We Don’t Need No Endorsements

More than any presidential candidate in recent memory, Vice President Kamala Harris repeatedly resorts to name-dropping. Perhaps it is her insecurity about being unable to be her own brand, coming out of the shadows of the Biden presidency. 

Or that, being an underachiever all through her career and having risen higher with the help of the powerful endorsement from Black politicians (Willie Brown in San Francisco, James Clyburn of South Carolina, and, more recently, former President Barack Obama), she feels incomplete without someone else vouching for her. 

And so it goes each day on the campaign trail. First, it was when Harris won the endorsement of the Uniparty NeoCons, including prominent Republicans, who would have embraced anyone but Trump. It has not occurred to her yet that they are not supporting her; they are simply against Trump—and that distinction is stark. 

Ever since Liz Cheney became a Never Trumper, legacy media outlets have intensified their love affair with her, ignoring the distaste they had for her when she was a senior member of the Republican House leadership. The media's love affair with Cheney began when Nancy Pelosi made Cheney the Vice Chairman of the J6 Committee. 

As we noted in a recent editorial, 71% of Wyoming voters kicked Cheney out of office by voting for her opponents. Electoral defeats in primary campaigns generally signal the end of political careers because legacy media doesn't cover losers. Does anyone know what the following once-powerful House members are doing now? Eric Cantor (R-VA, 2014), House Majority Leader; Joe Crowley (D-NY, 2018), beaten by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; and in this cycle- two elite members of the Squad, Cori Bush (D-MO), and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY). 

The legacy media made an exception for Liz Cheney, who announced the launch of the Great Task PAC to educate Americans about the "threats to democracy" and oppose any effort by Trump to return to the White House. The initiative went nowhere, but the media gave air to a patient screaming for oxygen by writing puff-friendly pieces that Cheney could be a formidable GOP contender for the 2024 nomination. That storyline, too, fell apart. 

Harris's campaign handlers, who have close connections with the legacy media, thought it wise to help Cheney resurrect her career - perhaps by promising her a prominent cabinet position in a future Harris administration - and then have them make multiple joint appearances, the gold standard of endorsements. But the partnership immediately turned clumsy. 

The former Congresswoman had been vigorously anti-Harris when Biden picked Harris as Vice President four years ago, but placing "country over party" (the excuse Biden resorted to when he announced his exit from the race), Cheney said she was all in for Harris. The goal is to stop Trump from returning to the White House. 

Cheney, not known to keep her thoughts to herself when a camera was facing her, was forced only to speak when asked and to put up with Harris's word salads on foreign policy, an area in which Cheney feels some expertise, having been mentored by her dad, former Vice President Dick Cheney. 

Then, there are non-political endorsements. The New York Times, on its front page, published a piece stating that 82 Nobel Laureates now support Harris. We are sure she will mention this at her next appearance. 

Even at the CNN Townhall, she repeated her stump line that many economists in this group favor her economic plan. She never fails to remind the country that the national security complex, which thrives with America's involvement in foreign wars, is wholly behind her. 

Interviewing for the American presidency is different from obtaining a senior position in any industry. There, recommendation letters and statements supporting a candidate's character are invaluable. These documents are genuine reflections of the recommender's personal experience with a candidate that the employer may not have because the employer does not know the candidate. Every data point helps add validity to the candidate's application. 

In the real world, when all other things are equal, a recommendation letter may help a candidate ultimately clinch a deal in a crowded field. If the candidate is hired, the employer benefits, but if the candidate fails to perform and the employer fires the new employee, the only party impacted is the employer (and the fired employee). 

The field of presidential candidates is limited to just two individuals. The American voter already has formed a strong opinion about Harris and Trump, and even when a voter is undecided, it is rarely because the voter lacks external validation. In other words, an endorsement doesn't sway an undecided voter to vote in favor of a particular candidate. 

Why? Because voters evaluate the credibility of the so-called thought leaders whose endorsements they are weighing. The generals and the security industry complex may sound pompous in the grand scheme of things, but the average American questions their effectiveness in fulfilling their primary responsibility—fostering world peace and protecting America. Every weapon built is ultimately a deterrent, never to be deployed but only to show an adversary that peace through strength is a powerful geopolitical vision. 

America, under the Military-Industrial Complex, has been involved in one war or another consistently - from the end of the Cold War: The two Gulf Wars, the war in the Balkans, Afghanistan, numerous minor conflicts in Africa, Ukraine, the Middle East, and saber-rattling in the Taiwan Strait. Today, America has been pushed closer to nuclear conflict than at any time since the Cuban missile crisis. Why listen to these leaders when they have a vested interest in keeping these wars going under some misguided principle of protecting the world order? 

America's lack of trust in experts has solidified through the various institutional crises that voters have endured in the last 25 years - Y2K, which no one saw coming; the Dot Com boom; the sub-prime mortgage and the financial crisis leading to the Great Recession; the extraordinary overreaction of health care policy during Covid and its aftermath - to the point where the average voter doesn't believe anymore in experts. 

In effect, voters are saying to Harris that they can think for themselves, thank you very much.