This "little old lady" has something to say to Steven Levitsky

Seventy Thoughts on Turning Seventy

Last night, I was watching MNSBC as Rachel Maddow interviewed Harvard professor Steven Levitsky about Harvard's decision to stand up to the trump administration against his authoritarian demands to control the university's intellectual and academic freedoms. I had been viewing this act very positively, and I was inclined to view this move as an ethical use of Harvard's wealth, influence and power and as an aspirational model for other universities.

Until Levitsky said this: "We can't just rely on little old ladies in front of Tesla dealerships. God love them."

I'll write this again, to make sure you all hear what I heard.

We can't just rely on LITTLE OLD LADIES in front of Tesla dealerships. GOD LOVE THEM.

In the aftermath of the Democratic party's tragic loss in the 2024 election, party leaders and political pundits have been tearing their hair out, trying to understand how a party that supports policies that make the lives of working people, women and minorities better, lost enough of their votes to insure trump's ascension. In this post mort, talking to those voters, they would hear over and over again, how the Democratic party had come across as elitist and condescending.

Levitsky said the quiet part out loud. By characterizing concerned older women citizens as "little old ladies" he diminished not only our actions but our very being. He followed this characterization with patronizing words dripping in condensation, something you'd say after describing the cute but useless acts of a small child trying to do something they are as yet unable to do - "God love them."

He went on to say somewhat smugly, that the resistance to trump must come from the institutions of power, like the one which has given him a lucrative and influential career. They are the ones who must lead the fight.

And while I can't disagree that these powerful institutions have their role to play in fighting for the preservation of the rule of law and a just society, I can't help but wonder -- is this what they REALLY think of us? And if it is, how can they, when they obtain power, be trusted to support and enact policies that would make our lives better? Would they instead create a government which benefits them.

To her credit Rachel Maddow responded, "I got to say, those little old ladies in front of the Tesla dealership, I feel like I wouldn't mess with them. and ... what they're doing is putting the steel in spine in the spines of a lot of other people who haven't been willing to stand out there in the sleet."

I wish she would have called him out on his language, but of course that would have fed into "snowflake" accusations which are heaped on the left by the right as a way of deflecting the true meaning behind their words. She was in a tough spot as the interviewer and host of this show and while I wanted her to say more to this professor, I was, at least glad that she had responded at all.

There is a bigger problem facing the Democratic party from within. It's hard to trust that institutions like Harvard are on the people's side when their representatives reveal their true values.

I woke up, still angry from Levitsky's hurtful and patronizing comments about women like myself. If the goal of the Democratic party is to bring ordinary citizens into the fold, having elitist spokespeople belittle older women is NOT a useful strategy. These men are going to have to dig more deeply into their own complicity in preserving the status quo of white male privilege.

Here is the complete text of the Maddow-Levitsky exchange. https://archive.org/details/MSNBCW_20250418_040000_The_Rachel_Maddow_Show

Was anyone else jarred by Levitsky’s comments last night? What thoughts does this all raise for you and what is our best way forward in this fight?

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