Amid their understandable euphoria right now over Donald Trump’s stunning win on Election Day, his supporters should stay humble. Most political movements are short-lived, and few live up to the heady expectations engendered in the flush of victory.
A confluence of unforced errors made the Democrats extremely beatable in this cycle:
– Joe Biden choosing Kamala Harris to be his vice president.
– The Biden administration’s horrible handling of the economy, causing a punishing round of inflation, lack of affordable housing, etc.
– The administration’s shocking malfeasance at the border, letting in millions and millions of “undocumented” immigrants, innundating cities and busting budgets across the country.
– A crumbling of international stability under Biden’s leadership.
– Woke policies and prosecutors that caused crime to spike in many parts of the nation.
– The Left’s irrational and obstinate embrace of woke policies on DEI, antisemitism, and transgenderism.
– Kamala Harris’s miserable tenure as vice president (“border czar,” Afghanistan sign-off, etc.) and her off-putting inability to articulate policies and ideas.
– Urged on by the complicit leadership in his party (including Harris), a diminished Biden waiting far beyond his political expiration date to drop out of the 2024 race.
– Biden choosing the ill-prepared, unlikable, and untalented Harris to succeed him rather than supporting an open primary.
– The Democratc Party’s taking too many groups in its coalition for granted (black men, Latino men, young men, etc.)., even accusing black men of misogyny if they didn’t vote for Harris.
– A poorly run campaign that thought demonizing Trump (“fascist,” “Nazi rally”), insulting his supporters (“garbage”), and lying about Project 2025 would be enough.
– Harris choosing Walz of Minnesota instead of Shapiro of Pennsylvania as her running mate.
– A smug and complicit media and celebrity culture.
– An absurd candidate who implausibly changed her radical positions without explanation, couldn’t answer obvious questions, ducked interviews, and generally gave voters no positive reasons to vote for her.
I could go on. Trump did an amazing job building a new coalition and moving most areas of the country to the right, and he gets full credit for his decisive win on November 5th.
However, he would be well advised to remember that the margins of victory in most contested states were small, even with all of these Democrat blunders. If the Democratic Party somehow regains its senses and moves to the center, even just a little, those margins could disappear entirely.
Trump’s team should keep in mind that American voters can be very fickle. If he fails to deliver on his oft-grandiose promises, his coaltion could be incredibly short-lived as people move back to their former party.
And while Trump and his team ran an incredibly disciplined campaign, Trump is still Trump. If he gives free rein to his worst instincts, his honeymoon could be short-lived indeed.
May God continue to bless, guide, and protect the United States of America.
