[This essay was first published in Alex Sheremet’s AUTOMACHINATION literary magazine. For a post-mortem on the 2024 election, check out Alex Sheremet’s video essay on the reasons for Donald Trump’s win.]

Though the outcome of America’s upcoming election is a foregone conclusion, not all is lost. Either Trump or Kamala will inherit an economic slowdown, a voting population at turns radicalized and ambivalent, and a degraded country stuck in frozen conflict—with only some of it abroad. Neither Trump nor Kamala have the tools to deal with insoluble problems, while the freakish nature of this cycle’s independent candidates suggests how little can be produced through the miasma. And yet, the Democratic Party’s latest crisis provides a rare glimpse into political power, down to the brazen discussion of how Joe Biden was forced to give up his re-election campaign. Insiders are accused of plotting a ‘coup’, but this word suggests something out of the ordinary. In reality, both parties are financed by corporate bribes and beholden to special interests. If funding dries up, the campaign is over—a fact that, to quote Nancy Pelosi, can be impressed upon the candidate “the easy way, or the hard way”. At the time, I suggested the Party lean into its undemocratic principles, such as calling for a fake primary (if there should be a primary at all) ending with Kamala Harris’s anointment. Now that this has transpired, it is instructive to reflect on why. For, despite Kamala’s decision to run on “joy”, … Continue reading →