Why Not Decency and Compassion?

As Harris continues building momentum, the need for a positive, forward-looking campaign is more urgent than ever

“This is a country of possibilities,” Kamala Harris said after she and Joe Biden won in 2020. (Photo by Alex Wong via Getty Images)

In 99 days, polls will close in the 2024 presidential election. This is quite a sprint for Americans to decide who we want in the White House and what kind of country we want to live in.

It’s still remarkable to me that Donald Trump has succeeded in convincing so many Americans to indulge their darkest selves and feel empowered by his cruelty, hatefulness and bigotry. The last nine years with Trump on the political stage have provided a painful lesson for all of us who believed that most people are essentially good and want to make life better for all.

This topic has been on my mind over the last week for a variety of reasons. I have been reflecting on the basic decency and compassion of President Joe Biden, both as a human and as a policymaker, but also in his choice of the joyful Kamala Harris, the kind of president she would make and what sort of running mate she should choose. These reflections have been heightened by the recent appalling behavior of Trump. But more on that later.

Yesterday morning, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz appeared on CNN’s State of the Union with Jake Tapper. Walz is one of about a dozen being vetted as Harris’ possible vice presidential candidate. His exchange with Tapper offers an enjoyable reminder of the kind of thinking about decency and compassion that we should hope to experience more of in the coming months—no matter who joins the ticket. (I’ll leave it to others to assess this particular horse race.)

Tapper detailed a list of policies Walz is associated within Minnesota as a portrait of what Trump might attack as the work of a big government “ultra-liberal.” That included legalizing recreational marijuana, passing universal background checks for gun buyers, expanded LGBTQ protections, tuition-free college for low-income residents, free breakfast and lunch for school kids.

A smiling Walz retorted: “What a monster. Kids are eating and having full bellies so they can learn. And women are making their own health care decisions. We’re a top-five business state and we also rank in the top three in happiness.”

Walz, a co-chair of the president’s Council of Governors, also said that the policies of the Biden-Harris administration executed by Democratic governors have led to higher quality of life with stronger economies and higher educational attainment. Then he described why the “ultra-liberal” label doesn’t bother him: “So, yeah, my kids are going to eat here and you’re going to have a chance to go to college. And you’re going to have an opportunity to live where we’re working on reducing carbon emissions. And, oh, by the way, you’re going to have personal incomes that are higher and you’re going to have health insurance.”

Not exactly policies of a monster, as Walz rightly puts it. Harris and whoever she selects as her VP would be well-advised, I think, to lean into such policies as an expression of compassionate leadership focused on making lives better.

On the other hand, I’m still disgusted by the gross behavior of Harris’ opponent on the day that President Biden announced he was exiting the race and the night four days later when he spoke from the Oval Office about his decision. In both cases, a decent and healthy man would grasp that his opponent—and indeed, the holder of the sacred office of the president—was no longer a rival. Instead, Trump dished out his usual sour and nasty gruel.

Just eight days ago, when the president (coping with COVID) announced in a statement that he was stepping down, the graceless Trump spewed that “Crooked Joe Biden is the Worst President, by far, in the History of our Nation. He has done everything possible to destroy our country…He was not fit to serve from the very beginning….” (Later, he doubted whether Biden even had COVID. This from a man who’s refused to release reliable information about his wounds from the assassination attempt or anything else about his health.)

And then, after hearing Biden’s heartfelt depiction of his decision from the Oval Office, when Trump surely comprehended that his real rival was now VP Harris, he was still attacking the president: “Crooked Joe Biden’s Oval Office speech was barely understandable, and sooo bad!” By the next day, he doubled down: “Crooked Joe Biden’s Performance last night was DISMAL…The guy can’t even talk.”

Of course, we can’t expect anything better from Trump. It always makes sense to assume that he will endlessly pursue his path of degradation and desecration. But this isn’t just counterpunching. This isn’t just a political strategy to defeat an opponent. This is simply a malignant human who’s incapable of acting with decency—or even the tiniest iota of respect for the office of the presidency. I think we should continue referencing the sad fact that his utter absence of character fuels his planned agenda of retribution, carnage and hostility toward all those who he despises.

To wash away this rancid reality, I looked back at the speech that Kamala Harris gave the day that she and President Biden were officially declared the winners of the 2020 election. Among her first words (she spoke before introducing the president-elect) were these:

America's democracy is not guaranteed. It is only as strong as our willingness to fight for it. To guard it and never take it for granted. And protecting our democracy takes struggle. It takes sacrifice. But there is joy in it. And there is progress. Because we, the people, have the power to build a better future.

She described the “grief, sorrow and pain, the worries and the struggles” Americans faced during the Trump presidency and amid the pandemic. Then she said that “you delivered a clear message: You chose hope and unity, decency, science and, yes, truth! You chose Joe Biden as the next president of the United States of America!” And she described how the president-elect’s “experience of loss gives him a sense of purpose that will help us as a nation…a man with a big heart who loves with abandon.”

She also noted the historic nature of her election—acknowledging Biden’s “audacity”—something that she has yet to emphasize in her current status as the presumptive Democratic nominee for president. Clearly, she’s focused on laying the groundwork for her agenda and leadership approach.

But on the night of November 7, 2020, she said, “While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last. Because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities and to the children of our country regardless of your gender, our country has sent you a clear message: Dream with ambition, lead with conviction and see yourselves in a way that others may not simply because they've never seen it before.”

I expect she will lean into the historic nature of her opportunity when she speaks at the Democratic National Convention next month. This will surely include discussing her gender and her race as part of what has made her who she is. We know, as I wrote on Friday, she will not hesitate to share her joyful exuberance and her from-the-belly laugh that she learned from her mother—providing such a vivid contrast from her vengeful and negative rival.

Yet I also hope Harris will remind voters that adding her to the ticket was not Biden’s only audacious choice, but one of many defined by his fundamental decency and compassion. I hope we’ll keep this in mind: A decent man chose a decent woman with the mutual desire to advance policies that lead to a more decent and compassionate country.

Compassion in our leaders should be a given, not something we have to hope will be part of the package. But in times like these, we need to keep reminding our friends and family and neighbors that their vote this fall will determine whether we stay a decent and loving nation—or whether we fall prey to the worst among us who are attracted to vengeance and applaud immunity for a damaged, scapegoating demagogue who inflicts harm with abandon.

Choosing leaders who laugh and love with abandon—and pursue policies that represent this healthy impulse to improve our world—should be a no-brainer. In November, America can prove what kind of country this really is.

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