POLITIQ

The current state of politics presents a troubling reality: a convicted felon and former President, who incited an insurrection in Washington after refusing to accept the democratic election results, is now making an even stronger comeback.

But who is to blame? Surely, someone must be held accountable for the erosion of our politics' centre ground and the rise of a candidate who, judging by many of his quotes, seems to lack any sense of self-decency.

All of us, myself included, misunderstood Trump—perhaps more significantly, America itself. Even after eight years since he first ran for President, we have failed to fully acknowledge the reality of his appeal. A classic headline from 2016 on the U.S. Presidential elections in left-leaning newspapers like The Guardian that read something like “This is not America” is no longer relevant. This is America.

Despite his fractured public image, Trump has improved in almost every key demographic compared to his 2020 campaign. Even among women, Vice President Harris struggled to match the support garnered by Joe Biden or Hillary Clinton, despite her efforts to mobilise female voters around issues like abortion rights.

It now might be time for liberals to look inward and question why things have gone so wrong. Many progressive liberals, including Democrats, have grown so self-absorbed—wrapped in the sense of their righteousness over every imaginable issue—that they have forgotten the fundamentals of politics: listening to people’s stories and crafting a narrative that resonates.

Barack Obama, a master of this approach, once said, "I learned that everybody has a story—and if I was to achieve anything as a community organizer, I had to learn people’s stories. I had to understand their hopes and their dreams, their disappointments and their hurts."

It is one of the stories of this election that Democrats spent a significant portion of their campaign talking about MAGA supporters rather than talking to them.

Donald Trump, on the other hand, did just that. Whatever one may think of his character—which, at best, is questionable—he has proved that he has an impeccable political intuition to feel what resonates with Americans.

He understood that it is still ‘The economy, stupid’ (famously said by Jim Carville, Bill Clinton’s strategist, in 1992). This election’s exit polls confirm that the economy remains the top concern for U.S. voters. Despite the recent recovery of the U.S. economy, soaring prices continue to place a significant strain on working-class Americans. One of the key factors behind Trump’s advantage over Harris is his perceived credibility on economic issues.

Beyond the economy, Trump has managed to create captivating story narratives around issues like immigration, foreign policy, and the liberal culture advanced by Democrats. Though he may not offer the best solutions to these issues, he has positioned himself as someone willing to take extreme measures—even take a bullet (literally)—to protect his voters’ interests.

Kamala Harris’s campaign, in contrast, lacked this connection. While a lot of sympathy must be extended to her as a candidate being thrown into a chaotic presidential campaign, her struggle reflects how disconnected the liberal establishment is from the average American voter. Many voters have lost faith in the political system and crave a leader who, however imperfect, even sometimes stepping out of any imaginable moral boundaries, will ‘tell it like it is.’

The American liberal establishment now faces the tough task of understanding why they continue to struggle when facing a perfectly imperfect political opponent.

Perhaps now, the time has come for Democrats to take a look at themselves and drop any illusions about Trump’s appeal. While these were not, by any means, deciding factors in either of the elections, it might be of help to reflect on how Hillary Clinton labelled Trump supporters; “deplorables” in 2016 and Joe Biden called them “garbage” eight years later. Perhaps, these statements showcase why things keep going wrong for Democrats. Instead of listening to people’s stories, they toss them in the bin.