As we celebrate America’s 250th, Salon is lamenting what Independence Day would have been like if Kamala Harris won the 2024 Election.

Salon‘s Sofia Tesfaye is not celebrating the 4th of July, she is mourning the 2024 Presidential Election. But, like most liberals, who can’t define what a woman is or cannot make the correlation of increased drug use and crime in Blue cities with Blue lawmakers and policies, she longs for what could’ve been. Let’s imagine what might have been, shall we?

In this alternate history, the 2024 presidential election ended differently. Vice President Kamala Harris was elected the 47th president of the United States. Two years later, the nation is still marked by political polarization and economic uncertainty. On July 4, 2026, America celebrates 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Perhaps the most striking feature of this alternate 2026 is tonal. The central theme of Harris’ speech at the 2024 Democratic National Convention was ‘Take Back the Flag,’ a message she had touted since her days serving as a senator from California. Since her closing argument during that campaign emphasized ‘turning the page’ on division, it’s safe to say that unity in the name of patriotism would be her paramount goal during the festivities.”-Sofia Tesfaye

Take Back the Flag? We thought it was being unburdened by what has been.

The message that most threatens authoritarians isn’t America sucks. It’s America is ours too. Every election year, Democrats seem to remember patriotism for about an hour at their convention when they’re trying to win back swing voters. The whole message of Kamala’s speech in 2024 was take back the flag. That’s why she talked about America like a pageant contestant.

Hard to believe she lost, huh? Well, you can’t take back the flag in an hour if the rest of the time you treat patriotism as something vaguely embarrassing.”-Bill Maher

Sofia of Salon is still living in Fantasyland, imagining Kamala Harris at Independence Hall, making the pilgrimage from The White House in D.C. Our beloved Stars and Strips hang behind her and she talks of Venn diagrams, how hope should be a verb, the importance of the passage of time, yellow school buses, looking forward and seeing where we are as a nation, and, not letting anyone, ANYONE Americans, take power over you (except the Democrats in power).

Harris’ address at the site of the Declaration’s signing does not shy away from America’s contradictions. She references slavery alongside liberty, exclusion alongside opportunity and struggle alongside progress. Instead of presenting history as either flawless or irredeemably broken, she portrays the United States as an ongoing democratic experiment whose greatest strength lies in its ability to reform itself. Harris ends her Philadelphia pilgrimage with a quiet, deliberate visit to the President’s House, where George Washington and John Adams lived during the bulk of their presidencies, and where the structural slavery exhibit still stands as a testament to the nation’s complex foundations.”-Sofia Tesafaye

Are you queasy yet?

It’s not a democratic experiment, Sof. It’s the American Experiment. We are a republic, in case you did not know. And yes, the plan is to keep it. that way. More:

Back in Washington, D.C., the atmosphere feels less like a presidential production and more like a national family reunion. Instead of the protective fortification of concrete barriers and razor wire, the National Mall is marked by a sprawling, deliberate openness. The air carries the distinct rhythm of go-go music — a genre founded in D.C. — drifting from a stage near the Smithsonian and mingling with the scent of street food from vendors who have set up shop along paths not too heavily policed. The official semiquincentennial parade down Constitution Avenue is led not by military armor but by marching bands from the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Gospel choirs, country musicians, jazz ensembles, mariachi groups, Indigenous performers, military bands and local community orchestras share stages throughout the city.

The diversity — of people, of music, of food — is intentional and natural: In Kamala Harris’s America, patriotism is defined less by isolated executive spectacle than by systemic civic participation.”-Sofia Tesafaye

Sprawling, deliberate, openness, unburdened by what has been. Like topless trans people on The White House Lawn and naked bicyclists. At least we would be free of the nutcases at the reflecting pool and the sky screamers. Go-Go music for the summer of love and rap and hip-hop artists shaking their Brazilian Butt Lifts for the kiddies for Brat summer. And, oh-my-gosh-golly, there would be no concrete barriers and razor wire because two years into her “presidency”, Kamala Harris would have rid all major cities of all major crimes by doing the job she was tasked to do as VP and finally cracking down on illegal immigration, right? Want a Gordita? They are plentiful. A plethora of street food vendors will line the National Mall that is “not too heavily policed” because most law enforcement officers within that two-year time period of Kamala’s presidency would have put in their paperwork to retire and have said, “screw this sh#t”.

The Harris administration would treat the Fourth as a civic report card: Here is what the country has done, here is who has benefited and here is what still needs fixing before the 300th. In that world, fireworks might be accompanied by announcements about climate resilience projects or summer meal expansions for children.”-Sofia Tesafaye

Holy delusional, Batman! Let’s be real. We know how those announcements would roll out. Summer meal expansions for children would be a mere afterthought. Childhood literacy? No mentions because the teachers who voted for her want their summers off. Besides, there’s more money in the climate justice stuff funneled in by George Soros and friends.

You're so good at saying you hate America while pretending to say you love it. Impressive

— Quality Learing Center (@QualityLearing_) July 3, 2026

Yes, fighting for the underdog is the great civic experiment Kamala was going for. Especially with that VP pick of hers…

Glad Walz didn't become VP pic.twitter.com/53Qgbxa2nR

— BrainUndead 🇺🇸 (@DustinAlaska) July 3, 2026

This Independence Day, let the colors fly. I, for one, will be celebrating that these two are not at the helm. Let the Salon buzzkills sit things out and daydream about what could have been instead of what our country was, is, and always will be-the greatest Constitutional Republic on this planet. Now, let’s eat some burgers, hug our family and friends, toast with a cocktail or two, get down on your knees (not like Kamala) and have the attitude of gratitude and blow up some stuff-however you want to celebrate. The choice is yours. This is America.