Democrats are doomed unless they remove their blue-tinted glasses
Donald John Trump has now achieved the ultimate prize: the greatest US political comeback of all time . It may just be the best comeback story ever. The 45th President is now also the 47th President of the United States of America. The indicted, convicted felon, two-time impeached and two-time assassination-attempt survivor, Donald Trump led a misfit political coalition that has completely and permanently shifted US politics and that of the Republican Party, cementing a new political alignment that he started in 2016.
Donald J Trump came back from political exile four years after claiming election fraud and after the US Capitol was attacked by some of his angry supporters. He also faced not one but two political opponents as his adversary switched on him mid-campaign, without a single democratic vote, and just four months out from the election.
When the GOP primary seemed boring and a coronation for the Donald, the general election was anything but. The tightest political race in modern presidential history, where each day the polls might move a half a point or a point in one direction or the other. But as soon as October hit, the Trump political ad machine began blasting online and TV adverts, and Vice President Kamala Harris finally emerged to address the media. Slowly, we started to see consistent movement towards the Republican nominee, if only marginally, but the momentum was there.
The argument will now go that the Harris campaign could not articulate a vision or explain her change of positions from 2019, separate her from Biden's policies or provide a reason why anyone should vote for her other than she was not the 'fascist orange man'. All of this is true, but one should not underestimate the huge fundamental policy and coalition shifts Trump made within the Republican Party to get across the finish line.
Welcome to the winning coalition: a mixture of the crypto bro, the anti-war Democrat, the free-speech absolutist, the union worker, the wall street trader, the Muslim in Dearborn, the black voter in Atlanta, the Catholic at Notre Dame, the Make America Healthy Again mum, the Jewish Democrat, the naturalised Hispanic immigrant, the small businessman, and especially the apathetic and unlikely male voter. Still an evangelical party, yes; however, also a combination of ethnicities and social classes the Democrats thought they had locked up indefinitely. Not a Left or a Right party, but one that reflects the changing demographics and concerns of modern-day America.
With the endorsement of former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard , the son of Democratic royalty and environmental campaigner Robert Kennedy Jr and his running mate billionaire Nicole Shanahan, the richest man in the world Elon Musk, black congressman Byron Donalds, podcaster-extraordinaire Tucker Carlson, former Biden-supporter & pro-Israel hedge-funder Bill Ackman, Trump chipped away at the Democratic coalition. He rebranded the Grand Ole Party as one against censorship, foreign wars, pro-domestic manufacturing, and in favour of health-agency reform, tax cuts and cutting government waste, but also one that puts America and the American taxpayer first again.
This New Right didn't come out of nowhere. It was just Donald Trump who had his finger on the pulse – and, crucially, no political allegiance – so he could challenge the establishment. This victory in particular is a massive rejection of the social media censorship during Covid , and that of Trump himself; mainstream media's silencing the Hunter Biden lap during the 2020 Election and the alleged influence peddling of the Biden family; the pushing of Russiagate and the hysteria of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS); and against the forever wars especially, given the deadly embarrassment of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan; and reminding people that Putin did not invade another country under his watch as he had done under Obama/Biden and Biden/Harris.
It's now the party that is more moderate on abortion because Republicans say it's a state-level decision. No longer the party of big business, it's trying to be the party of manufacturing and the worker, arguing that free trade agreements took jobs overseas, and championing tariffs to reshape trade deals and grow a manufacturing base at home. The party of common sense and fairness that believes in ending antisemitism on US university campuses, preventing millions of immigrants from crossing the southern border illegally and stopping transmen from using female bathrooms and competing in female sport.
And to show how much the tables have turned, former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney, as well as, her father former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney endorsed Kamala Harris. Twenty years after he was running on the Republican ticket, Dick Cheney backed the Democrat, now the hawkish party. And Arab Americans are endorsing the Republican candidate who is promising peace in the Middle East.
Zeroing in on the topics affecting working class voters in particular such as inflation, the economy, and immigration, Trump has been ahead of Biden/Harris on all these issues the entire campaign cycle. Wages have not grown with inflation over the last 3.5 years, as inflation reached a 40-year high of 9%, while the Biden/Harris Administration passed $6 trillion of taxpayer money in government spending, increasing the federal deficit to $36 trillion, and kept the southern border open. 70% of the country thought it was going in the wrong direction under Biden, a challenge for Harris who said she would not change any of his policies.
However, sealing the deal for the Donald was the violation of an American political principle that one does not prosecute its political opponent. Millions could see that Donald Trump was being politically targeted by the Left through lawfare, and thus explains how his numbers improved with each new indictment . So, despite concerns about his character and the 6th of January, more Americans ticked the box for DJT. Because if they go after him like they have, they can go after me, and it's just un-American.
Some will remember this electoral season for the "they're eating the dogs; they're eating the cats", the "vibes and joy", "childless cat lady", "knucklehead", the McDonald's drive thru and how we ended it all by talking about "garbage" and a euthanised squirrel named "peanut;" however, ultimately history will remember this election as the Making of America's Greatest comeback of All-time.
Sarah Elliott is Spokeswoman for Republicans Overseas UK
