Analyzing the 2024 Election and Populism in Modern America
An in-depth analysis of the 2024 election with an objective mindset to understand how he won this election, throw away all partisan mindsets Left or Right before reading
Initially, this article would have been dedicated to how the third-party vote changed the election. We now know that it would not have come close even if all the third-party votes were given to Kamala Harris. I know half of the country is extremely confused and shocked at this result; I spent over 30 hours analyzing data provided by CNN and other networks, along with looking into how he pulled it off and why, to answer many who are looking for one. I will be frank: these answers are not ones anyone wants to hear, but half the country must understand why this became a loss and the steps to recover from it, which is why this is the perspective of an independent perspective, neither left nor right.
On November 5, 2024, the head-off between Donald Trump & Kamala Harris went forward. Polls stated it was a 50/50; Allan Lichtman, who had predicted 9/10 elections before this election (He states the Supreme Court stole the 2000 election, so it should be 10/10), predicted for Kamala Harris.
Kamala Harris unexpectedly became the nominee after Joe Biden dropped out, and the Democratic National Committee did not hold a primary.
Donald Trump went through a primary but did not participate in any debates; he still won 49 states and all American territories besides Vermont and Washington, D.C.
Joe Biden's approval ratings were 38% on November 4, 2024. Kamala Harris's most significant disadvantage in this election was her boss, Joe Biden. Despite this, she did not successfully distance herself from him, as when she was asked on The View if she would have done differently than Joe Biden in the past 4 years, she stated that there was nothing that came to mind.
Joe Biden publicly stated that he delegated her domestic and foreign policy duties and that he and Kamala "rose from the same song sheet."
Donald Trump was involved in numerous court cases, was convicted of 34 felonies for falsifying business records, and was categorized as an election denier by the Democratic Party. He lost the 2020 election by 43,000 votes due to the Electoral College, which he has not conceded to this day.
You might ask, "Why can a convicted felon run for the Presidency in the first place?"
The context is that the founding fathers, in the eyes of Great Britain, committed the gravest crime, Treason. Since they couldn't foresee the future, they left a safeguard in case an incumbent President used powers to disqualify an opponent that popular by prosecuting and convicting them as felons to disqualify the opponent from the ballot. This was the measure Vladimir Putin used against Alexei Navalny, who was going to unseat Putin until he had Navalny charged and disqualified from the ballot; the founding father's view is that it should be left up to the will of the people if it would matter or not.
Kamala Harris has been Vice President since January 20, 2021; her approval ratings before becoming the nominee were 16% favorability, as stated by Statista.
The results & analysis
Donald Trump has won the popular vote for the first time since 2004; he is on track to surpass his 2020 vote numbers as well; he is 585,962 votes away from suppressing it as of writing this, and by the time this is published, he is expected to have surpassed it, he has also won all seven swing states with a total electoral vote count of 312. House and Senate are under GOP control, and the majority of governorships and state legislatures are under GOP control. Let's go into depth with some analysis thanks to exit polls provided by CNN.
We'll look at overall polls and then move to some states.
Latino Voters who stated that the economy is the most important issue
66% Donald Trump
33% Kamala Harris
Latino Voters
53% Kamala Harris
45% Donald Trump
You might think, "Wow, she did good," but Biden did significantly better in 2020 with Latinos.
Asian Voters
56% Kamala Harris
38% Donald Trump
Donald Trump has done better than 2020.
18-29 voters
55% Kamala Harris
42% Donald Trump
2020 CNN
36% Donald Trump
60% Joe Biden
Despite Donald Trump being the oldest elected President in history once again, he made gains with 18-29 voters compared to 2020. Platforms like TikTok, Joe Rogan podcast, Full Send Podcast, and others appealed to men Gen Z. In contrast, TikTok appealed to both men and women of Gen Z. Trump's changing stance on the TikTok ban in March 2024, while Kamala Harris stood by the legislation Joe Biden signed along with memes, is what helped him with women, as both genders and the same generation are very prominent on the platform. Here are two memes from both campaigns. Kamala is known for coconut tree meme and the album BRAT by Charli XCX was used by Kamala Harris supporters in the campaign.
Gender by race
Take a look at this chart.
Voters who believe neither Harris nor Trump are too Extreme
64% voted for Donald Trump
28% voted for Kamala Harris
Voters who believe both Harris and Trump are too Extreme
62% voted for Donald Trump
22% voted for Kamala Harris
United States Rural Voters
63% voted for Donald Trump
36% voted for Kamala Harris
Compare that to 2020
57% voted for Donald Trump
42% voted for Joe Biden
United States Suburban Voters
50% voted for Donald Trump
48% voted for Kamala Harris
Compare that to 2020
48% voted for Donald Trump
50% voted for Joe Biden
It's a complete switch.
64% of Native Americans voted for Trump.
We'll also look at a couple of states as well.
The first state we will look at is Michigan. I have been predicting Michigan to go red as a protest vote against Kamala Harris for her not changing her stance on Gaza and Lebanon.
Latinos are 60% for Trump and 35% for Harris
Biden won Latinos by 11 points in 2020
U.S. support for Israel is 62% too strong for Harris and 37% too strong for Trump.
Less than 50% of Muslims in Michigan supported Harris, and Biden won Muslims by 65-70% in 2020, according to the Council on American Islamic Relations.
In Dearborn, Michigan, a Muslim Majority City, Trump + 7 in Dearborn
For the House of Representatives: Tlaib, a woman Democrat +32. This disputes the reason behind Harris losing because of her gender.
North Carolina
Party Identification Independents
70% Kamala Harris
28% Donald Trump
Black men
78% Kamala Harris
21% Donald Trump
Feeling about the way things are going in the U.S.
6% Enthusiastic
21% Satisfied
43% Dissatisfied
27% Angry
Wisconsin
First-time voters who said yes
58% Donald Trump
41% Kamala Harris
18-29
49% Donald Trump
49% Kamala Harris
Opinion of Joe Biden as President
61% Disapproves
38% Approves
Georgia
Party Identification Independents
54% Donald Trump
43% Kamala Harris
Donald Trump went up by 20 points compared to 2020
More important issue (Described as 'welcome news for Donald Trump by CNN)
40% Economy
28% Democracy
14% Abortion
11% Immigration
3% Foreign Policy
Regarding Kamala Harris winning by a smaller margin in blue states, we'll use one comparison and one-time measurement.
New Jersey, a traditionally blue state, took until 3:35 AM CST on November 6, 2024. Ifat if Biden had stayed in the race, it would most likely have flipped.
Chicago
61.8% Kamala Harris
37.0% Donald Trump
Chicago 2020
82.5% Joe Biden
15.8% Donald Trump
All of this data shows that Donald Trump has made improvements nationwide, as all 50 states + Washington D.C all shifted to the right compared to 2020, this means while California is a one-party state, Trump gained more voters in California, this effect occurred everywhere.
One overlook of this election that has not been discussed are the commitments of diehard supporters of political candidates. One individual, Scott Presler, significantly impacted the Presidential Election in Pennsylvania. After Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, Scott Presler moved to Pennsylvania and created the organization Early Vote Action, where a team organized by Scott Presler spent the next 4 years registering as many new Republicans as possible, and tackling into new voter groups like the Amish, who usually do not vote in elections, but brought them into the Republican party by issues such as inflation, which affects all Americans no matter political party, and cultural wars, which the Amish are attracted by the Republican’s position on. I have yet to see an equivalent version of Scott Presler for the Democratic Party, and this is something that they must address. This also shows how dedicated some Americans are by someone like Donald Trump, that they would move to a new state, and spend 4 years straight just to help their candidate win. The Democrats must have a candidate in 2028 that can reproduce the Obama effect. Scott Presler has now said he plans to make an impact in the Supreme Court elections in Pennsylvania and flip the Governorship in New Jersey to Republican in 2025, and then the midterms in 2026. In most elections, the incumbent party in the white house loses either 1 or both chambers of Congress, and the last time this did not occur was in 2002 after 9/11, and it would be surprising if a 2002 result occurred in 2026.
Why did Donald Trump win?
Here is my point of view on how Donald Trump did the impossible; I will describe it from a perspective that makes all of us understand what the majority of this country thought when voting for Donald Trump.
Many issues were going on in this country. Despite figures stating that inflation was lowering, prices stayed high, impacting everyone, no matter the political party they supported. It appears that when the Democratic party pointed to macroeconomics when discussing the economy, it angered voters as they felt it was condescending that the incumbent political party is telling voters that they are wrong, despite the high grocery prices and other high prices that they live through daily.
When individuals point to core inflation figures, those figures exclude food and energy prices as they are considered volatile.
Immigration was a huge issue because many legal citizens felt that undocumented immigrants were cheating the system by getting paid for resources such as free hotel stays, prepaid cards, and more despite entering the United States unlawfully. At the same time, they had to go through a long process to enter the United States legally. Another issue with this is a term called "Migrant crime," where undocumented immigrants who are let into the United States go on to commit crimes like shoplifting, rape & gang rape, sexual assault, murder, and more. Many of the victims are people under the age of 18.
War was another issue. The electorate viewed Donald Trump's first term as one with 0 new wars going on in the world, so taxpayer money wasn't being spent on funding one side of a war. When the Ukraine war started, the electorate supported sending aid. Now, with the economy, border, and other issues all affecting the taxpayers, there is less support for continuing to send aid to Ukraine. Yes, the majority of it was weapons.
A common theme in identifying issues in this country is statistics vs the eyes of the people; while the majority of aid sent to Ukraine was weapons, taxpayer money was spent on transportation and production, and seeing that billion-dollar figure angers the electorate.
The Israel and Hamas war is a serious issue that affected the Democrat turnout for Kamala Harris. On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched an attack on Israel. Israel responded with a full-scale invasion of Gaza and later invaded Southern Lebanon. The world watched as videos of Palestinian and Lebanese Civilians being killed, many of them children, were watched all around the world, a missile hitting a hospital tent, where children and adults connected to ivs burnt to death, pictures of dead newborns killed, and many more. Muslims in America who consistently voted Democrat were shocked, and so began the protests.
All over the nation, since October 7, 2023, protests began over the country, especially on college campuses, they were demanding an the end to the war and for universities to divest from Israel, same with businesses to divest from Israel, some led to property damage and other violations of the law while some were peaceful.
This did not create any quick change, so they focused more on protesting the Biden-Harris administration at the State of the Union and in the offices of democratic politicians. The biggest one was at the Democratic National Committee convention, where pictures of attendees covering their ears before entering as protestors chanted the names of Palestinian children killed in Gaza were shown worldwide, this pushed a divide between two sides of the democratic party.
You might ask, "Why didn't they do this for Republicans?" they did, but not on a large scale, and it's for a simple reason. These protestors are aligned with the Democratic Party; they have voted Democrat 100% of the time, so it is their party and they want their party to change. That did not happen at all. I predicted that Michigan would flip to Republican due to this, and Michigan did flip back to Republican this election cycle.
This became very clear when Kamala made her closing argument at the same place where Trump did his January 6th speech, where protests were large; Kamala Supporters kept moving farther from where Kamala was speaking so they could try to hear her over the chants.
Kamala also angered many individuals who protested the Iraq War. The Iraq War was a war started in 2003 when the lie was promoted that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq by the architects of the war George W Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Collin Powell, John Bolton, Condoleezza Rice, David Frunn, David Brooks, Jeffery Goldberg, Judith Miller, Joe Biden, this has to stop here because otherwise it would become an unbelievably depressing 800-page book.
The reality is that most of the D.C. foreign policy blob signed up to push the Iraq War, and for the most part, they're all still there, several big steps up the career ladder, just blobbing away. (Source: The Intercept)
Over 1 million civilians were killed in Iraq, along with over 7,000 service members. There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
You'll ask, "By the way you describe this, why haven't there been any war crime investigations like in other situations?"
In 2002, before the war started, the American Service-Members' Protection Act, known as The Hague Invasion Act, was passed into law with bipartisan support. This bill protected groups of people from being prosecuted by the International Criminal Court for War Crimes. If they are held, the bill authorizes the government to use all means necessary, including invading The Hague, to free them. The bill states Covered United States persons" (defined as "members of the Armed Forces of the United States, elected or appointed officials of the United States Government, and other persons employed by or working on behalf of the United States Government") and "Covered allied persons" (defined as "military personnel, elected or appointed officials, and other persons employed by or working on behalf of the government of a NATO member country, a major non-NATO ally including Australia, Egypt, Israel, Japan, Argentina, the Republic of Korea, and New Zealand"
Any government official is exempt from being prosecuted for war crimes, even after office.
Kamala Harris spoke about Dick Cheney's endorsement during a townhall; she campaigned with his daughter Liz Cheney, George W Bush's daughter volunteered for her campaign, and she spoke an article written by Jeffery Goldberg, who used his power as a journalist to promote the lies that led to the Iraq War, Goldberg's quotes were put into the Congressional Record at that time as well, his article which discussed that allegedly Donald Trump stated 'I need the kind of generals that Hitler had' and more. The Atlantic, which published this article, also later made another one after Donald Trump called them out for the article, which article stated, "When someone attacks the messenger rather than the message, they're usually revealing something."
Kamala Harris promoting Jeffery Goldberg's article, along with associating herself with individuals described as 'warmongers,' put her in the eyes of the people as someone who would spend billions on war instead of helping the people through their suffering.
As stated before, Donald Trump is a convicted felon for 34 counts of falsified business records. This is known as the weakest case out of the 4 cases. Analysts believed that this would hurt Trump badly. The opposite happened; Trump was already campaigning for the 2024 presidency when he was convicted. The case in which he was convicted, the New York hush-money case, had very significant problems, which made it irrelevant in the eyes of the majority. First is that the Manhattan District Attorney's office investigated in 2018 and then declined to pursue the case; after Donald Trump declared his candidacy for the 2024 election, in early 2023, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office revived the case, and the grand Jury announced an indictment. The second issue is that for it to be a felony, there has to be an underlying crime; the Jury did not unanimously decide on the underlying crime, which is why some analysts believe it would eventually be overturned. They unanimously agreed that he was guilty of the charges but not of the underlying crime.
Trump was campaigning on fixing many issues that the people were suffering from, so when they saw the conviction and his other cases, they believed that the elites were trying to stop him from ending the suffering of the people, which is why when Trump got convicted, he had raised $34 million on that same day. It was clear that Trump could make mistakes, and the electorate ignored it because they believed in his actions in regard to issues like immigration, crime, border, and economy and ignored the words that he said. This is the only explanation for why the "Puerto Rico is a floating island of garbage" by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at the Madison Square Garden Rally in New York did not impact Trump with Latinos, as Democratic operatives were saying. Republican operatives state that "Latinos like crude humor, which is why they did not take this as seriously as others have. "Only the Hispanic community can verify if this is true or not; that is what is claimed, and if the Republican operatives are correct, it will make sense why Trump still gained massively with Latino voters. Puerto Ricans vote for Trump increased by 26%.
His assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, further strengthened him; he was within centimeters of death, and he turned his head to look at a chart comparing illegal immigration from his administration to the current administration when the bullets were fired. The bullet hit his ear, most likely grazed. He got up, raised his fist in the air, and yelled, "Fight, fight, fight". This action showed the people that he would keep fighting no matter what came his way. Though this did not significantly impact the issues that voters care about, it changed the focus on himself as a candidate compared to the 2020 election results, when Trump denied the 2020 election results. It is essential to mention that while numerous individuals state that no bullet hit Donald Trump's ear, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, along with the Wall Street Journal, debunked this claim.
Social actions played a considerable role in his victory. Trump made French fries at a McDonald's because, as he states, 'Kamala said she worked at McDonald's when she never did.' He drove a garbage truck after Joe Biden, on video, said Trump supporters were garbage; the White House changed the transcript when the video stated what he actually said, which hurt Kamala further. He went on podcasts, the biggest one being Joe Rogan; Trump agreed to his terms, and the same offer was made to Kamala Harris; she stated she wouldn't unless Joe Rogan flew to her and that it was only an hour compared to Trump's 3-hour interview. Kamala Harris later on flew to SNL to do a skit; this was a major political miscalculation, as it showed Kamala could have flown to Joe Rogan, her not willing to do 3 hours of unedited show inauthenticity, a common theme in why she lost. These actions promoted the populist image of Donald Trump as someone who is in touch, compared to Kamala Harris.
Kamala Harris tried the positive route of her campaign, which would work in every circumstance but the one she was placed in; some slogans were "Turning the page," We aren't going back," and Joy." This would make sense in a successful first term, which would help her in an election. The circumstances she was placed in instead showed to people that, once again, she was out of touch; while she was trying to promote joy, the majority of this county didn't have anything to feel joy about, grocery prices were high, crime was high, inflation is eating away paychecks, it is hard to focus on joy during all of that, while Donald Trump was always pessimistic, saying things like "this country has gone to hell," "Kamala, you're fired get out of here," "We won't have a country anymore if she wins." In usual circumstances, at least 40 more similar quotes would hurt his campaign. Still, in the circumstance of this election, he expressed anger, which resonates with the majority of this country that are angry; they felt like they found someone who was realistic about the situation and said that they would fix the issue. Realism is a colossal mark of the 2024 election because the data shows that being realistic and pessimistic in circumstances like this helps a candidate.
A major one that promoted Trump's populist image was the massive celebrity endorsements like Cardi B, Taylor Swift, The Avengers cast, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, Beyonce, and more. All of these endorsements and celebrity appearances at rallies made the people think, "She's hanging out with all of these rich and successful people; she's parading them while we are struggling economically to live." Making her seem very out of touch with the working class. It gave the "Working class vs Eliteism" atmosphere that kept building and building.
Another reason is Kamala Harris herself. In the 2020 primary, she did not make the top 10 candidates; this time, she was essentially crowned the nominee, angered registered democrats that they didn't have a say. She received over 1 Billion in campaign donations. Still, it seems that the Democratic National Committee mismanaged money, and questions should be asked of the DNC finance chair, Chris Korge, and DNC Treasurer Virginia McGregor about how one billion+ became 20 million in debt. In a town hall where Kamala Harris was asked what she'd say to a voter who's skeptical to vote for her because of Gaza, she pivoted to grocery prices. For some time of her campaign, she did not have a policy platform on her website, and when she was starting to discuss some ideas, the people thought, "You are the Vice President; President Biden said he delegated domestic policy to you; why hasn't it been done?". She also alienated independents by calling Donald Trump a fascist; Biden relied on the independent vote to help him win the 2020 election.
According to Democrats who criticize Kamala, opposition to torture was removed from the Democratic platform, and this enraged the anti-war democrats even more. She made Trump the focus of her campaign, gambling all the campaign funds and the whole election on the belief that if they simply said "Trump is bad" in so many different ways, they'd win the election. Telling the people who are suffering 'Trump is bad' will not make them vote for Kamala Harris, and that is shown in this landslide election. She is also described as highly inauthentic for switching her positions from what she said in 2020 on fracking, mandatory gun confiscation, abolishing ICE, her history of prosecuting individuals for weed, a video of Kamala Harris bragging about prosecuting parents for Truancy which was used against her in the 2024 campaign, and was called out in the 2020 Democratic debate for keeping inmates past their sentences to use them for labor, and withholding evidence that would had kept someone off of death row until she was forced to do so by a judge. The primary campaign is a training session before the general election, and Kamala Harris skipping the training session impacted her ability to campaign against Donald Trump.
She also repeated the same lines at her rallies like a script, which was used in Trump campaign ads. One extremely divisive ad states, "Kamala is for they/them, Trump is for/you." We all know the issues regarding this ad, but CNN and other outlets have stated that this ad is one of the most effective of the election cycle.
If only one of these mistakes is said, it's recoverable; if it is two or more, as the incumbent party with dissatisfaction from the voters, it is the political version of shooting yourself in the foot.
Another reason is the Media; everyone has said this already. But all the negative connotations like Nazi, racist, fascist, dictator, and more are redundant. In the eyes of the people, while they are personally suffering and see that the media they go to are praising the Biden-Harris Administration and their policies, talking about how good the economy is, they feel a sense of mistrust and mistrust in the media is a massive blow to how we get our information, they resort to other methods to get their news, and they feel like "I cannot even make ends meet with these high prices, but the media is praising the administration in charge during this suffering?". This is also why voters did not trust economists when stating that Trump's economic plan would be worse, as these are the same individuals who said that the economy is going well, another group of people that voters distrust. Obama stating that Trump inherited his economy did not help things either; if this logic was used by both sides indefinitely, every predecessor would be either blamed or credited for the economy. At the same time, the current sitting President doesn't get any credit or blame.
This also includes the social media operation launched by Kamala Harris, known as KamalaHQ. There are two primary issues with KamalaHQ.
Their operation on TikTok seemed extremely hypocritical, as Harris has stated, "We do not intend to ban TikTok. That is not at all the goal or the purpose of this conversation. We need to deal with the owner, and we have national security concerns about the owner of TikTok, but we have no intention to ban TikTok," Harris told ABC's "This Week."
The issue, of course, is that a TikTok divest bill is a TikTok ban, as the Communist Party of China refuses to sell Byte Dance to another buyer. Since Joe Biden signed it into law, it goes into effect January 19, 2025, 1 day before the inauguration of Donald Trump. Donald Trump used to be for a TikTok ban, but he changed his position in March 2024, stating that banning TikTok would create unfair competition and empower competitors like Meta, formerly known as Facebook, which, in his view, empowers Mark Zuckerberg. President-Elect Donald Trump recently made a legal filing asking the Supreme Court to pause the Tiktok ban date of January 19, one day before he takes office after a meeting with the Tiktok CEO. It is expected that he will give the 90-day extension and find a way to prevent Tiktok from being banned.
The second issue is on Twitter, now known as X; there is a feature called community notes where misinformation is flagged under posts linked with sources. It was revealed that KamalaHQ ran an operation to downvote all proposed community notes to ensure they wouldn't get flagged; this led to the creation of KamalaHQlies Twitter account, where under each post, they fact-checked. Independent voters on the platform saw this and further gained distrust; their posts that turned out to be misinformation overshadowed the legitimate posts, completely backfiring.
Another reason is that she specifically chose to pander to Reagan Republicans to turn out for her, which is why she campaigned with Liz Cheney. This was the most prominent political miscalculation of her campaign; gambled it all on traditional Republicans to make up for the votes she would lose from pro-Palestine and anti-kamala Democrats. The result? Kamala Harris got 5% of Republicans to vote for her; Joe Biden got 6% in 2020.
Lastly, Joe Biden. That is one of the biggest reasons why she lost. Joe Biden is a career politician; he's experienced and has always wanted the two-term presidency since his first presidential run in 1984. While it is said that he stepped down, he had no choice; his donors refused to give any more money after that debate performance, then members of his party started calling for him to step aside, then elite insiders also joined in on this, Biden stated initially been that he would never step down from running, in the end, he did. Reports said that the Biden and Harris aides argued over this entire situation. Jill and Joe Biden seem to have decided that they aren't going to bow down and let it happen and collapse the whole Democratic Party with their forced departure. They both succeeded. In my opinion, Joe Biden's final operation was 'Not so fast, Kamala.' he sometimes started doing press conferences and events while she did rallies. He kept linking himself to her by saying that he delegated foreign and domestic policy to Kamala and that he and Kamala "rise from the same song sheet," he also started slipping up words such as calling Trump supporters garbage, which harmed Kamala's campaign significantly. There was a moment where, at a small event, Biden put a Trump supporter's hat on and signed it with a smile. Jill Biden wore red when going to the polls to vote. It is not accidental; the Biden family members are career politicians. Biden was in a good mood when congratulating Trump as well. He felt betrayed by the party he championed for 50 years.
Understanding why some predominantly red states voted for progressive policies but voted Republican on the federal level
Republican states voted for Republicans in federal elections but for progressive policies on the state level.
Examples include:
Arizona - 52.2% for Donald Trump & 46.7 for Kamala Harris
Prop 139 on codifying the right to abortion in the Arizona state constitution
Yes - 61.6%
No - 38.4%
Missouri
58.5% for Donald Trump & 40.1% for Kamala Harris
Amendment 3 - Right to Abortion
51.6% Yes
48.4% No
Montana
58.4% for Donald Trump & 38.5% for Kamala Harris
Constitutional Amendment 128 - Right to Abortion
57.8% Yes
42.2% No
While Florida's ballot measures require 60%, it is important to list it to show support for abortion.
56.1% for Donald Trump & 43.0% for Kamala Harris
Amendment 4 - Right to Abortion
Yes - 57.2%
No - 42.8%
It's simple, but we'd need to go back in history to figure this out.
In the Civil War, southern Confederate generals chose whatever their state decided to do, which was secede from the Union, because they felt more connected and loyal to their state and not the federal government. The same mentality, minus the racism and the horrific views, exists today.
Think of it like this: voters: a lot of the time, Republican states and even in other states entrust Republicans to lead the federal positions and even state positions but vote directly for progressive policies like abortion, minimum wage, and sick pay leave.
The reason is simple. No one can take away those policies without a public vote. If you take the few progressive policies you like about the Democratic Party, vote for their implementation. There is no more reason to vote democratic; those policies that the voters care about are implemented statewide since the majority don't plan to move; it's a perfect scenario for these voters: they get the policies they want, and the rest of the Republican policies that they love are implemented federally, and Donald Trump stated in his view that he supports whatever each state decides, even the 'liberal' abortion ballot measures as in his view, the people vote and decide & not a court, this further emboldens Republicans voters in states to vote yes on abortion ballot measures.
Podcasts
Podcasts were a massive part of this election.
16.53 hours of Trump available time compared to 3 hours of Kamala.
124 million views with fourteen podcasts for Donald Trump
4 million views with five podcasts for Kamala Harris
Source: Colin & Samir YouTube Channel
It is subjective if people think either the candidate discussed policy or not; what isn't subjective is that it played a significant part in a candidate's perception. Interviews have always been a thing; a paid journalist hired by a private media organization asks a question. The same goes for a debate. On the other hand, a podcast is run by civilians, either a group of friends or an individual who owns the podcast, not only asking but discussing with the guests who they are to get to know them besides from those interviews, speeches, and debates.
This exists on both sides of the aisle, with the Tucker Carlson podcast on the right and Pod Save America on the left.
One incredibly interesting individual is Joe Rogan. Now, he's perceived as someone on the right, but he was a Democrat who endorsed and supported Bernie Sanders, Andrew Yang's Universal Basic Income, abortion rights, higher minimum wage, and government healthcare, and he never voted for a Republican until 2024. He spoke after the election on the proposed rules the Harris campaign gave to him, such as no discussing weed, and it cannot last 3-4 hours as his podcasts usually do.
How does something that's always been democratic suddenly shift to Donald Trump? The answer lies in the 2016 and 2020 Democratic Primary. Bernie Sanders was seen as a man who would use a sledgehammer against the Democratic elites and move the party onto a different path, a populist-left candidate who garnered enough support all around the nation, the democratic elites were and are still heavily disliked, and individuals like Joe Rogan believed that Bernie Sanders could revive the Democratic Party and turn it into the party of the working class with no elitism controlled by democratic donors.
During these primaries, Bernie Sanders supporters, otherwise known as 'Bernie Bros,' were heavily trashed by the media, accused of sexism and other terms. This tactic is usually used against the Republican Party, but this time, it occurred at the base of a single political party.
Fast forward to 2016, a class-action lawsuit, Wilding et al. V. DNC Services Corporation, was filed against the Democratic National Committee and its then-chair, Debbie Schultz. They accused the DNC of violating the charter by favoring Hillary and breaking neutrality promises. The DNC said that as a private entity, it is not legally bound to follow its charter's neutrality clause and could if it chose, select its candidate through internal processes without primary elections. This cemented the claim that the Democratic elites stole the nomination from Bernie Sanders, and as these Bernie Bros felt betrayed and, in their view, slandered by the party they consistently voted for, they left in massive droves in protest, and many ended up in the Republican Party.
A common theme among Democrats who became Republicans was that they did not leave the Democratic Party, but the Democratic Party left them. This was first popularized by Ronald Reagan in 1962 when he explained why he became a Republican: "I didn't leave the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party left me."
It is clear that when some say, "The left needs their own Joe Rogan," There must be more work to ensure that individuals like Joe Rogan do not leave the party in the first place ever again. As if this trend continues, electorally and statistically it becomes more difficult to recover from political losses.
The same, while not related to podcasts, can be applied to Elon Musk, who is a controversial figure to many now, but there was a time when he too was a full-on Democrat; he donated to Obama and Biden, along with voting for him. A similar reasoning to that of Joe Rogan was used to explain why Elon Musk suddenly became a Republican. The same applies to Robert F Kennedy Junior, the son of Senator Robert F Kennedy, brother of President JFK, then Tulsi Gabbard, the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate.
The Republicans have always stated, "We need our own George Soros," referring to Soros, the very rich billionaire who contributes to democratic campaigns and can sway results by donating to a candidate via various methods. It now seems that they have managed to get their own George Soros, Elon Musk, who now runs a Super Political Action Committee named 'America' that donated over 100 million to help the GOP win in 2024.
This claim negated this cycle because, according to Kamala Harris, she raised 1.4 billion for her campaign compared to 350 million rounded for Donald Trump and Elon Musk regarding his financial contribution, which did not impact this election. However, his social media platform Twitter (now called X for some reason) might have, which I'll dive into another time if that is the case; it is still an important note to the fact that Elon Musk is now a Republican after being a long-time Democrat.
The international effects of the victory
Even with President-Elect Donald Trump not in office yet. Numerous things have occurred. The Houthis, who control Yemen, have announced that they are ceasefire on international ships, Hamas has called for an immediate end to the war in Gaza, China President Xi Jinping has stated it hopes for a peaceful co-existence with the US, Putin states they are willing to negotiate the end to the war in Ukraine, Iran currency has fallen after Trump's Victory, Crown Prince MBS of Saudi Arabia says he wants to strengthen relations with the U.S. You might ask, "Why didn't this happen under Biden," there is no explanation for it, I have tried doing research but only the leaders themselves know the answer.
What's next?
A lot needs to change in the Democratic Party. A landslide lost them that no one could have predicted. The Senate has 53 senate seats for the Republicans. The House has 215 Democrats and 220 Republicans, with 218 needed for a majority, the Republicans will keep the majority. The majority of state legislatures & governorships are Republican-controlled. Trump slammed the margins of blue states; he is the first Republican since 2004 to win the popular vote, and he increased in every demographic.
First things first, Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison must resign, his first post on Twitter after the election losses were to call Bernie Sanders's statement "Straight BS," the rest of the Democratic National Committee, Vice Chair Gretchen Whitmer, Vice Chair Tammy Duckworth, Vice Chair Henry R. Muñoz III, Senior Advisor Cedric Richmond, ASDC Chair and DNC Vice Chair Ken Martin, Secretary Jason Rae, DNC Treasurer Virginia McGregor, and DNC Finance Chair Chris Korge must resign from their spots in the Democratic National Committee and be replaced, similar to how Rishi Sunak's leadership had to go, and Rishi Sunak himself after a loss as leader of the U.K. conservatives party.
Update: Jaime Harrison will resign from his position.
The democratic elites must either go or listen to Bernie Sanders's advice. They must listen to the concerns of the democrats who did protest votes against them because of a specific policy, mainly Gaza.
To other Left-leaning people and Democrats, I say this. Hoping for Latino Trump, 3rd party or non-voters to be deported, insinuating that all Latinos are undocumented, hoping for police brutality on Black Trump, 3rd party or non-voters hoping that Trump destroys Palestine to Muslim Trump, 3rd party or non-voters (even though it's still being destroyed as we speak), and hoping that women trump, 3rd party or non-voters be forced to have a kid against their will, will not make people vote for the Democratic party again. Many of these people voted for Biden in 2020 and voted for someone else but Harris this time. I will remind people that Trump also won the popular vote; the majority of this country has voted against this theory that shaming people to vote for your candidate won't work. The messaging must be fixed, and the Democratic Party needs to be welcoming of various opinions because Donald Trump took advantage of that and created a diverse politician coalition of RFK Jr and his supporters, Tulsi Gabbard, and former democrats like her, Muslims, African-American, and Latino voters many who voted Biden in 2020, donors who donated and supported Obama and Biden like Elon Musk, and many more people. You cannot cancel someone for not having the same opinion as you because, as you have seen, a landslide loss is guaranteed.
Secondly, the Democratic Party needs to be honest on various topics like Roe vs Wade.
Let me explain how Congress works. While the House is a simple majority, meaning majority = pass, the Senate works differently than that. There is something called the filibuster, which is the safeguard against bills where the minority party can block a bill. Both sides have used this method before. Even with Trump winning and getting a majority in the House and a majority in the Senate, he does not have 60 senators. The Democrats can filibuster bills, just not nominations, as in 2013, the Democrats abolished that. Once something that changes the filibuster is passed, it can never be readded. There is something called the 'nuclear option' where 51 senators can abolish the filibuster. Neither side has tried this; the Republicans like the filibuster and will never remove it; the democrat's position depends on which democratic senator you ask.
A national abortion ban will never occur unless the Democrats suddenly give up on filibustering. My question that we all must ask is why haven't they ever codified it in the rare times they had the supermajority or abolished the filibuster when they had the majority to codify it? I feel like it is strictly for fundraising purposes; abortion is the one thing they prevail over the GOP on, and if they codify it, they lose funding.
While Donald Trump has denied Project 2025 numerous times, it is expected to feel skeptical if Donald Trump reverses this promise; as stated before, the filibuster exists; it is entirely up to the Democratic Party if they should filibuster or let it happen.
Abortion rights into state constitutions in 7 states have passed; Nevada will need to vote again yes in 2026 to officially codify it; in 3 states, it failed, with Florida requiring 60% on all measures, and it got 57%. At this rate, most states should codify it in their state constitution within this decade. The Democratic Party needs to stop acting like anything can be done on the federal level unless they promise to abolish the filibuster clearly and dedicate their resources to funding abortion rights measures on state ballots.
Gay rights are protected no matter what because of the Supreme Court ruling Obergefell v. Hodges & that a gay conservative rights group was at the RNC Convention.
Transgender rights are the only ones that are at risk of changing the status quo, such as removing transgender women from women's sports, locker rooms, and restrooms, as well as banning gender-affirming care for everyone under the age of 18. Adults gender-affirming care will stay. ACLU is ready to sue the incoming trump administration if they try enacting these policies.
Regarding Trump's mass deportations, I looked into what he stated he would do. Trump has said that families or undocumented individuals who've been here a long time and have committed no one are not the priority; their focus is on deporting undocumented immigrants from severe crimes to least severe. The ACLU has stated that they plan to sue the Trump administration if they try this. Mass deportations have never been done before, and as I write this, they haven't finalized anything besides the info I have provided. Remember that organizations like the ACLU have been prepared and are on standby.
One concern that needs to be discussed is the reliance on labor from undocumented immigrants on the economy. My personal view is that I feel like large corporations are exploiting their labor for cheap; if an undocumented immigrant files a complaint, they will get deported no matter who is in office. This sounds awfully similar to the Southern states telling Abraham Lincoln that if he took away their slaves, their economies would collapse. A discussion must be held with both sides on how to address this issue without wrecking the economy and the homes that they have built, as many have children who are U.S. citizens. Although third parties might be small, their input should also be considered.
If you want to know what you should do, only one thing exists: next time the midterms are held and in states apart from the regular run-off cycle is when you can pitch in for a change:
One thing that I feel is the most important thing that we as a country must discuss is this: I personally lean to the left, but we cannot be cutting off people for their political opinions. I get your perception that, in your opinion, Trump will take away your rights, but I'm going to be very blunt. This election wasn't close; Trump achieved a massive landslide; he improved on every single state and Washington D.C compared to 2020, he slimmed blue state margins, he gained on every demographic, he has the Senate, most likely the House, he won the electoral college, and the popular vote. Cutting people off will make them stay with whoever they have voted for; calling them fascists, racists, and other terms will not suddenly make them vote Democrat again. In my view, it is arrogant because you're hurting the 2026 midterm chances by doing so. If you continue to antagonize Trump voters, 3rd party voters, and people who didn't vote, it will be loss after loss after loss, and the ideas that you want this country to vote for will never come to reality.
We also must not focus solely on one media source. The one way to analyze what the other side is thinking is by going to right-leaning new sources for democrats, left-leaning new sources for republicans, and for us independents, well, we are already checking out both sides of the news. Understanding the other perspective is how you can start discussions. This is why I will be listing a quote from CNN Senior Political Commentator Scott Jennings, who is a conservative Republican, as I believe we all must hear the perspective of a massive supporter on his side, who is also the CNN commentator, and credits to CNN transcripts for providing this transcript.
"COOPER: Scott, what are you looking, what do you expect the next couple months to be like once he's in?
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SR. POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, look, he has an opportunity here to try to unite the country after a huge victory. This is a mandate. He's won the national popular vote for the first time since, for a Republican, for the first time since 2004. This is a big deal. This isn't back in the office. This is a mandate to do what you said you would do.
Get the economy working again for regular working-class Americans. Fix immigration, try to get crime under control, try to reduce the chaos in the world. This is a mandate from the American people to do that. I'm interpreting the results tonight as the revenge of just the regular old working class American, the anonymous American who has been crushed, insulted, condescended to.
They're not garbage. They're not Nazis. They're just regular people who get up and go to work every day and are trying to make a better life for their kids, and they feel like they have been told just to shut up when they have complained about the things hurting them in their own lives. I also feel like this election, as we sit here and pour over this tonight, is something of an indictment of the political information complex. I mean, we've been sitting around here for the last couple of weeks, and the story that was portrayed was not true. We were told Puerto Rico was going to change the election. Liz Cheney, Nikki Haley voters, women lying to their husbands. Before that, it was Tim Walz and the camo hats.
Night after night after night, we were told all these things and gimmicks were going to somehow push Harris over the line. And we were just ignoring the fundamentals. Inflation, people feeling like they were barely able to tread water at best. That was the fundamentals of the election.
And so, I think that both parties should always look at the results of an election and figure out what went right and what went wrong. But I think for all of us who cover elections and talk about elections and do this on a day-to-day basis, we have to figure out how to understand, talk to, and listen to the half of the country that rose up tonight and said, we've had enough. "
Time magazine and various news publications reported on Trump's victory; here are the different headlines
The will of the people has spoken, and populism has spoken; no matter how much disagreement exists, we respect it, have civil discussions to bring people back, reshape & reanalyze the policies and the party, and bounce back. The majority have decided that they believe Donald Trump is the better option despite his flaws and that they will experience the excellent economy Trump had pre-covid. That decision is called democracy and is how our Republic operates, not a one-party state; losing sucks, it really does, but recovering and moving forward to 2026 is all that can occur.
Donald J. Trump will be inaugurated on January 20, 2025. He will be our 47th President. He will be the second President in history since James Garfield in 1892 to serve two non-consecutive terms, meaning he won 1 term, lost his re-election, and ran again successfully. He was the first Republican in 2004 to have won the popular vote. He will have either 53, the last time since 2018, or 54, the last time since 2014, GOP senators. He will keep his majority in the House with a slim majority. He has done the impossible and is a political anomaly that will be studied for decades. This is a reminder that pollsters need to fix their methods once again; a 50/50 chance now become a landslide victory with Trump swinging all swing states 7/7 to his side; some are even trying to coin a new political science term calling it "The Trump Effect." This is incredibly shocking and disappointing at the amount of political miscalculations and incompetence of various individuals involved.
Biggest takeaway? Never ignore what Bernie Sanders has to say because, at this point, it's either listen to his advice or keep losing and never forget your own base when they protest you. Eliteism is hugely unpopular with the majority of this country, and if they all deem a specific candidate as an elite in their view, the swing states will fall to the other candidates. All members of the Democratic National Committee must resign immediately as well.
Kamala Harris & Joe Biden also did the noble and correct thing by congratulating him, conceding, starting the peaceful transfer of power, they could had easily denied the results and a repeat of 2020 would had occurred.
Interesting Facts: Nancy Pelosi has won her 20th term in the House. She has also just filed with the Federal Election Commission to file her re-election campaign to her 21st term for the House Elections in 2026. Here's a picture of Nancy Pelosi standing by President JFK at his inauguration.
Kamala Harris skipped the Al Smith dinner. The last time a presidential nominee did that was Walter Mondale in 1984. Mondale lost to Reagan by a landslide, Mondale getting 13 electoral votes and Reagan getting 525. People state that skipping the dinner enacts a curse on the candidate who skips. It is up to you to believe or not believe that.
A journey of understanding
I aim to travel to Washington, D.C., on January 20, 2025, to talk with Trump Supporters, Kamala Supporters, and protestors about their views of the election, the circumstances, and what they are looking forward to. I want to identify if there are things that can be common ground for these incredibly divisive groups after such a divided election. I have requested media credentials with my local Representative, and we'll see if that gets approved as well.
Subscribing to the substack will help cover the outrageously expensive hotel bill. If you made it to the end, it means you were interested in understanding what occurred in our country, so thank you. I am 18 years old, and currently in the college admissions process. Wherever fate takes me, I will continue my impartial political analysis & research. Independents like myself should work as hard as possible to bridge the divide between Republicans and Democrats.
A thank you to the Dallas Oriya Society community
Hi. Thanks for reading this article. As stated before, I did not expect a landslide victory for Donald Trump, resulting in me rethinking my writing. I want to credit CNN for providing this article's data. I stayed awake for 30 hours analyzing the data their exit polls have gathered to understand exactly what the people, not the super fans on both sides, are saying, but the people who built this country chose, and what factors result in it. Politics is a very messy game; I hope by this article that, I made things easier to understand by analyzing the point of view of why a working-class citizen would elect a candidate despite so many flaws because, in their eyes, they are a populist. I want to thank the DOS community for participating in my life. At age ten, I first wrote an article for this magazine regarding the differences between Direct and Representative democracy. At age 18, I now have analyzed an entire presidential election. I will be majoring in political science, and I also plan to double major in International Relations. Wherever I end up in terms of a University, I plan to make a positive impact. This will likely be my last article for the magazine unless I have time in college to write one. Thank you for reading this article and providing me with a fantastic community to participate in for my entire life.
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