The Campaign of Joy While on the Precipice of World War III

The Dems have already used "Hope" as a strategy under Obama. Now they are trying "Joy"

The “Campaign of Joy” is a curious strategy for the US at this point in time. Escalations continue in the Ukraine war. Zelensky has been asking for permission to strike deep inside Russia with US equipment. The genocide in Gaza continues, and the war continues to expand into Lebanon. Iran is arming Russia, and so is North Korea. Inflation continues to rage, and the censorship regime is increasing not only in the US but across the globe.

The “Campaign of Joy” is trying to rebrand Kamala Harris’ incessant and inappropriate laughter into a campaign strategy while she continues a vapid campaign with little substance. The lack of substance is partly because the Democrats have no platform to run on that would make their base happy. That’s the perils of being the Wall Street Party and the New War Party. (I was recently alerted that using the word “cackling” is misogynistic, so I am avoiding it.)

The Democratic media has been relentless in pushing this narrative. Here are some of the most utterly cringeworthy headlines:

Kamala Harris is showing that joy can be a strategy (19thnews.org )

Why Kamala Harris’ New Politics of Joy Is the Best Way to Fight Fascism (Rolling Stone)

Harris/Walz: an honest campaign radiating joy (Washington Blade)

Joy Ride: Upbeat Dems are spreading Optimism to a divided (and newly divided) nation. (Vanity Fair)

The second one is the most outrageous—the idea of fighting fascism with joy. Perhaps we could have defeated the Nazis by smiling and dancing at them instead of fighting them.

Recently Dick Cheney and his daughter Liz have endorsed Harris. Dick Cheney and George Bush, mass murderers in Iraq, were the scourge of the Democratic party. Cheney, who has always been blamed as the master planner of these wars and the torture regime, was utterly reviled by the Democrats. They screamed for Bush and Cheney to both be tried as war criminals. He was called a fascist, Hitler, and a conscienceless far-right authoritarian. He was absolutely despised by the Democrats and held out as everything they hated about the Republicans.

Obama and Biden both campaigned on prosecuting Bush and Cheney.

Members of Congress are "doing the right thing; they’re not making false accusations about anything … they're collecting data, subpoenaing records, they're building a file", Biden said.

"If there has been a basis upon which you can pursue someone for a criminal violation, they will be pursued – not out of vengeance, not out of retribution, out of the need to preserve the notion that no one, no attorney general, no president -- no one is above the law."

Obama, one of the true masters of Orwellian doublespeak, does his usual “both sides of the coin” routine:

"[I]f crimes have been committed, they should be investigated," Obama told the Philadelphia Daily News. "You're also right that I would not want my first term consumed by what was perceived on the part of Republicans as a partisan witch hunt because I think we've got too many problems we've got to solve."

George Bush has long since been “rehabilitated” by the Democratic party. Now that they have become a party of Neocons, George Bush doesn’t look so bad anymore; he actually looks more like a role model than a villain. Let’s not forget the tender moments at John McCain’s funeral between Michelle Obama and Bush, when Bush sneaked her a piece of candy, and she later hugged him. She raved about what a sweet man he is.

It was only a matter of time until Cheney, the Democratic personification of Satan, began a rehabilitation process of his own, perhaps without even parting with a piece of candy. He’s well on his way after Harris called Cheney and his daughter Liz “courageous” for endorsing her. She also noted how important it is to put the country ahead of the party. Liz Cheney not only sounds a lot like her dad when it comes to foreign policy and torture but also has voted in Congress in favor of over 90% of Trump’s policies. Yet, she is still considered an ally of the Democrats. This shows the warped mentality of “anyone but Trump.” Nothing can break the spell. No bottom is too low and can’t be reached.

An opinion writer for The Hill, Bill Press, put it best today “Still, you have to give Trump credit for one thing. Only Donald Trump could turn Dick Cheney from Darth Vader into Luke Skywalker”. 

Cheney can join the list of psycho-war mongers that have, in one shape or form, joined the Democratic party. Victoria Nuland, with a long history of “interventions,” was a member of the Biden administration who resigned in March. She has been in every recent administration except Trump’s. She can be heard during the Obama years, during a US-instigated coup, dictating to Ukraine who their next president will be. If Nuland visits your country, you will likely have a regime change. Her impact around the world has been nothing short of disastrous.

Bill Kristol, a long-time Neocon who never met a war he didn’t like, has become a supporter of the Democrats. He worked for Reagan, was a big supporter of the Second Iraqi War, and works as a commentator for a right-wing publication called “The Bulwark.” He also stood firmly behind another Democratic villain, John McCain. Kristol was also a co-author of the Policy for a New American Century (PNAC), which is a call to war and hegemony. “Benevolent hegemony” is the term that gets thrown around in that document.

He tweeted this in 2023:

Maybe the joy is in being the New War Party.

What good would a presidential election be without a little Russiagate thrown in to add some paranoia to the mix? 2016 was the beginning of Russiagate. It was arguably the most widespread, unhinged conspiracy theory in US history. It has been debunked many times and from different sources. First by Robert Mueller, Then the Senate committee, Bob Woodward, Columbia Journalism, The Dunham report, and finally, the Twitter file dump. Hillary Clinton was supposed to be a role model for women but instead played sore loser and victim before turning her venom into an investigation that Trump colluded with Russia to steal the election. Trump was cleared, but about 18 Russian nationals were indicted for what was called a “disinformation campaign.”

The investigation involved about 80,000 Facebook ads purchased by “Russia.” It’s in quotes because any actions by a single person became the entire country during that investigation. Of the 80,000 ads, 80% had nothing to do with politics, and more than half were not seen until after the election.

In the 2020 election, more accusations were made against Russia, and all of them were debunked. Now, here we are in 2024, and the Russiagate monster is rearing its ugly head once again. Marx once said that history repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce. Russiagate started out as a farce and is now repeating itself as comedy. But some people still believe it because they have been trained to believe it’s true.

This time, the news show Russia Today is the center of controversy. The US has accused this news station of the usual “sowing discord in the US” and “trying to sway the vote.” These accusations, as always, are without a scrap of evidence. An indictment was announced against two RT employees for providing ten million dollars to a conservative journalism company called “Tenet Media.” They apparently didn’t know they were getting money from Russia because they received it through a shell corporation. There is also no evidence that this conservative, anti-Russia group posted any content that was pro-Russia.

As vague and misleading as it was, at least with Obama’s “Hope and Change,” the word “change” can be applied to a political system desperately needing reform. But how does joy get applied to a political system? What does that actually mean? And whose joy are we talking about?

Perhaps the joy is schadenfreude (a German term for taking pleasure in other people’s misery).

An old expression says, “If nothing changes, then nothing changes.” Nothing is going to change under Harris. The wars will continue, the economic system will be heavily tilted towards the richest in the country, and our political structure will remain unchanged. Ours is a political system that refuses to reform itself. Harris has already pledged her support to the US security state and has given her mandatory, unconditional support for Israel. To quote Joe Biden from his 2020 campaign speech, “Nothing will fundamentally change.” If Harris had any desire to change the political system, she would have been sandbagged like Bernie Sanders a long time ago.