Democratic Party has become a home for radicals!

 Weekly Opinion Editorial

ELECTION POSTMORTEM!

by Steve Fair

         Last week, America elected Donald J. Trump to a second term.  Trump is only the second U.S. President to serve non-consecutive terms.  The first was President Stephen Grover Cleveland who served as the nation’s 22^nd and 24^th president.   Cleveland was the first Democrat elected president after the Civil War and served from 1885-1889 and from 1893-1897. 

     As expected, Republicans flipped the U.S. Senate (53-47) and will also retain the majority in the U.S. House.  Overall, it was a stellar day for the GOP. 

     Tuesday was the third consecutive presidential election where pollsters missed prognosticating actual results.  Across all the battleground states, pollsters contended VP Kamala Harris was leading.  They claimed Harris was going to put Iowa in play, that Georgia and North Carolina would vote blue, and Harris would win the popular vote.  None of that happened. 

     Polls are only as good as the collected data and Trump supporters clearly don’t participate in polls or don’t answer honestly, which shews outcomes.  Pollsters have become less accurate than meteorologists and main stream media anchors.   Three reasons Trump won a second term:

     First, Harris misread what was important to voters.  She thought her pro-abortion stance would motivate infrequent and first-time voters to flood the polls, but that didn’t happen.  She deemphasized border security and the economy.  Harris was not able to differentiate herself from President Biden.  Her statement she wouldn’t have done anything different than Biden came back to haunt her. 

     Second, Americans voted with their wallet.  Harris attempted to convince voters they were economically better off than they were four years ago.  But it wasn’t true.  Food and gasoline costs more.  Wages haven’t kept pace with inflation.  A Gallup poll found 52% of Americans thought they and their family are worse off today than they were four years ago.   

     Third, the Democratic Party has become a home for radicals.  For years, the Democrats positioned and marketed the Party as home for the working man/the average Joe.  But recently, ‘average Joes’ are being pushed out of the tent.  Pro-life, traditional marriage conservative Ds face hostility from those sporting ‘co-exist’ bumper stickers.  Those who preach tolerance don’t practice it. 

     Those ‘old school’ conservative Democrats in the Rust Belt states voted for Trump last week.  It remains to be seen if they will permanently leave the Party and join the GOP.   

     Democrats are pointing fingers of blame for the thrashing.  Many hold Joe Biden liable for not dropping out sooner.  Others claim the Ds have abandoned their ‘working man’ image and are out of touch with what the average American finds important.  Whatever the reason for the trouncing, in the near future, Democrats face a fight between radicals and centrists over control of the Party.  

     What will a second Trump term look like?  ‘America First’ in domestic and foreign policy, tightening of the southern border, loosing of government regulations, and judges who exercise judicial restraint.  What it will not be is the end of democracy.  Plato observed democracies inevitably fail because they always birth a tyrant.  Trump is a despot in liberal’s minds.  But Democrats misread voter’s concerns in the 2024 election, so their prophesy and analytical skills are dubious.