Semiotics: the study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation.
As a talking head on PBS’s coverage of the DNC, never Trump Republican David Brooks of the NYT opined that the Democrats were making a big mistake by not focusing more on economic policy.
That would be an excellent point if elections were decided in economics classrooms. Although it’s true that a plurality of likely voters identifies economics/inflation as their primary concern, detailed economic plans won’t determine many votes.
It’s the classic advice: campaign in poetry; govern in prose.
Poetry is about symbols and meaning. In the dimension of symbols and signs, this is an election between the really good-lookin’ black lady and her Midwestern coach/ dad guy and the old rich white guy/chest always so puffed guy/ and his weird young hillbilly (?)/ Yale bro.
The old, puffed guy is angry and doesn’t like the browns. He will protect white people from them and will restore the primacy of white men and their families.
The black lady seems more upbeat and happier and has a beautiful smile and will protect women and people of color.
Well, the old guy has a really good smile too but more often is snarling about how the liberals and elites are screwing him and regular white guys.
We know him and what we think of him.
So, what do we think about her? Do we like her? What is she?
Virgin, Momala, Whore
On August 8th at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago some Trump ally in the press asked him about the 1994/5 relationship between Harris (30), an assistant district attorney, and Wille Brown (60), then the speaker of the California state assembly and later San Francisco mayor.
Trump jumped on it. Here was an opportunity to frame the public image of Harris in the manner Republicans have so persistently attempted. He recalled a scary helicopter ride he took with Brown, apparently confusing him with former L.A. city councilor Nate Holden, who was on the chopper and is also black.
HA-HA, what an idiot! I guess they all look alike to him!! He’s demented.
Maybe. Maybe not. This is one of those times when it’s important to remember: although Trump is fabulously ignorant, he is not stupid across all dimensions. He has a feral intelligence.
Trump reported on his fictional chopper ride conversation with Brown:
“So, I know him, but I know him pretty well. I mean, I haven’t seen him in years. But he told me terrible things about her. But this is what you’re telling me, anyway, I guess. But he had a big part in what happened with Kamala. But he — he, I don’t know, maybe he’s changed his tune. But he — he was not a fan of hers very much, at that point.”
Bingo. For the previously uninitiated, the question is: what is the big part Brown played in ‘what happened with Kamala’?
As more is revealed over the next seventy days the information will become crystalized by the Trump campaign for general consumption.1
She’s a whore.She slept her way to the top.She broke up his marriage.She's a black Jezebel(possibly a succubus)
Ten days later (yesterday), Trump doubled down on the semiotics of whoredom by amplifying this post on Truth Social (a photo from 30 years ago of Harris and Hillary Clinton)
“Funny how a blow job affected both of their careers differently”
Republicans have tried for years to slut shame Harris for her relationship with Brown, who was separated from his wife ten years before they met.
It plays on several powerful themes: black people are hyper-sexual; women are untrustworthy; women sleep their way to the top.
And it plays to a particular demographic – white men without college educations who have seen women and people of color rise to positions equal to or above themselves. As a result these men experience a relative status derogation. As Trump has promised them:
“I am your justice. I am your retribution.”
Harris is prepared for this angle of attack – has been prepared for most of the last thirty years.
That’s why her bio video at the Democratic National Convention was directed to Harris as 1) a very good young girl who protected her sister and was a fearless champion of abused peers. 2) “Momala” - a critically important identity.
For at least a millennium in the West, images of women have been projections on the virgin/madonna/whore triptych. Projections of whore cannot be countered by logical/rational chronology and fact-checking in re Harris-Brown. Idealtypical images operate in the non-verbal hemisphere of the brain and at the level of the subconscious and unconscious. Whore is countered best by the other images: Virginal (or in modern terms good kid, daughter, sibling, girl scout, candy striper, musical instrument, etc.) and Madonna, who is not just a mother but one who bears that role as her primary commitment and identity.
Madonna is an image and ideal. Madonnas are not career women who “forgot to have a baby.”2 And they are not childless cat ladies. They are in heterosexual relationships where the man is outward-facing, pursuing wealth, power and prestige. The Madonna is dependent and deferential to the husband/father although “they each have their own sphere of influence.” She just doesn’t get to have financial independence, a byline, a public presence, etc. And a Madonna would have no need for, and no desire for an abortion!
Career women aren’t virgins (not these days!!!) and they aren’t madonnas. By process of elimination, they’re whores and/or witches.
J.D. Vance is a determined purveyor of these images. Childless people have no stake in society. Post-menopausal women exist only to care for grandchildren. Abortion must be attacked because it is a crime against womanhood.
In 2021 while campaigning in a senate race he would win, Vance broke down to the studs the power of the parents rights movement and concerns about schools ruining kids with the woke agenda:3
“You know, so many of the leaders of the left, and I hate to be so personal about this, but they’re people without kids, trying to brainwash the minds of our children.”
He found a perfect exemplar in Randi Weingarten, head of the American Federation of Teachers, a lesbian Jew troublemaker who identifies as a mother by marriage. (Talk about witches!)
“If she wants to brainwash and destroy the mind (sic) of children, she should have some of her own and leave ours the hell alone.”4
Kamala Harris walks a tightrope. Project power but not bitchiness. Be attractive but not too sexy. Giggle with joy, but not too much. Demonstrate youthful energy but elder gravitas. Whatever you really believe, be careful not to scare people. Don’t be too “other” but embrace your heritage and biracial identity.
And she’s doing it all without a net, because failure means dictatorship.
She’ s not perfect. But I’m with Momala all the way.
see more at jimhannon.substack.com
1The jezebel stereotype: https://jimcrowmuseum.ferris.edu/jezebel/index.htm
2 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/resurfaced-remarks-vance-bashes-teachers-union-president-not-children-rcna168552
3 A thought experiment. How do you think J.D. Vance and other Handmaid’s Tale bros would feel about a woman who had five kids by three different men, cheated on at least one of her husbands with male porn stars, and then had to pay off the porn stars with funds obtained from campaign contributions?
