Trump Won, What Now?
I am writing this in the early hours of November 6th, 2024. Donald Trump to is going to be the next president of the United States… again. This time around, Trump has won the electoral college and, unlike in 2016, he has even won the popular vote. Not all of the votes have been counted yet, but the electoral math adds up to Trump winning handedly with his capture of the blue wall (Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin). The Republican party is also expected to have a majority in the House and the Senate, effectively giving Republicans control of all three branches of government for at least the next two years. Trump will have a sweeping mandate to fulfill his campaign promises which include the planned deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants, ending the wars in Ukraine and Israel/Palestine (the Republican way), and to bring America into a “golden age” economically which means tax cuts for the rich and corperations.
The first election I ever voted in was the election of 2016. Back then, Trump was more of a wild card, there was an aura of mystery to what he might do while in office. This time, we have a pretty good idea of what he will do. Trump will upend the post Cold War international order by capitulating territory to Russia in Ukraine as well as supporting the continuation of the Israeli war against Palestine and Lebanon (and maybe in the future, Iran).
America is about to go full right wing on all foreign and domestic policy. The Democratic party’s leadership had been silent since the election night loss. Kamala even snuck away from her headquarters to avoid giving a speech on her loss to her campaign staff.
To say that this loss was devastating to the Democrats would be an understatement. Kamala’s campaign had thousands of volunteers knocking on doors in all of the major swing states, and it did nothing to boost Democratic turnout. The Democrats had more money fundraised and they had the endorsement of dozens of major celebrities and public figures. It appears that the result of last night’s election is clear that the Harris campaign seriously missed the mark with their messaging, despite all of their celebrity endorsements and deep war chest. So what the hell happened last night?
Where Harris missed the mark was on the economy. She never distanced herself from Biden on the issues of inflation and the war in Gaza. Harris also endorsed Trump policies on immigration as the Democratic party chased the Republican voters to the right of them in the hopes that some “moderate” voters would support their cause. There are no more moderate voters, there are voters that want the incumbent or that want change. We have been in the Trump era of American politics for over 8 years and the Democrats still haven’t figured out that if they try the old liberal playbook of playing to the center, they will lose.
The average American voter is more concerned with how they are doing economically than any other issue, no matter how moral or passionate some people may be about the issues of our time like abortion, healthcare, and climate change. The average American voter is not a political activist, they are people who check in to politics once every 2–4 years and cast a ballot based on vibes.
The Harris campaign completely dropped the ball when it came to defining her economic and foreign policy and that has proven to be a deathblow to not only her campaign, but to the Democratic party as a whole. Republicans will now have free reign to enact pretty much whatever laws they want, which may lead to some real pain for Americans once the deportations begin and tariffs are enacted that increase the prices of all foreign made goods.
I wrote this opinion piece to vent after a night that I fear will mark a generational shift in American politics and in the world. There is no question now that this is Trump’s America, he finally got the votes to prove that we, as a country, have gone completely off the deep end.
There is a silver lining to all of this. Trump can only serve one more term. We will see where we are as a country after 4 more years of Trump and the Republicans. They will spend everyday reshaping America into their right-wing image, will the Democrats get their act together by the midterms? Time will tell.
