The 'Tired of All These Fucking Guys' Vote is Real

It's not apathy, it's exhaustion.

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Here’s a “fun” little fact for you: This is the first election since 1976 without someone named “Clinton,” “Bush,” or “Biden” on the presidential ticket. Read that again: The last time we had an election without someone from one of those three families running for the White House, no one on Earth had seen Star Wars or ever used a Post-It Note. This wasn’t simply “a long time ago.” It was — in very concrete and quantifiable ways —an entirely different reality, dominated by a very different understanding of how the world works.

I mention this factoid because I think it points to an underlying dynamic in this election that deserves to be unpacked a little more. It’s undeniable that Kamala Harris’ ascendency to become the presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee has generated bonkers enthusiasm across wide swaths of the center-to-left wing of American politics. This is the result of several different factors. Part of it is due to the candidate herself. Harris is an accomplished, personable, potentially history-making figure whose politics, whatever you may think of them, are broadly acceptable to most Democratic voters. She is also capable of speaking publicly without conjuring the specter of death that forces us to consider our own mortality, unlike her current boss.

But I think that a good deal of the excitement around Harris’ candidacy comes from a broader sense of exhaustion at everything that’s come before.

In other words: People are tired of all these fucking guys!