It is the day after Judgement Day. Donald Trump will be President once again. His followers are joyful, some even going so far as to say that it is God’s will. His opponents are crushed and fearful, not understanding how this could have happened.
In the months to come before Inauguration Day, many words will be spoken. The reasons for the Republican victory and the Democratic defeat will be analyzed and debated ad nauseum. Hopefully President-elect Donald Trump will moderate some of his extremist rhetoric and provide a more moderate vision for this country going forward.
The seeds of this resounding defeat for Kamala Harris and the Democratic party as a whole were sown decades ago when the Democratic party began to embrace identity-celebrity-partisan politics instead of common sense-working class values. To make matters worse, the Democratic leadership forgot about the importance of developing their younger party members and encouraging them to develop their own voices. The seeds of this defeat took hold and grew, finally blooming in all their noxious glory this last election cycle.
This change in Democratic Party focus was apparent when Bill Clinton blew his saxophone on the Arsenio Hall Show. It was apparent when Hillary Clinton made her presidential candidacy all about her and how she would break through the proverbial glass ceiling. It was apparent in the refusal of Democrats to work with the Trump administration to address important issues such as immigration reform and securing the southern border.
It was apparent in the weakness of the slate of Democratic presidential candidates running for nomination in 2020. It was apparent in the DEI hire of Kamala Harris to be Joe Biden’s running mate. It was apparent in the DEI appointments of Tom Perez and subsequently Jaime Harrison as the chairmen of the Democratic National Committee. It was apparent in the rise of the Squad and its disproportionate influence.
It was apparent in the embrace of transgender rights, the concept of white privilege, and the perceived need for slavery-based reparations. It was apparent in the push to defund the police and to appease rioters and looters.
It was apparent in the selection of Kamala Harris as the replacement nominee for Joe Biden, and the selection of the unvetted Tim Walz as Kamala Harris’s running mate. It was apparent in the manic, celebrity-filled last-ditch effort by the Harris campaign to reach new supporters. And it was evident in the delusional thinking by the Harris campaign that victory was in hand.
What is now apparent is that the Democratic Party has lost its way. Its woke, DEI, celebrity-filled message does not resonate with a majority of the American people. In point of fact, the message of the Democratic Party has been rejected by the American people.
The problem is that this rejection is one that the leadership of the Democratic Party simply does not want to acknowledge, let alone accept. This rejection means that the entire basis of the Democratic Party as it has developed over decades has proven to be a failure.
It remains to be seen if Democrats will have a voice in the Trump government. It is doubtful, because the Republicans are likely to seize this opportunity to exert their dominance, revel in it, enforce it, and simply refuse to allow Democrats to be part of anything of substance.
To the victors belong the spoils, and the Democrats have lost, so they will get nothing. Any promises that Donald Trump has made that he will bring the country together will soon be forgotten. Once again, the losing party will be left out in the cold.
What does this mean? It means that the Democratic Party needs to become tougher, more pragmatic, and refocus itself away from its ideological woke/trans/DEI basis and return to its traditional and transformational core values.
This would include insuring equal opportunity for all, balancing individual rights with the common good, advocating for a fairer distribution of this country’s wealth, protecting the environment, monitoring the safety of food and medicines, providing assistance to the very poor and the very old and the very infirm, controlling the excesses of capitalism, promoting small businesses, supporting research and innovation, respecting the rule of law and the need to enforce them, and ensuring a strong national defense that includes strengthening international alliances.
Unfortunately, any substantive change in the Democratic Party such as what has been discussed here will take time. There are entrenched special interests and individuals that stand to lose money and power if the status que is changed. Greed and ego are strong motivations, so they will fight to preserve the current system.
It was not too long ago that the Republican Party had lost its way, and its future was in doubt. For better or for worse, Donald Trump has brought focus and direction back to the Republican Party.
There is no such savior on the horizon for the Democratic Party, only more Don Quixotes. The Democratic Party needs to rediscover its own voice, which used to be the voice of the people, and start from there.