The 2024 election is now behind us, and, needless to say, it didn’t turn out the way many people had hoped. Most of the people who voted for Harris were voting against a candidate who called illegal immigrants “animals,” said he wanted to be dictator for a day, accused legal Haitian immigrants of eating cats and dogs, promised to go after his political enemies, said he wanted his generals to behave like Hitler’s, told women he’d support them whether they liked it or not, and was charged with inciting an insurrection, trying to overturn an election, and stealing classified documents. I could list everything bad he said and did leading up to this election, but I only bought so much server space for this blog.
But giving people reasons to vote against someone is not the same as giving people reasons to vote for someone, and clearly Kamala Harris did not seal the deal on either front. She had a short window of time to do so, and she did not sell a plan to the American people that her worldview and strategies would be better than Donald Trump’s.
This election came down to one thing, as some very bright campaign staffers said 32 years ago: “It’s the economy, stupid.” It’s the same reason Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush became one-term presidents. People vote with their pocketbooks and dwindling bank accounts, not with their hearts. You can’t make an argument during a period of inflation with, “Yeah, but it’s on its way down.” You can’t meet the reality of increased prices on everything—especially food, gas, education, and housing—with, “Yeah, but our guy brought us back from the brink of recession.” And you can’t say things aren’t so bad if you’re upper middle class and you don’t see the pain of the 90% who are worse off than you are.
The hand-wringing on the left has already begun, and the pundits are already deconstructing the loss and over-complicating their analyses. They’re surely prognosticating from places of privilege, unaffected by the higher prices of eggs and bacon, and pointing to other causes such as the wars in Gaza and Ukraine (as though Trump won’t pour higher-priced gasoline on both) or, inevitably, wokeness. It seems wokeness was a major cause of the left’s loss, according to political showboaters like Bill Maher, whom I normally admire, but his take on wokeness has always frustrated me.
This election was not a referendum on wokeness. (Frankly, I’m beginning to hate the term, because the right has succeeded in turning it into a swear word, while I believe it means standing up for people.) It was not a referendum on DEI either, as most corporations have and will continue DEI programs.
I also don’t believe that this was an election about calling the GOP presidential candidate a racist or misogynist…especially when he is. It’s clear some, but not all, of his MAGA followers are too, but painting them with broad brushstrokes is as horrible as painting all liberals with broad brushstrokes.
It was about the economy, stupid.
However, sadly, it was a sign that people were willing to turn a blind eye to a candidate’s racism, misogyny, and hate-mongering if it affected their pocketbooks. People are inherently selfish, and fear is a very real motivator. It’s easy to blame someone else for your problems when your leaders push you to juice up the blame.
Those on the left and across the political spectrum need to continue standing for DEI, standing for the LGBTQ, and standing for people of all races, genders, religions, and sexual orientations. The last thing they should do is interpret the results of this election as meaning they should abandon or even keep quieter about these principles. Principles of fairness, decency, and kindness don’t change because some people deny them or de-prioritize them. Standing up for people isn’t a political issue—it’s a human issue. We should continue standing up for marginalized people not because it’s good or bad politics, but because it’s the right thing to do.
I believe leaning into so-called wokeness could have increased turnout for the left. Instead of making this election a referendum on Trump, Harris and the Dems could have pointed to the broader initiatives of the right, summarized in Project 2025, that remove mention of DEI, the LGBTQ community, gender studies, feminism, and even equating slavery with racism from our textbooks and our politics. Standing up for people and doing the right thing regardless of political consequences is rare in our national politics, and possibly rare enough that people will see how it separates great candidates from those who would divide us.
It was indeed the economy, stupid. But when people focus on wages and savings, and you can’t make a solid argument that you’ve worked to make their lives better, you lean into your principles. The fact that the left failed at this is sad, but I still believe Americans care more about their fellow human beings than the anti-woke would have us believe.
