Opinion | Harris needs a cross-partisan, joyful pro-democracy campaign

Kicking off the proceedings, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a leading scholar on totalitarianism, explained:

This is an anti-autocracy conference because autocracy is what we are looking at if Donald Trump is reelected.

I know many Americans feel this is hyperbole, even after MAGA attemped to overthrow the government to keep Trump in office illegally. In my line of work, we call this a coup attempt. Even now, Trump is continuing to use his rallies to market strongman rule to Americans. Just a few days ago he praised Xi Jinping, a Communist dictator, as “brilliant” because he rules with an “iron fist.”

She explained: “Project 2025 is a recipe for mass chaos, abuses of power, and dysfunction in government. It aligns not only with the agendas of present foreign autocracies, especially the Hungary of Viktor Orban … but also with the policies of past dictatorships.”

Later, I ran through some of Project 2025’s elements: deporting 11 million people, dismantling the Federal Reserve’s independence, replacing 50,000 government workers with Trump sycophants, outlawing Mifepristone and enforcing the Comstock Act, refashioning the Justice Department as an arm of presidential power, slashing Medicaid, abolishing the Education Department and slapping 10 percent tariffs on imports. Project 2025 also reveals the degree to which MAGA leaders expect the government to enforce the precepts of White Christian nationalism.

Two aspects of the conference stood out — and informed my perception of the presidential race.

Broad coalitions fighting autocracy often face difficulty finding a common ground that overrides policy differences.

“We have seen throughout the world that authoritarian attempts are defeated when those with ideological and policy differences nonetheless believe that the precondition for their own long-term interests is a stable democracy in which the rule of law is respected,” Michael Podhorzer, a conference participant and former political director of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, told me. “We saw that in 2020, when the Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO, who agree on almost nothing else, stood strong and together against all efforts to reverse the results of the election.”

Norm Eisen, co-founder of State Democracy Defenders Action✓ — which hosted the conference together with conservative group Principles First and advocacy group Democracy Forward — told me, “There is much more that unites us as Americans than divides us.” He laid out 10 principles at the conference that “define what a long-term right, left and center coalition would look like to unify the vast majority of Americans against Trump’s authoritarianism and ensure that the American democratic tradition continues — and that Trump led autocracy is permanently banished from the American political scene.” These principles boil down to:

1. Democracies rest on rule of law; someone who denies the sanctity of the Constitution and serially violates our laws cannot be president.
2. Democracy cannot survive without truth, facts, science and evidence.
3. Free and fair elections are the essence of democracy, where power resides in the people.
4. Civil discourse must be the means to resolve differences; compromise is essential to governance.
5. A democratic government cannot operate without an independent, nonpartisan civil service, and subject matter expertise is essential to good government.
6. An ethical government free from corruption and self-interest is essential to our democracy.
7. The United States is the indispensable nation for international stability, economic prosperity and democracy. Our military takes an oath to the Constitution, not to a single leader.
8. Democracies require and ensure widespread prosperity. Democracies that deliver economically for citizens require a domestic calm, commitment to the rule of law and opposition to cronyism.
9. A vibrant, independent press is vital to democracy.
10. Equality and civil rights (“All men [and women] are created …”) are foundational to our American creed.

The good news: These ideas might provide the glue to hold together the anti-autocracy coalition if they can gather support across the ideological spectrum.

To my surprise, the conference was infused with camaraderie and humor, despite its serious subject. Sure, some was gallows humor (“Anyone know a real estate agent in Australia?”), but there were plenty of wisecracks about buffoonish MAGA politicians and self-deprecating jokes. It turns out high spirits and humor are essential to combating autocracy.

Adam Gallagher and Anthony Navone wrote that humor “disrupts dominant discourses and challenges power ‘by disrupting the language and symbols used by those in power to represent reality in a particular way and providing alternative interpretations of that reality.’” Moreover, “Authoritarian leaders and regimes rely on projections of unshakable power; using fear to maintain control,” the authors wrote. “No wonder they hate jokes.” (Not coincidentally, Trump has said he hates being laughed at.)

Americans are anxious for connection, for in-person relationships and for fun. Especially when enlisting previously apolitical people, optimism, joy and, yes, humor can help hold movements together. No wonder Vice President Harris’s laugh is already is unnerving MAGA scolds; perhaps they grasp the power of happy warriors.

Harris benefits from Democrats’ sense of relief that their campaign has been reborn. But looking at the Harris campaign with fresh eyes, I now see that the joy she expresses in speeches and ads, and the lighthearted memes that have popped up serve a critical purpose. Her ebullient personality, nervy jibes at her opponents and lively social media presence aid in binding together supporters with disparate views.

Harris’s campaign channels many of the anti-autocracy principles. To an ecstatic crowd in Wisconsin, she declared, “I’ll tell you why we’re not going back: because ours is a fight for the future. And it is a fight for freedom.” She also made the pitch for broadly shared prosperity: “We believe in a future where every person has the opportunity not just to get by but to get ahead … Building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency.”

In a speech in Indianapolis the next day, Harris incorporated several more anti-autocracy principles:

Across our nation, we are witnessing a full-on assault on hard-fought, hard-won freedoms and rights: the freedom to vote, the freedom to be safe from gun violence, the freedom to live without fear of bigotry and hate, the freedom to love who you love openly and with pride, the freedom to learn and acknowledge our true and full history, and the freedom of a woman to make decisions about her own body and not have her government telling her what to do.

Fortunately, democracy and its byproducts (freedom, prosperity, equal justice) happen to be very popular. While many voters might not see her speech as a “pro-democracy,” she is delivering the joyous spirit and the intellectual principles essential to firing up anti-autocracy forces. It’s telling that Harris’s first ad is entitled “We Choose Freedom.”