Ezra Klein poses a question that, as someone who has written extensively about mandates for essentially my entire adult life, I think is pretty important.
While Trump winning the popular vote and the alignment of business interests behind a more clearly understood transactional President are factors you'd have to be working to avoid reality to not recognize that the lack of resistance is mostly due to Democrats turtling into our shells over the Biden Administration (and many fellow Dem electeds) being proven flat out wrong on immigration as well as the charade to cover Biden's obvious decline. One could also add that most of us were well aware that Democratic leadership and left leaning media were out of touch on the salience of identity issues, student debt relief and the willingness of the electorate to sacrifice for climate benefits. We are embarrassed for our team.
I'd like someone to research and explain the rise of "vibe" stories. Maybe they've been around a long time, but the past couple years they seem to have become common. Authors just assert that some feeling is widely held, and then write a story taking the assertion as hard truth. An electoral college win becomes an epic wipe-out in the popular vote that within a week or two is revealed to be a 1.5% plurality and less than 50%. It's a lot easier for folks like Ezra Klein to suddenly pretend their collaboration in pushing a false narrative is just due to some mystical vibe all felt equally. Trump lies like he breathes. Of course it was the greatest victory in the history of elections. I imagine he'll be talking about the sizes of the crowds milling around outside the capital. He'll give us a "sir" story about how the police begged people to go inside and they refused, saying frost bite was nothing compared to a chance to celebrate Trump. I could be convinced he actually believes whatever he says until it's convenient to switch beliefs. Did the MAGA folk understand they were voting for Musk and the Tech-Bros to run things? Probably not. Will they have a problem with it. I wouldn't bet a lot of money on it.
It also seems that the fact that Trump won, despite being both a convicted felon AND being personally unpopular, gives more credence to the idea that his positions (to the extent he had well articulated ones: deport immigrants, don't protect trans people, and a general animosity to treating anyone who isn't white as an equal) were actually very popular. The New York Times survey on Sunday which suggested that many democrats who did not vote for Trump nonetheless agreed with at least his immigration policies, gives further credence to the idea that people voted for policies, not the person. Of course, the countervailing contention that people didn't vote for him OR his policies, but against a Black woman because of racism and misogyny, has some legs too.
While Trump winning the popular vote and the alignment of business interests behind a more clearly understood transactional President are factors you'd have to be working to avoid reality to not recognize that the lack of resistance is mostly due to Democrats turtling into our shells over the Biden Administration (and many fellow Dem electeds) being proven flat out wrong on immigration as well as the charade to cover Biden's obvious decline. One could also add that most of us were well aware that Democratic leadership and left leaning media were out of touch on the salience of identity issues, student debt relief and the willingness of the electorate to sacrifice for climate benefits. We are embarrassed for our team.
Thanks for the insightful post. More simply, to my mind, its a case of "the come-back kid".
I'd like someone to research and explain the rise of "vibe" stories. Maybe they've been around a long time, but the past couple years they seem to have become common. Authors just assert that some feeling is widely held, and then write a story taking the assertion as hard truth. An electoral college win becomes an epic wipe-out in the popular vote that within a week or two is revealed to be a 1.5% plurality and less than 50%. It's a lot easier for folks like Ezra Klein to suddenly pretend their collaboration in pushing a false narrative is just due to some mystical vibe all felt equally. Trump lies like he breathes. Of course it was the greatest victory in the history of elections. I imagine he'll be talking about the sizes of the crowds milling around outside the capital. He'll give us a "sir" story about how the police begged people to go inside and they refused, saying frost bite was nothing compared to a chance to celebrate Trump. I could be convinced he actually believes whatever he says until it's convenient to switch beliefs. Did the MAGA folk understand they were voting for Musk and the Tech-Bros to run things? Probably not. Will they have a problem with it. I wouldn't bet a lot of money on it.
It also seems that the fact that Trump won, despite being both a convicted felon AND being personally unpopular, gives more credence to the idea that his positions (to the extent he had well articulated ones: deport immigrants, don't protect trans people, and a general animosity to treating anyone who isn't white as an equal) were actually very popular. The New York Times survey on Sunday which suggested that many democrats who did not vote for Trump nonetheless agreed with at least his immigration policies, gives further credence to the idea that people voted for policies, not the person. Of course, the countervailing contention that people didn't vote for him OR his policies, but against a Black woman because of racism and misogyny, has some legs too.