Trump Voters Got What They Wanted

[Bunmi fatoye-matory]

By Peter Birkenhead 

“Democrats and liberal pundits are already trying to figure out how the Trump campaign not only bested Kamala Harris in the “Blue Wall” states of the Midwest and the Rust Belt, but gained on her even in areas that should have been safe for a Democrat. Almost everywhere, Donald Trump expanded his coalition, and this time, unlike in 2016, he didn’t have to thread the needle of the Electoral College to win: He can claim the legitimacy of winning the popular vote. Trump’s opponents are now muttering about the choice of Tim Walz, the influence of the Russians, the role of the right-wing media, and whether President Joe Biden should not have stepped aside in favor of Harris. Even the old saw about “economic anxiety” is making a comeback. These explanations all have some merit, but mostly, they miss the point. Yes, some voters still stubbornly believe that presidents magically control the price of basic goods. Others have genuine concerns about immigration and gave in to Trump’s booming call of fascism and nativism. And some of them were just never going to vote for a woman, much less a Black woman. But in the end, a majority of American voters chose Trump because they wanted what he was selling: a nonstop reality show of rage and resentment. Some Democrats, still gripped by the lure of wonkery, continue to scratch their heads over which policy proposals might have unlocked more votes, but that was always a mug’s game. Trump voters never cared about policies, and he rarely gave them any. (Choosing to be eaten by a shark rather than electrocuted might be a personal preference, but it’s not a policy.) His rallies involved long rants about the way he’s been treated, like a giant therapy session or a huge family gathering around a bellowing, impaired grandpa. Back in 2021, I wrote a book about the rise of “illiberal populism,” the self-destructive tendency in some nations that leads people to participate in democratic institutions such as voting while being hostile to democracy itself, casting ballots primarily to punish other people and to curtail everyone’s rights—even their own. These movements are sometimes led by fantastically wealthy faux populists who hoodwink gullible voters by promising to solve a litany of problems that always seem to involve money, immigrants, and minorities. The appeals from these charlatans resonate most not among the very poor, but among a bored, relatively well-off middle class, usually those who are deeply uncomfortable with racial and demographic changes in their own countries. And so it came to pass: Last night, a gaggle of millionaires and billionaires grinned and applauded for Trump. They were part of an alliance with the very people another Trump term would hurt—the young, minorities, and working families among them. Trump, as he has shown repeatedly over the years, couldn’t care less about any of these groups. He ran for office to seize control of the apparatus of government and to evade judicial accountability for his previous actions as president. Once he is safe, he will embark on the other project he seems to truly care about: the destruction of the rule of law and any other impediments to enlarging his power. Americans who wish to stop Trump in this assault on the American constitutional order, then, should get it out of their heads that this election could have been won if only a better candidate had made a better pitch to a few thousand people in Pennsylvania. Biden, too old and tired to mount a proper campaign, likely would have lost worse than Harris; more to the point, there was nothing even a more invigorated Biden or a less, you know, female alternative could have offered. Racial grievances, dissatisfaction with life’s travails (including substance addiction and lack of education), and resentment toward the villainous elites in faraway cities cannot be placated by housing policy or interest-rate cuts. No candidate can reason about facts and policies with voters who have no real interest in such things. They like the promises of social revenge that flow from Trump, the tough-guy rhetoric, the simplistic “I will fix it” solutions. And he’s interesting to them, because he supports and encourages their conspiracist beliefs. (I knew Harris was in trouble when I was in Pennsylvania last week for an event and a fairly well-off business owner, who was an ardent Trump supporter, told me that Michelle Obama had conspired with the Canadians to change the state’s vote tally in 2020. And that wasn’t even the weirdest part of the conversation.) As Jonathan Last, editor of The Bulwark, put it in a social-media post last night: The election went the way it did “because America wanted Trump. That’s it. People reaching to construct [policy] alibis for the public because they don’t want to grapple with this are whistling past the graveyard.” Last worries that we might now be in a transition to authoritarianism of the kind Russia went through in the 1990s, but I visited Russia often in those days, and much of the Russian democratic implosion was driven by genuinely brutal economic conditions and the rapid collapse of basic public services. Americans have done this to themselves during a time of peace, prosperity, and astonishingly high living standards. An affluent society that thinks it is living in a hellscape is ripe for gulling by dictators who are willing to play along with such delusions. The bright spot in all this is that Trump and his coterie must now govern. The last time around, Trump was surrounded by a small group of moderately competent people, and these adults basically put baby bumpers and pool noodles on all the sharp edges of government. This time, Trump will rule with greater power but fewer excuses, and he—and his voters—will have to own the messes and outrages he is already planning to create. Those voters expect that Trump will hurt others and not them. They will likely be unpleasantly surprised, much as they were in Trump’s first term. (He was, after all, voted out of office for a reason.) For the moment, some number of them have memory-holed that experience and are pretending that his vicious attacks on other Americans are just so much hot air. Trump, unfortunately, means most of what he says. In this election, he has triggered the unfocused ire and unfounded grievances of millions of voters. Soon we will learn whether he can still trigger their decency—if there is any to be found.”

[Dr. Oohay]

Yes, Walz of Minnesota fell the way Walter Mondale of Minnesota and Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota fell; they fell BIG (“electorally” and in popular votes).

Remember Shakespeare’s Brutus: “There is a tide in the affairs of men/Which taken at the flood, leads to fortune;/… And we must take the current when it serves,/Or lose our ventures.”

A lesson for us (scholars), especially those who analyze politics like partisan politicians:

Politically, the pendulum always swings (slowly or quickly) back and forth — and so are generational political shifts. Unfortunately, DOGMATIC scholars hardly listen; they enjoy lecturing voters (instead of listening to them) they double down: these dogmatic analysts dismiss them as ignorant, unintelligent, racist, misogynistic, sexist, xenophobic, anti-democratic, etc. such scholars, especially if ACADEMIC scholars, usually use their platforms or status to INDOCTRINATE their students (with DOGMAS).

My dear colleagues, regardless of which political party you belong to or which religion you identify with, when it comes to political analyses, try to parenthesize or suspend your “ism”; also remember that atheism also functions as a religion.

Thinkers of the world, think DEEP or not at all. Like Las Vegas: Go BIG, or GO HOME.

Deep analysis requires: COURAGE and HONESTY.

Simply resorting to name calling is not a policy or an argument. Merely IDENTIFYING or dismissing others as Hitler or fascists or haters, or anti-democratic or unpatriotic or ignoramuses or sellouts, etc. does not constitute an argument. DEI means something, BUT NOT EVERYTHING.   

So the fallacious rhetoric U ain’t black if you don’t  … does not help any logical cause,

Those who live politically by DEI will (sooner or later) DIE politically.

My dear brothers and sisters, SLOGANS AIN’T ARGUMENTS.

Oohay

On Saturday, November 9, 2024, 7:17 AM, Bunmi fatoye-matory <bun...@gmail.com> wrote:

By Peter Birkenhead 

“Democrats and liberal pundits are already trying to figure out how the Trump campaign not only bested Kamala Harris in the “Blue Wall” states of the Midwest and the Rust Belt, but gained on her even in areas that should have been safe for a Democrat. Almost everywhere, Donald Trump expanded his coalition, and this time, unlike in 2016, he didn’t have to thread the needle of the Electoral College to win: He can claim the legitimacy of winning the popular vote. Trump’s opponents are now muttering about the choice of Tim Walz, the influence of the Russians, the role of the right-wing media, and whether President Joe Biden should not have stepped aside in favor of Harris. Even the old saw about “economic anxiety” is making a comeback. These explanations all have some merit, but mostly, they miss the point. Yes, some voters still stubbornly believe that presidents magically control the price of basic goods. Others have genuine concerns about immigration and gave in to Trump’s booming call of fascism and nativism. And some of them were just never going to vote for a woman, much less a Black woman. But in the end, a majority of American voters chose Trump because they wanted what he was selling: a nonstop reality show of rage and resentment. Some Democrats, still gripped by the lure of wonkery, continue to scratch their heads over which policy proposals might have unlocked more votes, but that was always a mug’s game. Trump voters never cared about policies, and he rarely gave them any. (Choosing to be eaten by a shark rather than electrocuted might be a personal preference, but it’s not a policy.) His rallies involved long rants about the way he’s been treated, like a giant therapy session or a huge family gathering around a bellowing, impaired grandpa. Back in 2021, I wrote a book about the rise of “illiberal populism,” the self-destructive tendency in some nations that leads people to participate in democratic institutions such as voting while being hostile to democracy itself, casting ballots primarily to punish other people and to curtail everyone’s rights—even their own. These movements are sometimes led by fantastically wealthy faux populists who hoodwink gullible voters by promising to solve a litany of problems that always seem to involve money, immigrants, and minorities. The appeals from these charlatans resonate most not among the very poor, but among a bored, relatively well-off middle class, usually those who are deeply uncomfortable with racial and demographic changes in their own countries. And so it came to pass: Last night, a gaggle of millionaires and billionaires grinned and applauded for Trump. They were part of an alliance with the very people another Trump term would hurt—the young, minorities, and working families among them. Trump, as he has shown repeatedly over the years, couldn’t care less about any of these groups. He ran for office to seize control of the apparatus of government and to evade judicial accountability for his previous actions as president. Once he is safe, he will embark on the other project he seems to truly care about: the destruction of the rule of law and any other impediments to enlarging his power. Americans who wish to stop Trump in this assault on the American constitutional order, then, should get it out of their heads that this election could have been won if only a better candidate had made a better pitch to a few thousand people in Pennsylvania. Biden, too old and tired to mount a proper campaign, likely would have lost worse than Harris; more to the point, there was nothing even a more invigorated Biden or a less, you know, female alternative could have offered. Racial grievances, dissatisfaction with life’s travails (including substance addiction and lack of education), and resentment toward the villainous elites in faraway cities cannot be placated by housing policy or interest-rate cuts. No candidate can reason about facts and policies with voters who have no real interest in such things. They like the promises of social revenge that flow from Trump, the tough-guy rhetoric, the simplistic “I will fix it” solutions. And he’s interesting to them, because he supports and encourages their conspiracist beliefs. (I knew Harris was in trouble when I was in Pennsylvania last week for an event and a fairly well-off business owner, who was an ardent Trump supporter, told me that Michelle Obama had conspired with the Canadians to change the state’s vote tally in 2020. And that wasn’t even the weirdest part of the conversation.) As Jonathan Last, editor of The Bulwark, put it in a social-media post last night: The election went the way it did “because America wanted Trump. That’s it. People reaching to construct [policy] alibis for the public because they don’t want to grapple with this are whistling past the graveyard.” Last worries that we might now be in a transition to authoritarianism of the kind Russia went through in the 1990s, but I visited Russia often in those days, and much of the Russian democratic implosion was driven by genuinely brutal economic conditions and the rapid collapse of basic public services. Americans have done this to themselves during a time of peace, prosperity, and astonishingly high living standards. An affluent society that thinks it is living in a hellscape is ripe for gulling by dictators who are willing to play along with such delusions. The bright spot in all this is that Trump and his coterie must now govern. The last time around, Trump was surrounded by a small group of moderately competent people, and these adults basically put baby bumpers and pool noodles on all the sharp edges of government. This time, Trump will rule with greater power but fewer excuses, and he—and his voters—will have to own the messes and outrages he is already planning to create. Those voters expect that Trump will hurt others and not them. They will likely be unpleasantly surprised, much as they were in Trump’s first term. (He was, after all, voted out of office for a reason.) For the moment, some number of them have memory-holed that experience and are pretending that his vicious attacks on other Americans are just so much hot air. Trump, unfortunately, means most of what he says. In this election, he has triggered the unfocused ire and unfounded grievances of millions of voters. Soon we will learn whether he can still trigger their decency—if there is any to be found.”

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[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Many Thanks for Dr Oohay’s words of wisdom, and caution , that we are to listen , read critically, interactively, and not fall into some blind acceptance of what some learned liar. politician, prophet propaganda mischief maker or professor says ( argumentum ad verecundiam and other fallacies)  “especially if ACADEMIC scholars, usually use their platforms or status to INDOCTRINATE their students (with DOGMAS).”

The people at Frontpage Magazine have been preaching against dogma 

Re - “SLOGANS AIN’T ARGUMENTS.” -  

She’s been sleeping around and when her boyfriend complains, she brays  “A woman has the God given right to decide over her own body!”  Indeed, Kamala's second favourite mantra so easy to understand and latch on to was supposed to and did spread like wildfire  : “ As a woman, it's important that we are able to make decisions about our own bodies and our own healthcare, without the interference or control of others.” This is self-evident. Who is denying this? And, as a man, or indeed as another woman or a woman who wants to become a transgender man, who are you to say that it ain’t so, without incurring the wrath, the opprobrium, the condemnation , even crucifixion as a male chauvinist pig, a misogynist and a tyrant?  But if you're all for unlimited abortion they are not going to say you are an evil, genocidal son of a bitch! .

 Which reminds me, 70 % of those killed so far in Gaza, are women and children 

Kamala’s favourite mantra on the campaign trail was “ Israel has a right to defend itself.”, hoping to seduce Douglas Emhoff, AIPAC , the rest of the Israel lobby thereby  - but not the Arabs , the Muslims, and the peacemakers 

To surpass Trump , in the last days of campaigning Kamala Harris suddenly declared that  “Iran is the “greatest adversary" of US”

Re -  “Walz of Minnesota fell the way Walter Mondale of Minnesota and Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota fell; they fell BIG (“electorally” and in popular votes).”   - for impartial observers that far back, Kamala who didn't win the ticket through any democratic primaries , is reminiscent of Senator Lloyd Bentsen's memorable quip to Dan Quayle  - : “ Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy” -in Kamala's case the bullseye quip could have been “ Vice President Harris, you’re no Barack Obama , you’re certainly no Angela Davis, speak less of being like Kathleen Cleaver”   

Breaking news: Peter Obi Calls Donald Trump

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Correction : The people at FRONTPAGE MAGAZINE have been preaching against dogma 

https://www.frontpagemag.com/?s=dogma

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[Salimonu Kadiri]

The slogan would want us to believe that abortion is the right of women to control their bodies, but since women at the age of menopause can never be pregnant and, as such, they have no need to abort foetus or terminate pregnancy would that imply that menopause women have no control over their bodies? Is the right for women to control their body restricted to only women who can be pregnant? Women sleeping around with men for the sake of recreational sex and resulting in undesirable pregnancy should not be considered as exercising the right to control their bodies. Such women should accept responsibility for their actions, especially when there are means by which unwanted pregnancy can be prevented. In case of rape or medically proven defective foetus, no one will object to abortion. Otherwise, I think euthanasia which is forbidden in law all over the world, except in Switzerland, is comparable to helping to abort foetus.

S. Kadiri

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com>
Sent: 09 November 2024 21:14
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Trump Voters Got What They Wanted

 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAFYPD-TGHUWN3QbgZg1FXyaspGjY4c%3D-ykgNDwt2iMm-eNXMTw%40mail.gmail.com.

[Dr. Oohay]

Yes, indeed, Cornelius. 

Back to Shakespeare where Mark Antony reminds us all that “Ambition should be made of sterner stuff.” Apparently, KH does not have what it takes to make it in BIG-time politics. Of course, DEI dictionary would most probably dismiss such criticism as racism or sexism or both. Advocates of ad hominem tend to be obsessed with apophasis. 

Oohay

https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAFYPD-TGHUWN3QbgZg1FXyaspGjY4c%3D-ykgNDwt2iMm-eNXMTw%40mail.gmail.com

.

[Emeagwali, Gloria (History)]

https://www.rsn.org/001/farright-extremists-celebrate-see-opportunity-in-second-trump-win.html

Dr. Gloria Emeagwali
Professor of History/African Studies, CCSU
Chief Editor- "Africa Update"
https://sites.ccsu.edu/afstudy/archive.html
Gloria Emeagwali's Documentaries
www.vimeo.com/gloriaemeagwali
www.africahistory.net
Founding Coordinator, African Studies, CCSU

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To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Trump Voters Got What They Wanted

 

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[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Hopefully, dear Professor Emeagwali doesn’t think that everybody who voted for Donald J.Trumpis a so called

“ far right extremist” 

Fareed Zakaria’s latest GPS - On the three big mistakes Democrats made is certainly not as dogmatic…

https://edition.cnn.com/videos