Why Democrats lost, and why all of America lost with them
BY: JACOB POLITTE
Managing Editor
A lot can be said about the relatively large whopping that Democrats received in last year’s November elections. Donald Trump, against all odds and all of the charges against him, pulled a Grover Cleveland. He seized control of the Presidency once more, winning both the popular and electoral votes. Republicans seized a narrow majority in the Senate while retaining their narrow majority in the House of Representatives. That Congressional majority will hold for at least the next two years.
Crying about it now all these months later feels a bit like whining. But it’s still worth saying. Almost every day watching cable news feels like chaos, and that’s not nothing.
The American people voted for this.
They actively voted for extremism, hate, misogyny and bigotry to rule the day, and I can’t really articulate how much I think they’ll come to regret that decision. I don’t think, despite my confidence that logic and reason would prevail, that I was surprised this time that he won. The last 8 years have prepared me and many others for this possibility. This isn’t like 2016. Trump was never an underdog this time, and he already had an advantage going in (and I’m not talking about gerrymandering). His victory was always a possibility. Trump/Pence 2016 was a surprise, but Trump/Vance 2024 was a choice.
But how did America get this so wrong? Was it really the price of eggs and gasoline? Many will say that’s the case. But the truth, whether they’ll ever admit it or not, the reasons Trump won are much, much darker.
The media
I recently wrote a column about how traditional media had failed the country, and I stand by that column, even if I think some of that non-traditional media actively cost Kamala Harris the election.
While it’s easy to understand why, their normalization of Trump’s behavior absolutely played a role in the public’s perception of him.
It’s also alarming that Elon Musk literally bought the most widely-used social media platform and has basically turned it into a right-wing hate machine.
Without a doubt, these factors played a major role in helping to normalize a demagogue. And the normalization looks to continue, with multiple billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew now “bending the knee” and allowing misinformation and censorship (in Bezos’ case) to rule the day.
The truth of the matter is that most of the more popular traditional and non-traditional media sources in this country are controlled by Republicans, or by those that don’t have the integrity or courage to speak out against misinformation. Going forward, that may be the biggest challenge in combating the administration’s more controversial policies.
Democrats play by the rules, Republicans don’t
Democrats, despite all their relative morality and playing within the rules, have failed to accurately read the room, and effectively stuck their fingers in their ears, pretending that everything was fine and people were thrilled with the direction of the country. As a result, they failed to win back the House of Representatives, they lost the Senate and obviously, they lost the Presidency. In hindsight, Democrats should have made a better effort to actually reach out and represent the interests of their less-crazy constituents. But even that may not have worked.
That being said, a Trump presidency still is by far the worst-case scenario for America, at least until the 120th United States Congress begins in January 2027. It’s entirely possible that Republicans will lose the House and/or the Senate at that point, which might be the only check on his power until he leaves office in January 2029 (maybe). It’s a scenario that Trump’s current Chief of Staff Susie Wiles is on the record as anticipating, and it’s why they’re “flooding the zone” as much as they can with their agenda.
But Democrats in leadership positions have made very little effort to fight Trump’s agenda and his more outlandish actions. Hakeem Jefferies has been a disappointment. People like Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who do have that energy are routinely blocked from advancing into leadership positions. Chuck Schumer and Gerry Connolly, two of the most prominent Democrat leaders, lack the energy needed to do so. Connolly, in particular, just seems befuddled that Republicans haven’t turned on Trump yet.
Why would they do that? The Republicans greatest successes of the century, and possibly since the Reagan administration, have occurred under the Trump regime. His methods don’t matter to them, as long as those methods help them to retain and expand their power.
The truth of the matter is this: Trump projects an air of strength, warranted or not. He is perceived to be a disrupter, and that’s not an entirely off base perception. While a Democratic challenger may not be as crass or as corrupt as Trump, the next Democratic leader absolutely needs to be the same kind of disrupter in terms of action and possibly even attitude.
Much like most politics in general, the Democrats have an age issue. While it doesn’t appear to affect Republicans or their support all that much (considering that we just elected a 78-year old as to be our President), it’s absolutely demoralizing to see it happen with the Democrats. A new generation needs to step up to lead, but they won’t get there without forcefully taking it from the old generation. And that’s not as easy as it sounds.
Ignoring history, and attempting to rewrite it
An argument has been made that Trump is “like Hitler” and there has been some notable push-back on it. The thing though about it is that, yes, electing Trump in 2024 was the equivalent of electing Hitler in 1939.
The similarities in their rise and their actions are just too similar. I’m not just talking about the racist rally in Madison Square Garden, and not just about the fact that they’re both convicted felons who were voted back into power.
Threatening citizens and critics and journalists. Threatening to seize lands like Greenland, or talking about forcing Canada to join the union. Attempting to overturn, nullify and terminate the Constitution. Attempting to circumvent Congressional oversight and the courts, with the full support of his Vice President JD Vance. Having Elon Musk and a bunch of racist, terminally online followers slash the budgets and attempt to eliminate entire departments and functions of government with no real understanding of why that’s bad. Calling himself a king.
All of that and more is literally happening right now. Anyone who says otherwise is simply denying reality and ignoring history. These are exactly the kind of things that Hitler did leading up to the Holocaust. It’s quite literally right in front of you. Minimizing that behavior and intent is dangerous.
Trump’s Questionable Cabinet
Another worrying sign is that total loyalists are being installed in cabinet and agency positions. Almost none of his picks are qualified, and several of them have been credibly accused of participating in and/or covering up sexual assault and abuse.
Pete Hegseth’s contentious Senate confirmation hearing highlighted his very real shortcomings, including his drinking problem and the very credible sexual assault accusations against him, and his only real response to that was “I’m not a perfect person.” That’s not a denial, and almost anyone else would have been disqualified from the nomination process. In no way is he anywhere near qualified to run the Department of Defense just because Trump liked watching him on Fox News every Saturday morning. Yet, he was confirmed anyway.
While he withdrew the nomination, Trump also originally wanted actual, proven pedophile Matt Gaetz as Attorney General? Give me a break. Pam Bondi may not be a pedophile, but isn’t much better from an ethical standpoint required to oversee the country’s justice system. Yet, she was confirmed anyway.
Kash Patel, the QAnon conspiracy theorist with a detailed enemies list, now is the head of the FBI. That’s terrifying. So is RFK Jr. leading the Department of Health and Human Services, and Tulsi Gabbard leading the Department of National Intelligence despite her relationship with problematic entities.
Linda McMahon being confirmed as Secretary of Education is disgraceful. The former wrestling executive is much more problematic than most people realize, and that’s not even factoring in her disgraced, perverted husband being one of Trump’s best friends.
Trump’s mental state
On top of everything previously talked about here, the fact of the matter is: Donald Trump is old. Very old.
When he leaves office, he’ll be one year older than Joe Biden is right now. And despite all the (justifiable) concern about Biden’s age and cognitive abilities, pretending like Trump is an upgrade is being actively ignorant. He’s not, and if anything, he’s much more influenceable than Biden or any of his predecessors ever were. That is not a good thing when global standing in the world is at stake.
Look at the recent events where he’s unequivocally thrown support behind Russia and claimed that Ukraine started the war. It’s blatantly untrue, but of course he’d say that… he’s friendly with Putin. But make no mistake about it: it’s not Putin that’s on the leash.
We’re in for a rough next four years. Some of us just don’t realize it yet. Some of us refuse to believe that, having their head in the clouds and ignoring the very active threat to democracy that Trump poses. Some of us refuse to believe that’s not hyperbole.
It’s not hyperbole. The system needs to change, but fire-boming democracy and dismantling government institutions is not the answer. It just flat out isn’t. You can’t just burn it all down and rebuild it. America doesn’t have the infrastructure for that. The truth is that I have no idea what’s going to happen over the next four years, and no real plan to combat it. But I do know that it’s not going to be pretty, and that it will take literal decades to recover from.
