The Curious Case of Travis Harry — Vincy’s Benjamin Button
My initial thoughts of Travis Harry around the 2020 elections were those of a middle-aged man who was very confident, interesting, highly opinionated, loved attention, purpose-driven, and charismatic. He was known for highlighting various societal issues while supporting the NDP and ushering in sharp criticism of the ULP.
Recently, there has been discussion about whether Mr. Harry supported the NDP in the past and if he currently supports the ULP. One simply has to take a look at Mr. Harry’s Facebook page (provided he has not deleted any more of the older content) and the multiple instances of heavy support for the NDP and serious criticism of the ULP. I will only use eight such examples due to the sheer volume of content.
Here are the 8 examples:
- Just before the 2020 elections, on his Facebook page, you can find a 3:45 video captioned “freedom fighters” (with a picture of Mr. Harry, of course, among other NDP candidates throughout the video). The video displayed things like “Vote NDP Get SVG working again.” NDP candidates are “change agents for the better” and “create jobs, reduce VAT”, just to name a few. When ULP secured a 5th term, Mr. Harry posted on Nov. 7, 2020, that his people “must now however endure 4.5 years of hardship”. Maybe the Chinese money was sweeter than Taiwan’s back then.
- After NDP lost the elections, Mr. Harry’s account made multiple posts. Two posts in 2021 stand out to me in that year. On Aug. 27, 2021, Mr. Harry’s account stated that the ULP administration was “a wicked government”. He also said, “LUKE call police on a group who was simply doing an evening exercise.” He then asked a question, “Does any of this [sound] like life in a free [democratic] society to you?” He further stated that the wicked government has “fenced us and divided us”. He said that we must “BREAK FREE my people TAKE A STAND…TAKE BACK YOUR DIGNITY. STAND UP AND FIGHT.”
- On Dec. 8, 2021, Mr. Harry’s account stated, “In all fairness, anybody vex with me because me say me nah sorry fo them vincy public servants, them wicked, as gawd. After me work like a dog to open them eyes and still go put back ULP dey. Let all ah them tek what them getting in them backside and shut them mouth.” These words and sentiments appear to paint a picture of a narcissistic individual who divorces himself from others or a cause when his objectives are not met. My way or the highway sort of attitude.
- On Oct. 27, 2024, Mr. Harry’s account posted, “Happy independence to all suffering in SVG. Place hard like rock.”
- On Jan. 14, 2025, Mr. Harry’s account posted some words of endearment with the caption “Now this is the message of the century. Love it.” The message stated that the NDP will reinstate all public sector workers who were fired due to the vaccine mandate with full benefits. On the same date, he indicated that “it’s a breath of fresh air to watch Dr. Kishore Shallow and the NDP team walking into Parliament”.
- On Feb. 28, 2025, Mr. Harry’s account posted, “Dr. Friday has pledged to repeal the law that the ULP amended so that they can fire public servants.”
- On April 2, 2025, a video with a message was uploaded and posted. Mr. Harry’s message spoke about the Ottley Hall project and how it could have employed over 600 people but “lay in ruins. Left to rot by this wicked ULP administration.”
- On April 6, 2025, the post of Mr. Harry said, “Despair and destruction [are] drowning the people of North Leeward. But ah (sic) change is coming.”
Recently, Mr. Harry has made a 360-degree political verbal shift. After hearing Mr. Harry’s sharp and sudden criticism of the NDP, I began to ponder, what has changed? Now, all Vincentians should be free to criticise any party, whether they support it or not. However, I believe that one’s intent is as important as the criticism.
My current thoughts of Travis Harry as we approach the 2025 elections closely resemble my 2020 thoughts. He is a middle-aged man who is very confident, interesting, highly opinionated, loves attention, purpose-driven, and charismatic. However, instead of highlighting social issues, he has embarked on a campaign glorifying the “wicked ULP government” (his words — also see his interviews with Bigger Biggs) in a matter of weeks while heavily criticising the NDP, whom he termed “change agents for the better” in a similar timeframe.
It is one of the greatest switches since Luis Figo left Barcelona for Real Madrid, or Carlos Tevez went from Manchester United to the noisy neighbours, Manchester City. The NDP and ULP are not exempt from criticism, but what drives the criticism is as important as the criticism itself.
When Mr. Harry was supporting the NDP, was China and Chinese money in existence, or did China and Chinese money miraculously appear over the last few weeks? To be honest, it is difficult to know why Mr. Harry has radically shifted his stance, but I can only presume it is due to one or a mix of the following:
- He wanted to be a part of NDP’s North Leeward political team to support Dr. Shallow and was not selected to be on the team;
- He believes that his ideas should be adopted by the NDP and is impatient and upset when they are not;
- He was criticized by someone in the NDP hierarchy, and it upset him.
The ego of an independent, successful, middle-aged, seemingly immature, unmarried, and child-free man may not handle any of the above-mentioned things well and can escalate into political tantrums and tirades. This switch is truly remarkable and interesting to see just like Benjamin Button’s ageing process. As I close, I would like to offer congratulations to Mr. Benjamin Button for the recent and successful application for his firearm.
