The Big Election Recap

I was right.

To remind everyone, I was NEVER a fan of Donald Trump. In late September, I wrote, “Obviously, I’m going to vote for Harris. I’m a left-tilting centrist, who would rather vote for a bowl of warm pudding over Donald Trump.“

But I was also never enthralled with Harris’s campaign. If found her to be a big “meh,” whose chief advantage was that she wasn’t Trump. I also saw weakness in the Democratic message during conversations with my neighbors and family, aka people who vote.

Because I’m not in DC, I had a more realistic picture of this election than other pundits. A few years back, I hit a glass ceiling with punditry, because I couldn’t relocate to DC and was too old to be taken seriously by my 20-year old editors. Turns out being in the DC bubble was a liability. Who knew?

Too many of the pros had their heads up their asses in this election and were genuinely surprised, despite the ominous polls. While I was momentarily swayed by the Harris good vibes, for the most part, I wrote about my worries for a year. Y’all need to listen to the old broads from Jersey.

On July 15 — after the bad debate and the assignation attempt, but before the Harris replacement — I wrote that that Trump’s re-election seemed inevitable. The assignation turned him into a Messianic figure among his supporters, I said. But it wasn’t only about the assassination. I was also seeing surprising support among Suburban moms.

Suburban Moms

Suburban moms, I wrote, were more upset about outcomes for their kids than the abortion issue. They were also worried about college admissions, college protests, DEI, and had no enthusiasm for the Democratic agenda.

They’re also unhappy about the highly publicized college protests. The moms just want their kids to get to class safely and not get expelled for joining in any nonsense. They worked really hard to get their kids to college and to set them up for success, and nothing better jeopardize that massive investment in resources.

I regularly talk to parents, who strategize about schools without protestors. Southern colleges are very popular right now. Again, parents blame campus unrest on the Democratic Party and Biden.

Suburban moms are also unhappy about the DEI movement, which they believe took their kids’ spots at Columbia and Yale and will later undermine their employment opportunities. They don’t like that their white boys have to feel bad for being white and male. Even progressive moms become mama bears when someone attacks their cubs.

College unrest and instability and DEI overreach has made Biden very unpopular out here in the burbs. Even before the debate, I wasn’t seeing any enthusiasm for him. Now, the Biden backlash is even greater with the moms whispering about Biden’s soiled drawers and proudly talking about their support for Trump. I didn’t see this four years ago.

By combining support from the suburban moms and rural voters, who resent urban privilege, Trump has generated a very strong coalition.

Ka-Meh-La

Harris was boring. She had no charisma, which Trump has in spades. On Oct. 18th, I wrote that if Biden had dropped out earlier, Harris would have lost the primary.

I don’t think that Harris would have beaten the others in a primary race. She’s stumbling now for the same reasons that tanked her 2020 primary race — her positions are unclear, and she doesn’t connect with voters. Her recent media appearances have been adequate, but didn’t yield that one great moment that she could use in campaign ads or that would go viral on social media.

It’s hard to be in Obama’s shadow. Obama was, and still is, a masterful orator. He knows how to deliver a line and make it stick. Most mortals can’t do that. And I think everybody has been watching Harris and silently comparing her to Obama. Rightly or wrongly, she’s been defeated not by Trump, but by Obama’s legacy.

The Rural Vote

On a trip to upstate New York for a weekend getaway last spring, I witnessed the clash between Brooklyn hipsters and locals. It wasn’t about policy differences. It was one group parading around their privilege without a recognition of others. Income inequality matters more than book burning.

Yes, the locals hated her and all the other rich folks, who visited their town in impeccable white linen sundresses and Vineyard Vines polo shirts. They were not attired for an afternoon spent knee deep in a creek with fly fishing poles. These newcomers wore their privileges too prominently and ignored the locals, who actually lived there year round. Instead of $15 sandwiches at the fancy deli, the locals got the breakfast specials at the diner.

The locals showed their disgust by flying their Trump flags on their barns. They couldn’t outright tell those people to shove off, because the Brooklynites do hire them to fix their roofs and make their sandwiches. Their disgust takes a different form, a Trump sign.

Young Voters, Particularly the Dudes

For a while, I’ve been writing about the disenfranchisement of young people, particularly the dudes. The economic issues have hit them hard. And the Covid school closures hit them hard. They’re not over it. They’ll never be over it. I’m not over it.

Young people believe that that adults abandoned them during COVID. From their eyes, government cared more about the teachers and old people in the nursing homes than themselves. Young people will suffer with lasting educational and mental health issues because of school closures. Those scars will NEVER go away. The School-Closers are responsible for generational damage and contributed to the Trump election. Good job.

I wrote a long piece specifically about young dudes and how they felt ignored by the Democratic party. They listen to Joe Rogan, not CNN, and they don’t give a fuck about the Democratic party anymore.

Hollyweird

A whole lot of people associate Hollywood with depravity. They think that all those highly paid actors, producers, and famous people are corrupt pedophiles. That’s a big theme on the backroads celebrity websites that I read during bouts of insomnia at 2am.

Yes, teenage girls are spending thousands on Taylor Swift tickets, but their parents don’t really give a shit about her politics. Collectively, J. Lo, Ben Affleck, Oprah, and Tyler Perry, are seen as corrupt and perverted. P. Diddy’s crimes are no shock, because people are convinced that his Freak Off parties are the norm.

So, when Harris brought out Cardi B — a former stripper — to talk to the crowds, people weren’t really impressed. Especially, when Cardi couldn’t speak without a teleprompter. J. Lo came out on the stage, her face puffed up with filler, and everybody snored; nobody cares. (She has to pay for the paps to follow her and take her pictures.) Now, it’s coming out that some of the celebrities were paid millions for their time on the stage. So much lost credibility.

What’s To Be Done

There’s no question that Trump is unhinged. This is a guy who thinks that he’ll be seen as a better president than Washington and Lincoln. He has said that he could have negotiated a deal that would have avoided the Civil War. Unhinged.

There’s no question that Trump has a mandate. Unlike last time, when he even he was unready for a Trump presidency, this time he’s ready. He has a strong team around him this time. No Omarosas in the wings. Like them or hate them, Vance and Musk will be effective doing whatever they plan.

RFJ Jr. is more of mental light weight with his autism conspiracy crap, so I’m less convinced that he’ll be able to battle the entire medical and scientific community.

I’m a pragmatist, so we’re going to have to live in the new Trump era. We’re not moving to New Zealand. What should we do?

We should appeal to Trump’s better angels. In July, I wrote, “At the end of the day, I think Trump wants to be liked. He wants to be remembered well in the history books. So, let’s nudge him to do the right thing.”

We should make some serious changes in the Democratic agenda, because voters are unhappy. If we want to win elections, we have to pick popular policies. Crazy, I know!

We have to listen to voters, and not disparage them as stupid, evil, or misinformed.

We have to listen to pundits who are smart. If someone gets on TV and says they are shocked at this election outcome, you should turn the channel. They should be fired. These media personalities could not read the room and shouldn’t have a job.

We should listen to Trump’s supporters to learn what they did right. After the election, I started following Vance and Musk on X. I listened to Joe Rogan’s podcast. We should listen to these voices to learn how to adjust. It will us give us a better understand about the upcoming priorities.

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