America’s Euphoria Over Kamala
It’s been quite a week. And the word I’d use to describe them is: euphoric. The Democratic side rallied around it’s new nominee, Kamala Harris, in a stunning and historic way. And even now, the sense of euphoria’s palpable, a wave of enthusiasm and energy cresting in tweets, posts, TikTok videos, and much, much more.
So what’s this all about?
It’s not about politics in the ordinary sense, that much is for sure. Kamala’s platform, such as it is, is still relatively unknown, and most of those expressing this sense of overwhelming, explosive excitement over her aren’t going to parse it in punditly detail, anyways, probably.
And that’s OK.
Because this isn’t a normal moment, in any sense of the word. This is democracy versus fascism, and in moments like these, the orthodox stuff of politics, policies, platforms, etcetera, come second, and rightly so, because the first job is simply to preserve democracy, and prevent collapse.
And so in moments like this, it’s energy that matters most.
That’s a hard thing to put your finger on. It’s a numinous word to use at all, and it’s one that in the American way of thinking, we’re uncomfortable with, too much so, and wrongly so. But for “energy,” we could also substitute many other, more formal words: sentiments, attitudes, social contagion, confidence, optimism, a sense of possibility.
Kamala Energy vs Trump Energy
What strikes you most about Kamala’s energy? And the energy surrounding her?
What strikes me is what a stark contrast it is to the other side’s. There’s Kamala, now famously…laughing. There’s Trump, scowling, glowering, shouting, screaming. There’s his side, belligerent, aggressive, abusive.
Their goal is to intimidate. What’s the goal of Kamala Energy? To uplift, to make possible, to make it all feel OK. To say, without saying a word, that we can do this.
There’s something in there, at least to me, which goes deep, way deep. Some of you won’t like the way I put it, but bear with me for a moment anyways.
Trump Energy—authoritarian energy—is always super masculine. It’s the stuff, in fact, of what we call today toxic masculinity, on hyperdrive. It’s the eternal victim, whose victimhood demand perpetual retribution. It seeks dominance. It expresses itself in aggression. It speaks the language of hate and spite. Violence shadows its every utterance. It’s a glower and a scowl.
When Trumpists portray their savior, in almost comical ways, with Big Muscles, or Carrying a Big Gun, or any number of other outsized representations, they’re cutting closer to the truth of how they really see him.
As a strongman.
A strong…man.
So what’s the opposite of a strongman?
The Kamala Vibe Shift, or A Little Jungian Psychology
Maybe something like…Kamala. You see, if Authoritarian Energy is toxic masculinity on steroids—glimmering with hatred and violence, intimidating, prowling—then perhaps its opposite is something more…feminine.
And this is where Kamala excels. But I don’t mean that it in a superficial way, makeup and skirts and whatnot. Rather, I mean it in a sort of Jungian way, and when we speak this way, we’re not really “gendering” in the contemporary sense of the word, we’re just speaking about archetypes, and their energy, the Mother, the Father, the Daughter, the Son.
I grow weary of the Authoritarian, Masculine Energy of this age. Everywhere, it shouts at us, hectors us, rages at us. And me? I need solace from it. It drains me. And so I do something funny. I take little Snowy for a walk, to one of his favorite places, which is a Grand Old Department Store.
There, on one of the floors, is the women’s section. It’s full of this…energy. Feminine energy. Again, I don’t mean that in a trivial sense—skirts and high heels. I mean that it’s gentle. Accepting. Joyous. It’s creative and empathic and intuitive, which are of course all aspects of the Jungian archetype of the feminine, and no, I’m emphatically not saying “all women are like this”—that’s not what we’re saying at all, remember in Jungian psychology, these potentials exist in all of us.
That energy? I feel a sense of deep, abiding relief when I take little Snowy for walks there, relief from the toxic masculine energy that’s consuming this age, the bellowing rage of the strongmen, the endless calls to hatred and violence, the clannish nationalism. There, it’s just me, Snowy, and his many friends and admirers, who say hi to him, give him pets, and I wander around enjoy the fashion, the creativity, the intuition, the symbolism, the…energy.
Perhaps you see the distinction I’m trying to draw, and again, it’s not about all-men-being-one-way and all-women-being-that-way. Not remotely. But it is about expressions of energy.
So: what’s the opposite of a strongman?
A stronger woman, if you want me to put it simply. But “strong” in very different way than the toxic masculinity that by now strongmen have made the wearying emotional signature of this age.
Strong in the sense of conveying: everything’s going to be OK. What’s that sense? Something like a hug. Strong in the way of laughing, which takes far more emotional strength in these troubled times than screaming and bellowing in violent fury. Strong, too, in the sense of conveying a feeling of normality, that it’s OK to be a decent human being, and in fact, that’s what a leader’s primary job is, in times as difficult as these.
Higher Levels of Strength, or How to Defeat Fascism
So. Strong in empathic, creative, emotional, nurturing, joyous, and supportive ways. Jung would paint all those as aspects of the eternal feminine, and these days, I suppose, at times, it’s fashionable to disagree, but we’re just putting traits into categories, again, not saying all-women-are-like this or men-are-like-that. Strong in all those ways is stronger than “strong” in others: abusiveness, aggression, hostility, intimidation, the emotional bandwidth of a victim seeking to become a dominator.
Those kinds of strength are brittle. They don’t go very deep, and they don’t do much for us, in the end. They get us no closer to maturity, grace, wisdom, truth, beauty, or goodness. They diminish and reduce us, which is why Trumpism has led even its own flock nowhere. They belittle the best in us, and so that kind of strength is an illusion, even if its one which by now, centuries of patriarchy and empire still often portray as the only kind of strength. But there is another, stronger, deeper, truer strength.
And I think that is what this euphoria about Kamala is really about. It’s about the fact that we are now beginning to transcend to a different, higher level of energy. And I know to some that’ll sound kind of dubious, but I’ve tried to put it for you formally: we’re transcending the diminished, brittle, brutal strength of the strongman, which, in the end, is feeble, and shifting to the higher level of strength of the figure who laughs, hugs us, teaches us it’ll all be OK, and in that sense, lends us all true strength.
True strength. What is it? Moral strength. Solidarity. Lifting one another up in tough times. Standing shoulder to shoulder. Being willing to do our duty for democracy, which is greater than any of us. Those are nurturing acts. Acts of care. Perhaps it’s no coincidence, to link all this back to anodyne policy, that Kamala’s platform is about a “caring economy.” See the link there?
I think that it’s ironic, and now I’ll say something controversial, that in Jungian terms? I’d say Kamala’s a shining example of The Mother. That’s her energy, and it’s ironic because she doesn’t have biological kids, which is the right’s attack line, but none of us should stand in judgment over another’s pain and truth like that. Trump’s energy, the strongman’s energy? It’s not the Father. It’s more the Trickster. The Aggressor. The Dictator. Twisted in hatred, preaching victimhood, demanding loyalty, seeking vengeance. That’s a lower level than Mother-Father energy, which is why I say: we’re shifting to a new, higher level of energy here and now.
That’s what the euphoria’s about. That’s why it feels like a “vibe shift.” We don’t often shift levels in energy and consciousness these days, except downwards, in a world as broken and lost as ours. So let us take a moment to celebrate all this, because this? This is the kind of energy that defeats fascism, proceeding from a higher universal level of love, goodness, truth, and beauty.
