While president-elect Donald Trump is swiftly making his cabinet picks known and prepares to govern America again, spare a thought for the practical and ideological nous that he practices with so much success. He has changed the dynamics of the two mainstream parties – at least for the foreseeable future.
On TikTok and other social media, militant Leftists are still having meltdowns of epic proportions. Hardcore feminists sob, shave their heads and refuse to marry or have kids while a “fascist”, “dictator” and “misogynist” is at the helm of the world’s most powerful country. They bemoan that women and minorities will suddenly have their rights taken away (while this never happened during Trump’s first term). They are seeking therapy en masse.
At the same time, it should be borne in mind that he rode a wave of existing Tea Party populism that eschewed the foreign interventionism and waste that characterised the administrations of George W Bush and Barack Obama. To be sure, this led to a party-purge of some notable pro-war Republicans and returned the party to one that is much more aligned to Pat Buchanan than Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld.
By all measures, Trump is a pragmatic conservative populist and this has rather handsomely won him another race for the White House. He has offered a wide spectrum of voters something they desperately wanted, even if they didn’t get everything they desired. And on the most important issues, he offered something different than what Harris had to offer. Most importantly, he didn’t overstep when it came to undecided voters and wedge issues. Unlike Harris and the Democrats, he stuck with a position on an issue. This signals reliability and stability.
Like in 2016, the conservative purists and warmongers within the GOP and his leftist foes in the Democratic Party handed him – often in concert – some very useful fodder to outwit them. Cheney and his daughter Liz’ support for Harris probably hurt her campaign more than anything else. Trump avoided the class warfare of the Left, and diversified the Republican base with plenty poorer black and Latino voters (which no doubt riled many on the Right) while galvanizing the party’s traditional supporters. Throw in Trump’s irrepressible energy, charisma, optimism, (often-unrecognised) humility and sense of humor as well as a successful track record as president, and it is no surprise that he vanquished someone as incompetent and unlikeable as Harris.
Left-wing and a prayer
The Democrats completely – and probably without evidence – miscalculated on various issues. In vain they thought that the abortion issue would galvanise all women to vote for Harris. This was a colossal mistake because although Roe v Wade was overturned and abortions were curtailed in some states, decisions about abortion was simply left to the individual states and Trump himself isn’t personally a fan of a total ban on abortions. According to a CNN exit poll, it was only a top issue for 14% of voters.
Trump didn’t overturn Roe v Wade. The Supreme Court (SCOTUS) did it on Joe Biden’s watch and Harris would probably not be able to change it. Indeed, Trump filled vacant posts for SCOTUS justices during his first term, as was his right.
What everybody cared about was the economy and the affordability of various items. According to Statista, inflation was the top issue among voters in October at 23%. Jobs and the economy took third place. A Gallup poll’s findings were even more stark: “It is the only issue on which a majority of voters, 52%, say the candidates’ positions on it are an ‘extremely important’ influence on their vote. Another 38% of voters rate the economy as ‘very important’, which means the issue could be a significant factor to nine in 10 voters.” This is the highest concern for the economy since the Great Recession in 2008. Back then, the Republicans got punished for it and Barack Obama became America’s first black president. It seems that women are now more concerned about feeding and caring for the kids they do have than aborting them. They are not single-issue people.
Statista reported that immigration was the second biggest issue for voters. And it should be, seeing as illegal immigrants lower wages for Americans and may commit crimes with impunity. This was foremost in the minds of Latino voters in a border state such as Texas. This was something Harris flip-flopped on between her abortive presidency run in 2020 and being vice-president shortly thereafter. She changed her position from “no person is illegal” to “don’t come” in a very brief period.
Anyway, record numbers of illegal immigrants flooded the porous southern border during the Biden administration. As the person tasked with stemming this flow, Harris had to own this egregious imbroglio. The globalist Cheneys and other ersatz conservatives such as Adam Kinzinger kept on attacking Trump while being completely mum about this elephant in the room that is of deep concern to their Republican voters.
Lastly, the American public – and the world – is understandably tired of the war in Ukraine. The US is footing a huge bill to keep Ukraine bolstered and there is no resolution in sight. Democrat and Republican warmongers just don’t seem to care if it carries on. Trump did and he laid out plans for peace. Just like he cared to listen to voters in marginalised areas of the US. That’s why he keeps winning.
The Hail Mary pass
Ultimately, the only option available to the Left and some on the Right (not to mention the waning legacy media) was to make vague and baseless personal insults. But why would so many people vote for him if he was an autocrat, racist and misogynist? He was president before, and the country thrived economically while the world was largely peaceful. Minorities’ unemployment was at record lows. His recent appointments include several women, including Susie Wiles as the first female chief of staff. Marco Rubio will be the first Latino secretary of state.
Most notably, while some current and former Republicans and conservatives have now aligned themselves with the Democrats against Trump, he has also recruited powerful former Democrats with his eclectic yet simple worldview. Elon Musk is one of them. Tulsi Gabbard is likely to be the next director of national intelligence. There were push factors too: The Democrats became too woke and vindictive while being pro-war. Trump’s pursuit of “peace through strength”, common sense and a strong economy is the only (and admittedly laudable) alternative to this.
Dr Eugene Brink is an entrepreneur, business consultant and analyst from the Cape Winelands.
