Us Gen-Zs have seen it all, from Pani Puri in Costco to a 7-seater EV flapping its doors. And now, for the first time ever, since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, we are presented with a convicted felon and a dementia patient this election, tasked with choosing one for preside- wait wait wait, HE WHAT NOW? 

That’s right, over 5 decades later, Joe Biden decided to bow out from the 2024 Presidential Elections. Maybe this was just a way for him to get Stephen Colbert off his back and on Donald Trump’s. Whatever the reason, from Senator to VP to POTUS, I think it’s fairly safe to say he had a good political run.

Kamala Harris Out from the ‘Coconut Tree’

In comes Kamala Harris, a welcomed entrant for the presidency, getting endorsements from the likes of Joe Biden, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Obamas, and everyone’s favorite, Ariana Grande. The list of mainstream celebrities and politicians keeps growing. I think I speak for many people saying that Harris is an appreciated addition to the presidential race. That is if your name doesn’t start with D and ends with -onald J. Trump.

DNC has announced Kamala Harris to be nominated as the Democratic presidential candidate. This would lead her to be the first South Asian and African American female to land a presidential candidate spot on the ballot. First Rishi Sunak became UK’s prime minister and now Kamala is on her way to the U.S. elections. Great stuff y’all, love to see it.

Harris did not waste any time gathering steam. The VP racked up an innumerable stash of cash on her first day of campaigning. Within days, Harris started circulating all over social media and even between YouTube videos. Man, I was just trying to enjoy a drag race, but then we had to talk politics.

She sprang into the limelight, giving a speech in Milwaukee, Wis., highlighting her plans for the next 100 days to unite her party. From prosecutor, to attorney general, to senator, and now VP – she’s seen it all. So trust her when she says, “I know Donald’s Trump’s type.”

Her campaign will revolve around tackling domestic issues like clean energy, affordable healthcare and childcare, worker’s rights, and gun violence, to name a few. Harris criticized the overturning of Roe v. Wade because “we trust women to make decisions about their own body and not have their government tell them what to do.” She called out the Republicans for being backward-thinking and taking the country back to the past.

Cardi B weighed in on the misogyny Harris has faced. Politics apart, Cardi B is disgusted by how Kamala has been disrespected solely because she is a woman.

Well, lets see how the, as Lara Trump puts it, designer “trash bag,” bodes over for all the nay-sayers in the coming elections.

The Republicans were also quick to start bashing Kamala Harris. They called her out for being way too left, so left that she “makes Bernie Sanders look like a moderate.” They called her out for not giving the death penalty to a man accused of murdering an officer. She has been labeled as a “DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] kind of a candidate.” She presumably only got the nomination because she is an African American woman, and yet Trump does not even think she’s black.

According to various polls by mainstream media, it’s a pretty tight race between the two, but the flight hasn’t even left the runway for these two. Figuratively, of course. Otherwise, they are all over the country.

The Cotton Candy-haired Orange

Donald Trump is back at his old antics, wanting to be “reimbursed for fraud,” because of how much resources he put behind fighting Joe Biden. Funny how he is the one complaining about fraud, but I’ll cut him some slack after getting shot in the ear. Just like Harris is making history in this election, so is Trump, being the first convicted felon on the ballot.

In his North Carolina rally, he kept playing the blame game, pointing the finger at anyone who’s not him. He went on to say Kamala is “committing crimes,” (…the irony though) and how she is inviting terrorists into the country.

First of all, Mr. Trump, we are called immigrants. We don’t appreciate you calling us all “illegal alien rapists, bloodthirsty killers, and child predators. Secondly, we are the new 1% of the U.S. Without us, the economy goes into free-fall and big tech companies will go under. Just look at what happened to Tesla after rumors of Elon pledging $45 million a month to your campaign.

Among the rest of the cacophony, Trump boasted his accomplishment with overturning Roe v. Wade, blasted the LGBTQ+ community, called Kamala “the original Marxist,” and painted the usage of clean energy as dumb. Special mention to his portrayal of women as too weak to lift barbells weighing “a quarter of an ounce.” Oh, and he also fired Kamala Harris … from what? I don’t know. But, he fired her. Another day at a Trump rally if you will.

Enraged, Jennifer Aniston took to social media, calling out Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance (at least for now), for pushing IVF bans and referring to the female leaders of the country as “childless cat ladies.” People really can get away with saying anything in the name of politics these days!

Credit where credit is due, there were snippets of Trump talking actual sense. He announced his ‘an eye for an eye’ policy, where countries that impose tariffs or taxes on us will receive the same treatment. He also said he would end the war in Ukraine and prevent World War III. Kamala Harris has been strangely silent on these issues, or any foreign policies for that matter.

But it seems like I am bashing Trump and being unfair. That is because I am. Why would any president propose the idea of having an iron dome over an economic superpower?

Check Your DMs

What is a Siliconeer cover story if it doesn’t have anything about AI in it? When a multitude of generative AI tools like Grok and ChatGPT were asked about the results of this election, most of them suggested a really close race with the odds favoring Trump.

We mustn’t forget our favorite political tool of them all, social media. A primary source of information for the Gen-Z, social media will be a key asset for the politicians to campaign, or in Trump’s case, spread misinformation. As long as the Metas of the world continue to fact-check the posts, all should be well.

In the VP’s case, trending on social media is her “brat” spirit, referring to Charli XCX’s album, cheered as an ode to young feminists.

Another political tool that goes a long way in these elections is communication styles. The stark difference in the way both candidates communicate may well be the deciding factor in who takes the CEO chair at the White House. Whereas Harris speaks as if she is giving a well-rehearsed class presentation, Trump takes on a more conversational style – connecting with his audience like he’s speaking to them one-on-one. As ridiculous as he sounds, Trump always pervades a sense of warmth towards his followers. Kamala Harris, I hope you are taking notes. We need some charisma from you.

The Gen-Z Sentiment

“I don’t know what to do now!” A sentiment echoed by many of my Gen-Z peers. We were simply bewildered by the choice we’d have to make in the upcoming election. That was until Biden made way for the candidate ‘falling out’ of a coconut tree. Sorry Kamala, you are not getting out of this one. No longer must we confine our vote under who takes the title for the ‘lesser of two evils’.

Even Trump’s own ex-White House Press Secretary, Stephanie Grisham, ditched him and joined Harris in her “Republicans for Harris” campaign.

We have a choice between taking the country backward or forward, and I have a pretty good idea of which way most of us would like to go.

As a South Asian publication, we would love to see a fellow South Asian woman sitting behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office as the President of the United States of America.

 

The information in this article is current as of August 4th, 2024. Illustrations: Shutterstock