There are countless explanations now coming from pundits and politicians about what happened on November 5, and many of them have some valuable insights into the decisions that were made at the polls (as well as by mail, early voting, and drop boxes).
But the most credit for the results cannot be claimed by political strategists, speechwriters, ad creators, or even the numerous volunteers and campaign staffs who worked so hard on behalf of their candidates and their political party.
The most credit belongs to the American voters, in the historic Jeffersonian sense, who absorbed the TV, radio and print advertising, the mailings, the bumper stickers and lawn signs, the barrage of e-mail funding requests, the biased reporting and fake news, political rallies, the charges and countercharges, and all else that comes with a political campaign — and then used their common sense and personal experiences to make their electoral judgments known on a secret ballot.
Before the election, many Americans feared widespread voter cheating, as was alleged in the 2020 presidential election, but political party officials took extraordinary steps to have observers, lawyers, and election judges at voting areas, and any efforts to seriously compromise the integrity of the election was overwhelmed.
The pandemic caused much non-traditional but legitimate voting to take place, including unlimited early voting, absentee voting without cause, so-called ballot harvesting, and the use of voting drop boxes. In 2020 and 2022, only one party took advantage of these, but in 2024 the other party participated in them significantly, as did many independents, and the previous advantage of one party evaporated.
Some Democrats are objecting to the use of the word “landslide” to describe the outcome. It is true that the results did not match the margins in 1980 or 1984, nor in several previous elections when both the popular vote and the electoral college vote were very one-sided.
But in 2024, Donald Trump won 312 electoral votes to his opponent’s 226, and he also won the popular vote by millions, something his party had not done since 2004. A better word for the outcome is “decisive.” Instead of waiting for days or weeks for vote tabulations and recounts, the winner was clear on election night.
Donald Trump has a controversial personality, but his political skills are irrefutable now that he has made an historic political comeback in the manner he did. His campaign did not just overcome an incumbent first term president and his last-minute replacement. The Kamala Harris campaign spent more than a billion dollars (a multiple of the funds Trump spent) to defeat him. Virtually the entire broadcast and print media establishment was against him, publishing and broadcasting an unceasing torrent of negative and often false information about him. The Biden administration had him indicted numerous times on questionable charges, as well as indicting and jailing several of his associates. American presidential politics had not ever seen any spectacle like it.
And yet, Trump not only survived this onslaught, he prevailed over it. Sometimes, in response to the various attacks on him, he made outrageous retorts. He was often profane, but really not any more than his opponents. He made himself the center of attention.
His opponents’ vitriol and so-called “lawfare” strategy only kept him in the limelight, and made him sympathetic to many not already in his voter base. Despite have several serious opponents in the GOP primaries, he won those primaries by large margins.
Meanwhile, the Democrat establishment prevented any serious challenge to their physically declining incumbent until a TV debate exposed his frailty, and then they imposed Vice President Kamala Harris on their ticket, again preventing any serious challenge within their own party. Democrat voters had no opportunity to vote on their own choices.
Nominee Harris then chose Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a self-described “knucklehead,” as her running mate without a thorough vetting. A series of controversies appeared from his past and his record as governor, following him in the campaign. He was, by almost all accounts, overmatched by the poised Republican vice presidential nominee, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, in their debate.
The Harris campaign was a verbal mirage throughout the final weeks of the contest. President Biden undercut her at key points with his comments. A master of public relations from his years in private life, Trump effectively exploited each fumble by his opponents.
The frightening attempts on Trump’s life during the campaign not only enhanced him, his handling of these events gave him a new stature, and further expanded his support beyond his voter base.
In the end, however, voters asked themselves if they were better off than they were during Mr. Trump’s first term four years before, and a clear majority decided they were not. In spite of so many aspects of the 2024 cycle being unprecedented, Americans critically ignored the propaganda, the biases, and the so-called experts, and voted based on what they cared about most.
The 200-plus years of the American experiment continues. Bravo, voters!
Herald Boas is an AMAC Newsline contributor.
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