The power of the white woman savior complex

In the middle of one of the craziest news cycles of my lifetime, I attempted to take a few days off from mainlining X, the drug formerly known as Twitter. (Big mistake. Huge!) My life felt unmanageable and I needed a detox. It was post-Trump assassination attempt, post-Hulk Hogan ripping off his shirt at the RNC, post-Biden withdrawing from the presidential race in what was essentially a tweeted-out Notes apology. It was also just barely post-Kamala being tapped as heiress to the throne — though she had yet to be endorsed by Obama or Nancy Pelosi. Things seemed somewhat settled — and I opted to tune the online world out and touch grass.

When I logged out, the Democrats were still somewhat in disarray. There was talk of a Trump landslide. The polls suggested the election was his to lose. When I logged back in, it was like I’d reemerged into 2016 with a dash of 2020. Kamala had been installed. Several memos went out with very clear talking points like “Kamala is brat” and “J.D. Vance is weird.” Commentators were spewing away. After her campaign launched, Harris received $100 million in donations in a day. Biden was just… gone.

Once the succession was settled and the money was in the bank, Kamala got a media tongue-bathing, a proper glow-up. The party was unified, the approved message rolled out and implemented. Trump was too old to be president even though, days and weeks earlier, the same people cried “ageist” if you dared suggest the same thing about Biden. Trump’s path to victory was no longer a sure thing.

There was that clip again, from Drew Barrymore’s show, Drew drawing Kamala close and saying, “We need you to be Momala of the country.” There she was again, holding her phone to her ear like a boomer while it was on speaker, receiving the “impromptu” endorsement call from the kingmakers themselves, the Obamas. And there was Kamala on the cover of New York magazine with the headline, “Welcome to Kamalot.”

If July was disorienting, the snap back to “this is fine” overnight was even more unsettling. It was like reverse culture shock; I find it more difficult to relate to the people acting like it was all completely normal than the ones still freaking out about the rapid series of epochal events already being memory-holed and forgotten by a TikTok-attention-span public and a pliant media.

History was being redrafted before our eyes. Of course Joe Biden wasn’t told “you can do this the hard way or the easy way” by party thugs such as Pelosi. No. Biden is a national hero, a man who isn’t afraid to put the country before himself. A man who knows when it’s time to step aside, even after saying he was staying in the race just days and hours before he stepped aside. He wasn’t a man in such obvious cognitive decline that world leaders and the entire country noticed it; those were right-wing cheap fakes. He is an honorable man who realized he’s no longer up for the job for another four years.

And Kamala wasn’t the border czar, even though the media and some political figures called her the border czar, that doesn’t mean she was actually the border czar, and if you dare even mention that she was the border czar (which she wasn’t) — you’re obviously a racist bigot.

Which brings us to the 2016/2020 vibe that crept in almost immediately. Spectator contributor Stephen L. Miller said on X, “the media + Hollywood sees this election now as a Hillary do over and to correct their sins and mistakes from 2016 and so far they are going to extreme lengths to prove that right.”

Gun control activist Shannon Watts of Moms Demand Action organized a “Karens for Kamala” Zoom call. There was also one for “white dudes for Harris.” There is no way to describe these Zoom calls besides online cries for help.

No one has learned anything. Neither side seems interested in expanding its base and grabbing from the rapidly growing pool of independents. The Democrats are leaning into the only tape they know — running an extremely unlikable candidate, shaming people for being racist and misogynistic and claiming the election was stolen when they don’t win. The Republicans are doing what they know how to do best — wasted-womb-shaming the childless, alienating women voters, owning the libs and claiming the election was stolen when they don’t win.

What I’ve learned over the last eight years: never underestimate the power of telling white women they need to save the world. It is the ultimate humble-brag. “We’re so privileged and powerful, it’s up to us to rescue the marginalized and save the world.” It’s all ego cloaked in virtue. It’s shameless — and it’s absolutely working on normies. However, it’s also turning other people off.

At the moment, 2024 feels like anyone’s race. But that could change tomorrow. Who knows if, with the way this summer has been going, by the time this magazine lands in mailboxes, Kamala and Trump are even the nominees.

This article was originally published in The Spectator’s July 2024 World edition.