Will Democrats learn from Trump’s victory?
Photo © 2024 Paul L. Gleiser
So, wide open borders, sky-high grocery prices, rising crime, boys competing against girls in sports (after changing clothes in the girls’ locker room), taxpayer-funded transgender surgery for prison inmates, high gasoline prices, looming government diktats regarding what kind of car you can buy and what kind of stove you can have in your kitchen, and conspicuous fecklessness regarding conflicts in Israel and Ukraine that could mushroom into World War III – don’t all come together to create a formula for winning the presidency.
Who knew?
Let me admit that though I might claim justification for having had them, my reservations regarding the electability of Donald Trump as expressed in this space during the run-up to the primaries proved unfounded. Donald Trump didn’t just beat Kamala Harris, he obliterated her.
But that drubbing isn’t the real story. The real story lies in how that drubbing came about. Donald Trump created a political coalition on the Republican side of the ticket the likes of which the GOP has never seen. And with that coalition behind him, he demolished the far-left radical agenda that hijacked the Democratic Party.
Sure, Trump did well among core conservative voters. But as I noted in my (often roundly criticized) analyses as to why I harbored reservations about a Trump 3.0 candidacy, those conservative voters alone would not have gotten him elected.
What I didn’t see coming last fall, and what propelled Trump’s electoral victory this week, is the fact that in unprecedented proportions, black voters, Hispanic voters, union workers, high school diploma-only working-class voters and just-out-of-college young voters all abandoned their traditional home in the Democratic Party to vote for him.
Democratic Party leadership, together with their media handmaidens, accelerated the alienation of those traditional Democratic base voters via a toxic combination of condescending to them and taking them for granted.
If in 2019 the combined monthly incomes of you and your spouse were sufficient to make ends meet with some left over for luxuries and savings, and if in 2024 you are, financially speaking, now gasping for air, you’re not really in the mood to be told that Bidenomics is working just fine, that massive illegal immigration is just a right-wing talking point, and that you’d understand these things if only you had a top-tier college degree, admission to elite political, media, corporate or show business circles and the concomitant financial ability to afford a home in a gated community at a comfortable remove from the consequences of inflation, illegal immigration, spiking crime and homelessness.
The question now before us is this. Given the shellacking they just got, will Democrats learn anything?
The normal people who make the country work just repudiated the far-left loons and the condescending liberal elites that control the Democratic Party. Will that repudiation give rise to the kind of introspection the party now clearly needs?
Let’s hope so.
A return to a sane, policy-centric contest between Republicans and Democrats – rather than the lunacy we have suffered since 2016 – would be good for Democrats and Republicans alike.
I love reading your releases here, Paul, but I think that you missed something key in this one. You wrote, “A return to a sane, policy-centric contest between Republicans and Democrats – rather than the lunacy we have suffered since 2016 – would be good for Democrats and Republicans alike.” I think that the lunacy actually dates back to 2008. While Obama initially supported some traditional social positions, he was only scheming, in my opinion, to gain enough trust to pull off the far-left direction to which we have turned. He is probably the worst, most dangerous & divisive person who has ever held the office.
I agree with you!!!
Since you told me a few weeks ago “not to worry” that he would win, I passed that message on….”Paul Gleiser said…..”!!! That gave me encouragement on the stressful days!!! Thanks!
I, too, agree!
For years I have called the democrat party the Wylie Coyote party because they absolutely DO NOT learn! They fall off a cliff with an anvil coming down on their heads but they never see it coming. Believe that is the meaning of insanity…doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.
There are many reasons why President Trump won again, but in my opinion, the main reason is that cackles was a very UNLIKABLE person and totally UNQUALIFIED to run. She NEVER in her life EARNED a job and her word salads turned people off. BUT the thing that really hit home with most people was not just the open border but the handling of illegals which hit home when Helene hit destroying several states only to find out that the money fema was supposed to have to help OUR CITIZENS was GIVEN to ILLEGALS. Private citizens came to their aide through both hurricanes. People in these states came out to vote in considerable numbers for President Trump because he was there almost immediately after these storms hit to see if he could help these people. Cackles was a no show. The two attempts on President Trumps life was very telling on how far the left would go to win. President Trumps resilience showed his character. Despite his injury he kept on fighting for THE PEOPLE! President Trump is NOT perfect by any means but he is perfect for THIS TIME in our history. I thank GOD everyday for this man who was willing to leave his comfort zone to fight for US!
Very well-written. I especially like your Wiley Coyote/Democrat Party analogy and will be using it with friends who share our views. Likewise, describing the now wholly irrelevant Camala Harris as “Cackles” is yet another good and hilarious choice of words. Ms. Cackles’ rise to the surface of the swamp perfectly epitomizes DEI.
Until the Pelosi’s, Schumer’s, Obama’s, Jefferies, and other Left Wing radicals are retired or removed from the Democratic Party it will not change. The Marxists got closer than they ever had to taking over absolute power of our government. And as long as States such as California, Oregon, Washington, New York, and the other deep blue states have Progressive Democratic figures running their governments; the quest to overthrow our Nation will continue. Once upon a time it was completely illegal to conceive and act upon communistic endeavors. But, what has the Democrats done with our laws today? Lawfare, ignoring the law, actively reducing the severity of high crimes, wantonly turning harden criminals loose on our streets ignoring the welfare of the citizens. How in the heck can anyone vote for these people? Shamefully, they will be here to stay under our current ethos in government. Until we really, really get enough of this subversion; nothing will change. They will hide in the weeds and bide their time until we become complacent and lazy and vote them back in; which we will do one day. History is on their side.