Some famous “white dudes” — including the guy who plays “The Dude” — rallied Monday to support Vice President Kamala Harris, who would become the first female president if elected, at the launch of a new group for Harris called White Dudes. at night.
Although the name is a little fancy, it is full of stars Zoom in on the call It drew more than 180,000 participants and raised nearly $4 million, according to organizers, a white-friend group of Democratic political operatives.
In about three and a half hours of talk, they said they sold more than 5,700 White Friends for Harris truck caps — “not the pointy ones,” joked one of the organizers, Ross Morales Rocketto, referring to the less PC gathering of whites. People like the Ku Klux Klan.
“Throughout American history, when white men organized, they often had pointy hats on their heads,” Rocketto said, before adding how proud he was of this group of white men, something he rarely heard of.
Actor Jeff Bridges, who played “The Dude” in the classic “The Big Lebowski,” was excited to hear that his white friends were getting together.
“I’m fit, man! I’m a man, I’m a friend and a supporter of Harris,” Bridges said. “Woman president, man, how exciting!”
There were several people among the guests white dudes Harris thinks his running mate, including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper announced his withdrawal a few minutes before the call begins.
“Webs are incredible,” Buttigieg said.
Walz, who has charted progressives’ favorite white friends on television in recent days, said he was excited by the idea of Harris bashing former President Donald Trump.
“Wake this bastard up later and know that a black woman kicked his a– and sent him on his way, and you know that’s something the guy’s going to have to live with for the rest of his life,” Walz said.
In a world where representation matters, white men have appeared in force.
There were white singers like Josh Groban and Lance Bass. White friendly actors like Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Mark Hamill, Josh Gad, Paul Scheer and Sean Astin. And their white friend boss, director and Hollywood executive JJ Abrams.
There were also plenty of white friends from the world of Democratic politics, including White House infrastructure czar Mitch Landrieu, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, former Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama, and Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, who pledged a $50,000 match.
“There’s so much variety of whiteness here,” said actor Bradley Whitford of “West Wing” fame. “It’s like a beige rainbow.”
The call for “white men” followed similar calls Black women and white women held in recent weeks.
There were plenty of self-deprecating jokes at Monday night’s rally — and an opening speech by Maurice Mitchell, the National Director of the Working Families Party, who is black, helped reassure any anxious attendees that it was okay to be there.
But for all the banter, the men spoke candidly and movingly about their conflicted feelings about masculinity, how difficult it can be to open up emotionally, and how they feel alienated from the other white men who form the core of Trump’s support.
“Black women have been showing up for generations to vote for progressive white men, and it’s time for them to show up,” said Broadway actor Rory O’Malley, creator of The Book of Mormon.
Some said they felt a rare sense of community and catharsis at the event.
“White people are really tired of the endless parade of weirdo MAGA Republicans trying to bend our democracy to the breaking point,” said Brad Bauman, a longtime Democratic communications consultant who helped arrange the call to NBC News.
“They think they’re going to get us, but they’re not,” Bauman added. “And frankly, their dark vision of our future is holding us all back. That’s why we decided to start White Dudes for Harris.”