At DNC, Democrats were joyful. What a contrast to Florida men Trump and DeSantis | Opinion

The Democratic National Convention that wrapped up Thursday night has helped define Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign as one filled with joy.

Joy may sound silly when many Americans are not joyful about issues like inflation. But the message isn’t naive or out of touch. It offers a sharp contrast to the politics of grievance and anger that have dominated American and Florida politics thanks to former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The two Republicans’ political styles have focused largely on creating enemies, stoking fear and resentment against them, then painting themselves as the only ones who can fight the evil they concocted.

“I alone can fix it,” Trump famously said in 2016.

The purported enemies include:

Undocumented immigrants who are “poisoning the blood of our country,” in Trump’s own words.

Outspoken progressive congresswomen of color — all of them U.S. citizens — who Trump said should “go back” to their countries.

Fellow Americans who have different political views — “I will be able to destroy leftism in this country,” DeSantis said when he was running for president.

Teachers, who DeSantis accuses of indoctrinating students with esoteric terms like “gender ideology.”

And then there’s the most vile insinuation DeSantis’ allies have made that critics of the legislation dubbed as “Don’t say gay” were “groomers,” an old trope used to accuse gay men of being pedophiles.

“If you’re against the Anti-Grooming Bill, you are probably a groomer or at least you don’t denounce the grooming of 4-8 year-old children,” DeSantis’ spokeswoman Christina Pushaw tweeted in 2022 in reference to the parental rights bill that prohibits classroom instruction that includes references to sexual orientation or gender identity.

In a twisted way, divisiveness is a clever political move. Anger and fear are great motivators — as Trump’s election in 2016 proves. Democrats, too, hope that fear of a second Trump presidency will help them win. And there’s reason to fear his anti-democratic tendencies, support for autocrats like Vladimir Putin and the possibility that he could use the Justice Department to arbitrarily prosecute his adversaries.

Is America ready to move on from the politics of resentment? We hope so.

At the DNC, speaker after speaker made that pitch.

“With this election, our nation has a precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism, and divisive battles of the past,” Harris said during her nomination acceptance speech Thursday.

“And I want you to know: I promise to be a President for all Americans.”

As much as Harris, as vice president, is an establishment figure, Democrats are selling her as the candidate of change, the slogan of former President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign. Obama said so himself of Harris during his Tuesday convention speech.

Change answers the wishes of many Americans who did not want to choose between an incumbent president who’s too old and a former president who lies and insults.

“The vast majority of us do not want to live in a country that’s bitter and divided,” Obama said. “We want something that’s better. We want to be better. And the joy and excitement surrounding this campaign tells us that we’re not alone.”

It was clear that the point of the DNC wasn’t to present a parade of policy talking points and specifics about how a Harris White House would use its executive power.

She will have to explain her positions on issues like Medicare for All, which she supported in her short-lived 2020 presidential bid but is no longer part of her agenda, the Southern Border and others. She cannot skate by to Election Day without giving an unscripted interview to the media.

The DNC accomplished what it set out to do: tell the story of who Harris is and build the narrative for her campaign. For now, it seems her honeymoon period continues. What remains to be seen is whether Americans are ready to end bitterness.

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