Unlike 2016, when his victory over Hillary Clinton came as a shock to many Americans, Trump was no surprise in 2024. The Democratic Party had the benefit of four years to ensure that this would not happen again. Yet as in 2016, Democrats appear to have failed to win over the electorate in a race against a uniquely unpopular candidate — this time one with multiple impeachments, indictments, and criminal convictions.
The short-lived Biden campaign and subsequent Harris campaign opted to try to beat Republicans at their own game, by tacking rightward on issues such as immigration, criminal justice, and climate. After President Joe Biden dropped out, the Democratic Party rejected calls to stop providing arms to Israel’s war on Gaza. Instead, Harris touted the endorsements of conservatives such as Liz Cheney. The strategy was a ploy to woo moderates and conservatives wary of a second Trump term, but it may have alienated key voting blocs.
The way modern democracies die is they democratically elect authoritarian leaders who erode and dismantle that democracy. Parties don’t matter. It’s the people who do it to themselves. Sad but true.
I mean yeah but that didn’t need to be now. Harris basically threw the race and that’s part of why this disaster came to be. Even assuming American democracy was nearing the end of its lifetime, it should’ve had a few more decades in it. The popular will to defeat Trump was there.
Harris didn’t do anything any good pol wouldn’t do. The popular will was not there, as the results displayed.
Harris tried to run on protecting abortion rights, and saving democracy from Trump and Project 2025. Under other circumstances, that probably would have worked.
Unfortunately, she was the nominee for the incumbent party at a time when the vast majority of voters were unhappy with the economy. That’s a hard position to be in, and requires a compelling answer. She had a few token items for the agenda, but nothing that would address the larger issue of people feeling squeezed by inflation. Saying things are better now or going to be better soon doesn’t appease the voters who don’t feel better.
The horrible truth is, a large portion of the electorate would vote for the literal devil if he was running against an incumbent during a bad economy.
