Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign on Sunday is launching “Republicans for Harris” as she looks to win over Republican voters put off by Donald Trump’s candidacy.
The program will be a “campaign within a campaign,” according to Harris’ team, using well-known Republicans to activate their networks, with a particular emphasis on primary voters who backed former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. The program will kick off with events this week in Arizona, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Republicans backing Harris will also appear at rallies with the vice president and her soon-to-be-named running mate this coming week, the campaign said.
The Harris campaign shared the details of the program first with The Associated Press before the official announcement.
Good. This is some bipartisanship I can appreciate. I hope Mike Pence endorses her, he could give a statement like “y’know, there was this one day they all wanted to hang me…”
Vice presidents keepin it real
🤜🤛
He can’t talk to Harris unless his wife is with him though.
Mike Pence is fucking gross though. Didn’t deserve to be hanged but still.
substantiate your claim.
Excellent idea. Many of us disagree with Republicans, but many Republicans aren’t villains who want a bigoted dictator in the White House. They don’t want to be condescended to, either, and that’s fair. Nobody likes that.
The best way to win them over is with other Republicans who want to preserve democracy.
The best way to win them over is with other Republicans who want to preserve democracy.
That’s a funny way of saying “former Republicans.” By definition, anyone who wants to preserve democracy can no longer be a member of the Republican Party because they are directly at odds with 100% of its platform and ideology.
A lot of people have a political party woven into their identity. It’s hard for them to accept that their party is no longer aligned with their views. If they still identify as Republicans but oppose Trump, they might just avoid confronting the cognitive dissonance by staying home or writing in a candidate for president. Plenty of others will pinch their nose and vote Trump because they just can’t escape seeing it as R vs D.
By appealing to them as Republicans, the Harris campaign is able to basically say that it’s ok, you don’t have to choose between being a Republican and voting against the insurrectionist would-be dictator.
You’re not wrong, tactically speaking about the current election, but at some point afterwards we’ve got quit enabling their denial and start helping them through the rest of those stages of grief.
Yeah, that’s what it’s become. A lot of people who voted for Trump the first time won’t do it again, because they thought the warnings and predictions were exaggerated. Oops.
Now, we’ve got a Republican Party that’s painted itself into a corner, because they let themselves become overrun by fascists. Former Republicans need to come to terms with that.
Now, we’ve got a Republican Party that’s painted itself into a corner, because they let themselves become overrun by fascists.
I mean, yes, but also no: it’s not so much that they’ve “let themselves become overrun” and more “willingly given in to their basest desires.”
Just give em the benefit of the doubt that they are really just conservatives, who may be misguided, but who are generally still operating in good faith, unlike the Trumpists simply looking to seize power and abuse it.
Just give em the benefit of the doubt that they are really just conservatives, who may be misguided, but who are generally still operating in good faith
That’s always been a fiction. The word for people who believe in things like democracy and the rule of law has always been some variety of “liberal.”
Conservatism – yes, true conservatism – is an unbroken thread from monarchists, to Confederates, to NAZIs, to Trump.
Conservatism, minus the not-a-true-scotsman thing, is rooted in tradition. Traditions can vary from culture to culture, a person could even have liberal democracy as their tradition.
It’s really just a sort of tag you can apply to any other ideology that means “very rigid-minded”. You could have a conservative liberal, or a conservative communist if you wanted, they simply need to embrace those as traditions and refuse to alter their opinions no matter how much contradictory evidence is presented.
In this sense it is the opposite of progressive, which is identified by seeking change, both in the world around us, but also within ourselves as we try to stay current with changing environments and growing bodies of knowledge. We change our minds very readily when proven wrong, that’s what makes us distinct from conservatives.
You didn’t watch the source I cited at all, did you? Conservatism has a specific set of philosophers who founded it and we know what their goals were. It was not about being “very rigid-minded;” it was about defending the monarchy (and once that proved to be a lost cause, hierarchy in general).
Conservatives only want to “conserve” the status-quo insofar as the status-quo happens to be hierarchical. If the status-quo were egalitarian instead, they would 100% be champing at the bit to make broad, sweeping changes to introduce hierarchy as hard and fast as possible.
It’s called disagreeing with your source. Our world is a fluid thing, I don’t think a responsible historian or philosopher can try to define something by its origin without taking a broader context into account.
They don’t want to be condescended to, either, and that’s fair. Nobody likes that.
An epiphany the party may one day have regarding progressives.
Excellent idea. Many of us disagree with Republicans, but many Republicans aren’t villains who want a bigoted dictator in the White House.
How many of them voted for him anyway? How many of them were taking action within their party to stop the slide into an authoritarian clownshow? I can think of 3, and it hasn’t gone well for them.
but many Republicans aren’t villains who want a bigoted dictator in the White House.
As if seventy million assholes slipped and fell into fascism.
Here’s the gist of what needs to be said
Trump is not only bad for the country, he’s bad for the Republican party and Conservatism as well. Trump has kicked out nearly every sane Republican and continues to attack anyone who even barely stands up to him.
Worse, Trumps attacks and mood is random. He’s an angry demented old man who backstabs any movement the moment it seems politically advantageous to do so. Be it Right or Left, Trumps overwhelming plan is this chaos.
We cannot even vote for a Speaker, write up a Platform or attract good candidates like Jon Huntsman anymore. We are 10+ years unable to pick a Speaker of the House or support them. Is this really the party of the future?
The sooner Trump is defeated, the sooner we can rebuild the party and start doing good for America again.
We cannot remain the party of Fiscal Responsibility through massive Tax Cuts anymore. We need a real plan, a real political identity and not one that immediately contradicts itself outside of Trumps cult of personality.
I am no fan of conservatism but it’s nice to see a level headed conservative in the wild. Since we’re stuck with this two party bullshit I would love to see a functional Republican party who can compromise with Democrats and move the Overton window left.
Actually my real dream is for the party to implode, and the Democrats become the conservative party and then there’s an actual left party as the other. I’m sure you’d like the conservative Democrats. They’re like the Republicans were 40 years ago.
I always wonder - these “level headed conservatives” - voted for Trump anyhow right? Were they frantically writing letters to their representatives asking them to stop turning their party into a racist authoritarian laughingstock these past few years?
Nah. I’ll die of old age before I could be convinced to trust a Republican, and I will never again miss any election, from local on up, to ensure that I vote for anyone, anyone at all, who isn’t a Republican.
I live in an entirely Democrat-run state. There’s no Republican for me to write anything for.
When you live in Democrat-only land, it becomes easier to see the flaws and why a 2nd option is important.
Democrat Governor, 2x Democrat Senators, Democrat Representative, Democrat Mayor, Democrat Board of Education, Democrats on the judiciary, etc. etc.
I never voted Trump. Even in 2016 I saw he was shitty. But McCain was a reasonable option vs Obama and the Ukrainian War proves Obama’s folly in foreign policy and inexperience. McCain in 2012 could have prevented a lot of problems.
I’ll allow that you are a unicorn, but clearly folks are voting for the crazies, and I doubt many of them are doing so while also asking them to be less crazy.
A large number of Republicans are pissed at Trump but are begrudgingly going to vote for him.
Nearly my entire Republican social circle is ‘I don’t like Trump but …’
Which there is a degree of bullshit here no doubt. But at least some of them have to be telling the truth about their feelings.
--------+
The good news is that the ‘But…’ is 'But Hunter Bidens Laptop’s, or ‘But Hilary Clintons Emails’.
Very few are actually admitting to ‘But DEI hire’ or other Kamala attacks. Honestly, the Trump Campaigns insults are completely flat vs Kamala. Even amongst Republicans in my experience.
The thing about Republicans is that we are open about bluster vs closed door politics. You can’t necessarily pay attention to what people bluster openly.
That is good to hear, thank you!
Trump may be the worst, but he is not the only bad egg in the GOP. If the GOP was a car, it would have been deemed totaled years ago. Time to start over.
He is a petulant child that acts as spoiled as he was the day he entered the world. I am sick of hearing his rambling requests as if they help anyone other than himself.
Elon and Zuckerfuck already working overtime to block any mentions of Republicans for Harris.
They already made “White Guys for Harris” tho… Badump bump pish!
I get that this is a joke, but part of the point of that group is that we (white guys) are not exclusively Republicans and/or Trump supporters, we just don’t know how to speak up in a diverse group without fulfilling the expectation of condescension. So we keep quiet and let women, people of color, and lgbtq folks do the talking while we act as allies, votes, and window dressing. White Guys for Harris is attempting to dismantle this order and say, we’re not all shitheads and we do fully support an inclusive future.
Ffs!
I’m 41 and if I live to a hundred, the DNC will still think every election takes place in 1992 where there was tens of millions of votes in convincing moderate Republicans 🤦
“Almost but not quite in a fascist cult” is not a big or realistically persuadable demographic! 🤦
There are people who are blissfully ignorant about politics without being the rabid cults that you see in the media. Maybe this can reach some of them?
Those people probably aren’t registered to a political party.
Nah, with how over saturated all news is with the latest scandals and political nonevents nowadays, the only ones blissfully ignorant purposefully avoid politics entirely
People so averse aren’t likely to vote, especially not if they live in one of the areas rife with voter suppression hurdles.
Okay, this is going to sound really esoteric especially because I can’t find the study that was referenced but bear with me.
I once watched an astrophysicist lecture on the Fermi Paradox, saying that it was missing a component because not all the population will be aware of any specific meme, meme in the scientific sense of a single unit of information.
There was a study (I think in the 80s?) that showed that no matter what the information there will always be a percentage of the population who is isolated from it, whether that be by choice, or not. He retooled the Drake equation to include this number.
Point being, there is always benefit in trying different ways to reach more people because there’s always going to be certain people who won’t be reached.
Is this similar to the Lincoln Project? They were really active in 2020 to get Republicans to vote for Biden, and they had some anti-Trump ads playing around this year’s RNC.
Edit: typo
I believe that was a more grassroots effort led by Republicans
Please no, don’t pander to the right. Pick up the people farther to the left and invigorate younger voters. We’ve had enough centrists and doing this unravels where your momentum is actually coming from. But I guess you have to appease the doners…
The strategy that will pick up those stray Republican votes isn’t going to moving to the right, it’s going to be focusing on the things that shouldn’t be partisan at all. Despite cosplaying as patriotic Americans, the MAGA crowd routinely positions itself in direct opposition to the core values and principles that America is supposed to stand for: liberty, equality, democracy, truth, justice, and the rule of law.
She doesn’t have to run to the right, she just has to run as someone that’s normal and point out how far from normal Trump and pals really are.
I’m not saying that the examples for your point don’t exist, but it feels like every time they do this it bites them in the ass super hard. These moves alienate people and are a great way to kill energy on the left. Unless we’re just saying that left-most voters don’t matter again.
we get energy on the left by the things they care about: thoughtful and prosocial policy. no contradiction there tbh
Nothing I suggested should be a problem for the left. I specifically said that she wouldn’t win by moving to the right, but rather by running on things that shouldn’t be partisan, core principles which appeal across the political divide, but which aren’t shared by Trump or those around him.
Unless we’re just saying that left-most voters don’t matter again.
Oh don’t worry, we (they) are saying that.
It wasn’t always this way for Harris, who, in 2020, faced off against Biden and more than a dozen other Democrats as the party lurched to the left.
“Running in a Democratic primary at the height of the racial reckoning in 2020, her background as a former prosecutor, I think, hurt her,” said Conway. “In 2024, the country is in the mood for a candidate that has her background and can go on offense against Donald Trump.”
First, Harris has to reintroduce herself and, in the process, reassure moderates, Republicans looking to her said. While Conway, Whitman and Shays all plan to vote for Harris, others may need more to come on board.
…
Whitman is clear-eyed about the challenge of putting at ease voters who may have reservations about Harris’s liberal record and stances. “It’s going to be tough,” Whitman said. “A lot’s going to depend on who she picks as vice president. Even though she’s not way-left, that’s how they’re going to paint her, and that’s how she’s going to be perceived.”
Trump did unite the country after all.
and exposed all the corruption…that he brought.
If it’s like Kyle Rittenhouse, Im gonna bet MAGA bullies the hell out of them and really enjoy the popcorn over their stupid infighting.
Kyle already flip-flopped back to ProTrump.
I’d be OK with Romney for Kamala’s VP.
He reformed health in
MichiganMassachusetts when he was there.legitimately the most westwingpilled universe. also the last Republican candidate i respected
Didn’t romney also march during covid in support of the CDC and quarantine? He’s got a lot of shit policies and ideas but he ain’t all bad I guess.
Wait until it’s revealed that this is all a part of his master plan. Becomes VP, assassinates Harris, calls it an official act, announces America’s new name, New Canaan, a Mormon theocracy.
I wouldn’t like it, politically, but it’d be funny as hell.
Exactly half of why I’d be OK with it. We need better humor in dark times.
Massachusetts…
Thanks. My brain wants coffee.
With an organized, armed attack on the Capitol in 2021 and hints at another one after this election, we can’t afford to have a republican as the runner up to POTUS.
They always do this shit, appeal to the right while shitting on their own. In the meantime they shift the entire party to the right
Maybe they think appealing to those already committed to voting for you while rejecting those on the fence is a shitty strategy.
The problem is that the Democrats get so obsessed with chasing, “moderate,” Republicans that they lose their own base to low enthusiasm and low turnout. Remember what Chuck Schumer said:
“For every blue-collar Democrat we lose in western Pennsylvania, we will pick up two moderate Republicans in the suburbs in Philadelphia, and you can repeat that in Ohio and Illinois and Wisconsin.”
He said that in 2016, and predicted that not only would Hillary Clinton win, but that the Democrats would retake the Senate. Turns out that was a spectacularly bad prediction. The candidate swap has generated a lot of enthusiasm for Kamala among the Democratic base. They shouldn’t squander it trying to appeal to conservatives.
They can do that without shitting on their own.
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Damn. For like two weeks there I was excited about this election. Thought the DNC was finally listening to the left. Turns out the VP to the “Nothing will fundamentally change” president is just as bad.
But, there’s still time for me to be proven wrong. If I had any faith in the DNC, maybe I’d think this campaign will be about showing non-fascist conservatives how much they actually have in common with progressives; like how much we’re all being exploited by the owner class and how much money the government could stop wasting by just giving everyone free healthcare already.
shouldn’t be hard, their policies are basically the same, it’s all just what coat of paint you prefer
Yea, she is totally a fascist wanting queer people dead, our schools defunded while the church takes over education. /s
They commit social murder daily, so yes, they indirectly want us dead while allowing DoE to lower its standards. There’s a reason the median reading and comprehension level of Americans is 6th grade (11-12 yo children) and our literacy levels are below many other countries considered 3rd world.
Curious question, why is the Department of Education a part of the Executive branch? Doesn’t that seem like something that the legislative branch should be making regulations for? I don’t like the idea of them being laws because those aren’t fluid enough to adapt like education needs, but the executive branch seems a little stretched these days. Policing the state, regulation of education, regulation of energy, the list goes on and on
