The quarterbacking has been intense and heavy, call it “the mourning-after” syndrome. One of the theories from Democratic poobahs is that Kamala Harris ran a bad campaign. But the reality is she ran a brilliant, innovative, disciplined campaign as she faced tumultuous headwinds in a merciless truncated timeline. So why all the second-guessing that holds her responsible for Trump’s election?
It’s simple, Harris bet on the decency of America and she lost. Yes, it is bewildering and repulsive to recognize the reality that more than half of American voters cast ballots for a convicted felon, twice-impeached, incompetent, serial sexual predator, chronic liar and cognitively-impaired Trump, and those are his good points.
Yes, one can clearly make the argument that Trump is a cunning and insidious demagogue who followed the authoritarian playbook of historical fascists and tyrants to exploit the grievances of working class and rural voters that the Democratic Party has left behind. There is a lot of truth in that, as Bernie Sanders incisively pointed out the day after the election.
However, even given Trump’s exploitation of America’s original sin of racism and patriarchy, it would be regrettable and unjustifiable to not hold Trump voters accountable for their vote for a dictator in waiting who openly pledged to dismantle the foundations of our democracy, and tried once already to overturn the Constitutional transition of power that is the bedrock of this nation on January 6. and yet they voted for him anyway.
Open the curtains and the ugly truth is revealed. You see the yearning of a large swath of males for a return to a patriarchal pecking order in both the government and in their personal life. Finally, let’s not forget the brazen lancing of the thinly-masked racism of a large cohort of American voters. That’s the Make America White Again putting of salt on the dark wound of white America’s historic suppression of people of color. That’s what narcissistic, morally corrupt tyrants do, and yet they voted for him anyway.
Exit polls indicate that the majority of Trump backers said the economy is in worse shape under Biden, inflation was high and gas expensive. The conservative magazine, The Economist, published an article before the election about how the current US economy is the envy of the world, interest rates have dipped considerably and gas is at a decade long low, and yet they voted for him anyway.
He will likely eviscerate Social Security and Medicare, on which many of his worshipers depend. He will increase costs and inflation, even though many of his followers say that these concerns were what attracted them to Trump, and yet they voted for him anyway.
Trump wants to continue or increase tax cuts for the rich, as he plunders the working class to expand the wealth of the oligarchy, and they voted for him anyway.
All Americans, except for Native Americans, are immigrants or were African slaves, but Trump vilified recent immigrants, who are essential to filling low-wage jobs, and will implement a massive deportation that is a bedrock of his incendiary appeal to the exploitation of his base, and yet they voted for him anyway.
So many more examples of how such large tranches of Americans voted for him against their own self-interests can be cited — just think of the women who voted for him and his disdain for the rights of women — but vote for him they did.
To vote in our country, you must be over 18, so he is regaining dictatorial and ruinous power because consenting adults voted to put him back into power.
No, don’t let them off the hook. They must be held accountable for their actions. Kamala Harris ran a master class campaign. The looming Trump presidency catastrophe should not be blamed on her.
It is the electorate who voted for Trump who bear the responsibility.
