Enough With The Post Mortems and Self Flagellation
Anytime the Democrats lose an election, there is a lengthy post mortem. The moderates blame the progressives and the progressives blame the moderates. The entire exercise really makes no sense and is counter-productive. It makes us look weak.
The reality is that Trump and the GOP barely won the election and they were lucky to win. The pivotal issue in the recent elections was inflation, and Biden and the Democrats were unfairly blamed for inflation. Mainstream economists and the San Francisco Reserve Board Bank found that Biden’s policies had only a negligible effect on inflation.
Inflation was an incumbent killer around the world in 2024. 80% of incumbent parties lost and those that won, badly under performed. Voters in the U.S. and around the world are in a bad mood.
Here in America, 11 out of the last 13 elections have been change elections. The White House has changed hands three times in a row. Trump won when he was the non-incumbent and lost when he was the incumbent.
“We are living in a very turbulent time in which incumbents are being kicked out all over the world. Here in the US we’ve been going back and forth in both the presidency and the congress for over 30 years. People are perpetually unhappy with the status quo and it’s been turbo-charged by the rise of social media which makes everybody outraged and angry all the time.” Digby blog, December 23, 2024.
The Republicans badly under performed the fundamentals. Biden had a 40% approval rating and 70% of the voters said the country was on the wrong track. The election should’ve been a blow out but the GOP won a razor thin victory.
There is nothing fundamentally wrong with the Democratic message. We are still the party of the people and the middle class. The Democrats are the party of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, civil rights and the Affordable Care Act. We should be proud of our legacy.
There is always room for improvement. We must realize that we were up against a massive disinformation campaign and not a traditional campaign. Millions of Americans learned about the Democrats from Republicans. We need to figure out a way to beat the GOP’s formidable propaganda operation.
The GOP disinformation machine convinced millions of Americans to vote for an imaginary Trump they made up in their heads and the question is whether he can maintain their support when does all the things many of his voters convinced themselves themselves he wouldn’t do.
Many Trump voters were expecting what I would term “Trump lite.” They believe that Trump was just bloviating when he said he would erect high tariff walls, deport 11 million people and add $7 trillion to the national debt. The House GOP has revealed plans to cut Social Security and Medicare by $2.5 trillion. Trump is even talking about bombing Iran and invading Mexico.
Many of my Republican friends assured me we were going to get a mature and moderate Trump. Well, it looks like we are going to get the fully caffeinated, bizarre Trump that we saw on the campaign trail.
Trump’s failed attempt to shutdown the government shows that he is erratic and his judgment is poor. He and Musk (temporarily) blew up a bi-partisan spending deal for no good reason. The entire episode was simply irrational.
Trump’s bizarre behavior on Christmas day also doesn’t bode well for this imaginary Trump. Trump’s Christmas message failed to mention Jesus, forgiveness, peace, joy, or any other Christmas message. His unhinged post featured taking over Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal, while condemning “radical left lunatics.” What better way to commemorate the birth of Jesus?
At one point, Trump reeled off a whopping 34 posts within a one hour period.
Many of these same voters who expect a mature, Trump lite now want him to break his main campaign promises. Trump’s supporters are running away from his platform and grandiose promises to “rapidly” reduce prices. As a matter of fact, buyer’s remorse is setting in.
Headlines on December 26, 2024:
“After backing Trump, low-income voters hope he doesn’t slash their benefits,” by WaPo’s Tim Craig
“These California farmers went for Trump. Now he could deport half their workers. His campaign promise of mass deportations could ruin them,” by Politico’s Camille von Kaenel
“Trump’s Tariff Plan to Hit Affordable Cars the Hardest: The U.S. car industry has a ‘big case of anxiety’ about the president-elect’s proposed 25% tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada,” by WSJ’s Sean McLain
“Trump’s Supporters Are Waking Up to the Reality of Their Ballot Choices: I’m really starting to regret by vote,” by Buzzfeed’s Michaela Bramwell
“Very Troubling: Leader of Abandon Harris Movement Now Anxious About Trump Appointees,” by Raw Story’s Tom Boggioni
It got even worse for Trump and the GOP when a MAGA civil war broke out over immigration during the last week of December. Trump’s billionaire advisers expressed open contempt for Trump’s supporters.
Vivek Ramaswamy alleged that American workers are mediocre. Elon Musk further agreed with a post that called Americans too “r*tarded” to exclusively fill the U.S. tech workforce.
Musk even condemned the segment of the MAGA movement who oppose more immigration as “contemptible fools” who should be purged from the Republican Party in a social media post. The South African trust fund baby doubled down on his elitist insults when he alleged that some of his Republican opponents are “hateful, unrepentant racists.”
“Elon and Vivek are saying native born Americans are not good enough or smart enough to hire for tech companies, and Donald Trump is silent. Because he agrees with them.” The Lincoln Project.
This is who you voted for MAGA. Your corporate overlords don’t respect you. This is what they really think about you. It’s not pretty. Now we have verified the actual beliefs of the billionaires who run the GOP.
Trump assembled a very fragile and heterogeneous coalition largely based upon lies. Now Trump and the GOP have to govern competently to convince these cynical voters to pull the lever for the GOP in future elections. It’s doubtful the GOP can pull that off in light of their extreme agenda and hatred for their base voters.
The reality is that the Democratic Party doesn’t have to make any brilliant changes to win in 2026 and 2028. We need to obstruct Trump’s extreme agenda and tell working families again and again that we support them.
“The people know that the Democratic Party is the people’s party, and the Republican Party is the party of special interest, and it always has been and always will be.” Harry Truman, address at the 1948 Democratic National Convention.
There will be millions of disappointed and angry soft Trump voters next year. The comeback begins in 2025 with the city elections in Omaha and Lincoln. Resist! Organize! Vote! Blue Wave 2026!
Sources consulted:
https://www.axios.com/2024/12/27/elon-musk-contemptible-fools-maga-doge