Chait Trolling

Every once in a while Jon Chait trolls the Left.  As a Liberal and not a Leftist, he is part of a long tradition of doing so.

Today, he makes a very interesting take on the route that women have to navigate in order to become president.  He focuses on two of the frontrunners for 2020, Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand.  With Harris, he notes how she tore Jeff Sessions a new one during his confirmation hearing, yet the left-leaning coverage focused on her being interrupted, rather than her ass-kicking.  With Gillibrand, it is a case of her leading the way on sexual harrassment, yet focusing on her own history.

Chait's trolling comes when he says this:

Presenting a female politician as a victim may attract support and positive attention among progressive activists. On the left, victimhood is a prime source of authority, and discourse revolves around establishing one’s intersectional credentials and detailing stories of mistreatment that reinforce them. Within the ecosystem of the left, demonstrating that you have suffered harassment or microaggressions is a big win.

As soon as I read that, I knew what would follow, and sure enough the Leftier parts of the internet are ripping into him.  And yet, he's not wrong.  And he's focused on how to elect our first female president, who will likely be a Democrat.

As he says, it's not really about convincing your base.  It's about winning the election that is largely decided for stupid reasons surrounding imagery.  Women have a trickier needle to thread in trying to present as a Commander and Chief, while not coming off as grating.  It's sexist, but it exists.

I'm not sure why this engenders such outrage.