YOU’RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER BLOG: Correcting Progressive Errors About Why Trump Won.
Some Harris supporters, especially among the D.C. professional class, attribute Harris’ loss to Trump voters’ gullibility or malice. They say that America is thriving, crime is down, employment is low, and Biden passed major legislation to combat inflation and enhance America’s ability to compete with China. Therefore, only a public that fell for right-wing misinformation or backs Trump’s authoritarian dispositions could have elected him president. Among other things, this assessment overlooks that inflation, which surged during Biden’s presidency, battered working-class voters who form the core of Trump’s support, and that declining inflation does not mean that prices have returned to pre-inflation levels. It also underestimates the impact of lawless borders on middle-class and working-class voters. It avoids consideration of the consequences of mainstream-media gaslighting of Americans about Biden’s declining cognitive capabilities. And it ignores the electoral significance of Harris’ inability to distinguish herself from the Biden administration – known early on as the Biden-Harris administration – and to separate herself from the hard-left positions she took in 2019 in pursuit of her party’s presidential nomination and as a senator from, and attorney general of, California.
Other Harris supporters blame her loss on racism and sexism. They maintain that the American people’s bigotry foiled the election of an African-American woman to the highest office in the land. Well-known facts undercut this accusation. In 2008, then-Sen. Barack Obama defeated John McCain – a center-right, white war hero – to become the first black person elected president of the United States. Following his January 2009 inauguration, President Obama enjoyed sky-high approval ratings that cut across party lines. Obama coasted to reelection in 2012 against Mitt Romney – a center-right, white, former businessman and former Massachusetts governor. And former President Obama and his African-American wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, remain popular. Moreover, though losing to Trump in 2016 in the Electoral College, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, demonstrating that a majority of Americans can prefer a woman in the White House.
In early January in the New York Times, James Carville took a crack at explaining Harris’ loss. He, too, offered an implausible, one-dimensional account.
Let them keep their delusions for many more election cycles.