Amanda Weinstein: The Kamala Candidacy

Ken Harbaugh:

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Amanda Weinstein:

The only thing I've seen from the Republicans about a video against Kamala was how much she laughs. I mean, I laughed watching it like, “Oh man, how awful. Someone who enjoys life and someone that we want to watch and laugh with.”

We are in a 24-hour news cycle with all of the social media and TikTok and Twitter and threads and everything. We need someone who's real because there isn't time to fake it.

Ken Harbaugh:

I'm Ken Harbaugh and this is Burn the Boats, a podcast where experts and change makers share their thoughts on the most pressing issues of the day.

It's Ken Harbaugh with the MeidasTouch Network. Ever since President Biden endorsed VP Harris to be the Democratic presidential nominee, tons of you have reached out to hear what Dr. Amanda Weinstein, co-host of The Suburban Women Problem Podcast and a regular on Against All Enemies has to say about all of this.

Dr. Amanda Weinstein, I don't think I've seen anything like this, certainly in my like political lifetime where there's been an about face like emotionally, seemingly spiritually. I think the polls are going to reflect that soon.

There is an energy in the Democratic Party that I think competes with her, even surpasses what we felt in the first Obama era. How are you feeling about it?

Amanda Weinstein:

Oh, I feel exactly the same. I feel like going from worry and hearing just the doubt and hearing that people weren't energized or weren't going to show up at the polls to all of this sudden just palpable excitement you hear from everyone. It's amazing.

Ken Harbaugh:

Yeah. I probably should have led with this, an acknowledgement to President Biden for doing one of the most selfless political acts I've ever seen.

Truly an example of country over party, country over self, regardless of how you feel about whether it was the right decision politically, he did it for his country. And there are very few examples like this we can point to.

Amanda Weinstein:

Absolutely. I mean, not to be hyperbolic, but I think of George Washington stepping down and everyone was shocked at that. Like how could you step down? And I think the contrast cannot be more stark between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party.

You want to see what America first looks like? We just showed you in our actions, this is what America first looks like. This is what a party looks like, who is a party, not a cult. This is a party who has a conversation. What is best for America? How should we proceed? And we take action.

Ken Harbaugh:

And no one was more shocked than Donald Trump because he could not fathom stepping away from a position of power and authority.

I imagine the confusion in the heads of like Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump asking themselves, what kind of person gives up power willingly? Well, a patriot.

And I think that's the contrast you're talking about. Donald Trump is not a patriot because you could not imagine in your wildest fantasies that he would put the country first in this way.

Amanda Weinstein:

Oh, I mean, just seeing the initial reaction of the Republicans, they don't have a plan B. There was nowhere in their plans of what do we do if Kamala steps up? They are completely taken aback. They had no idea that this would actually happen.

And you saw it with even Stephen Miller on Fox News just completely melting down on the news, just getting screechy and overwhelmed because he does not know how to handle this. We're not planning for this and it's going to be fun.

Ken Harbaugh:

I want to play that clip of Stephen Miller because I think, I mean, he's a presence on social media, but you have to hear the guy's voice every once in a while to remind yourself just how unhinged these folks are. Play the clip.

Stephen Miller:

They held a primary. People, they had ballots, they filled out circles, they went to the voting booths, they spent money on advertisements. And as President Trump said, the Republican Party spent tens of millions of dollars running against Joe Biden.

Now, they just woke up one morning and said, “Never mind, we're canceling the entire primary. We're getting rid of our candidate and we're pretending the election has never even happened.”

Ken Harbaugh:

Okay, that's a great one. And I mean, he goes like octaves, I didn't know he could hit that high.

Amanda Weinstein:

I've never heard Kamala hit that high.

Ken Harbaugh:

They don't have a plan for Kamala Harris for a couple of reasons. First of all, their entire strategy was built around taking down Biden. So-called crooked Biden, incompetent Biden. I mean, the whole Hunter hearing thing, the impeachment strategy, it's all focused on Joe Biden.

But I suspect the other reason they don't have a strategy for the vice president is because they are terrified of what she represents.

Amanda Weinstein:

Oh, absolutely terrified. I mean, there is so much that changed on a dime. We have now, gone to, I think it was George Conway who within minutes said, “Oh, it looks like it is the prosecutor against the perpetrator.” Like that is what we are talking about now.

And Kamala Harris's team came out with a video, I think The Lincoln Project's already got a video of showing the stark contrast between the prosecutor and the perpetrator, and between the person who has brought to justice rapists against the rapist.

Like there is no limit of so much material that people are already throwing out there. I think it was Sarah Longwell who does focus groups who immediately said, “You know what, they've got the oldest person on the ticket right now, in history.”

They have spent how long hammering home how old Biden was. And now, they've got the old guy. Like it is not going well for them right now.

Ken Harbaugh:

Yeah, I want to play this clip from Nikki Haley no less, saying that if Donald Trump heads the ticket, (this is when she was running) she guarantees that Kamala Harris will be the next president. Roll the clip.

Nikki Haley:

Let's speak some hard truths. If Donald Trump becomes the Republican nominee, we will get a President Kamala Harris, you mark my words, he cannot win a general election.

Look at Iowa, look at New Hampshire. He can't get independence, he can't get suburban women. He's losing Republicans who say they don't want him and will vote for someone else. It's a problem.

Ken Harbaugh:

There's also this clip, we're not going to show it, but it, I guess, speaks again to Nikki Haley's hypocrisy. She says whichever party retires their 80 something candidate first will be the party to win. Well, that's the Democratic Party.

And yet the Republicans are doing whatever they can to attack her. It doesn't seem to be sticking. I mean, here you have Kellyanne, the other half of the Conway couple formerly.

Amanda Weinstein:

I could not imagine that household.

Ken Harbaugh:

Yeah, me neither. I don't want to get into that because Kellyanne is reverting to the tried and true racist tropes here talking about the first black woman to head a presidential ticket being lazy and inarticulate. Here it is.

Kellyanne Conway:

She had disastrous staff turnover as vice president. I check it on the daily. Her public schedule, gentlemen, rarely has anything on it or one or two things on it. She does not speak well. She does not work hard. She doesn’t inspire anyone.

Speaker 5:

Alright, so, Kelly, let me ask you-

Kellyanne Conway:

And she should not be the standard bearer for the party. Yes, sir.

Ken Harbaugh:

So, Amanda, I think there's going to be a lot of that between now and November. We have to steal ourselves for it and we have to be ready to push back because on the merits, they don't have that much against Kamala and they're going to have to blow these dog whistles whenever they can. They don't have to, but they're going to. We just know it's coming.

Amanda Weinstein:

I mean, again, they don't have a plan. This is what they have to resort to when they don't have a clear plan and there is just almost nothing that they can attack her on.

She is a prosecutor. She has dealt with criminals, she's part of the administration that tried to get a bipartisan immigration deal that was blocked because Donald Trump told them to block it.

They really have nothing of substance to go on other than these tropes of racism and misogyny. And I just think there are so many people out there that are tired of it, that we're calling out, we're sick of the gaslighting.

And I think if anything, having this short time period … and I think Rachel Vindman recently on our podcast said, “You know what, we don't have time to say I am going to address that in a few weeks, or I'm going to address that next year at Thanksgiving.”

“When we hear this from our relatives, from our neighbors, from our friends, the time to address it is right now. We don't have time to wait to address this type of stuff.” And I think that is the exact mentality we need.

Ken Harbaugh:

Probably her greatest strength, and it was at the center of her portfolio as VP, (continues to be) is reproductive rights. No one speaks as compellingly, as forcefully, as credibly on the issue of defending a woman's right to choose bodily autonomy than Kamala Harris.

What are you hearing from your audience, from your listeners about the salience of that issue in her hands going forward?

Amanda Weinstein:

Oh, this is a winning issue for the Democratic Party. This has become very clear since red Kansas said, “You know what, we kind of like our freedoms and we'll keep them. Thank you very much.”

This is a winning issue. And of anyone in the Democratic Party to deliver the message on this winning issue, it is Kamala Harris. She just nails it when she talks about this issue. She knows what to say. She is a woman and speaking to many women out there and many men who know what the consequences are of losing reproductive freedoms in America.

This is a winning issue. This is the issue of this election, and we now, have the candidate better than any other candidates talk about that issue.

Ken Harbaugh:

Not only do we have the candidate better than any other candidate, it feels like the Republicans set their own trap and fell into it with the nomination of J. D. Vance as Trump's running mate. I mean, I don't think you could get more extreme on this issue and many other issues, but just address this one in particular.

He has called for a national abortion ban. He believes, at least personally, in zero exceptions for rape and incest. Whether that becomes the campaign's policy, we'll see. But J. D. Vance as a person is extreme as they come on this.

Amanda Weinstein:

Absolutely. I mean, when you're talking about a 10 and 11-year-old rape victim and not having exceptions in that case, that is barbaric. There really is very little else you can describe it as other than it is completely barbaric. It is not about freedom. It is about trying to sacrifice a young girl on the altar of their pretend religiosity.

And I think we're a little tired of the fake, it's all fake. We know their extreme attitudes are completely fake, especially Donald Trump's. But J. D. Vance isn't helping either. He thinks that somehow childcare isn't for normal families.

I'm sorry, there's a lot of families out there that rely on childcare. So, to say that something like the government addressing the childcare crisis we have in this country is not normal, is completely out of touch with the American people and the struggles that they have every day to just afford life, childcare, rent, groceries. Completely out of touch.

Ken Harbaugh:

How do you think the Christian nationalist influence over J. D.'s worldview will come into play in this presidential contest? Because he was obviously chosen not as an appeal to moderates or as a way to moderate the extremism of Trump and his campaign.

It was a decision made out of cockiness, arrogance even, that they just thought they were going to run away with it.

And it was also a gesture to the extremist Christian nationalists, the Project 2025 architects that were given this trophy going into the next administration. How does a candidate Harris take that on?

Amanda Weinstein:

Oh, I mean, I think you have Donald Trump, who is a reality TV star and he chose J. D. Vance, who is really just an author turned political pundit. There is no experience with true leadership. There is no experience in governing between the two of them.

And that's what Donald Trump likes. He wants someone that can get the attention, and he's been pretty good at that for a while.

And now, what we have in Kamala Harris is someone who can govern, who has governed in many different situations. We like people who can govern in the Democratic Party. I know that's weird. We want someone who's like capable and experience, they want someone who can get attention.

And the problem with that is not only can she govern, man, is she good at getting attention. If we go back and look at her committee questioning, if we look at the, I'm Speaking, if we look at her debates, she knows how to have the conversation and to get attention.

And even right now, like we are off the heels of the RNC. We are off the heels of them naming a new VP, an assassination attempt, the RNC Convention. And none of that is what we are talking about right now.

We are all talking about Kamala Harris, and we can't stop talking about Kamala Harris. We are talking about what an amazing Patriot Biden is and what an amazing candidate we have in Kamala Harris. And this is when really, we should be talking about the RNC and what crazy thing Trump and J. D. are talking about.

But even today, they cut J. D. off on Fox News because he was too boring to keep on air. This is going to be an issue for a party who runs on attention and just can't seem to get it right now.

Ken Harbaugh:

Can you address this lie that Vice President Harris is not ready. I mean, it was thrown at her from the start and I am sure there are cultural reasons for that. I'll let you read into that whatever you want.

But she has done more than most vice presidents have at this point in her career and has been the most loyal, effective wingman to President Biden that he could have hoped for, had the toughest tasks in her portfolio like immigration. Can you talk about how ready she is for this job?

Amanda Weinstein:

Oh man, when I hear that, I just think it's laughable because let's just ignore the fact that she has been the VP and all the accomplishments she has on her belt just from being the VP and heading up one of the most important issues right now, which is common sense gun laws. She headed up that for the White House.

Let's just forget all of that. Before that being senator, being a prosecutor, she has a career of accomplishments under her belt, and I just don't think a lot of that is going to have any weight to it. People aren't going to buy it; she just has too much on her record.

You just take this resume she has of all of the things that she has done throughout her career, no one's going to buy it. At least not anybody who is on the fence.

Ken Harbaugh:

So, where's it coming from? I think we both know the answer. When somebody looks at a black woman about to head a presidential ticket and says she's not ready, what are they really saying?

Amanda Weinstein:

I mean, they're really saying that no black woman is ready, no black person is ready, no woman is ready, especially no black woman.

Now, we're going to hear stuff about her parents’ background. We're going to hear so much that somehow all of the things, what she looks like, her gender, makes her not ready. It just is not true.

And I think we're at a place where we have since the last election, four more years of people who turned 18 and man, are they not going to hear any of that? I'm sorry, but they have friends, even guys have friends who are ladies and have friends who are a different ethnicity. Man, are these young people going to be energized and are they not going to play into any of that?

Ken Harbaugh:

They already are energized. I've been blown away by what seemed like self-assembling memes out there about Kamala with the dancing, the coconut tree comment, which was initially circulated as like a critique and now, she's owning it and people love it.

I wish we could play some of that here, but we'll get flagged for the music copyright. But just check it out. It's everywhere.

And in the business, this is what they call earned media, free advertising. I mean, she's going to get half a billion dollars’ worth of publicity without having to spend a cent because young people are into it.

Amanda Weinstein:

Oh, yeah. You get young people who will take their time and energy and they will make videos, and they will make art, and they will just get her message out there to people who might not have been listening before. Now, they have a reason to listen.

Ken Harbaugh:

Yeah. I've always thought that politicians actually deploy corniness as a strength. People like that for some reason when they're a little bit hokey in their affect. And Kamala just has that. She's got the infectious laughter, she's got the coconut stories and I find it endearing in a way that doesn't diminish her seriousness at all.

Amanda Weinstein:

Oh no, I think the only thing I've seen from the Republicans about a video against Kamala was how much she laughs. I mean, I laughed watching it like, “Oh man, how awful. Someone who enjoys life and someone that we want to watch and laugh with. Terrible. How terrible this person who is a human.”

We are in a 24-hour news cycle with all of the social media and TikTok and Twitter and threads and everything. We need someone who's real because there isn't time to fake it. And I think she is great at being real, showing who she is and not being ashamed of it.

Ken Harbaugh:

I hope she doesn't change because you know there are going to be advisors and consultants who are trying to craft the perfect candidate.

But my memory of VP Harris when she was on the campaign trail and when I had very limited interactions with her was that authenticity. When she laughed, you could tell it was a real laugh. That was really her.

And I hope that never goes away, but it's going to be hard because every single misstatement, every single awkward moment is going to be weaponized to its fullest potential by the Republicans between now and November.

And it's always tempting to try to be careful knowing that that's coming. But I think that would be a mistake for her.

Amanda Weinstein:

I think it’d be a mistake. And I think, I mean, we've seen a news cycle. We went from Trump, someone trying to assassinate him and that's not the biggest news story. Like I can't imagine anything that she'd say that would be a gaff that we would stay on for more than 24 hours.

Which means she can kind of just run with it and be her because whatever she says that maybe might not be the perfectly well-crafted talking point, it's going to blow over. But the truth is she has stories and that's what people connect to.

We've been told for decades you need the perfect talking point and if you're not winning it's because you don't have the perfect talking point. I think that's true with the Republican Party. I think they need a perfect talking point. I think they need someone to tell them word for word what to say and think.

That's not who the Democrats are and that's not who the majority of Americans are. We want the stories of Americans, we want the story of hope. We want the story of what our country can be. We want the story of opportunity. We want the story of struggle and how we can address that struggle and make it so that we can all succeed in this country.

Those are the stories she's going to bring to the table, and I don't think it's going to be about the perfect talking point.

Ken Harbaugh:

I don't ever want to make light of the assassination attempt on the former president, but it must be driving him crazy that as you pointed out, the whole world isn't still talking about it.

I mean, the first 20 minutes of his RNC speech were like this self hey geography anointing, creating his own saintly myth. It was really kind of weird unless you're already part of the Trump cult.

I think he assumed that that story would carry through the election. And it just has to be driving him crazy that people are now, talking about something else. And that's something else is a formidable, impressive black female opponent.

Amanda Weinstein:

I'm sure they're not having a good day at Mar-a-Lago. I'm sure he is cranky and making everyone around him miserable because he doesn't know how to handle it.

And the most he has is the birtherism that brought him to us from Obama. He's going to use the same birtherism racism and I just think we're over that. I think it's not going to hang in the air long. We're going to be onto the next thing.

He has said so many ridiculous things that I don't even think his own party puts all that much weight in anything he says. Half the time he gets names wrong, he confuses Kamala Harris with I think Nikki Haley and Pelosi. They just stopped, even their party, putting weight in what he says.

He will not be able to handle her. I would love to see whether he actually debates her or not. I would love to see that debate. I don't know if we're going to be able to see it.

Ken Harbaugh:

What's your like serious political assessment of the likelihood of that? I think it's close to zero given the damage he would suffer in a head-to-head with her.

Amanda Weinstein:

Oh, it would be disastrous. However, I never want to underestimate his ego (backing down). So, that I have a little glimmer of hope that his ego is so massive that he knows we will all tell the world he's too scared to go head-to-head with Kamala Harris and he is backing down from a black woman.

That little glimmer tells me his ego might be like, “Nope, I can do this.” And we might get it. But if he listens at all to anyone on his campaign with any sense, they'll tell him, don't you dare debate her because you will lose.

Ken Harbaugh:

Yeah, yeah. You'll lose badly. We just talked to her most recent speech writer who said that that's her arena. She's at her best when she's given that prosecutorial stage. And if there is a debate, it's not going to be an exchange of ideas, it's going to be an interrogation.

As you said at the top of the show, it is going to be the prosecutor versus the felon, the serial harass or the rapist, the compulsive liar. And it's going to be a prosecution. Yeah, I don't think that is going to happen if his campaign has any say in it at all.

Amanda Weinstein:

Oh, but I want it to happen so bad.

Ken Harbaugh:

Any thoughts on her potential VP pick?

Amanda Weinstein:

Ooh. I mean, this is what we're talking right now too, which I know J. D. Vance is like, “Come on, I'm the new thing. It's me, and me, me.” And we're like, “Oh, what's going to be our VP?”

I mean, this is something that even Biden said when I think he was asked by reporters like, “Who could beat Donald Trump?” He's like, “There's 50 people out there that could beat Donald Trump.”

We have an amazing bench right now, and the Democratic Party, something I'm sure the Republicans are jealous of because I don't know that their bench is all that great. Ours is amazing.

I think some of the ones to look for are Shapiro in Pennsylvania. We have some amazing democratic governors, wildly popular. Pennsylvania, Shapiro, Beshear in Kentucky, North Carolina's governor, I think Mark Kelly in Arizona. Not a governor, but senator.

I think we have some options out there that she's going to go for of people who have immediately threw their hat in the ring for Kamala saying, “I'm with her, I'm supporting her. Let's do this.”

Ken Harbaugh:

I've already seen Kamala 2024 T-shirts on young people. They have figured this out.

Amanda Weinstein:

Where do I buy that? We need to put a link. I will buy that. Take my money. Speaking of money, oh, we didn't even talk about how much money she's raised.

Ken Harbaugh:

I think the latest tally the day after Biden announced he wasn't running was something like $84 million on ActBlue in 24 hours. Record breaking.

Amanda Weinstein:

Oh. And we heard from Republicans, and let me be pretty clear, this was from Republicans, that it was a call from elite, rich, wealthy donors, and the Democratic party who were calling Biden to step down. No.

That was a story that the media bought from Republicans. This is something that has broad support in the Democratic Party. When you see so many people step up, make donations to Kamala Harris. Wow, is this something the Democratic party is getting behind.

Ken Harbaugh:

I just looked it up. Nearly a million individual donors in that 24-hour period. And those are all Americans like by law. And they're almost all likely like voters. A million people in 24 hours putting their money where their mouth is.

Amanda Weinstein:

A million people donated. So excited. That is excitement and oh man, money talks with Trump and man, that might hurt his feelings more than almost anything else right now.

Ken Harbaugh:

Yes. It might hurt his feelings. I don't want to get over confident though, because speaking of Trump's motivations, he has even more to lose than Harris, whoever the VP pick ticket has to win. I mean, for Trump, this is literally a fight for his freedom and that should scare us.

Amanda Weinstein:

Oh yeah. I mean, that means he will not be backing down. He has all of the intention to stay in the race because it is all about him and what he can gain. It's not about America. It's not even about his party or his followers. It is just about him.

He won't be backing down and it's going to get vicious. He is going to be like a cornered animal lashing out and it's going to get ugly.

Ken Harbaugh:

Yeah. I was in that reference to his freedom referring to the fact that I really think he's running to stay out of jail and to avoid accountability and to pardon the people who have enabled him criminally, whereas VP Harris is running to serve the country.

Amanda Weinstein:

Absolutely. I think he either stays in, wins, and becomes a dictator or he goes to jail and loses his freedom. And I don't think he sees any options in between and he might not have any options in between.

Ken Harbaugh:

What are you talking about coming up on The Suburban Women Problem Podcast?

Amanda Weinstein:

Oh man, we had Sam Schwartz on, and he has been a Gen Z activist whose cousin unfortunately died in the Parkland shooting and he has got a great beat on the young people. And man, are those young people energized right now.

They're coming up with memes I don't understand. Which is great. I don't need to understand everything. I don't know what brat is, but it's a good thing and it's cool and I don't know what it means, but all the young people do.

Ken Harbaugh:

I've had to ask my kids for a few translations. I want to end with this. I think it's a TikTok. Like I've told you before, I'm not on TikTok. I just get this spillover that makes it onto to Twitter. But I found this video just so captures that spirit.

What generation are we talking about? They're Gen Z’ers. Is that what we're up to?

Amanda Weinstein:

Yeah. So, he's a Gen Z. Yeah, Gen Z'ers.

Ken Harbaugh:

It's these two young Gen Z'ers doing the game plan for how to engage. Well, I'll let you watch. It's fantastic. Thanks, Amanda, so much for joining us. Let's do it again soon.

Amanda Weinstein:

Thanks, Ken.

Speaker 6:

We need this to happen. Democratic National Convention, Kamala Harris walks out to Von dutch. Charli xcx goes on stage and supports her. Charli xcx then ushers on stage Hillary Clinton.

Girls, So Confusing featuring Lorde starts playing. They work it out on the remix at the DNC. And then Taylor Swift comes out with 300 coconut flavored cookies that say Mamala ‘24 on them.

If that doesn't happen, you're stupid. Take notes.

Ken Harbaugh:

Thanks for listening to Burn the Boats. If you have any feedback, please email the team at [email protected]. We're always looking to improve the show.

For updates and more, follow us on Twitter @Team_Harbaugh. And if you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to rate and review.

Burn the Boats is a production of Evergreen Podcasts. Our producer is Declan Rohrs, and Sean Rule-Hoffman is our audio engineer. Special thanks to Evergreen executive producers, Joan Andrews, Michael DeAloia, and David Moss.

I'm Ken Harbaugh, and this is Burn the Boats, a podcast about big decisions.