What Reasons Do We Have to Be Patriotic Today?

Kamala Harris comes crawling back to Zohran Mamdani after refusing to endorse him, and a historic heat wave is putting a damper on July 4 celebrations

Good morning, AlterNet America family, and happy Independence Day.

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On this Fourth of July, I want to look to the future. That’s why I’m stuck on some moves Kamala Harris has been making this week. Let’s talk about it.

Kamala Harris Crawls Back to Mamdani as She Eyes 2028 Campaign

You know what takes nerve? Asking for an endorsement from the guy you wouldn’t endorse.

The former vice president privately reached out to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani last week, just days after Mamdani-backed democratic socialist candidates swept three congressional primaries in New York. She’s also been holding closed-door meetings with pro-Palestinian activists and progressive leaders.

The message is unmistakable: Harris is laying the groundwork for 2028, and she wants the left on board this time.

The irony is hard to miss. Less than a year ago, when Mamdani was the Democratic nominee for mayor, Harris could barely bring herself to say his name. Her so-called endorsement on Rachel Maddow’s show was a masterclass in saying nothing: “I support the Democrat in the race, sure.”

She then immediately pivoted to downplaying his significance: “He’s not the only star.” Now that Mamdani is one of the most powerful Democrats in the country, suddenly Harris wants a longer conversation.

This is exactly the kind of transactional politics that cost Harris in 2024. She refused to break meaningfully from Biden on Gaza. She denied uncommitted delegates a Palestinian American speaker at the convention.

Mamdani, a progressive who made Palestinian solidarity a centerpiece of his campaign, was precisely the kind of candidate Harris should have embraced if she meant any of it. Instead she treated him like a liability until he became too powerful to ignore. That tells you everything about where her convictions actually lie.

And more fundamentally, Harris should not run again. She lost to Donald Trump, a candidate who should have been entirely beatable. Nothing about her current maneuvering suggests she’s learned why.

Calling Mamdani after he’s already won isn’t vision. It’s opportunism dressed up as coalition-building. The Democratic Party needs new leadership, not a retread candidacy from someone who only discovers progressive values when they become politically convenient.

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The Hottest Fourth of July in History (So Far) Is Here

More than 160 million Americans are under major or extreme heat risk this weekend as a heat dome parks itself over the eastern half of the country.

Central Park hit 100 degrees on Thursday for the first time in 14 years. Baltimore and DC are forecast to approach their all-time records of 107 and 106 degrees. Raleigh (that’s me!) could get within striking distance of 106.

This comes two weeks after a heat wave killed more than 1,300 people across Europe, with France alone recording over 1,000 excess deaths since June 21. Paris logged more days above 104 this past week than in the entire 147-year period from 1872 to 2019.

Heat is already the deadliest form of extreme weather in the United States, killing more people annually than tornadoes, hurricanes, and lightning combined. Heat-related deaths in the U.S. have nearly doubled since 1999, from roughly 1,000 per year to nearly 2,400 in 2024.

The people who die are disproportionately poor, elderly, Black, and unhoused — people without air conditioning in apartments that trap heat like ovens after dark. Not to mention FEMA still has no statutory authority to respond to heat events because extreme heat isn’t classified as a major disaster under the Stafford Act.

The president’s response to all of this was to announce he would give “a really long speech” on the Mall on the Fourth “just to show that I can do anything.” William Henry Harrison also thought he was tougher than the weather.

America Turns 250 and Most Americans Don’t Feel Like Celebrating

I do. Here’s why.

A Pew survey found that nearly 70% of Americans are dissatisfied with the direction of the country. Gallup says only about half of us are “extremely proud” or “very proud” to be American, a 25-year low. CNN ran a piece this week calling the semiquincentennial “a big blah.”

I get it. The president turned the country’s birthday party into a campaign rally. He created Freedom 250, a Trump-aligned nonprofit that effectively hijacked the celebration from the bipartisan commission Congress set up a decade ago. The State Department announced new passports with Trump’s face on them. The Great American State Fair on the Mall drew such pathetic crowds that White House staffers deleted their own photos.

Trump promised “the most unforgettable birthday party any country has ever seen” and delivered a 30-minute speech about himself in front of half-empty fields.

So why am I still patriotic?

Because patriotism was never about the president. The Declaration of Independence is a 1,320-word complaint about a king. The entire point of the document we’re celebrating tomorrow is that no single man gets to be the country.

And buried in the First Amendment is the thing that still makes this country worth defending: freedom of the press. Not freedom of the press when it’s convenient. Not freedom of the press unless the FCC chairman threatens your broadcast license because a late-night host made a joke. Freedom of the press, full stop.

Most democracies protect the press in some form. But the American version is structurally different. The UK has an Official Secrets Act and can gag publishers before they print. France can pull publications from shelves for “offending the dignity” of a head of state. Germany and Canada have hate speech laws broad enough to give prosecutors discretion over editorial judgment.

In most of Europe, press freedom is a value balanced against other values. In the United States, at least on paper, it is a prohibition on government power — Congress shall make no law.

That freedom is why AlterNet America exists. We don’t soften headlines because a billionaire owner has business before the government. We don’t take editorial direction from people who put their own face on your passport.

We answer to you. And that only works if you show up.

If you’ve been reading AlterNet America for free, today’s a good day to change that. Become a paid subscriber and help keep an independent press alive for the next 250 years.

Happy birthday, America. You’re a mess, but you’re still worth it.

—Ryan Rose, Co-Founder & Managing Editor, AlterNet America