On Thursday, Comedy Central’s Desi Lydic welcomed New York Magazine writer-at-large Rebecca Traister and Rutgers Prof. Brittney Cooper to The Daily Show to gush over Kamala Harris and breathe a sigh of relief that she, and not Republican Nikki Haley, may be the first female president.
Lydic began, “There’s been a real vibe shift here with Kamala Harris entering the race. She would be the first female president. She'd be the first black female president. She would be the first South Asian person to be president. This is obviously something to be celebrated and incredibly meaningful for so many reasons.”
She’s not lying about the vibe shift. Before, Lydic was mocking Harris’s meandering thoughts, but now that she’s at the top of the ticket, it’s all praise, all the time. Still, Lydic did seem to be aware that not everyone is as obsessed with Harris’s identity as she is, “But at the same time, how should we be talking about this? How much should the campaign be leaning into this, and how much might it undermine how qualified she is as just being the right person for the job right now?”
Traister, too, tried to have it both ways, “I think it is a really tricky balance. Because on the one hand, you don't want to fixate on these firsts and the pure identity changes and representative changes because there has to be substance along with that too, right? We could be talking about Nikki Haley and have some of the same firsts and we'd be feeling very differently about that.”
Amid crosstalk and laughter, Traister made clear she meant liberal substance, “So, I want to say that just talking about the representative firsts isn't enough. And yet, we cannot behave in this country as though we are a nation that has ever previously managed to elect a woman in 250 years, right?”
She added, “So, we can't trick ourselves either into thinking that there is not a lot happening in this campaign and on these stages, that we do not have models for, that we need to turn to different degrees of faith. That we need to sit in our anxiety about whether we as a country can become better, right? And become different and do things differently and imagine so it would be silly to pretend that those things don't come into it, and I think deeply dishonest about who we are as a country. And about the possibility of who we could become as a country.”
Later in the interview, Traister continued with the effusive Harris praise, “I want to pick up on that joyful thing. What is being projected by Kamala Harris and Tim Walz on those stages is unfettered joy. The beauty of being able—the happiness of being able to envision a future that looks different from our past.”
Lydic then turned to Cooper, “There are 80 more days to go until the election. What is the proper, healthy way to channel all of these feelings of anger and rage and uncertainty and positivity and joy?”
Cooper replied that the country could learn something from Harris, “what it means to be a black person in this country is that we have to fight every day for new possibilities for ourselves and I think that's the lesson that America can take from having a black woman run for the presidency. That is what black people have taught this country, is that, if we want it, we have to fight for it. And so, let's go! That's where I am. Let's [bleep] go!”
Apparently, The Daily Show thinks female minorities with R’s next to their name don’t know about fighting and determination.
Here is a transcript for the August 15 show:
Comedy Central The Daily Show
8/15/2024
11:24 PM ET
DESI LYDIC: I am so excited to have you both on in this moment in particular. There’s been a real vibe shift here with Kamala Harris entering the race. She would be the first female president. She'd be the first black female president. She would be the first South Asian person to be president. This is obviously something to be celebrated and incredibly meaningful for so many reasons. But at the same time, how should we be talking about this? How much should the campaign be leaning into this, and how much might it undermine how qualified she is as just being the right person for the job right now?
REBECCA TRAISTER: I think it is a really tricky balance. Because on the one hand, you don't want to fixate on these firsts and the pure identity changes and representative changes because there has to be substance along with that too, right? We could be talking about Nikki Haley and have some of the same firsts and we'd be feeling very differently about that.
[Laughter and Crosstalk]
So, I want to say that just talking about the representative firsts isn't enough. And yet, we cannot behave in this country as though we are a nation that has ever previously managed to elect a woman in 250 years, right?
So, we can't trick ourselves either into thinking that there is not a lot happening in this campaign and on these stages, that we do not have models for, that we need to turn to different degrees of faith. That we need to sit in our anxiety about whether we as a country can become better, right? And become different and do things differently and imagine so it would be silly to pretend that those things don't come into it, and I think deeply dishonest about who we are as a country. And about the possibility of who we could become as a country.
...
TRAISTER: I want to pick up on that joyful thing. What is being projected by Kamala Harris and Tim Walz on those stages is unfettered joy. The beauty of being able — the happiness of being able to envision a future that looks different from our past.
LYDIC: That's right. That’s right. There are 80 more days to go until the election. What is the proper, healthy way to channel all of these feelings of anger and rage and uncertainty and positivity and joy?
BRITTNEY COOPER: Here's the thing. I believe in faith and hope because I come from working-class black people in the Deep South who didn't grow up with a lot of possibility, who didn't have a lot of possibility, but who kept getting up every day and trying again and so, it is always the height of a certain kind of access and privilege when I see people assuming that we get the benefit and the indulgence of our cynicism, the indulgence of our disaffection.
All — what it means to be a black person in this country is that we have to fight every day for new possibilities for ourselves and I think that's the lesson that America can take from having a black woman run for the presidency. That is what black people have taught this country, is that, if we want it, we have to fight for it. And so, let's go! That's where I am. Let's [bleep] go!
