Post election delusion
My circle, if that’s what you would call a thousand odd social media connections — 960 of which I have not spoken to or seen in the past five years — are without a doubt suffering from post US election blues. Disappointment, fear and confusion are spilling over into facebook posts and Instagram memes, devastated that the orange Cheeto is once again the incumbent President of the United States. I can’t say that I’m one of them.
The truth, if I was in the States I would have been torn as to who to vote for. I have been left leaning all my adult life, but the left has lost its way, seemingly both in the US and at home here in Australia. I don’t know if I would have voted for Trump, but I sure do understand the reasons why people did. And I come at these things from the perspective of pragmatism. The result is in, best we get on with it.
I have observed something interesting though in the post election analysis, and it could very well be why the Democrats got it so wrong all along. Now before anyone goes all Chuck Norris on me, these are my observations only, from a far away country. I am not heavily invested in US politics, although as the current world power, the trickle down effect of a US election will be felt in our economy. But I claim to be no expert — far from it.
However I can see trends, and patterns, and it appears to be clear that the Biden/Harris lead administration have lost touch with the heart of the the people, and have been more concerned with appeasing the vocal radical left than serving silent majority. They seem to have misread the room, just as their followers seem to have misread the reason why people overwhelmingly swung to the right.
I read a Substack today that seemed to think that the Republicans won votes due to Biden’s support of Israel. Here is a quote from Marc Lynch; “Biden’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza demobilized a significant segment of youth (not just Arab Americans) and Harris refused to do even the bare minimum to win them back,”.1
Marc believes that the swing to Trump was grounded in Biden’s genocidal policy supporting Israel. I think Marc is way off base.
I agree that the American voters weren’t happy with the Biden administration, but I believe it was their weakness and wishy-washy try-not-to-offend-anyone strategy that the people objected to. The people showed us that they see what is happening on college campuses, and in their streets, with never ending protests, violence and unrest — and they are well and truly over it.
Any sort of delusion that a swing to the right was in any way connected to Biden’s support of Israel is to me just that — a delusion. The majority of people over thirty overwhelmingly voted for Trump, and I don’t think its any coincidence that the same age group heavily favour Israel during the current conflict2.
They made it clear that they want strong, take-no-prisoners leadership in a time of geopolitical chaos. Now whether Trump is able to provide that is another question, but in my mind there is now doubt that the left lost support through their lack of action, lack of direction, apathy and appeasement rather than anything they DID do of any substance.
A look at Trump’s foreign policy during his past tenure as President could not possibly lead anyone to believe that he would be a weaker ally to Israel than Biden. It was during Trumps last term that he achieved the Abraham Accords and a restrained foreign policy. It cannot be denied, that the world was more stable under a Trump presidency — even if the likely reason is that his adversaries think he’s nuts and don’t trust him with the nuke codes. Trump had even restricted muslim immigration, which is all the more interesting that he did so well with the muslim vote.
It really does reflect badly on the Democrats that the American people would rather put back in a man who refused to commit to a peaceful transition of power, rather than his opponent.
The other theme that has been making the rounds is the sexism and racism card. That Harris lost because she is a woman and she is black. As us Aussies say — bullshit! Harris’s approval rating far outshone that of Bidens — an aging white privileged male — who the woke would insist has all of the advantage, but in fact in the end had little support from constituencies. The Democrats inability to address the political correctness of the radical left has, in. my opinion, caused them the most harm. Ironically, the people that they were afraid to offend, probably didn’t even turn up to vote.
Trump, an out-of-touch billionaire has achieved the impossible by managing to encourage a multiethnic working-class to vote for the Republican Party with a populist economic message.
The most obvious explanation for Trump's victory is that a critical mass of voters were willing to set aside their concerns about Trump due to dissatisfaction with the Biden-Harris administration. This, of course, was absolutely their right as voters. Now we wait to see if Trump can deliver.
https://substack.com/home/post/p-151272264?source=queue&autoPlay=false
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/04/02/younger-americans-stand-out-in-their-views-of-the-israel-hamas-war/
Wonderful analysis Kelli. Marc Lynch is way off base I agree. People voted for Trump for the exact opposite reasons that Lynch stated. Now I am one of those older “privileged “white males that he mentioned. I am sick and tired of seeing the brainwashed delusional youth protesting for a group of terrorists whose only goal is to bring down the only democracy in the Middle East! I am a Never-Trumper who fully voted for this multi-flawed candidate. Why? I am looking for a complete dismantling of the woke agenda that has these young lemmings protesting for a group that would be more than happy to throw them all off a roof for their beliefs. I am looking for radical changes in our education system to root out our Marxist teachers. I am looking for an end of DEI in our colleges and governmental agencies. I am looking for a collapse of the one-sided reporting of our left-leaning, woke media. In my mind, Trump is the only one that can make this happen. Marc Lynch needs to realize that the only genocide being perpetuated in the Middle East is by the people he is supporting. His indoctrination needs to be addressed and eliminated.
The Biden-Harris administration, and with the hideous possibility of a Harris-Walz administration, would have turned the US into a socialist country, with an absolute disregard of the Constitutional Republic. As for the US-Israel relationship, the current administration had turned its back on Israel, with clearly adhering to the UN’s “mandates” regarding our homeland. The clear message from the radical, progressive left was the coup d’etat that essentially removed Biden from the presidential race against President-elect Donald John Trump. The Democratic mutiny was orchestrated by Pelosi, Obama, Harris and Schumer. Harris-Walz would have put the screws to Israel, placing the country’s existence in jeopardy. The 2024 election Trump victory was a clear referendum on the worst administration in American History. By the way, the progressive left constantly refers to the US as a democracy. The word “democracy” cannot be found in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. The US is a Constitutional Republic. The US, Israel and the world will be far better off under a Trump administration.