I drafted this post several weeks ago, but didn’t finish the draft until today. The original direction I wanted to take this post in changed in light of the 2024 presidential election and the re-election of Donald Trump to a second, non-consecutive term, only the second time in American history that a president has won a second, non-consecutive term, the first being Grover Cleveland (22nd and 24th President of the United States).
My last blog post outlined my thoughts on why I thought Vice President Kamala Harris would win. While I stand by what I wrote, it is clear that I was wrong in my assessment as the election result aptly proves.
Obviously, my thoughts didn’t reflect the true mood of the electorate. Of course, I only speak for myself on this personal blog, and my thoughts are my own. I own my thoughts and opinions even when proven incorrect.
I have my thoughts on why Harris lost the election…
While her ethnicity and gender may have played a role in the minds of some voters, I think the reality is quite different and much simpler.
To quote James Carville, the political strategist who engineered the successful campaigns of former President Bill Clinton, “it’s the economy, stupid.”
Although the economy, as of this writing, is the best in the world and perhaps better in many ways than it has been in the history of our country, if the working class doesn’t feel the economy is working for them, then it doesn’t matter how well the economy is working.
Such circumstances are what fuel the extremes that were on display during this election cycle. It is such extremism that I initially wanted to write about before the election cycle ended, and the draft I started begins with the next sentence, and I will attempt to tie what I said above to that initial draft.
One of my favorite quotes is from the late Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Nothing is more dangerous in the world than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
The state of our political discourse in the United States and much of the Western world appears to be driven by fear and ignorance.
It has been said that fear and ignorance are the parents of extremism. This seems plausible given that fear is the typical response to ignorance of things we don’t understand or that cause us pain, anxiety, and angst. In that context, extremism is the means some turn to in order to channel the anger that often accompanies fear of the things, and people, that they are ignorant of. Extremism causes people to act against their own interests under the delusion that they are supporting their own interests.
Wanting a secure border is fine. Every nation should have secure borders. However, “securing the border” means something different under the rhetorical umbrella of extremism.
Fear that the ethnic and cultural makeup of our country will change irrevocably because of immigrants is a very old and persistent fear. The elites have always used such fears to their advantage and the status quo remains even after those stoking such fears are put into power.
Tim Wise articulated this dynamic brilliantly in 2006:
The reality of a looming majority minority country isn’t something that can be stopped or even slowed, and considering a large number of Latino men, black men, and white women broke heavily for Trump, it would be overly simplistic and unfairly inaccurate to think only white males powered Trump to a decisive victory.
Misogyny was another dynamic that shaped this electoral outcome. The contentious debate about women’s reproductive rights (abortion), LGBTQ rights, and other wedge issues built a much broader, and less vocal coalition for Donald Trump that delivered him a second term. It seems that women are not as galvanized against the overturning of Roe v Wade as we thought.
It remains to be seen whether the extremism that was tapped into to win an election will carry over into governance, but in my experience, it never carries over well.
I have faith that our system of government quells such extremes. However, it’s up to the politicians to decide if the extremism on display this election cycle will shape policy in a way that undermines our imperfectly perfect system. It is that very imperfect system that has made the United States the wealthiest nation on earth.
Sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity are indeed dangerous because they fuel extremism. As long as those things are not further fueled by government policies, they usually go no further than hurting the same people who hold such views. Rhetoric on the campaign trail seldom finds its way into public policy in any meaningful way.
To clarify, Trump isn’t going back to the White House to enrich the working class. He’s going back to enrich the upper class and upper middle classes.
Dave Chappelle and those in the know in the foreign markets know this.
-The Rational Ram
The Rational Ram 
