Donald Trump won the election. He won convincingly.
Those are facts, whether one likes them or not. And they are facts that must be respected in our democracy. American voters decided this contest freely and fairly, pushing Trump over the Electoral College threshold early Wednesday. Their support rightly earned Trump another four years in the White House.
Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden, to their credit, respect the decision of the voters.
If nothing else, their gracious acceptance of the result should be a lesson for everyone, including Republicans who never accepted the equally convincing results from four years ago and who threatened not to accept them this year if they didn’t get their way.
Though we called in three editorials for the former president’s defeat, it is indisputable that he is the national leader wanted now by a majority of Americans. Trump’s victory at the polls shows that voters preferred his dark messages about threats posed by immigrants and “enemies within.” They chose him over his rival’s far more upbeat promise to bring a to-do list to the Oval Office designed to benefit everyday Americans.
Nonetheless, a win at the ballot box does not make Trump’s innumerable lies and misrepresentations suddenly true. The election does not cleanse the president-elect of his past misdeeds, though he may well use the presidential power of the pardon to forgive any federal criminal convictions. The law will not allow him to grant himself clemency for his 34 felony convictions in May in a New York State court.
This may seem overly quaint to some, but when Trump takes the oath in January, we will miss being able to urge our children and grandchildren to model themselves after the nation’s top elected official, a man whose brand, lifestyle and character celebrate winning at all costs even at the price of degrading and demeaning others.
In retrospect, the biggest impact on the election came from something beyond anyone’s control. Simply put, 81-year-old Joe Biden’s health declined, much more obviously and impactfully than 78-year-old Donald Trump’s.
Biden’s campaign withdrawal made sense, but it left the Democratic Party handicapped with a relatively unknown candidate, instead of being led by a white, male incumbent who had already defeated Trump decisively at the polls.
Perhaps an earlier withdrawal by Biden and an open competition for the nomination would have helped the Democrats, even if Harris had emerged as the choice. Harris performed well, however – perhaps better than could be expected under the circumstances, running rings around Trump in their one debate and campaigning with vigor and grace.
But the campaign behind her was weak, making too-polite and too-cerebral a case, while Trump’s misleading attack ads were unfair and rude, but effective.
She apparently failed to improve upon Biden’s 2020 support from any key constituent group, not even among blacks and women. She lost a little bit of ground compared to Biden among young black men and Latinos. Ironically, the success of Democrat-led efforts to widen the pathway to the middle class for minorities may have created some fertile ground for conservatives.
The Democrats continue to have no answer to the solid block of Republican voters and volunteers among conservative churchgoers, who shrug off Trump’s personal behavior and criminal convictions, in part because their leaders tell them to do so. They need a better approach, and their politics and rhetoric need to be friendlier to Americans who are not urban and did not graduate from college.
What will come of this election? It’s too early to tell. It certainly won’t be good, but it likely won’t be as terrible for the country as some fear.
Extreme rhetoric during a campaign always gives way, to some degree, to the practical reality of trying to govern.
American institutions are still strong. Even the conservative Supreme Court, in our opinion, will not tolerate violence against gay people, minorities, or those who criticize Trump. They will not allow the First Amendment to be gutted. And much more.
And yet, a new Trump term is sure to test the guardrails of the American system of government, which by design rests federal authority in three distinct branches of government, the executive branch being only one. That system is strong only when each operates independently. A compliant Supreme Court weakens that formula, as does the possibility of the president-elect having both houses of Congress led by his party.
Republicans who want their party to succeed after Trump do not want him to allow the Kremlin to murder the brave Ukrainians who have fought off aggression. They do not want to see the chaos of forced deportation of millions to places that won’t accept them. They don’t want to machine-gun women and children trying to cross the border. They don’t want our health care industry handicapped by anti-vaccination people on the fringe. They don’t want children taught that evolution is nonsense, either.
For the time being, people on the left need to take a deep breath and congratulate the people on the right. Democrats need to search inside for ways to become better for all, and certainly more in tune with people who vote.
For our part, we wish the best to Donald Trump and his future vice president, J.D. Vance. And we remain hopeful for the future of this great democracy.
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Publish date : 2024-11-08 01:04:00
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