Thank you all so far for your engagement with this post. The conversation will continue on both Bluesky and Instagram, so make sure to follow me on there as we delve into how The Glass Cliff reared its ugly head this election cycle.
We also have to look at the White men that voted for Trump who were previously not in the mix. Many of these spent the covid years on line discovering all that they could. They are socially awkward, and they are relying on social media influencers to tell them how to be a man, who are awful role models.
The dems need to create their own social media platform and makes sure that it is international and cannot be shut down by the US government coming into power. That means creating it together with democratic parties around the world. It is catch up, but hopefully they realize that while the right wing has been busy acquiring the media, they also have been busy pushing out disinformation by amplifying right wing messaging and distorting democratic messaging.
Kamala ran a stupendous campaign, and DT sat on his rump and let Musk buy him the White House. Musk is his go between with DT and the world. He has outsourced the job to Musk, escaping political consequence, and raking in influence and money, all of which is owed to Putin in some debt.
You get it. There are so many double or triple standards at play here that people are just glossing over. Someone just asked me about the Black men that voted for DJT as if the VAST majority of white men didn't vote for DJT. Scapegoating isn't a strategy here.
Yes. You see that it was White Non College graduates that were the strongest supporters of Trump in the charts in this article from the Chronicle of Higher Education called The College Degree Divide is Becoming a Chasm.
I’m sure it’s a matter of double jeopardy for a Black female rising to a position of power. When Hillary Clinton ran for president, I recall people saying, she’s not the “perfect candidate.” Never a lament that Trump was not perfect!
Exactly. I am working on a book right now where I call this phenomenon "The Double Tax" - the compounded cost of being both a racial minority AND a woman. Folks can subscribe here to learn more: https://doubletax.substack.com/.
This is an example of the double standard that journalists hold Democrats to. Saying a candidate isn’t perfect is a sign that that person is stuck in the stage of magical thinking like kids who believe in Santa. I repeatedly heard journalists say that about Gore, Kerry and Biden who all ran against a much more inferior candidates.
Similarly journalists often deride politicians by saying they all lie, as if there are people who don’t. You can bet that if completely truthful people do exist those people aren’t journalists.
Yet another example of this is the much higher standard journalists use when fact checking Democrats. I was beyond furious when the WaPo fact checker Glen Kessler had the audacity to ding Harris for saying that, as part of her plan to cut taxes for average people, she would enact a child tax credit of $6,000 for the first year of a child’s life. Kessler’s bizarre reason? Children don’t pay taxes!
NYTimes columnist Gail Collins openly admitted the unfairness. Shortly before the election in one of her weekly discussions with Bret Stephens Collins said in reference to Harris “Of course we hold her to a higher standard.”
Now arrogant journalists are pointing fingers at everyone but themselves.
As an older white man, I was terrified when Biden dropped out. I personally thought that Harris could not be elected due to misogyny and bigotry of white people. I supported (and still do) her excellent political policies. I was excited and hopeful. Only to be let down by misogynist and bigoted white people. I’m fearful of what we have become.
Based upon my experiences, Navy, teaching and driving OTR trucks) I know this. And it is just repugnantly wrong! It will get worse before it gets better. Bottom line, whites are scared they will be treated how they treat minorities when they become the minority. Toxic masculinity is the other issue.
BINGO. It’s literally this. And what if I told you that history is a circle? The same fears were held by white people in South Africa when Mandela was released from prison.
One could argue his Nobel Peace prize was awarded because he DIDN’T do anything.
But if you bring up white privilege or other such terms you get shouted down as "woke," the new pejorative for just trying to be a decent human being. JC was "woke" to them, I'm sure.
Remember "hands off my Medicare?" I work at the VA, where patients and employees alike rag on "the government." Nonetheless, we won't stop trying twice as hard to be perceived as half as good. VP Harris had it worse.
I had such hope that the voters of this country would finally open their minds to the opportunity presented to them to see a new approach to leadership, from such a qualified candidate- and I remain disappointed in so many, but not in Kamala Harris.
You are so right. I agree with you 110%. I would respond further, but I am so deeply disappointed in the ignorant voters who did not support the exceptional candidate for President, but instead voted for a person that is the antithesis of what a President should be, that what I would say is not appropriate for tender ears. Discrimination & misogyny has no place in our society, but it is the elephant in the room. When will we all be truly treated equally?
Thank you for writing this. It is so sad that the voters in this country chose a crude criminal over a qualified, decent, and experienced woman. We were so hopeful she would win and lead our country with grace and dignity and love - the opposite of trump. The only explanation is hate and ignorance on the part of the trump voters. She did everything right - and it is a huge loss for our country and all the people.
Bravo, Ms. Gifty. Every time I see a headline criticizing VP Harris just for breathing, I want to scream, for all the reasons you mentioned here and more. The self-important blowhards and Mean Girls/Boys (looking at you, Queen Maureen) kept moving the goalposts for VP Harris while widening and moving closer the ones for Donito (apologies to Bonito). Sadly, this is on the voters, though, and the propaganda they willingly consume and digest. I wish there were a way to get this information to them at some point. Cheers.
While I’m as disappointed as anyone to see Trump elected President, I’d point out that Harris didn’t lose because she was a woman of color. She lost because her campaign’s message didn’t reasonate with enough votes to either vote for her or even show up to vote.
The Democratic Party really needs to do some soul searching and figure out how to better engage with more voters. Calling them dumb, misogynistic or racist isn’t the way to do that.
I don’t expect my comment to be very popular here, but I believe that these types of results will keep happening until we truly learn from them.
They are dumb, misogynistic and racists, but VP Harris's plans were basically ignored by the press. Meanwhile Trump's minions were bombarding the "alternative press" constantly with lies about her, each one targeted to a specific audience. I think the Dems relied too much on the mainstream to disseminate her plans, but that avenue failed her & us. And the double-standard, where she was not allowed any missteps, while Trump could flail all over the place and get a pass. Our news media, both mainstream and alternative, needs to wake up and start standing up for democracy because Trump is determined to destroy this country. This country provided him with every opportunity and yet he's so obviously hates it.
I think we can hold two truths in the same palm. This country's founding and rise is rooted in racism and sexism. Kamala Harris crashed against that and so any messaging she may have shared (and I argue that she did have plans for the working class) just wasn't received.
I really appreciate your take on why Kamala didn’t win (she almost did win!) the election. I’m white and didn’t know until just months ago that Kamala is black and Indian. She looks more interesting to me than white women like myself, and I vaguely assumed that she had some Hispanic heritage. Her sudden rise against Trump gave me hope, as it did many of us. I kept donating to her until the end. Now I’m relying on people like you and Robert Reich and Heather Lofthouse and Heather Cox Richardson to give me hope that we can survive and take back our democracy, and open the eyes of the people who were misled.
Hi everyone, Anna here.
Thank you all so far for your engagement with this post. The conversation will continue on both Bluesky and Instagram, so make sure to follow me on there as we delve into how The Glass Cliff reared its ugly head this election cycle.
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/itsafronomics.bsky.social
Instagram: https://instagram.com/itsafronomics
We also have to look at the White men that voted for Trump who were previously not in the mix. Many of these spent the covid years on line discovering all that they could. They are socially awkward, and they are relying on social media influencers to tell them how to be a man, who are awful role models.
The dems need to create their own social media platform and makes sure that it is international and cannot be shut down by the US government coming into power. That means creating it together with democratic parties around the world. It is catch up, but hopefully they realize that while the right wing has been busy acquiring the media, they also have been busy pushing out disinformation by amplifying right wing messaging and distorting democratic messaging.
Kamala ran a stupendous campaign, and DT sat on his rump and let Musk buy him the White House. Musk is his go between with DT and the world. He has outsourced the job to Musk, escaping political consequence, and raking in influence and money, all of which is owed to Putin in some debt.
You get it. There are so many double or triple standards at play here that people are just glossing over. Someone just asked me about the Black men that voted for DJT as if the VAST majority of white men didn't vote for DJT. Scapegoating isn't a strategy here.
Yes. You see that it was White Non College graduates that were the strongest supporters of Trump in the charts in this article from the Chronicle of Higher Education called The College Degree Divide is Becoming a Chasm.
https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-college-degree-divide-is-becoming-a-chasm
I’m sure it’s a matter of double jeopardy for a Black female rising to a position of power. When Hillary Clinton ran for president, I recall people saying, she’s not the “perfect candidate.” Never a lament that Trump was not perfect!
Exactly. I am working on a book right now where I call this phenomenon "The Double Tax" - the compounded cost of being both a racial minority AND a woman. Folks can subscribe here to learn more: https://doubletax.substack.com/.
This is an example of the double standard that journalists hold Democrats to. Saying a candidate isn’t perfect is a sign that that person is stuck in the stage of magical thinking like kids who believe in Santa. I repeatedly heard journalists say that about Gore, Kerry and Biden who all ran against a much more inferior candidates.
Similarly journalists often deride politicians by saying they all lie, as if there are people who don’t. You can bet that if completely truthful people do exist those people aren’t journalists.
Yet another example of this is the much higher standard journalists use when fact checking Democrats. I was beyond furious when the WaPo fact checker Glen Kessler had the audacity to ding Harris for saying that, as part of her plan to cut taxes for average people, she would enact a child tax credit of $6,000 for the first year of a child’s life. Kessler’s bizarre reason? Children don’t pay taxes!
NYTimes columnist Gail Collins openly admitted the unfairness. Shortly before the election in one of her weekly discussions with Bret Stephens Collins said in reference to Harris “Of course we hold her to a higher standard.”
Now arrogant journalists are pointing fingers at everyone but themselves.
I like Gail Collins, but I canot abide Stephens so I had to stop reading her
As an older white man, I was terrified when Biden dropped out. I personally thought that Harris could not be elected due to misogyny and bigotry of white people. I supported (and still do) her excellent political policies. I was excited and hopeful. Only to be let down by misogynist and bigoted white people. I’m fearful of what we have become.
What if I told you that the majority of the white electorate was always like this (cc the silent majority).
Based upon my experiences, Navy, teaching and driving OTR trucks) I know this. And it is just repugnantly wrong! It will get worse before it gets better. Bottom line, whites are scared they will be treated how they treat minorities when they become the minority. Toxic masculinity is the other issue.
BINGO. It’s literally this. And what if I told you that history is a circle? The same fears were held by white people in South Africa when Mandela was released from prison.
One could argue his Nobel Peace prize was awarded because he DIDN’T do anything.
But if you bring up white privilege or other such terms you get shouted down as "woke," the new pejorative for just trying to be a decent human being. JC was "woke" to them, I'm sure.
Remember "hands off my Medicare?" I work at the VA, where patients and employees alike rag on "the government." Nonetheless, we won't stop trying twice as hard to be perceived as half as good. VP Harris had it worse.
I had such hope that the voters of this country would finally open their minds to the opportunity presented to them to see a new approach to leadership, from such a qualified candidate- and I remain disappointed in so many, but not in Kamala Harris.
You are so right. I agree with you 110%. I would respond further, but I am so deeply disappointed in the ignorant voters who did not support the exceptional candidate for President, but instead voted for a person that is the antithesis of what a President should be, that what I would say is not appropriate for tender ears. Discrimination & misogyny has no place in our society, but it is the elephant in the room. When will we all be truly treated equally?
Thank you for writing this. It is so sad that the voters in this country chose a crude criminal over a qualified, decent, and experienced woman. We were so hopeful she would win and lead our country with grace and dignity and love - the opposite of trump. The only explanation is hate and ignorance on the part of the trump voters. She did everything right - and it is a huge loss for our country and all the people.
Nailed it. This vote was the result of misogyny and racism.
MOSTLY, but there are some other reasons too - but mostly
Bravo, Ms. Gifty. Every time I see a headline criticizing VP Harris just for breathing, I want to scream, for all the reasons you mentioned here and more. The self-important blowhards and Mean Girls/Boys (looking at you, Queen Maureen) kept moving the goalposts for VP Harris while widening and moving closer the ones for Donito (apologies to Bonito). Sadly, this is on the voters, though, and the propaganda they willingly consume and digest. I wish there were a way to get this information to them at some point. Cheers.
Love this post. Learned a lot. Thank you.
While I’m as disappointed as anyone to see Trump elected President, I’d point out that Harris didn’t lose because she was a woman of color. She lost because her campaign’s message didn’t reasonate with enough votes to either vote for her or even show up to vote.
The Democratic Party really needs to do some soul searching and figure out how to better engage with more voters. Calling them dumb, misogynistic or racist isn’t the way to do that.
I don’t expect my comment to be very popular here, but I believe that these types of results will keep happening until we truly learn from them.
They are dumb, misogynistic and racists, but VP Harris's plans were basically ignored by the press. Meanwhile Trump's minions were bombarding the "alternative press" constantly with lies about her, each one targeted to a specific audience. I think the Dems relied too much on the mainstream to disseminate her plans, but that avenue failed her & us. And the double-standard, where she was not allowed any missteps, while Trump could flail all over the place and get a pass. Our news media, both mainstream and alternative, needs to wake up and start standing up for democracy because Trump is determined to destroy this country. This country provided him with every opportunity and yet he's so obviously hates it.
Very true on the mainstream media which is why I cancelled my NYT subscription earlier this year.
I think we can hold two truths in the same palm. This country's founding and rise is rooted in racism and sexism. Kamala Harris crashed against that and so any messaging she may have shared (and I argue that she did have plans for the working class) just wasn't received.
I really appreciate your take on why Kamala didn’t win (she almost did win!) the election. I’m white and didn’t know until just months ago that Kamala is black and Indian. She looks more interesting to me than white women like myself, and I vaguely assumed that she had some Hispanic heritage. Her sudden rise against Trump gave me hope, as it did many of us. I kept donating to her until the end. Now I’m relying on people like you and Robert Reich and Heather Lofthouse and Heather Cox Richardson to give me hope that we can survive and take back our democracy, and open the eyes of the people who were misled.
...also the siloing of the media, I think: https://jackcompere.medium.com/pundits-pounce-40953b94f477
...thnank you for your post...
Amen to every word of this.
More of this, please.
Thank you. 🙏