When I first thought of writing this article in March, President Joe Biden had just given the American people his fourth annual State of the Union address. Media outlets rushed to publish pieces debating Biden’s “feisty” performance. The spring air was still cool, University of Iowa star Caitlin Clark had just broken another NCAA basketball record and the start of Ramadan was just around the corner.
In May, again, I revisited the news as headlines splashed across pages and push notifications read “Guilty: Trump becomes first former US president convicted of felony crimes.” A New York City jury handed former President Donald J. Trump 34 felony charges in his hush-money case related to an alleged affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels. I felt a certain pride, thinking to myself, It’s a good day to be a New Yorker. Still, the case is one of many the former president faces in federal and district courts.
In the months following, I sat in a newsroom reporting on — while simultaneously wincing at — what we later learned would be the first and only 2024 presidential debate between Biden and Trump. In the wake of what was difficult to categorize as a debate, much of the discourse called on the president to stand down from the race. By then, the air was much thicker, Pride month was coming to a close and brat summer was a simmering attitude amongst “chronically online” young people like myself.
Even so, I didn’t write. Perhaps I was waiting for the most “newsworthy” story of all or the final puzzle piece to make sense of this narrative.
Political chaos continued to ravage screens when Trump was shot in the ear at a campaign rally in what investigators say was an assassination attempt. Politicians, journalists and laypeople alike expressed concern about the violence threatening our democracy. It seemed to be a season of political reckoning and unrest. Days later, Trump sported a ridiculously large bandage at the Republican National Convention, where J.D. Vance accepted the GOP ‘s vice presidential nomination. Republicans were confident until Vance’s history of policy switch-ups surfaced, and they realized their mistake. Somehow, they were more content than Democrats who were grasping at straws trying to pull support for “Sleepy Joe.”
And there it was in late July: “Biden Drops Out of Presidential Race, Endorses Harris to Replace Him.” Despite talk of calls from Democratic party leaders for Biden to stand down, the news still shocked the nation. To no one’s surprise, Trump took to Truth Social, his personally curated social media site, writing that “Crooked Joe Biden…was never fit” to serve as president. Almost foreshadowing his performance during his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump ignored the fact that she would be replacing Biden on the ticket. A vast majority of the Democratic party almost immediately pledged support for the VP, eliminating any shot of competition leading up to the convention. Meanwhile, social media erupted with coconut tree memes and edits of Harris to the song “Femininomenon,” by trending pop star Chappell Roan.
Harris’ campaign builds upon other politicians’ use of social media to appeal to young voters, but this time, it’s working. After trending singer and DJ Charli XCX posted “kamala IS brat,” the Harris campaign built on the momentum of the Gen Z trend, inevitably propelling users across platforms to generate their own content about her. While most politicians shy away from this chaotic hype that Gen Z voters bring, Harris is trying to meet us on our playing field. She’s gotten a lot right so far in my book, but in this political climate, she doesn’t have to do much to sway me. However, for some young voters, the memes are not enough; they remain curious about Harris’ policies, particularly about how she will handle the war in Gaza. At the Democratic National Convention, Harris echoed her party’s neutral response by appeasing Israel’s supporters as well as more progressive audience members who support Gaza — who she needs to win the presidency.
As a whole, the DNC was seen as a smashing success for Democrats. In comparison to 2020’s virtual convention, the late August meeting between delegates was more of a party, complete with influential speakers like Oprah, as well as both Clintons and Obamas. Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz won over delegates by getting personal about IVF while advocating for reproductive rights, a pillar of the Harris-Walz campaign.
In my journalism circles, I heard pushback about the DNC garnering more media attention than the RNC. I argued that it was because their energy was more exciting. The enthusiasm in the Democratic party feels different this election cycle, or maybe I’ve just bought into it. Numerically speaking, Harris was leading Trump in the polls by two points nationally as of Sept. 25. She has caught the eyes and ears of Americans purely by offering something new. Some voters are enchanted by the prospect of a president who isn’t an old white guy, while others worry her gender and racial identity won’t command enough respect from global leaders if she were to take office. Undecided voters say they don’t know enough about Harris or that she has yet to announce any policies that appeal to them.
Personally, I’ve had my mind made up since Trump confirmed his reelection campaign: I do not want him back in the White House. Back in March, I felt this was an impossible desire. In May, I felt satisfied but still very uncertain. June was a particularly low point, during which I had truly given up. More than anything, I felt disheartened. But in July, I became overwhelmed with a feeling I’d never before had in my conscious civic life — hope.
For the first time in my politically active life, I was excited. I still am. In the past seven months, I have consumed more political media than I ever have, and right now, I’m not feeling completely depressed about it.
It is difficult to describe the trajectory of my political activity because, like so many other young voters, all I have ever known is turmoil. I remember Barack Obama being president, but I was 13 when Trump was elected. I was actively studying U.S. history and learning the ropes when he began his tyranny. I have grown up, developed political ideologies and educated myself on issues during a time when so many other countries looked down upon our so-called ‘great’ nation. I remember traveling to Italy with my grandmother in 2019 and our cab driver referring to Trump as a dictator. I worked the 2020 general election and was genuinely convinced Trump would remain in office. When Biden won, I felt a sense of safety in knowing, at the very least, a Democrat would hold office.
This is all I know. And like so many of my peers, this is what I have come to know as our ‘land of the free.’ Many of my contemporaries are disillusioned with our country for failing the very people it claims to celebrate. They don’t want to be complicit in a system that treats people the way America does. It is also this reason they may refuse to vote.
I urge the young people around me to vote. If you felt even the slightest bit of hope when the conversation changed in July, vote. Kamala Harris will not be the answer to all of our problems, but she is a start, and I don’t know what else to ask for when the bar is so low. We have to start somewhere. So I’m starting with hope.