The Democrats Had It Coming

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Not until the election did the sudden realization sink in that the Harris/Walz campaign had done everything wrong. The post mortems were uncovering a deep list of strategic blunders, some obvious — Biden stepped aside too late, Harris failing to differentiate from Biden, over-the-top progressive proposals that had the electorate thinking socialism, and so forth – but other failings showed the Democrats to be “out of touch”, in Representative (D-Mass) Seth Moulton’s candid appraisal.

Democrats were blindsided by the Trump camp’s discovery of the disaffected young men of the 18 to 29 age group voting for Trump over Harris by 14%, as one example.
Trump’s son Barron had urged dad to make a whirlwind tour of the podcasts that young men listen to. After one, Trump said, “All I know is, my kid said, ‘Dad you have no idea how big this interview is’”, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The liberal mainstream media is finding that its influence has declined. There are cable networks other than Fox. Right-wing Sinclair has gobbled up 300 local television stations, all of which have been seen required to recite the same political message on a given night. There has for decades been right-wing talk radio, and Christian radio, totally eclipsing the meager number of left-wing counterparts. And then there are the podcasts. Together they are telling their audiences, “The democrats hate you, they want to turn your son into your daughter”, as Michael Tomasky, editor of The New Republic put it.

Barron Trump had awakened the campaign to a bro sub-culture of young males, disaffected under-achievers resentful of the feminine tilt of America, where young women now form the majority of today’s college students. Hyper-masculinity is their answer. Boys and young men have gravitated to a surfeit of influencers and podcasters dubbed the “manosphere” where the preferred sport is ultimate fighting. For them, Trump is a tough guy. On the night of his conviction where did he go? To Ultimate Fighting Championship matches in Newark where he became the main attraction before a wildly cheering crowd enraptured by his presence. It was supposed to be the generation most concerned about the climate portends in their future, but denier Trump won the support of 56% of male voters in the 18-29 age bracket.

the different crosstab

But the election rested on a much wider shift. Democrats have for years been practicing identity politics, segregating America into ethnic or social groupings – Blacks, Latinos, LGBTQs, etc. – and championing the causes of each separately. But Trump’s MAGA party had moved on to a different view of how Americans are divided. Its populist grievances were based on class — the working class versus the ruling class.

The working class cuts across all identities. They experience in common the struggle to get by in a nation where, despite this booming economy, they are not getting their share. The rewards for work have become intolerably skewed. America’s workers see the super-rich making staggering amounts of money, owning and running giant corporations that have moved jobs offshore, kept wages low for jobs that remain, repressed any attempts at forming unions. On top of that they’ve seen Biden constantly cancelling student loan debt to give the college-educated a free ride that Trump’s followers will get to pay for through their taxes.

Democrats should not have been surprised by increased votes for Trump by Blacks, Hispanics, and non-college Whites. Some wouldn’t vote for a woman to be president, but it only makes sense that the larger reason is a trust in Trump to end the
uncontrolled migrant influx that threatens their jobs. But how to explain why Latinos went 43% (men 48%) for that same person who plans to deport them in the millions? “Our understanding is mass deportation will take place targeting primarily criminals”, said one Hispanic leader. That’s a starkly naïve contradiction of Trump’s constantly repeated plan, but they seem to believe that undocumenteds who have lived here for years, raised their children, paid their taxes, will not be expelled.

putting woke to sleep

Trump’s working class is fed up with liberals lecturing everyone on what to think and the correct way to live their lives. The Left has become consumed by LGBTQ issues, “gender-affirming” health care, drag shows as free speech, transgender men playing in women sports, and – disaster for Harris – even paying for transgender surgery for prisoners. These causes so dominate the liberal media that an off-planet visitor would think at least half the U.S. population belong to these categories. The Right wants none of it. Indeed, Project 2025 calls for mandating that there are only two sexes. Take your pick, one or the other, and let’s not hear any more about it.

Conservatives came up with the accusation of “grooming”, that their kids were being indoctrinated in school to accept societal changes that the evangelicals, in particular, abhor, such as same-sex marriage. Flocking to town and school board meetings as never before, they inveighed against the largely imaginary teaching of so-called critical race theory, which holds that America’s institutions are infused with racism. Mostly in towns across the South, they rebelled by banning books from libraries — 4,240 unique book titles targeted for censorship in 2023 alone, according to the American Library Association. Conservatives find insufferable that the Left tries to impose on them what they consider their odious culture.

Democrats likely found it impossible to switch their vote to Trump, but it’s a fair bet that a goodly percentage of independents have found the progressive catechism intolerable. Every endeavor must first pass through the filter of diversity-equity-inclusion. Only after writing a statement that you are all in for DEI is your job application considered. If you do get the job, better use the preferred gender pronoun for someone (are there name tags?) if you want to keep that job.

Administrative staff layers have been installed in corporations and universities nationwide where they police conduct and invite snitching. What may have begun at colleges with microaggression sensitivity, trigger warnings, and safe spaces with teddy bears for escape from reality, has grown into rigid dogma by which the DEI department assumes that we are all bigots until we have gone through mandatory anti-racist training.

DEI has gone too far. Well-intended concern for people has become dictatorial. A backlash has gathered steam.

The question is whether the Democrats and their progressives will get the memo and back off by a good measure. Clearly this isn’t working.