This was not a knockout. We're still on our feet - deflated, yes, frightened for others, yes, embarrassed in front of the world, yes, and angry, oh yes. But we are also filled with resolve and conviction, which will stand the test of time.
Everything we were running on was worth it then, and are certainly worth it still. We have not changed who we are and how we feel about equal rights, voting rights, gun control legislation, climate change, pro-democracy, decency and character in our leaders - to name a few. Were we foolish to think most Americans would at least reject the bigotry, vulgarity and lies that Trump, a crackpot conman and convicted felon spews, and accept that character does matter in our leaders, and that a woman really can lead a country? Maybe. But we were right to fight for them anyway.
The values of today's Democratic party are the values that will take our country forward - values that lift up everyone. I can almost smell and hear the sounds of peaceful protests and marches coming on. I'll be there. I'm 80, but I'll be there.
This was an dynamite political analysis of the 2024 presidential election, but you perhaps did not want to state the obvious: Kamala lost because the voting American public did not want to elect a non-white woman, even though she made Trump look like an ignorant fool that he repeatedly demonstrated. Having lived in the Southern states for much of my life, I can tell you that the Civil war did not end with General Lee's surrender at Appomattox. It continued with lynchings and the Jim Crow era. It took many years after the Civil War before women got the right to vote. We live in a white, male-dominated racist society masquerading as "Christian" and lead by their idol Trump, and supported by the Proud Boys and the Oath-Keepers.
In her campaign Kamala failed to take due credit for the tremendous progress of the Biden administration and present it as her own - which she had a right to do. She overly emphasized the issue of abortion rights, alienating many of the women she was seeking to vote for her. Then she failed to take credit for humanizing the immigration problem, by ending the wait in Mexico policy and the draconian problem of separating children from parents at the border that happened during the Trump administration. Friends of ours believe that the Southern border is open, and crossed by undocumented aliens who receive a living handout courtesy of the US government. Yet if that was true, we would not have a labor shortage in this country. It has always been true that immigrants supply most of the low-wage physical labor employment in this country. Today that is the Spanish-speaking South American immigrants who cannot be employed without being processed by the INS, which is itself understaffed by a Trump-led do nothing House of Representatives.
I was a Reagan Republican who was abandoned by my party. I became a Democratic supporter when that party became enthralled by Trump. He is the Count Dracula of American politics.
Thanks, Michael. I also have wondered what you'd write about and what I would want to read about from you after the election. I'm willing to wait and see for a while. I've read many theories about the election result. The ones that I think are worth paying at least some attention to are (1) ill-informed voters, aka the "right-wing media ecosystem theory;" (2) racism and sexism; (3) inflation; and (4) the perception that Democrats are elitist and overly "woke." Theories 3 and 4 depend on 1. My additional perception is that we have a very entitled electorate. Any deviation from what voters think is perfection gets punished at the ballot box, more at the national than at the state and local levels. But the bottom line is that I am extremely unhappy about this result. Trump's cruelty, racism, narcissism, incompetence, age, etc. were known to almost everyone. I think blaming Harris or Biden is silly and misguided.
This was not a knockout. We're still on our feet - deflated, yes, frightened for others, yes, embarrassed in front of the world, yes, and angry, oh yes. But we are also filled with resolve and conviction, which will stand the test of time.
Everything we were running on was worth it then, and are certainly worth it still. We have not changed who we are and how we feel about equal rights, voting rights, gun control legislation, climate change, pro-democracy, decency and character in our leaders - to name a few. Were we foolish to think most Americans would at least reject the bigotry, vulgarity and lies that Trump, a crackpot conman and convicted felon spews, and accept that character does matter in our leaders, and that a woman really can lead a country? Maybe. But we were right to fight for them anyway.
The values of today's Democratic party are the values that will take our country forward - values that lift up everyone. I can almost smell and hear the sounds of peaceful protests and marches coming on. I'll be there. I'm 80, but I'll be there.
This was an dynamite political analysis of the 2024 presidential election, but you perhaps did not want to state the obvious: Kamala lost because the voting American public did not want to elect a non-white woman, even though she made Trump look like an ignorant fool that he repeatedly demonstrated. Having lived in the Southern states for much of my life, I can tell you that the Civil war did not end with General Lee's surrender at Appomattox. It continued with lynchings and the Jim Crow era. It took many years after the Civil War before women got the right to vote. We live in a white, male-dominated racist society masquerading as "Christian" and lead by their idol Trump, and supported by the Proud Boys and the Oath-Keepers.
In her campaign Kamala failed to take due credit for the tremendous progress of the Biden administration and present it as her own - which she had a right to do. She overly emphasized the issue of abortion rights, alienating many of the women she was seeking to vote for her. Then she failed to take credit for humanizing the immigration problem, by ending the wait in Mexico policy and the draconian problem of separating children from parents at the border that happened during the Trump administration. Friends of ours believe that the Southern border is open, and crossed by undocumented aliens who receive a living handout courtesy of the US government. Yet if that was true, we would not have a labor shortage in this country. It has always been true that immigrants supply most of the low-wage physical labor employment in this country. Today that is the Spanish-speaking South American immigrants who cannot be employed without being processed by the INS, which is itself understaffed by a Trump-led do nothing House of Representatives.
I was a Reagan Republican who was abandoned by my party. I became a Democratic supporter when that party became enthralled by Trump. He is the Count Dracula of American politics.
Thanks, Michael. I also have wondered what you'd write about and what I would want to read about from you after the election. I'm willing to wait and see for a while. I've read many theories about the election result. The ones that I think are worth paying at least some attention to are (1) ill-informed voters, aka the "right-wing media ecosystem theory;" (2) racism and sexism; (3) inflation; and (4) the perception that Democrats are elitist and overly "woke." Theories 3 and 4 depend on 1. My additional perception is that we have a very entitled electorate. Any deviation from what voters think is perfection gets punished at the ballot box, more at the national than at the state and local levels. But the bottom line is that I am extremely unhappy about this result. Trump's cruelty, racism, narcissism, incompetence, age, etc. were known to almost everyone. I think blaming Harris or Biden is silly and misguided.
The most cogent thing I've seen in the wake of this outcome is that Trump won the popular vote with fewer votes than when he lost to Biden in 2020.
Why on earth was turnout lower in 2024 than in 2020 at the height of the pandemic?
Have all the votes been counted yet?