The Shameless ‘Selling’ of Kamala Harris

by Anne Keala Kelly The Kennedy Beacon

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) kicks off their convention this week in Chicago, and few are expecting the 4-day-long event to be anything other than a star-studded coronation ceremony and fluff-fest for Kamala Harris. 

Those who attend or watch on television will be presented with a rosy vision of the nation’s future that will likely be high on production value and low on policy ideas. And expect the Democratic brass to spin their version of what the country needs through influence-pandering not substance. 

But their biggest spin will be about Kamala Harris.

Leaders of the DNC are masters of spin: With full-spectrum weaponized dominance over liberal news and media, it only took the DNC a few weeks to make Joe Biden’s campaign seem like ancient history. They hid his secret until they no longer could. Then they crowned Harris as the second coming – yes, the vice president who barely registered with the American people, until they told us she is all the things we know she is not.

The DNC has also taught us, perhaps unwittingly, that there is a profound difference between being informed and being influenced.

Now, with 11 weeks remaining until the election, they want to influence us, but not in a transparent way. They want to suppress the true and verifiable with a massive cadre of ‘influencers’ whose raison d'etre is to sell Harris through clever, superficial details, as though she were a product not the flawed candidate that she is.

Matt Orfalea of The Orf Report recently published an article based on a cache of 2020, post-election Zoom meetings. In it, he describes how the Biden campaign utilized a DNC-created program “to detect, track and censor what it deemed disinformation (like Biden’s mental decline)… effectively defining ‘misinformation’ as anything that the Biden team found inconvenient.”

Orfalea explains, “The Biden/Harris team micro targeted voters exposed to the ‘disinformation’ (aka reality) of Biden's mental decline. They used psychographic targeting, a tactic that Cambridge Analytica was highly scrutinized for after the 2016 election.” 

Further, he writes, “The Zoom host asks about the ‘big problem’ of ‘true misinformation.’ [the DNC’s Timothy] Durigan says it's a ‘huge problem’ & wants social media to suppress ‘true misinformation’ to promote ‘authoritative’ news sources like NYT.”

This is of keen interest, given the degree to which Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been censored and smeared by the DNC, led by their hired gun, Lis Smith, about whom the Beacon has reported extensively. And nowhere has the misinformation campaign against Kennedy been more complete than in The New York Times and other prominent East Coast news organizations and publications, such as The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and more. It’s as if the Democrats have simply revisited the road they paved in 2020, lambasting Bernie Sanders, rallying around Biden, with their media partners in lock step, this cycle happy to churn out whatever crazy tale they’re fed about Kennedy.  

Currently, Kennedy is appealing a state court decision that blocks him from the New York State ballot, the result of one of numerous DNC lawsuits, this one challenging his New York residency despite ample evidence of his personal, familial and economic ties there. And how was that ruling reported in the corporate media? “RFK Jr. Disqualified” and “RFK Jr. Loses” and “should be booted from state’s ballot” and “denied access” and “will not appear on state ballot.” 

Not surprisingly, there was barely a word about his well-reasoned appeal.

As Louis Conte wrote in his column in the Beacon, “They are trying to make you believe Kennedy isn’t a resident of New York (he is), isn’t registered to vote in New York (he is), doesn’t maintain an active law and driver’s licenses in the state (he does), and doesn’t pay New York State taxes (he does).” 

So, here we are with 77 days to go, staring down the barrel of an extremely aggressive DNC investing heavily in two things: lawfare and social media influencers. 

It was announced on August 1 that the DNC is giving convention credentials to more than 200 influencers, referred to as content creators, and giving hundreds more influencers remote access. Hiring and/or incentivizing online influencers to weigh in will generate a cacophonous roar blowing up one idea: Harris for President. “Joy” for President. However, it’s highly unlikely that these puppets will actually inform their (collective) millions of followers with the type of knowledge that can lead voters to think through their decision making. 

Social media posters, podcast hosts, and millions of ‘citizen journalists’ sharing videos and opinions have struck a blow to the heart and craft of reporting the news. But their function is clear enough.

These pseudo journalists are no more than hired hacks, paid to be on message. The Tucker Carlson co-founded publication, Daily Caller, reported on July 31 that people are being offered $150 to post light-hearted videos about Harris on Instagram and TikTok. Comedian Steve McGrew shared an email he received from a company called LaunchViral that reads, “We’re excited to offer you a collaboration opportunity with Kamala Harris 2024 Presidential Campaign.” After online backlash from others who got the same email, the embedded link was deactivated. 

Out from under the weight of Biden’s cognitive crisis, the DNC has found in Harris a campaign idea they can sell. Harris codes as a product that is more decorative than substantive, as she is potentially the first woman president, and a woman of color to boot. Forbes compares Harris’ campaign to “textbook cultural branding,” a marketing technique. “The ambition of a cultural brand is to align itself with a point of view that subverts societal tensions… a symbol that represents a set of ideals,” Forbes writes.

But what is happening to our ideals, our country, and our world?

The U.S. economy is slipping, countless millions are living a paycheck away from not being able to pay rent, WWIII is knocking at the door, and the Democrats have determined the best way to address these and other crises is to keep things just as they are. To them, the problem is Trump, and right after him on that short list of two people to condemn is Kennedy. 

If you tune into the convention this week, remember it's the DNC version of Reality TV, and many of those shows are like beauty contests. Harris, who can flash a photogenic smile as readily as the next Reality TV star, has been designated the one wearing the crown and sash when the convention is over. She’s the chosen contestant on a more glitzy, wanna-be highbrow version of The Apprentice. 

And if all goes as planned, the portion of the media jungle that once was wild about selling “merch” (merchandise), to shore up their respective brands, will now emote loudly to paid subscribers and followers. What is their new merch? The urgent, patriotic duty to elect Kamala Harris.