Yes, Kamala is the only rational choice for POTUS. But a lot of America isn’t thinking or acting rationally right now.

The announcement on 21 July 2024 by President Joe Biden to abandon his re-election bid, his endorsement of vice president Kamala Harris, and her official appointment as the Democratic nominee on 5 August, have ended a period of division and turmoil within the Democratic party. Media reports over the last couple of weeks describe a new wellspring of pro-Harris fundraising and other efforts from organisations of young people, ^{1C. Fernando, “Gen Z Feels the Kamalove’: Youth-Led Groups See Surge of Energy around Harris Campaign’ 27 July 2024 PBS News. … Continue reading} black women, ^{2H. Ramer, “We Were Built for This Moment’: Black Women Rally around Kamala Harris’ 23 July 2024 Associated Press News. … Continue reading} white women, ^{3S. Cabral, ‘Giant Zoom Calls Fuel Record Fundraising behind Harris Campaign’  30 July 2024 BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp0843v200lo} black men, ^{4A. R. Walker, “I’m Rocking with Kamala’: Black Men Defy Faulty Polling by Showing up for Harris campaign’ 27 July 2024 The Guardian. … Continue reading} white men, ^{5R. Davis O’Brien and K. Bensinger, ‘Liberal ‘White Dudes’ Rally for Harris: ‘It’s Like a Rainbow of Beige’’ 29 July 2024 The New York Times.  … Continue reading} and LGBTQ+ people, ^{6B. Wolf, ‘Unity: More than 1,100 LGBTQ+ Leaders, Celebrities, and Influencers Representing Millions Sign Letter in Support of Vice President Kamala Harris’ 24 July 2024 Human Rights Campaign. … Continue reading} to name a few demographics. This widespread, direct and optimistic participation in the political process by ordinary citizens is exactly what is required in democracies, in order to return to office leaders with the will and capability to make decisions in the people’s collective interest. It is both inspiring and exciting. In the current presidential race – between a serving vice president whose entire career has been in the public sector, and a convicted felon – there is only one rational outcome.

However, it is a mistake to assume that the presidential election can be won on rational grounds alone. Certain Americans have been suffering for an extended period; this creates a simmering pot of negative emotions eager for public expression and vindication through the electoral process. When this long-term suffering concerns the necessities of life – basic living conditions and aspirations – the human need to vent these emotions is far stronger than the inclination towards rational thought.

Such suffering also creates a situation ripe for exploitation by others. When unlimited spending by corporations and unions on independent political actions is legal ^{7This is the effect of the US Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v Federal Election Commission. https://www.fec.gov/legal-resources/court-cases/citizens-united-v-fec/} ; the wealth of some of these actors, and their owners, runs in the billions of dollars; and some owners have their own strong and self-interested policy preferences, the practice of democracy according to facts, reason, common sense and critical thinking has a very big problem.

The renewed political engagement accompanying Harris’ appointment is refreshing, but it is not enough. To be sure of success, Democrats and their allies cannot simply talk and organise among themselves. Instead, Democrats must reach out to the Republican grassroots, hear and acknowledge the difficulties they face, and develop a credible plan to address them. Only then will the vitriol fuelling Republican party support and being manipulated by opportunists have a chance of being dissipated.

Four challenges Democrats must find responses to are discussed below. The first creates conditions that favour strong emotional reaction over cool-headed thought; the second is a widespread but irrational belief; and the last two seek to capitalise on the irrationality of the first two for their own gain.

(1) Working Americans are still hurting 

This is not news. Professor, lawyer, author and commentator Robert Reich, amongst others, has been drawing public attention to this for decades. Wealth inequality within the US has become so bad, Reich argues, that America is living through a second Gilded Age.^{8R. Reich, ‘From Robber Barons to Bezos: is History Repeating Itself?’11 October 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nmq7QqqY4vo} Thomas Piketty’s 2014 work vividly demonstrated from 1970 onwards the steep rise in US national income held by the top 10%.^{9J. Cassidy, ‘Piketty’s Inequality Story in Six Charts’ 26 March 2014 The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/pikettys-inequality-story-in-six-charts} Figures from 1989 until 2022 demonstrate that the median wealth for US families with either no high school, only high school, or incomplete college education more or less flatlined, while the overall trend for families with a bachelor’s degree or higher showed significant growth. ^{10A. Hernandez Kent and L. R. Ricketts, ‘US Wealth Inequality: Gaps Remain Despite Widespread Wealth Gains’ 7 February 2024 Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis. … Continue reading} Meanwhile, the CEO-to-employee pay gap has grown exponentially: in 1980, CEOs were paid about 33 times more than a regular employee. By 2015, it was 276 times as much as typical workers. ^{11R. Lowenstein, ‘CEO Pay is out of Control. Here’s How to Rein it in’ 19 April 2017 Fortune. https://fortune.com/2017/04/19/executive-compensation-ceo-pay/} By 2020, this figure had increased to 299 times. ^{12N. McCarthy, ‘America’s Most Staggering CEO-to-Worker Pay Ratios [infographic]’ 16 July 2021 Forbes. … Continue reading} While worker productivity has soared since 1970, wages have not kept pace. ^{13W. Roper, ‘Productivity vs Wages: How Wages in America Have Stagnated’ 10 November 2020 World Economic Forum. … Continue reading} Between 1964 and 2018, the purchasing power of the average hourly wage barely shifted, despite a steady nominal rise. ^{14D. Desilver, ‘For Most US Workers, Real Wages Have Barely Budged in Decades’ 7 August 2018 Pew Research Center … Continue reading} Furthermore, the emergence of the ‘gig’ economy – with its classification of workers as independent contractors rather than employees – has eroded basic worker entitlements, such as a minimum wage, overtime, and a safe working environment. ^{15D. Weil, ‘What’s a ‘Gig’ Job? How it’s Legally Defined Affects Workers’ Rights and Protections’ 9 January 2023 The Conversation. … Continue reading} Taken together, these economic conditions are just a thumbnail sketch of the challenges faced by the least well off in America. Short-term, post-pandemic figures indicating positive developments such as wage/income growth outpacing inflation ^{16N. Narea, ‘Biden’s vs Trump’s Economy, in 8 Charts’ 12 March 2024 Vox. https://www.vox.com/politics/24094752/biden-trump-strong-economy-2024-inflation} and job growth, ^{17F. Richter, ‘US Job Growth Continues Beyond Pre-Pandemic High’ 9 October 2023 Statista. https://www.statista.com/chart/23431/total-nonfarm-employment-in-the-us/} do little to compensate for these much longer-term trends.

Moreover, other factors which ease day-to-day life, and provide opportunities, for regular people in democracies elsewhere, are simply not present in the US. For instance, there is no universal, paid parental leave. ^{18While paid parental leave schemes exist in some circumstances within certain states, there is nothing at the federal level: M Weston Williamson, ‘The State of Paid Family and Medical Leave in the … Continue reading} Nor is there universal healthcare. ^{19Nevertheless, many Americans have health insurance to address this absence, usually through their employer, or a private insurance company.} Nor is education at public universities free, or close to free, as it is in Germany, the Nordic countries, and France. Instead, childcare costs, ^{20E. Ceron, ‘Child Care is More Expensive than Rent for the Average American Family’ 15 May 2024 Bloomberg. … Continue reading} medical debt, ^{21In December 2023, National Public Radio (NPR) reported that more than 100 million Americans had some sort of medical debt: A. Rascoe [host], ‘The Sunday Story: The Unbearable Weight of Medical … Continue reading} and student debt ^{22Approximately 43 million Americans have an outstanding federal student loan. The average amount owed per borrower is $28,950: A. Hahn, ‘2024 Student Loan Debt Statistics: Average Student Loan … Continue reading} are not uncommon obligations working Americans are required to juggle, largely on their own.

Finally, the impact of the opioid epidemic cannot be overlooked. While finding even one demographic group in the US untouched by this tragedy is unlikely, studies demonstrate that opioid dependence and fatality are associated with indicators of low socio-economic status. ^{23See, for instance, D. Judd, C. R. King and C. Galke, ‘The Opioid Epidemic: A Review of the Contributing Factors, Negative Consequences and Best Practices’ (2023) Cureus 15(7): e41621. … Continue reading} Thus, the risk of fatal overdose is higher among the unemployed than it is the employed; among people living in poverty, compared with those living five times above the poverty line; among men, compared with women; among the disabled, compared with the not disabled; among whites/American Indians/Alaska natives, compared with Hispanics; among those with a high school education only, compared with graduates; among people without health insurance, compared with the insured; among people in jail, compared with the non-incarcerated population. ^{24S. F. Alterkruse, C. M. Cosgrove, et al, ‘Socioeconomic Risk Factors for Fatal Opioid Overdoses in the United States: Findings from the Mortality Disparities in American Communities Study (MDAC)’ … Continue reading}

The cumulative impact of these economic and social circumstances paint a bleak picture of life for working Americans, over an extended period. In long-term daily survival mode, there is little time or opportunity for critical reflection. No wonder, then, that frustration, fear, anxiety, depression, anger and resentment are palpable in the practice of their politics. Working Americans aren’t crazy; they’re people under enormous, enduring pressure, left to fend for themselves, and misled by opportunists.

(2) Misexplaining the Cause: the Great Replacement Theory

Both the Democratic party generally, and the Biden administration specifically, have been slow to provide a cogent account for this distress. The latter has taken piecemeal measures to alleviate it, ^{25Examples include the expanded child tax credit (2021), a proposed 25% tax on the super-rich (2024) and a new Labor Department rule making it easier to classify gig economy workers as employees (2024).} but it has remained silent on the causes of, and solutions to, the overall picture. There is no agreed, unifying grand narrative. Without this, working Americans do not feel that the true depth and breadth of their grievances are heard or seen, let alone understood and tackled.

By contrast, the Republican party has adopted an easily understood narrative that directly and holistically addresses this distress: the Great Replacement Theory (GRT). There are different versions, but the basic idea is that ‘a particular group of people is trying to replace white people with immigrants and people of colour who share the group’s views’, in order for the group to achieve their political ends. ^{26‘Toplines on Defining Great Replacement Theory’ 1-5 June 2022. YouGov survey. https://d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/toplines_Great_Replacement_Theory_20220601.pdf} For some, the group in question is the Democratic party. ^{27O. Yousef, ‘The Border Crisis is Helping to Mainstream a Dangerous Conspiracy Theory’ 9 February 2024 National Public Radio. … Continue reading} Other variants seem to focus on illegal immigrants, rather than immigrants in general. ^{28See, for instance, the following post on X/Twitter by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on 12 May 2022: https://x.com/SpeakerJohnson/status/1524726171421794304}

This theory has the advantage of identifying specific sets of individuals allegedly responsible for the distress of working Americans: immigrants, people of colour, and the Democratic party itself. The strong promotion of this narrative by the GOP is more important than the theory’s actual contents. It permits the party to position itself as the party that listens to working Americans – especially white working Americans – and responds to their distress. It also provides targeted directions in which working Americans are encouraged by the GOP to make known their distress. In so doing, the GOP achieves a number of its own goals: applying maximum pressure to the Democratic party; achieving maximum PR for itself vis-à-vis the electorate, as its public actions capture headlines and airtime; as well as amplifying its own perceived importance in public policy debates.

There’s only one problem with the Great Replacement Theory: it’s garbage. ^{29A. Buncombe, ‘Inside the Data that Debunks the ‘‘Great Replacement’ Theory’’ 16 May 2022 The Independent. … Continue reading} There is no evidence to support it. Yes, there are some wider, demographic changes occurring in the US. However, US birth rates are falling across the different races, not just among whites; the Census Bureau now permits individuals to identify as more than one race, which may account for the apparent decline in the ‘white alone’ adult population statistics between 2010 and 2020; and there is no reason to assume immigrants (whether legal or not) and/or people of colour would vote as a bloc.

In a June 2022 survey of 1000 Americans, an overall 49% did not personally believe the Democrats were trying to achieve the Great Replacement. ^{3032% of those surveyed did personally believe the Democrats were trying to achieve the Great Replacement, while 19% said they were unsure. ‘Daily Survey: US Views on the Great Replacement Theory’ … Continue reading} However, 61% of the Republicans surveyed did. ^{31‘Daily Survey: US Views on the Great Replacement Theory’ 1-5 June 2022. YouGov survey. https://d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/tabs_US_Views_on_GRT_20220601.pdf} Other studies have put the number of Republican believers at 50%, ^{32P. Bump, ‘Nearly Half of Republicans Agree with ‘Great Replacement Theory’’9 May 2022 Washington Post. … Continue reading} or as high as 7 out of 10. ^{33W. Carless, ‘Great Replacement Theory: Poll Finds 7 in 10 Republicans Believe in ‘Great Replacement’ Ideas’ 1 June 2022 USA Today. … Continue reading} Yet another study holds that as many as one in three Americans believe some version of the GRT. ^{34O. Yousef, ‘The ‘Great Replacement’ Conspiracy Theory isn’t Fringe Anymore, it’s Mainstream’ 17 May 2022 National Public Radio. … Continue reading} While the evidence-free GRT continues to hold influence over the minds of many, there is little chance of the presidential election being characterised as an exercise in rational choice. Rather, the choice is between rationality itself and irrationality, comprised of a toxic mix of belief, emotion and deep-seated grievance.

Ironically, in the eyes of the GRT faithful, substituting a younger woman of colour for an older white man as the Democratic nominee might act as the ultimate proof that the GRT is real.

(3) Piggybacking For Their Own Ends: The Pro-Crypto Billionaires…

As if GRT wasn’t strange enough, joining in on the grievance-response dynamic taking place between the GOP and its grassroots, is a set of billionaires. This group – like Trump himself – pays lip service to conservative views, values, and preoccupations, while also presenting itself either as aggrieved victims, and/or plucky champions of the underdog. In this way, the pro-crypto bros seek to portray themselves as natural allies of working Americans, in an attempt to garner empathy and support from them.

In reality, however, the priority of the pro-crypto billionaires is to protect their own major financial interests and investments in the cryptocurrency industry. While the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under the Biden administration has filed lawsuits against various crypto exchanges (including Coinbase), a payment provider (Ripple Labs) and a blockchain software company alleging securities laws violations, ^{35US Securities and Exchange Commission, ‘Crypto Assets and Cyber Enforcement Actions’ [undated]. https://www.sec.gov/securities-topics/crypto-assets} Trump is positioning himself as the crypto-friendly presidential candidate. At the 2024 Bitcoin conference in Nashville, he stated that ‘my job [if elected] will be to set you free and to let you do what Americans do best, and what you’re going to do better than anybody – win, win, win’. ^{36‘LIVE: Donald Trump Speaks at Bitcoin 2024 in Tennessee’ 27 July 2024 The Times and the Sunday Times [streamed]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRQZAOK24IQ , at 48:39.} Consequently, the pro-crypto billionaires are now declaring their personal and significant financial support for Trump and/or the Republican party.

Amongst this pro-crypto billionaire group are Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz – the authors of the ‘Techno-Optimist Manifesto’ and ‘Politics and the Future’ respectively, previously analysed by Secret Academic here and here. Even a casual read of the former document’s section entitled ‘The Enemy’ reveals just how deep the sense of grievance runs, against a rather long and disparate list of people, ideas and practices. More recently, Andreessen described crypto’s treatment under the current administration as a ‘brutal assault’. ^{37A. Rogers, N. Asgari and G. Hammond, “The First Crypto President’: Bitcoin Fans Bet on Donald Trump to Change Fortunes’ 30 July 2024 Financial Times. … Continue reading} Their namesake venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz, claims to be the world’s largest crypto investor. ^{38A. Rogers, N. Asgari and G. Hammond, “The First Crypto President’: Bitcoin Fans Bet on Donald Trump to Change Fortunes’ 30 July 2024 Financial Times. … Continue reading} The landing page of the firm currently sells itself (in very large font, bizarrely) as the backer of tech startups – what it refers to as ‘Little Tech’, in contrast to ‘Big Tech’. ^{39The Little Tech Agenda’, Andreessen Horowitz hompage. https://a16z.com/} Between the two co-founders, they have donated $44 million to Fairshake SuperPAC, which ‘supports candidates committed to securing the United States as the home to innovators building the next generation of the internet’. ^{40‘About Us’, Fairshake homepage. https://www.fairshakepac.com/} Officially, Fairshake’s viewpoint is listed as non-partisan. ^{41‘Fairshake PAC Outside Spending: Outside Spending Summary 2024’ [undated] Open Secrets. https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/detail?cmte=C00835959&cycle=2024} Fairshake currently holds more than $162.6 million; other major donors include the two crypto companies presently fighting the SEC – Ripple Labs ($45 million) and Coinbase ($40.5 million). ^{42Figures collated by author from donor information provided at ‘Organizations Disclosing Donations to Fairshake PAC, 2024’ [undated]- Open Secrets. … Continue reading} To date, Fairshake has spent over $14.8 million on the 2024 federal election, mainly on media against Democrat candidates. ^{43‘Fairshake PAC Outside Spending:- Outside Spending Summary 2024’ [undated] Open Secrets. https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/detail?cmte=C00835959&cycle=2024} Fairshake has transferred another $10 million to its conservative affiliate, the Defend American Jobs SuperPAC, which has spent $15 million on media in support of Republican candidates. ^{44‘Expenditures by Defend American Jobs, 2024’ [undated] Open Secrets. https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/detail/2024?cmte=C00836221&tab=expenditures}
CNBC reports that Fairshake has backed the winning candidate in 33 of the 35 House and Senate primary races it has entered, relying on messaging that emphasises ‘fairness’ and ‘integrity’, rather than being crypto-specific. ^{45E. Wilkins, ‘Crypto Industry Super PAC is 33-2 in Primaries, with $100 Million for House, Senate Races’ 26 June 2024 CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/26/crypto-pac-house-senate-elections.html}

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss have also donated to Fairshake ($5 million together), the brothers having settled on 14 June 2024 a lawsuit pursued by the New York State Attorney-General (NYAG) against their cryptocurrency exchange, Gemini. Less than a week later, they announced a $1 million donation (in bitcoin) from each of them to Trump himself. ^{46C. Jones, ‘Winklevoss Twins Donate $1 Million Each to Trump as Champion of Cryptocurrency’ 21 June 2024 The Guardian. … Continue reading} The lengthy statement that accompanies Tyler Winklevoss’ announcement is instructive on how the pro-crypto billionaires regularly: (1) characterise themselves as victim/heroes; (2) couch any effort to assert government oversight over the sector as bullying; (3) paint themselves as a regular part of the American economy – therefore a government ‘attack’ on crypto is a government attack on all American business; and (4) catastrophise the impact of any regulatory effort – on the US economy, on America as a whole, and on the entire notion of what is good and right in the world. Here are some excerpts:

Over the past few years, the Biden administration has openly declared war against crypto. It has weaponized multiple government agencies to bully, harass and sue the good actors in our industry in an effort to destroy it. This Administration’s actions have been nothing short of an unprecedented abuse of power wielded entirely for twisted political gain at the complete expense of innovation, the American taxpayer, and the American economy. There is nothing the Biden Administration can do or say at this point to pretend otherwise…

…The Biden Administration has polluted the mission and corrupted the integrity of these agencies [the SEC, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)]. All of them are led by unelected bureaucrats appointed by President Biden to carry out his marching orders. The moral compass of these foot soldiers is political gain and their higher calling is political power. Congress never granted them the statutory authority to determine the fate of the crypto industry or any other legal industry in America and they are totally unqualified to act as the gatekeepers of economic life in our country. That is the role of the market…

…And yet the crypto industry is not alone. The Biden Administration has consistently attacked American business across the board and villainized its greatest heroes…[the Biden Administration] has been dismantling our economic way of life and the system that made America the greatest country in the world. And it has done this solely for its own power, control, and political ambition…I’m going to continue fighting for what I know to be so right…

…It’s time to take our country back. It’s time for the crypto army to send a message to Washington. That attacking us is political suicide’ ^{47Tyler Winklevoss, Twitter/X post, 20 June 2024. https://x.com/tyler/status/1803872859938549920}

Such a position not only misunderstands how democracies work (bureaucrats are unelected by design, in a system of checks and balances; political systems must operate some gatekeeping capacity over markets, as the function of the latter is solely the allocation of goods – regardless of safety, health, morality or the public interest). In effect, it denies any role whatsoever for government intervention over markets. This is an extreme viewpoint which challenges the very idea of democracy in principle, and raises far more questions than it answers.

It should be noted that the NYAG’s case against Gemini alleged that 230,000 of its investors were lied to and defrauded. ^{48E. Livni, ‘New York Attorney General Sues Crypto Firms in $1 Billion Fraud Case’ 19 October 2023 New York Times. … Continue reading} The NYAG claimed that Gemini promoted to the investors a supposedly low-risk loan scheme in conjunction with another crypto company. Gemini investors entered the scheme, and then were locked out of their accounts. The NYAG’s own investigation found Gemini’s internal analyses showed the other crypto company’s financials were risky, and that Gemini knew its loans going to the other company were undersecured and at one point were highly concentrated with one entity controlled by Sam Bankman-Fried. ^{49Sam Bankman-Fried is currently serving 25 years in prison for his leading role in the fraud-induced collapse of the FTX crypto exchange that cost customers $8 billion: N. Robins-Early, “He Knew it … Continue reading} None of this was revealed to investors. ^{50Office of the New York State Attorney General, ‘Attorney General James Recovers $50 Million from Crypto Firm Gemini for Defrauded Investors’ 14 June 2024. … Continue reading} Gemini settled the NYAG’s lawsuit for $50 million without any denial or admission of wrongdoing; from the other company involved, NYAG secured $2 billion. These facts openly challenge every aspect of the ‘good, righteous innovators versus big, bad government’ narrative told and re-told by the pro-crypto billionaires. And there’s nothing ‘Little’, or heroic, or American, or innovative, about allegedly ripping off almost a quarter of a million people.

Scratching the surface beneath the rhetoric of ‘fairness’, ‘integrity’, and ‘freedom to research, to invent, to create jobs, to build the future’, ^{51This last quote is from ‘The Little Tech Agenda’, Andreessen Horowitz landing page. https://a16z.com/} it is clear that the faux-grievances of the pro-crypto billionaires have nothing in common with the very real, serious, day-to-day difficulties faced by millions of working Americans. As the discussion above demonstrates, these billionaires make no distinction between what is good for them, and what is in the wider public interest. In their eyes, government allowing them to do as they please is the ultimate public good – for the economy, for capitalism, for America, etc – for they are the heroes of their own story. And they have the money to promote this story far and wide, across the American electorate.

In fact, the pro-crypto billionaires are simply political opportunists, out to achieve their own narrow goals by any and all means necessary. If that means parroting words, ideas and phrases that press Republican buttons this week, while pivoting to others that press Democratic buttons next week, then so be it. The proof can be found in Fairshake’s second affiliate, the Protect Progress SuperPAC, which is listed as liberal. ^{52‘Protect Progress Outside Spending’ [undated] Open Secrets. https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/detail/2024?cmte=C00848440} In the 2023-2024 election cycle, Protect Progress has spent more than $13 million in support of Democratic candidates – right alongside the $15 million spent in support of Republican candidates by Fairshake’s first affiliate. ^{53‘Protect Progress Recipients, 2024’ [undated] Open Secrets. https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/detail/2024?cmte=C00848440&tab=targeted_candidates} This is simply gaming the system for one’s own narrow benefit. Rational consideration – in the interests of the country as a whole – of policy choices or directions put forward by the different political parties doesn’t even come into it.

(4)…and the Other Tech Billionaires, and Centimillionaires

Other tech billionaires supporting Trump specifically include Peter Thiel, Elon Musk and Joe Lonsdale. The latter, a co-founder of Palantir, has played an important role in fundraising for America PAC, ^{54T. Schleifer, ‘Elon Musk Allies Help Start Pro-Trump Super PAC’ 15 July 2024 New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/15/us/politics/elon-musk-trump-super-pac.html} a newly-created conservative political action committee set up to support Trump individually. Lonsdale’s personal company has contributed $1 million to it. ^{55‘Organizations Disclosing Donations to America PAC (Texas), 2024’ -[undated] Open Secrets. https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/detail/2024?cmte=C00879510&tab=donors} To date, America PAC has spent more than $12 million in support of Trump and almost $9 million against Biden. ^{56‘America PAC (Texas) Recipients, 2024’ [undated] Open Secrets. https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/detail/2024?cmte=C00879510&tab=targeted_candidates}
It was reported in mid-July 2024 that Elon Musk said he would be donating $45 million a month to America PAC. ^{57D. Mattioli, E. Glazer and K. Safdar, ‘Elon Musk Has Said he is Committing Around $45 Million a Month to a New Pro-Trump Super PAC’ 16 July 2024 The Wall Street Journal. … Continue reading} Musk has since denied saying this. ^{58Reuters, ‘Musk Says He Never Said He’ll Donate $45 Million Per Month to Trump’ 24 July 2024. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/musk-says-he-never-said-hell-donate-45-million-trump-2024-07-24/} Peter Thiel supported Trump in 2016, and his significant role in the rise of Trump’s 2024 VP pick, JD Vance, has been reported in detail in multiple outlets. ^{59E. Dwoskin and C. Zakrzewski, ‘Inside the Powerful Peter Thiel Network that Anointed JD Vance’ 28 July 2024 Washington Post. … Continue reading} One of Thiel’s Founders’ Fund partners, Ken Howery, has donated $1 million to America PAC. ^{60‘Organizations Disclosing Donations to America PAC (Texas), 2024’ -[undated]- Open Secrets. https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/detail/2024?cmte=C00879510&tab=donors} The Winklevoss brothers have contributed another $500,000 between them. ^{61‘Organizations Disclosing Donations to America PAC (Texas), 2024’ [undated] Open Secrets. https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/detail/2024?cmte=C00879510&tab=donors}

For these tech billionaires, support for Trump is less about crypto per se, and more about pursuing their own political aims – namely, the promotion of techno-libertarianism in general. From this perspective, Trump’s promise to ‘set free’ the crypto sector and ‘let [them] do what Americans do best’ is a positive for the cause of techno-freedom in general, not just for crypto. Another theory is that techno-libertarians view crypto as a weapon for exploding the US Federal Reserve, a government organisation which stands in the way of their techno-libertarian ideals. ^{62E. Luce, ‘Trump and the Politics of Bitcoin’ 31 July 2024 Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/content/3821ff74-e695-4004-b691-a920ee908996} What is clear is that these techno-libertarians share the same sense of victimisation by government their pro-crypto brethren display – as attested by Joe Lonsdale’s claim that ‘in real life, government and media mock and attack our greatest innovators’. ^{63J. Lonsdale, ‘Trailer: Season 2024’ [undated] American Optimist [podcast]. https://www.americanoptimist.com/#Season-4-Header} Here again, the presidential election is not about making a rational choice for America between two political parties; it is simply a means to achieve a special interest group’s own self-interested goals.

Conclusion

There is no denying that Harris is the rational presidential choice, for all of America. However, Democrats cannot afford to stick to rational arguments, while ignoring the irrational factors at play in this election. The Republican Party brings together the intense, actual, legitimate distress of working Americans; a baseless but popular conspiracy theory; and very, very deep pockets. If it gains the upper hand, rational argument about policy choices might not even feature that much in this election.

Instead, the Harris campaign must combine well thought out policies with the utmost efforts to reach the Republican base – working Americans – directly. With this in mind, calling their leaders ‘weird’, even if true, risks being counterproductive. Reaching out directly must include realistic plans to address comprehensively the challenges working Americans face, raising their living conditions and prospects. Side by side with the Democrat base and other allies, working Americans can then participate on equal terms in the collective effort to truly ‘take America back’ ^{64Slogan featuring on Trump 2024 merchandise: https://www.amazon.com/DANF-Donald-President-America-Grommets/dp/B08VJ132YP?th=1} on behalf of all Americans – not from some invented plot, but from a ‘slot machine president’ ^{65The full quote is from Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA): ‘I don’t think the people of the country want a slot machine president – you put in the money, you pull the handle, you get what you want…And … Continue reading} and the billionaire opportunists who support him.