A Reckoning in America
A diverse coalition handed the presidency to Donald J. Trump. It's time to rebuild.
There was no shock this time, as Donald J. Trump was elected the nation’s 47th president — probably because it felt long in the making. Trump’s second election is a landmark moment. It previews a reckoning and realignment of politics in America—one driven not by the “white working class” of 2016 but by diverse voters, especially men, united by contempt for the political establishment.
For starters, Trump ran a better campaign this time around—appearing on every podcast that would have him, speaking in his off-the-cuff manner uniquely suited for the streaming era. He honed his message—making anti-war promises to a nation exhausted by wars, and pledging to stick it to the establishment yet again.
Meanwhile, on the Democratic side, the party elites thought it would be a good idea—after coronating Hillary Clinton in 2016—to hide President Biden’s deterioration from the public, skip the primary process altogether, and then select a candidate whose campaign imploded in 2020 and who had been nowhere in sight as vice president. For some strange reason, they trotted out Dick Cheney as if they were trying to sabotage their own prospects. The Democrats’ entitlement to power cost them the election.
But it was Trump’s inroads with minorities and men that locked in his sweeping victory. He won Latino men and increased his share among Latina women. Trump won greater shares of the Gen Z and Millennial vote. He won greater shares of the college-educated vote. He did better among Black men. He even managed to pick up more Muslim- and Arab-Americans, who were tired of the double-talk and hypocrisy from Biden-Harris on the war in Gaza. If America First means fewer people being killed in the Middle East and Ukraine, many voters concluded that is better than a war machine continuing uninterrupted.
Trump’s supporters knew what they were voting for and against; Harris’s supporters knew mainly what they were voting against.
Trump offers men something no one else has for generations: the opportunity to vicariously experience life through a strongman leader. Someone who will deport millions, who will build a wall, who will unleash vengeance on his political enemies. He inflames their grievances, their deep sense of injustice at being left out. He gives them what Harvard, Wall Street, and Hollywood could not: the privilege to rule over the very people who once ruled over them. He offers men what authoritarians and showmen of the past have always offered: a chance at redemption.
True, some of the variables were outside of the Democrats’ control. People were exhausted by the aftermath of the pandemic and previously apolitical voters were radicalized by what they saw as the government’s heavy-handed approach to vaccines. Inflation was too high, and an economy rigged against ordinary people was an issue that cut across all races. But the Democrats’ messaging—largely talking down to men—suggested they had not learned the lessons of 2016 and 2020. Inadequately addressing these hopes and fears would prove electorally fatal. It turns out that Kamala Harris was speaking, but she was not listening.
In a sense, Trump’s victory is a good thing for the left—there is no question anymore that progressives, liberals, and the Democratic Party are out of touch with the majority of Americans. That corporatism and neoliberal pandering do not appeal to voters. The party of FDR somehow forgot that ambitious economic policy and good communication can shift the course of history. In the next iteration of the Democratic Party, perhaps people will be treated as individuals and not as subcategories of their group identity. Perhaps a candidate will emerge who speaks honestly to people’s hopes and fears and does not retreat to consultant-approved talking points.
Trump’s second election is an end of innocence moment. There are no more illusions. His victory should be the starting point of a revitalized democratic movement—one that can win the future and prevent one of Trump’s many potential heirs from taking the throne and instituting a permanent autocracy.