Trump can claim a win as an unadulterated win now. He won the Electoral College and will likely win the popular vote. He has a mandate. It is a mandate I am sure voters will regret, more his than the ones who voted for Harris.
I was sickened listening to the pundits Nov. 6. I can only think of one faux pas that Harris made, and ironically, it was not framing the truth more effectively when asked what she would do differently than President Joe Biden. Except for Gaza, Biden did well in rebuilding our capitalist economy. That a capitalist economy of our flavor doesn’t solve the working class’ problems is an issue neither party is willing to solve.
Appearing on MSNBC, Former Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said about Trump, “Donald Trump knows our country better than we do. … He figured out that anger and, frankly, fear were way more powerful than appealing to people’s better angels.” He used well-defined techniques to trigger many Americans to vote against their interests.
First, a disclaimer. I believe our use of race is silly. But we are a racialized society, and much of its politics occur in that context. In my activism, I say, “When we unite the barrios, Appalachia, and the ghettos, we will win.” Once we realize we are in the same boat dependent on each other, we will work together.
The Trump campaign exposed who we are by using demographics to campaign, triggering a large coalition that ignored his degeneracy and put him back into office.
We must ask so many questions. What makes a large majority, 59%, of White men believe that Trump will improve their financial well-being? What makes 52% of White women believe in voting for the man who installed three Supreme Court justices to deny them their reproductive freedom specifically? What makes 54% of Latino men believe that Donald Trump’s deportation army won’t profile them as he deports undocumented immigrants? What makes 20% of Black men vote for a man who will give virtual amnesty to police officers charged with police brutality after profiling them?
It’s the economy, stupid. It’s immigration. I was doing better four years ago under a Trump economy. Really? Those were simply excuses to put a facade on the real reasons not to vote for a competent, accomplished, Black/Asian woman married to a Jewish man — racism, sexism, misogyny, and anti-semitism.
Donald Trump was handed an economy firing on all cylinders. The only thing he did that had economic consequences was to effect a tariff that started inflation and a massive tax cut for primarily wealthy people, which created a huge budget deficit. He then botched the response to America’s worst pandemic, which caused an economic collapse. Were you better off 4 years ago?
Biden methodically revived the economy via the Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPS and Science Act, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and many other programs, completely revitalizing it at the macro-level. The Wall Street Journal published an article titled “The Next President Inherits a Remarkable Economy,“ pointing out the administration’s economic success.
Like every administration since Reaganomics, the working class has always gotten a trickle in the aggregate, no matter how good the economy gets. Progressive policies have been working on that and pushed the Biden/Harris administration to do just that. Many programs before Republicans took back the House had cut childhood poverty in half.
Do you think immigration is a problem all over the country where killing is rampant? Do you think we have a trans problem around the country? Do you think there is a crime wave? All those things are false, even as they were used in ads on air and online.
America wanted to believe these fallacies as an excuse to put a facade on their prejudices of all types. They wanted to lash out. They are upset with what our economic system provides and need a boogeyman, and Trump gave them one. They chose a convicted felon, a misogynist, a thief, and a rapist to be their president. Unfortunately, we will all pay for electing someone with little intellect and policies to move the working class forward.
Trump will win the popular vote and the Electoral College. His win was broad-based, and he has a mandate. Trump is who most of the voting America is.
Progressives, the resistance must begin to protect us against this man’s demons. Most of the mainstream media are not our friends. They allowed their airwaves, online resources, and newspapers to amplify Trump’s message, aka lies, via himself and surrogates. The idea that Trump, having an excellent economy, could make it through an interview is laughable. The idea that he was more qualified or up for the job than Harris is ludicrous. But they allowed that narrative to metastasize as Harris got underserved scrutiny.
It isn’t Kamala Harris who failed. It is America that showed the world who they are: a gullible bunch whose prejudices can be triggered at will by the billionaires who ultimately control them. These are the same billionaires that force their newspapers to block their editorial boards from publishing their endorsements for Kamala Harris (e.g., LA Times, Washington Post).
If there is any doubt as to why the independent media is needed, the 2024 election is proof. It’s the only way to get our populace informed.
Egberto Willies is a political activist and radio host who blogs at https://egberto.substack.com.
From The Progressive Populist, December 1, 2024
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