I have read all the explanations for why Donald Trump won and Kamala Harris lost last November’s election. The pollsters, journalists, Democratic Party operatives, the New York Times, NPR, CNN, and, of course, Fox News and the Republican Party gave every explanation but the most obvious: The 600-pound gorilla sitting at the table was ignored: The November 2024 election was the most blatantly racist election since Republican George HW Bush’s 1988 campaign.
In that campaign, the image of Willie Horton — a Black man convicted of murder and rape — was used very effectively to stoke White racial fear to discredit Democrat Michael Dukakis. Bush won because of that campaign ad. Last November, the number of such ads on television and social media was staggering. And, of course, Trump was not even subtle. The November campaign was also the most misogynistic; it went way beyond the hatred aimed at Hillary Clinton in 2016.
How did they all miss the obvious — friend and foe alike? Well, they didn’t. Trump and the Republicans put the gorilla at the table. They played the race card and do not need to say anything about it. It is in their interest to say nothing. Racism and sexism are how they won.
But the real inside story of the refusal to call the Republican campaign racist and misogynistic was entirely on our side of the table. Despite the big-tent enthusiasm for Kamala, the ground game in neighborhood after neighborhood was half-hearted or non-existent, notably in Philadelphia and Los Angeles. Campaign workers complained that they did not have the support they needed to get out the vote.
There was also naiveté at the top of the Democratic Party and among pollsters. Suppose you are going to run a Black woman for president. How many percentage points ahead must she be to discount racism and misogyny among American voters? If you knew the election would be close even before you had your candidate, how could you not anticipate lost votes due to the nation’s oldest flaws — racism and sexism? If she cannot be ahead by the points expected, she should not be put up for election. Otherwise, anyone could tell you the outcome: You are going to lose!
What was with Joe Biden declaring Americans “are better than that.” They are not. Former President Lyndon Johnson’s description of White Americans was more accurate: “If you can convince the lowest White man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”
When you forget that racists and sexists exist, the consequences become painfully apparent, as it was in the MSNBC commentary on election night. While they were comparing Harris to Biden, she was coming up short across the board — something they had not anticipated — and it was clear that she was losing. They ignore deep-seated racial and gender hatred at our peril. The Democratic Party will continue to lose elections until they account for and figure out how to counter racism and sexism in future elections. This miscalculation was a monumental and historical failure.
We played our part in the disaster. Some of us insisted that Black support for the Democratic Party in the 2024 election was contingent on running Kamala Harris for president. Anyone who offered an alternative was quickly eaten alive. It was Kamala’s turn, and we put our moral and historical capital on the line to see to it.
Of course she was qualified — that was never the point. However, we forgot who the majority of the electorate is. They are not Black voters in Brooklyn, DC, or Chicago or people who look like us. Think White people, rural, middle-aged, white-white, smile-in-your-face-nice-people, who are increasingly fearful of everything and everybody, especially people of color. Putting a Black and woman up for president was like throwing double portions of bloody red meat at hungry animals. Record numbers of White folks came out of every mansion, backwoods, and trailer park in America to vote for Trump, even if it means losing their Social Security and Medicare, increasing their poverty, continuing destruction of the environment, and having their children (and ours) killed in some future war he will need to declare to cover his domestic failures.
We forgot how strong racism is among White Americans. Lyndon Johnson called it right.
Now that the felon has been crowned King Trump, don’t think you can lie low and watch weekday football for the next four years while he messes over immigrants. If you think the king and company have a thing only for immigrants, you better think twice. Yes, immigration is broken and needs fixing — but the real reason King Trump and his Trumpettes hate immigrants is that they are people of color he can scapegoat. The people he is going after today are just a warm-up for coming after us. This may be the most dangerous moment in African American history. Let me explain.
Yes, we have dealt with racists since slavery, but now we have to deal with racists who are also fascists. What does that mean? “Fascism is a far-right form of government in which most of the country’s power is held by one ruler or a small group under a single party. Fascist governments are usually totalitarian and authoritarian one-party states” (Wikipedia). Isn’t that what we have now? The Democratic Party has collapsed and is exhausted. Scholars who have studied fascist regimes, notably Nazi Germany, have shown what fascists can and will do. They are like a viral disease: They keep going until strong medicine stops them. First, they neutralize institutions that might oppose or control them, and then they exterminate people they hate, like us.
If King Trump has his way, there will be no election in 2028. The only question left is: Where will the strong medicine come from, and who will apply it?
Benjamin P. Bowser is a native Harlemite; was an A. Philip Randolph’s youth leader, a student of John Henrik Clarke, and a mentee of Loften Mitchell; and now resides in Oakland, Calif. He is an emeritus professor of sociology at California State University, East Bay, and the author of 17 books and 60 journal articles about racism, AIDS, drug abuse, and white Americans.
This article provides valuable insights with many accurate points. As a Democrat, I recognize that there is always room for improvement. Lessons learned serve as powerful catalysts for growth, allowing us to refine our approach and strengthen our impact.
😆 Nice excuse. Get wrecked!