Many young progressives who were hesitant to usher in another Joe Biden presidency now appear eager to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris — and are turning on fellow leftists online who aren’t on the same page.
In the days since Biden abandoned his re-election campaign, progressive circles have turned out to celebrate the news and support Harris. But some left-leaning social media users were quick to criticize willingness of progressives to vote for “one cop,” and some pro-Palestine voters argued that Harris’s foreign policy would be so intolerable like Biden’s.
Soon, however, a series of posts on TikTok and X criticized the narrative that Harris is along with former president Donald Trump, listing countless ways they believe in Trump’s presidency it would be worse for marginalized communities at home and abroad. Many also criticized the apparent inability of anti-Harris leftists to find a better solution, accusing them of performative activism.
New Jersey-based musician Charley Furey, 28, said he was worried about how a second Trump presidency could affect LGBTQ+ rights. He said he cried with relief when Biden — who was too moderate for his liking — announced he would step aside, because, for the first time in a long time, he felt hope that a Democratic candidate could defeat Trump.
“Certain leftists want a 100% morally pure option that doesn’t realistically exist in our political system right now. I wish it would happen, but it doesn’t,” said Furey, who also shared your frustration on TikTok. “And it angers me that instead of using their vote to make a difference in whatever way they can, they throw up their hands and say screw the system. It’s an excuse and completely counter to what we on the left should be standing for.”
Progressives have already expressed disenchantment with the president’s support for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, his climate policies and his efforts to ban TikTok, among other concerns. They have also criticized Harris in the past for her criminal justice policies as California attorney general and, more recently, for her apparent complicity with Biden’s stance on Israel.
In the wake of the backlash, many online circulated a viral quote by YouTube political and cultural commentator ContraPoints, delivered during his critique of the leftist “politics of resentment” in a 2021 video essay: “They don’t want victory, they don’t want power, they want to ‘criticize’ power incessantly.”
ContraPoints, whose real name is Natalie Wynn, told NBC News in an interview that this has been a long-standing tension among people on the left.
“What we’re having is the same argument we have every four years, which is: Is the Democrat good enough or is it a horrible moral compromise to vote for this candidate who doesn’t live up to XYZ progressive morals?” she said.
Wynn said she tends to be more progressive than the Democratic Party, but avoided calling herself a leftist because of the “online left” — as many in this camp, she said, have not organized tangible change beyond managing what “basically amounts to for a voter suppression campaign.
“Someone who becomes president of the United States inevitably gets someone’s blood on their hands at some point,” Wynn said. “And I think people feel that if they don’t vote, or if they vote for a candidate they know won’t win, then they will never have to take any responsibility for what the government does.”
User X @commodifythis is among the progressives who criticized Harris voters online. The user, who requested anonymity due to an online stalker, describes herself as a longtime pro-Palestine advocate and generated backlash for her posts stating that she would not support Harris unless the candidate called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
The 28-year-old Pennsylvania resident said she doesn’t buy the “lesser of two evils” argument put forward by Harris voters.
“Even if this argument has some weight, it is simply not convincing to people who are on the fence. I think people need a reason to vote for someone other than just that the other person is bad,” she said. “Because I think we’re probably in agreement on this, but I need some kind of commitment from Kamala Harris to know that her presidency is going to address all the things that would be bad about Donald Trump.”
Because of her stance, she said, she was hit with harsh responses from other Internet users, in what she believes was an unempathetic and unconvincing response to her concerns.
“I feel like if I were them, I might say, ‘I hope she takes a position that convinces you to vote for her, and if she doesn’t, I hope there are other positions that convince you to vote for her instead.’” , she said, “instead of insulting me or telling me I’m privileged when you don’t know who I am.”
For many online, the renewed energy around Harris comes from the feeling that the vice president is more palatable to both progressives and young people in general — making her seem much more electable than Biden.
Amelia Kimball, a college student at the University of Texas at Austin who describes herself as strongly left-leaning, said she is hopeful about Harris’ candidacy, although she continues to criticize her. She said she believed Biden had almost no chance of defeating Trump this time, especially after their clumsy debate in June and a recent assassination attempt that galvanized public support for Trump.
“Kamala Harris, just at the beginning, is younger, she is more animated, she can answer questions coherently and immediately. This will make people more excited about her,” Kimball, 21, said. “I think Joe Biden had just become so uninspiring that the bar was really collapsing in terms of what would get people most excited.”
Wynn noted that most on the left will likely never find a “perfect candidate” in a major presidential candidate.
“Unfortunately, American presidential elections are largely decided by voters in Midwestern swing states and not by socialists on Twitter,” she said. “That’s why we see candidates tending to say things that don’t seem appealing to socialist Twitter.”
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
