Late, maybe. But I wanted to see Democrats’ capacity for introspection.
Trump won.
Actually, here is a better summary:
Kamala Lost.
I’m not going to say I told you so.
I take no pleasure or gloating about the fact that Donald J. Trump is our next president. Even if I do think he was the less bad choice. My concerns about DJT are well documented.
But we as a nation have now made our bed. It is time for us to lay in it, for the next 4 years. Or, at least the next two, until a Congressional Election takes place.
So let’s get to it.
There are reasons why Trump won, reasons why Kamala lost, and reasons that were not the cause of Kamala losing.
It is this last topic which I will explore in this Part 1 post:
Racism
Kamala Harris did not lose this election because she is Black.
Actually, she is half-Jamaican, and half-Indian. “Kamala” is a traditional Indian name.
Wasn’t this demographic, exactly why she climbed up the ladder? Didn’t she have huge support from the Indian community, once upon a time? What happened to that.
We’ve had a President Obama on the books. A real Black President, not named Clinton, elected to two terms. Race was not a factor in either campaign. I mean, I do recall Wall St. Journal website commenters calling him “Ubuma,” and occasional lawn signs saying, “Vote Right — Vote White!” But it had no effect on the result. Obama won Indiana, which is very white. Obama won over many white Christian leaders in 2008.
More Black men, chose Trump in 2024 than in 2020. Same with Latino voters. Same with Asian voters. Same with “Other” ethnicity voters.
In fact, the only POC demographic which trended toward Harris, were Black Women. Every other POC demographic trended toward Trump in 2024.
Accusing 50%+ of America of “Racism,” when Trump in 2024 did better among non-whites than even George W. Bush (who was EXTREMELY race-inclusive) is not helping.
Please, already, give this a rest.
Sexism
Kamala Harris did not lose this election because she is a woman.
Compare her results with Hillary Clinton, and even Joe Biden:
- Kamala: fewer electoral votes than Hillary Clinton
- Kamala: fewer popular votes than Hillary Clinton
- Hillary: beat Trump in the Popular Vote
- Kamala: lost to Trump in the Popular Vote
- In 2020, 55% of women voted for the Democrat
- In 2024, 53% of women voted for the Democrat
Now, by all rights, Hillary was a more polarizing figure than Kamala. A large portion of the country HATED her. Called her Evil, and much worse terms than that.
The vitriol that Kamala faced, although not zero, was nowhere close to what Hillary faced.
Then in 2020, Joe Biden had his own sexual misconduct claims. And women STILL voted for Biden, by a higher ratio than Harris.
Kamala’s run for President came after 8 years of #metoo, women’s increased participation in all ranks of power (Corporate Executives, politics, Forbes 400), women dominating university enrollment by a nearly 60/40 ratio, and several “patriarchy” men being toppled (Roger Ailes, Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein, P. Diddy…exact definitions of what patriarchy was supposed to be about).
After all this, how could America be more sexist than it was 8 years ago?
Accusing 50%+ of America of “Sexism” is not helping.
Please, already, give this a rest.
Too Moderate
Of all aspects of the Democratic Party’s civil war, this is the aspect I understand the least.
Kamala Harris was THE most progressive voting member of the Senate. Every single policy progressives could have wanted, became a gift-wrapped package from the Biden/Harris administration. Kamala Harris showed no signs of going against any of the Biden administration’s progressive accomplishments.
Kamala wanted to raise taxes on corporations and the wealthy. Kamala wanted to cancel school loan debts. Kamala wanted to offer transgender health care to prison inmates.
I could go on. Kamala was not a puppet to “neoliberalism.” Yes she tacked center for the campaign, but her voting and policy record since becoming U.S. Senator were consistent and clear.
Too Progressive
Of all aspects of the Democratic Party’s civil war, this is the aspect I understand the second least.
Kamala had a reputation of being a “tough on crime” Attorney General in California — and before that, District Attorney in San Francisco. She didn’t make her reputation going after banks, she made it going after criminals. She resisted prison reforms, refused to relax the law for drug offenders, and her policies went into social conservatism with anti-truancy measures.
Kamala’s talk as a candidate gave support to fracking, tightening up the border, renouncing Electric Vehicle mandates, abandoning a mandatory gun buyback program, and denouncing Defund the Police.
FiveThirtyEight released polls showing while 47% of voters described Harris as “too progressive,” 9% of voters described her as “not liberal or progressive enough.” Which is about where you want to be as a Democrat in these times, given that 47% of voters will vote Republican, and 9% of Democrats are further to the left than Bernie Sanders.
She actively courted Republicans to support her. Liz Cheney, who is a truly conservative, Neocon, war hawk essentially joined her campaign. Also joining her effort were Stephanie Grisham — Trump’s own press secretary, Alberto Gonzalez GWBush’s Attorney General, Adam Kinzinger the GOP congressman, and Mike Pence’s own national security advisor. And more.
I actually think from a policy perspective, at least what we know, Kamala might not have hit the bullseye but she definitely was on target more than not. Personally, I was a fan of her intent to support small business — which is a return to roots our country desperately needs.
The Economy
The Economy is strong. The stock market is up, the S&P 500 has hit about 17 record all-time highs this year alone, unemployment is still at cyclical lows, and the Federal Reserve kept raising interest rates without slowing anything down.
These are marks of a very strong economy. Yes, there was inflation, and I’ll get to that in the next post.
But Biden’s economy was every bit as strong as Trump’s economy. Even stronger if you consider Covid started under Trump, and recovered under Biden. But I really cannot credit Biden for this any more than Trump… still.
This was one of the most effective Republican attack lines, but it was a house of cards issue. The economy under Biden/Harris was not weak, nor was it weakening.
Joe Biden’s Record
WHY did the Harris campaign not run on this??? Joe Biden had legitimate accomplishments. Chiefly being the Infrastructure Bill, which I recall every President saying was needed going back to George W. Bush. Biden finally got it done.
I’ve covered the Economy already, but it is worth mentioning again here.
There are other measures passed which I did not agree with or support: “Inflation Reduction Act” — very dishonestly titled, attempts to pay off school loans, and some of his more partisan judicial appointments. But these were all popular among the Democrats’ base.
Instead, the Democrats’ message, from Harris on down-ballot, evolved from nothing would change from the Biden administration, to there will be changes from the Biden administration without specifying what.
Tell me you’re not saying anything, without tell me you’re not saying anything.
In fact Harris seemed to distance herself from Biden’s accomplishments, which I think was a blunder.
This reminds me a lot of Al Gore’s refusal to run on Bill Clinton’s record, including the extremely strong economy in 2000.
But this is going off topic. I’ll get more into why Harris DID lose, in the next post.
