If it was a local campaign I would’ve seen the signs, but Trump was going so far off the deep end – even for him – that I fully believed those Democrat flaws would pale in comparison. I also thought the Dems had finally managed to reel in their more progressive members from derailing the campaign train as they did in 2016. But while they certainly did better in the unnecessarily dumb woke statement regard, it wasn’t good enough.
So, with the magnificent leverage of 20-20 hindsight, let’s go over why Trump is marching on to the White House.
1. America ain’t ready for a female president
Upon learning of Trump’s win the next morning, my wife quipped, “If Mexico can elect a female president, why can’t we?” And that’s a really good question. Some folks attribute it to the perception that Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris aren’t the best candidates, but they’re a far sight better than either Joe Biden or Donald Trump.
It’s not that being a mixed-race female candidate did Ms. Harris in, but when you add it to the other basic Party flaws, it didn’t help. America will elect a female president someday, but it won’t be in 2024. Before you blame those scurrilous men for this phenomenon, fewer female voters pulled the trigger for Harris than they did for Biden.
Again, in hindsight, it was a mistake to edge Biden out of the general election because he clearly would’ve done better than the VP.
2. Messaging I – What do you stand for?
Like I said, I thought the Dems did a much better job of mitigating their previous preposterous progressive proclamations. Case in point. There was no Liz Warren threatening to have a trans high schooler pick her Secretary of Education and The Squad was silent, too. But while that’s a positive step, apparently the Democrats’ actions continue to speak louder than their lack of words.
They can’t seem to fathom that supporting super-minorities to the exclusion of almost everyone else continues to cost them major elections. Insisting that biological males be allowed to compete in women’s sports, particularly when that group is just 0.25 to 0.3 percent of the population, is a rather strange form of collective political insanity.
The massive irony there is, after their blind fealty to the transgender lobby does nothing to help their electoral chances, the LGBTQ lobby has the nerve to wonder why their rights are rapidly being eroded under the Republicans who manage to get elected. Repeat after me! “Embracing identity politics through absurdities like personal pronouns is a losing proposition.”
The GOP commercial where Harris gleefully admitted she was behind an initiative forcing taxpayers to pay for prisoner transgender surgeries was quite effective. I’m not saying any party should go out of their way to offend minorities, but the fear of offending them shouldn’t hamstring you to the point where you can’t fight back.
Then the anti-Israel college encampments were another perfect example of the Democrats taking a stand by avoiding taking a stand.
Even this classic liberal was incensed at the lack of campus action against what turned out to be destructive anti-Semitic protests. C’mon! It’s basic human decency. Some of these kids are paying over 80 grand for an education they suddenly weren’t getting. But the best the Biden administration could do was say “we have to leave it to the schools.” Meanwhile the Republicans condemned the disruptions, visited some of the besieged campuses, and forced a number of hoist-by-their-own-woke-petard major university presidents to resign.
But the worst example of Dem ineptitude was in the migrant regard. Yes! Trump torpedoed Biden’s bi-partisan immigration plan because he didn’t want “the President to get a win,” but the Democrats have to learn to beat the Republicans at their own game in the executive order/obstruction/messaging game.
As one pundit put it, the Democrats have to get back to being the Party of common sense, something that shouldn’t be too terribly difficult in the Trump era.
3. Messaging II – As in having one!
Were I the head of the DNC, I would’ve hammered home VP candidate J. D. Vance’s 2020 public proclamation that “Trump has just so thoroughly failed to deliver on his economic populism,” among his many other criticisms of the President Elect. It’s such a simple proposition, too.
Harris tried to run on the initial euphoria of replacing Biden, but that isn’t a message, it’s an emotion and emotions never last long. Trump couldn’t stay on message, but Harris didn’t have one. The Dems figured she wasn’t Trump and that was good enough (we’ll get to the “I’m not the other guy” campaign strategy shortly).
When the Democrats finally do come up with a message, it almost always falls flat. Hispanics have been quite blunt about their distaste for the term “Latinx” but they insist on using it anyway.
How difficult is it to make a reasonable case for:
- Women’s rights
- Reproductive rights
- We have a strong economy
- It’s not inflation, it’s price gouging
- Taking care of our senior citizens
- Looking out for those working-class folks that once defined the Party
It’s not rocket science. The problem is, when you lack an effective message, it offers the opposition the opportunity to define you and that’s exactly what the Republicans did. They’re certainly not afraid of offending absolutely anyone and it doesn’t seem to hurt their chances.
Yikes! We’re already at 900 words and we’re only halfway home. Part two will hit the virtual presses on Thursday.
