minute—I just had zero faith that they would do it. To many Democrats, it feels like the Republicans will do whatever it takes, and the Democrats will adjust their geeky little pocket protectors and do only what they are 100% confident is allowed in the school handbook. For the past eight years (and perhaps before then; I wasn’t paying as much attention to politics then, I was really into Pinterest) Democrats have at least had the appearance of constantly shrugging their shoulders and either saying their hands are tied, or saying they won’t stoop to the Right’s level.

Before you yell at me, I’m talking about the perception. Whether or not Democrats actually do anything useful is irrelevant here. And for the record, I do think they’ve done useful things. The point is that they often don’t appear bold enough to do anything big or risky.

When Biden dropped out, our perceptions of the Democratic Party changed. He actually did it, the absolute madman!

Democrats could actually do something? Who knew?! What else were they capable of??