2020 is a Pyrrhic Victory for the Democratic Party
The fact that the Biden/Harris ticket let the election get so close is a clear repudiation of the DNC’s strategy.
The fact that the Biden/Harris ticket let the election get so close is a clear repudiation of the DNC’s strategy.
If there is one lesson to draw from the 2020 elections is that populism is alive and well in America. Despite Donald Trump’s catastrophic handling of the health crisis and its economic fallout, Tuesday was an abject disaster for the Democratic Party. Worst, although the Dems said they would win a clear majority in Congress, the Republicans are on track to retain control of the Senate.
Democrats have had four years to reflect on their defeat in 2016. Now that their hopes of a Democratic landslide have not materialized, the question remains as to whether they have drawn the right lessons from their poor electoral performance. The signs are decidedly mixed.
The DNC’s focus on identity politics as a means to gain power has been vindicated and this election highlights the echo chamber the party lives into. Locked in their liberal urban bubble, they fail to see that most working-class and middle-class Americans have more pressing concerns such as putting food on the table and paying their rent than taking part in the BLM movement.
Unfortunately for the Democrats, a Biden/Harris election victory will probably serve to cement the idea that focusing mainly on historical grievances is the way forward and consequently, expect to see more of the same failed strategy in the years to come. Trump did make the Democrats sweat for their potential victory, yet it will probably be too much to hope that this would lead to any soul-searching and reevaluation of priorities.
The DNC wrongly assumes that most Americans are inherently against progressive economic reforms. If that was the case, then how do you explain the fact that Florida — the State that gave the fanatically pro-market Republican Party its biggest win of the night — just voted to raise the minimum wage to 15$ an hour?
In reality, many Trump voters, especially those residing in the Manufacturing Belt are moderately progressive on economic matters but more conservative when it comes to social issues. In 2016, being the conman that he is, Donald Trump realized that by casting himself as a friend of an American working-class that has been left poorer and weaker by decades of neoliberal policies — he could convince many workers to vote Republican. As such, Biden’s razor-thin win in Wisconsin and Michigan suggests that many blue-collar northern voters did not come back to the fold.
American urbanites have lost sense of the working-class’ grievances. They want less big business, less immigration, less foreign wars and a supply chain that goes no further west than California. They love the flag and could not care less about the national debt. They want good jobs and are comfortable with government spending on pensions and benefits for the working class.
The DNC still does not understand the Obama voters who switched to Trump in 2016. The wreck that is America in 2020 might have been enough to hand a victory to Sleepy Joe but Democrats should be very worried about 2024, especially if the Democratic ticket is led by Kamala Harris who is deeply unpopular among working-class voters.
I remained convinced that Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard represented the Democrats’ best chance to retake the White House in a convincing manner. Had she secured the nomination, she would have attracted a wide-ranging crowd of Lefties, progressives, independents, conservatives, and libertarians. Tulsi has the policy substance, record, intelligence, and debating skills to take on Trump.
Trump has vowed to take the presidential election to the Supreme Court but his drive to secure his reelection faces serious obstacles — both legal and practical — that could wind up leaving him empty-handed. However, beyond the upcoming legal battle, one thing is sure, Donald Trump will have a lasting impact on the GOP’s future.
Among many conservative thinkers, the results of the 2020 elections have reinforced their convictions that populism is the way forward. To retake the White House, the GOP needs to build on Trump’s legacy but with more coherence and a greater appeal to American workers and small business owners.
Joe Biden’s “back to normalcy” strategy will not do much to pull out America from the hole it find itself stuck into. Numerous jobs are definitely lost to the pandemic and consequently, millions of American citizens will experience a decline in social status, a condition that is associated with support for right-wing populism. As such, the sense of decline and decay that fuelled the emergence of the Trump phenomenon will still exist in 2024.
Trump might be on his way out but populism will survive him.