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I’ve been thinking about the concept of “authenticity” for the past few years, because I believe it’s both the quality American society most covets and the rarest and most difficult to define.
This is clearly seen in the presidential election, where Donald Trump’s supporters see him as an honest man who always speaks his mind, while his critics portray him as a charlatan salesman who will say anything to get his way.
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. (Getty Images)
Similarly, Kamala Harris’ fans see her as a trusted public servant with decades of experience, while Republicans see her as a chameleon who changes political colors more often than a pride flag.
Is one of them real? Are they both real? What is real?
My own quest to define that elusive quality began in a little tavern called Hinano in Venice Beach. I had just driven from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, and on my last day’s drive I had seen a half-dozen Bob Ross paintings, ranging from hunter green forests to deadly beige deserts to moonscapes and Indian trading posts in between.
I ate burgers and beers and experienced what Jack Kerouac once described as “end-of-the-earth sadness,” but the people I was with were very nice, and as I looked around me, sawdust strewn across the floor and a Beach Boys cover band was playing, I wondered if this was the real thing.
Hinano Cafe in Venice Beach has an authentic feel. (Instagram/Hina Cafe)
Now, Hinano has been there since 1962, and Jim Morrison seemed to like it, which was nice, but on the other hand, it felt as if we were all performing in another time and place, like the California Renaissance Faire in the 60s, and I could easily hold both ideas in my mind.
I thought of Hinano on Wednesday when Donald Trump gave a sometimes-hilarious interview to the National Association of Black Journalists, in which he essentially said that Harris had only recently started calling him by his first name, but had previously called him Indian. There was about 15 minutes of outrage and scandal, and then it mostly died down.
When I asked one woman I met who was outraged by the issue if she thought the vote would make a difference, she answered without hesitation, “No.”
It became immediately clear to me, and to everyone I spoke to, Democrats and Republicans alike, that this was just unabashed Trump being Trump, but he is also a very unique person.
Donald Trump has been a celebrity for 50 years, a kind of stylish contrarian, a man who goes the other way and never backs down or apologizes. This is all perfectly consistent, and yet to his haters it also feels artificial, as if Trump has been playing a character, a brand, for half a century and can no longer separate the mask from his face.
The situation is a bit different with Ms. Harris. Republicans are infuriated that she is shifting positions on everything from fracking to health care without any backlash from the liberal media. To them, this is the dictionary definition of dishonesty. Democrats, however, don’t think so.
Jesse Watters: Kamala Harris is a ‘fake’ and not a leader
People I’ve spoken to see her as someone who’s spent her life in party politics and knows how to conform to the will of the group, and frankly, as a Democratic politician, that’s very authentic. Let’s not forget that Barack Obama himself, who opposed same-sex marriage out of deep Christian faith, came to support it once it became politically viable.
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Importantly, when Trump attacked Harris for her alleged racial code-switching, he was precisely accusing her of being inauthentic, of pretending to be different people for different audiences, even though Harris still has something to prove to impressionable voters who aren’t quite sure who she really is.
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In the lead up to the Democratic National Convention, both sides will be scrambling to impress Harris in the minds of persuadable voters, for whom her dedication to the interests of the party alone will not be enough: Voters will need to see the real Kamala Harris rise up and believe that this is the same Kamala Harris who will be presiding in the Oval Office next year.
Eventually, after a few years and a few trips and visits, I decided Hinano was the real deal, but the store had to be strong enough to deserve it. Same for the vice president. But she doesn’t have much time for that.
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