A Reckoning or Not

Mark Halperin, the creator of the political streaming show, ‘Two Way’ didn’t predict the outcome of this country’s 60th quadrennial presidential election, but posited that when the election is over, be warned, a mental health crisis could happen.  

In the wee hours of November 5th the howlings and histrionics began, How can this be? Not again!

November 6th, women, who were Harris supporters, began protesting on YouTube, swearing off sex. Leave your husband, they jeered if he voted for Trump. 

PBS reported the LGBYQ youth suicide hot lines exploded. Fortune Well web page reported that calls to virtual mental health lines surged in one day by 22 percent. 

One Midwest mental health therapist reported that when a client, a Harris supporter, came to see her distraught over the election results, upon finding out she voted for Trump, screamed, “I can’t believe you did that,” then stormed out of the office, yelling back, “You fucking bitch!”

“In hindsight,” the therapist said, “it would have been better not to offer my voting choice, but I was asked by my client who I voted for and I tried to articulate, to no avail, why someone might want to vote for Trump. To say the least I was flabbergasted.” 

Dan Turrentine, a Democratic party commentator on ‘Two Way’ said about the outcome, there will be finger pointing. It is a process many democrats will have to go through. 

Finger pointing implies blaming. Who, Why and for how long the blaming lasts will impact whether the Democratic party founders, or merely flounders.

If the democratic party self-reflects, then a resetting can prove useful. If not, then the game is up for democrats for the foreseeable future. What does the party need to be mindful of? 

To begin, a reckoning is needed about campaign moves gone bad. 

Victor Davis Hanson, the classic professor and prolific author, pointed out about the election, democrats will have to learn that criticizing the other party’s constituents and being aloof to the middle class is a recipe for political disaster. 

A free-for-all screaming that Trump’s a Nazi, and his supporters are ‘deplorables’, as Hillary claimed, ‘garbage’ as Biden slurred, or just ‘stupid’, as Peacock strutter Howard Stern said, isn’t a route to winning. 

Hanson noted, Trump put down Kamala and Biden, but he didn’t denounce all democrat voters as subhumans.

The Joe and Mikas with their sanctimonious aire, along with ivy league academics, the legacy media and neocons endorsed a hubris strategy of disapprobations toward Trumpites, almost daily. Thus, this election became a referendum against the elites, which proved fatal for them.     

A second reckoning about bad moves made by the democrats relates to the principle of, Know all thy people, cognosce omni populus.

The Pew Research Center showed that 81 percent of all voters listed the economy as the chief issue. But 93 percent of Trump voters named it as  the chief issue, sixty eight percent of democrats believed it was.   

Trump voters held that violent crime, foreign policy and immigration were other major issues. Democrats saw health care, Supreme court appointments, racial inequalities and abortion as key concerns.

So, while Trump supporters held that matters of money and safety and security were of utmost importance, social issues governed Kamala’s voters’ choice of issues.

One can argue that all issues are about safety and security, but some are priorities, bread and butter; from which policies come to get the ship across the sea.

A third reckoning pertains to a misperception that movie stars and singer celebrities help win elections. 

Kamala played up endorsements from Oprah, Beyonce, Springsteen and Taylor Swift, to name a few, some of whom rumor claimed were paid for their favor. These persons might get 15 year-olds swooning. But they'll not sway reasoned adults to vote for their endorsements. Singers and movie stars are pretend people. Most don’t know the first thing about running anything. 

Conversely, Trump played up support from persons in the real world, Elon Musk, RFK Jr., former democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, and the economist Arthur Laffer to name a few. 

A fourth reckoning the once big-tent party needs to consider, but not an  exhaustive one, is that nominees should come from open primaries, not through a high-priest daddy anointing, as was done with Kamala. The primary allows the voter to see what they are getting for their money.

It’s a show and tell, even though it is a contrived event.

Regardless of what side of the party fence one stands, there are new truisms for prospective office seekers. An understanding of the world of podcasts is a must. Social media is here to stay. Candidates will need resilience to sit for an hour with inquisitors. Trump did this with Joe Rogan. Harris turned the interview down, wanting the podcaster to come to her.   

Being comfortable in one’s own skin, and speaking without a teleprompter, thanks to Trump, are characteristics of the new model candidate. He or she will need to be tireless, nimble, able to take hits, and will be confident enough to speak their minds without the political wind meter.

Regardless of Trump haters’ assessment of the 47th president-elect, he is authentic. If the democratic party wishes to survive, instead of doubling down and digging their ditch deeper, the party should take note of what the Republicans did and what they, the democratic party, didn’t do.

No whining. Make amends and come up with a sane game plan.

#Democratic Party Election Reckoning