Cut the crap with the misogyny vote and especially racism. The liberals ran a very flawed person as a candidate. It was Hillary 2.0, minus a few points because at least Hillary is smart.

Kamala Harris was a terrible candidate. Democrats brought this on themselves. Joe Biden was a weak candidate, and his vice president was worse. Biden should have had serious challenges in the 2020 primaries and should never have been allowed to run again. Harris couldn’t even get 1% support from her party in 2020. Installing her as the candidate four months before the election, and crafting a campaign about “vibes” and her gender and ethnic background to cover for her inability to articulate a single coherent policy position, was madness. Democrats deserved to lose.

No, Harris didn’t lose because she’s a woman, or black, or biracial. Nor did she lose because of bigotry or white supremacy or Christian nationalism, whatever these might mean. Rather, she lost because she was attached to policies opposed to common sense and, when she tried to distance herself from them, it looked more like pandering than a principled change of heart. When flipping on issues, she didn’t actually seem to believe that her past positions were wrong, only that they wouldn’t get her elected. Ultimately, she came across as inauthentic and evasive and, like Hillary Clinton, entitled. And that’s on her and the establishment media that enabled her, not on Trump or the bogeymen of patriarchy and systemic racism.

Enough, then, with the Hitler comparisons and the doomsaying about the death of democracy. Enough also with the claims of fascism and white supremacy. Many citizens, frankly, are sick and tired of history and race being exploited to keep dysfunctional politicians in power, or to make Americans feel bad about their country, which by and large has been exemplary for its integration of people from all over the world of different races, ethnicities, and religions. They’re also sick, for that matter, of race and identity categories being exploited generally, whether by establishment media, college DEI programs, or the entertainment industry.

The rhetoric is the problem. For decades, Democrats in the punditocracy have ramped up their attacks on every single Republican candidate for president (Reagan, Bush 1 and 2, McCain, Romney, and Trump). More recently, these condescending elites have turned their fire on the American public, calling Trump supporters “deplorables,” “garbage” and “racists” who were willing to elect a fascist dictator (Trump). Whether or not the talking heads in the press believe their own shtick, their followers clearly do. Social media is now filled with people flailing, crying, and screaming that their lives are in danger. This is nonsense that borders on mental illness, and those who promote and encourage it deserve to lose their jobs.

The Trump candidacies of 2016 through 2024, if nothing else, have exposed the snobbery of elites—be they at universities, in the media, or in government—and their general disdain for the concerns of ordinary Americans.

Much was made of Trump as a “strongman” or “dictator” and so those in the echelons of power and influence could write him off as another Hitler or Mussolini and, in turn, excoriate his followers as “anti-American,” “deplorables,” or “garbage,” or as people who “cling to guns or religion” in times of stress. What these elite failed to see, fundamentally, is that Trump spoke to their common-sense values and beliefs – sometimes crudely, yes, but clearly and authentically.

What sorts of values and beliefs? For starters, that the nation’s border should not be wide open as long as lawful immigration avenues exist. That the government should take care of its citizens first and foremost, rooted in basic ideas of social contract. That males don’t belong in women’s sports and that gender is essentially biological, not “fluid.” That criminals should be punished, regardless of race or ethnicity, and that crime should be brought and kept under control. That American jobs and industry should be fostered, not exported. And that America should be energy independent and not beholden to hostile nations abroad.