Donald Trump Wins Again

W.J. Astore

An unsurprising election result

I woke to the news that Donald Trump is the projected winner of the 2024 presidential election. What that means for the country and the world remains to be seen. Why he won, and why Kamala Harris lost, will surely be analyzed deeply.

It didn’t end well …

Readers here know my take. I didn’t think Harris was the best candidate for Democrats to run for several reasons:

  1. She was selected by the DNC rather than going through the normal primary process. In 2020, her campaign for the presidency flamed out quickly without her winning a single vote or delegate. She needed time to hone her message and develop her political chops, but she didn’t have that time.
  2. Her total support of Israel and her embrace of the Cheneys and Republican dissenters from Trump estranged her from progressives within her own party. If people want a Republican, they’re most likely to vote Trump, not a Cheney-endorsed Democrat.
  3. Harris had a muddled, “soft sell” message. It was unclear what she truly stood for. Words like “forward” and phrases like “We’re not going back” were vague to the point of meaninglessness.
  4. Harris was perhaps most closely associated with women’s rights, especially reproductive rights, but it’s hard for me to discern other issues that she well and truly believed in, issues she was willing to push for.
  5. She gained a reputation as a flip-flopper on issues like fracking and medicare for all, and her time as the immigration “czarina” connected her to a highly complex failure.
  6. She was far too closely linked to the doddering efforts of the Biden administration, and indeed she said she couldn’t think how she’d be different from Biden except for her pledge to put a Republican in her Cabinet. Again, if people want Republicans, they can vote for them.
  7. Too much of Harris’ message was focused on how she’s not Trump. We didn’t get a clear sense of what she stood for, what she was going to champion, how she was going to make America a better place. In the end, Harris didn’t communicate her message well enough to persuade enough voters to cast their ballots for her.

That’s my quick and dirty take. Before I’ve had my coffee! Readers, what do you think?

P.S. Apparently the Republicans have won the House and Senate as well. A rather stunning repudiation of Democrats and their shenanigans.

17 thoughts on “Donald Trump Wins Again”

  1. A complete overhaul of the Democratic Pary has been the call of many for years. If this defeat of the Dems in the House, Senate and Oval Office is not a call for revision than the Dems are done.
    Ending the Democratic support for militarism with a candidate to start now, e.g. Jeffery Sachs or someone like him, could pull a new age of peace and justice come 2028

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    1. That assumes there will be an election in 2028. Which assumes that the United States will survive to celebrate its 250 Birthday on July 4, 2026, 605 days from today.

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        1. As i said in a recent email: “Always nice to hear from You, Dennis.”

          But what brings You to BV~Word Press? Been Banned-4-Life from BV~Substack?

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  3. … another POTUS election with no upside for average Americans
    … you’re part of the 1%, likely all you’ve ‘donated’ to be handsomely-rewarded (again)
    … after much talk of what would happen should this exact-outcome-occur, now we get to experience-live the result… GIO

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  4. I appreciate the way you listed the reasons, briefly and to the point.

    I might add a few observations:

    1. The United States may be ‘ready’ to elect a woman to the presidency but Kamala Harris was not that woman.
    2. American voters by and large were able to see that Barack Obama was quite heavily invested in a Harris/Democrat victory — and they’d already had enough of Obama from 2008 through 2024.
    3. Jim Clyburn is very disappointed that his choice of Biden VP back during the 2020 primaries failed to meet the challenge. And as you pointed out, Ms. Harris never got a vote — she was the hand-picked replacement for lunch-bucket Joe.

    And now we wait and see if Donald Trump, the #47 version, will rise to the challenge of bringing truth, justice and the American Way back to this country.

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    1. You write: “And now we wait and see if Donald Trump, …, will rise to the challenge of bringing truth, justice and the American Way back to this country“

      Presumably the above was meant as irony. Does a tiger change its stripes? The old adage means that essential nature is innate and is unable to change, no matter the circumstances.

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      1. Few pundits and commentators in the mainstream have been willing to say it, but they’re starting to now, but to those 71 million voters who didn’t vote for Kamala Harris, she was a lousy candidate.

        In 2006, it seemed pretty clear that Nancy Pelosi had become one of the most powerful, and most dangerous, women in America.

        On Tuesday, November 5, 2024 — finally 18 years later — it’s safe to say she is no longer.

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    1. Over 644,000 votes, which is significant, representing 0.4% of the vote. The good news is that Trump’s victory was so decisive that Stein can’t be blamed for Kamala’s catastrophic showing.

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    2. With 91% of the precincts reporting, Stein has 635,947 votes, or 0.5% of the Popular Vote.

      That answer Your question?

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  6. Congratulations, Dennis, on Your prediction of a Trump win in Election2024.

    Given the fact that, as of now, he only has 50.7% of the Total Popular Vote ~ which means that 49.3% of Voters voted AGAINST Trump ~ he didn’t quite win in the “landslide’ You oft predicted, eh? See https://www.nbcnewyork.com/decision-2024/who-won-popular-vote-trump-victory/5959396/ for details.

    More importantly, getting but .7% over a simple majority of Votes cast, what kind of “Mandate” to do Anything about Anything does that give him?

    Got any further predictions?

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  7. Your Postscript was your best point: “P.S. Apparently the Republicans have won the House and Senate as well. A rather stunning repudiation of Democrats and their shenanigans”.

    I say this because all your prior points were about the candidate.  But Trump did not win because of the candidate.  He won because of what the Dems did (and didn’t do), these last four years.  And also because of what the Dems represent (or don’t) in terms of values.  

    I do find it interesting that you would focus more on process than actions; how to run a campaign vs. focusing on what the results were for the American people.

    After melting down, any Dems who are actually capable of honest self reflection are taking a hard look in the mirror.  Are “Progressives” doing the same?  Or do they continue to have their heads in the sand of their echo chambers…making statements like “That assumes there will be an election in 2028”.  Wake up call: A big part of the voter turn off was the “progressive” influence.

    This is an opportunity for progressives to reclaim part of the moral high ground that Republicans now occupy (yep, we do).  And in doing that, perhaps progressives can become more than NPC (non-player characters) in the political arena.

    My last thought to share here is that Trump has achieved the Holy Grail of Progressivism: A third-party candidate (MAGA in this case) has become President.  And the Republican Party just came along for the ride.  When will progressives offer up a candidate that can do the same?

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  8. I had not yet thought about it, but your points 2, 6, and seven made me realize that RINOs are now more fearful of the Democrats than of Trump. The estblishment consensus is dead.

    After four years of tyrany, the Democrat Party needs to be disbanded. The assault on civil liberties more than justifies a ban.

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