America has spoken. And they’ve made their choices in a free and fair democratic election, with no bombs actually going off.
And if my social media feeds are any indication, as a country we’ve apparently committed hari-kari.
Well, as someone who has often been put in the uncomfortable position of conveying results of far less consequential events to equally disbelieving stakeholders, I can only offer those who are waking up to news they dreaded the same sort of cold hard facts that I attempted to those who were wishing I’d try to bomb the offices of of my data sources, and were secretly hoping I’d be in the building if it happened.
The NEW YORK TIMES’ Shane Goldmacher and Lisa Lerer were put in such a position as the lead on their story that dropped earlier this morning suggests:
Donald J. Trump rode a promise to smash the American status quo to win the presidency for a second time on Wednesday, surviving a criminal conviction, indictments, an assassin’s bullet, accusations of authoritarianism and an unprecedented switch of his opponent to complete a remarkable return to power.
Mr. Trump’s victory caps the astonishing political comeback of a man who was charged with plotting to overturn the last election but who tapped into frustrations and fears about the economy and illegal immigration to defeat Vice President Kamala Harris.
His defiant plans to upend the country’s political system held appeal to tens of millions of voters who feared that the American dream was drifting further from reach and who turned to Mr. Trump as a battering ram against the ruling establishment and the expert class of elites.
In a deeply divided nation, voters embraced Mr. Trump’s pledge to seal the southern border by almost any means, to revive the economy with 19th-century-style tariffs that would restore American manufacturing and to lead a retreat from international entanglements and global conflict.
NBC NEWS’ Jonathan Allen added further context:
NBC News projected the Trump victory over Harris, who was the first woman of color to win a major party nomination for president, early Wednesday morning. She took the reins of the Democratic campaign after President Joe Biden abandoned his bid for a second term, a decision made in the wake of a disastrous June debate performance.
The most polarizing figure in modern American politics, Trump now must preside over a nation deeply riven by social, racial, cultural and economic hostilities that he has strategically exploited on the campaign trail for nearly a decade. It was, for him, a successful strategy. The last time a defeated U.S. president avenged his loss was Grover Cleveland — in 1892.
His opponent? Well, we’ve yet to hear from her, much to the chagrin of the thousands that crowded into the Yard her alma mater of Howard University for support (and apparently a lot of free water). Instead, they got a terse statement that the NEW YORK POST’s Josh Christenson shared with equal terseness:
“We still have votes to count … so you won’t hear from the vice president tonight,” he told the crowd at Harris’ watch party at Howard University. “She will be back here tomorrow.”
“Go H-U and go Harris,” he added.
My insomnia and odd sleep patterns were a benefit, as I missed most of the early evening build-up and was sporadically awake every time an event of consequence broke. North Carolina was the first swing state domino to fall for Trump, and my roommate was already posting his red wave “predictions” coming true on social media. My first reaction was for him to stay in his career lane.
Then Georgia was declared. Then the 51st Senate seat, guaranteeing that J.D. Vance won’t be in the same position that Harris was often put into. After Roomie finally fell asleep, Pennsylvania turned red and finally, just as I was waking up, Wisconsin put him over the top. Sorry, roomie, Michigan is still too close to call, so your prediction wasn’t fully accurate–yet.
I listened to the hand-wringing and disbelief of the major networks’ lead personalities who were apparently channeling the thoughts of who they think are their viewers or who they know are their bosses. Gayle King. David Muir. Lester Holt and his gaggle of geese on NBC (forget MSNBC for the moment). This morning, Joe and Mika. They clearly are in the same camp as my social media “friends”.
And one and after one, their respective data experts presented indisputable facts. Steve Kornacki was at his best acting as the John Madden of politics, unearthing historic data and segmentation by county and demographic cell. Trump improved his 2020 results in 90 per cent of the 1300-ish counties in this country. He consistently built his base audience by several points over that baseline and he eroded the Democrats’ margins of victory even when they maintained enough of an advantage to claim the electoral college. He’s leading the popular vote by over 5 million at this writing. And it’s entirely possible that the House could wind up red as well.
Even the most ardent Democratic supporters have already begun their own Monday (Wednesday?) morning quarterbacking. Did she focus too heavily on character assassination? Should she have chosen Josh Shapiro as her running mate and perhaps locked up Pennsylvania? (For the record: she didn’t even win Tim Walz’ home county in Minnesota). Did Barack Obama cross a line when he all but admonished Black men to vote along optic lines?
At least we have an idea what will be serving as programming fodder for these networks’ news divisions moving forward.
And yet–by all indications of what I’m seeing from the East Coast, the sun did rise today. And at least for the moment, the things that matter to me the most have yet to be affected. Sorry to be so selfish, but I dare say I’m not alone in that bottom-line approach. There’s apparently a more than decent amount of Latino men who I seem to be in line with.
CBS NEWS’ Olivia Rinaldi and Jacob Rosen added still more insights in a story that dropped in the last two hours:
Exit polling shows Trump won overwhelmingly among White voters without a college education and made inroads with Black and Latino men.
Trump has had an unshakeable base of voters, and in this election, he was able to attract new voters who were undecided — low-propensity, young male voters — turned out for him.
As Judd Legum of POPULAR INFORMATION summed it up in this morning’s newsletter, This Is America.
Whether we like it or not.
So, please, everyone, stop crying in your beer (or water) bottles. Just be yourselves for as long as you’re allowed to be.
And, hopefully, you’ll eventually want to talk to me again.
Until next time…
1 thought on “Mourning In America?”
Trump in Atlantic City in 1988 as a 40ish year old divorcee(he was divorcing Ivana at the time) dated two 22 year old cocktail servers from his AC casinos who chose not to date a certain 18 year old loner from Margate, NJ near Atlantic City at the time. Will the United States of America be a contestant on a 2025 episode of Celebrity Bucket Kickers?