WashingtonKamala Harris’ defeat of Donald Trump has put the Democratic Party in the mirror and highlighted a problem that goes beyond the legacy of the Joe Biden administration: the party’s leadership. Democrats are faced with the reality that Republicans knew what they were talking about when they accused them of being the party of the elites. The reality is even more painful when you consider that the person who calls them elitist and who has taken a large part of the working class vote is a billionaire who took a picture of himself at McDonald’s eating fries because he never he had gotten his hands dirty with grease.
To add salt to the wound: Trump’s biggest ally is Elon Musk, another billionaire, who looks set to play a bigger role in the administration than previously thought. Musk was present for Wednesday’s call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, one of the most left-wing voices in the Democratic Party, gave the following analysis of the defeat: “It shouldn’t surprise us too much that a Democratic Party that has abandoned the working class finds that the working class has abandoned him. While Democratic leaders defend thestatus quo the American people are angry and want change.”
Sanders points out how the gaps left by the Democrats over the years have been the perfect loopholes through which the far right and conservative ideology has filtered. Among voters making less than $99,000 a year, Trump got 49% of the support, while Harris only hovered between 48% and 47%. By contrast, 53% of voters with incomes over $100,000 went for Harris.
“Will the big money interests and well-paid advisers who control the Democratic Party learn any real lessons from this disastrous campaign? Will they understand the pain and political alienation that tens of millions of Americans are experiencing? Will they have any idea how Can we stand up to the increasingly powerful oligarchy that has so much economic and political power? Probably not,” Sanders said in the post-election statement, again pointing out how the party has increasingly distanced itself from the common citizen and, therefore, of their most immediate concerns.
They are accused of being the party of the elites and of being little connected to the street
The loss of the blue wall states, in the rust belt, once again shows that the working class is looking for a change in the face of the feeling that their situation has worsened. This time, he has chosen Trump again. The Republican has repeated the milestone of 2016 and has managed to take all three swing states: Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan. All three were carried by a margin of 250,000 votes with Harris.
The economy and inflation have been decisive in determining the vote of the inhabitants of this industrial belt who saw the splendor of the region disappear in the early 2000s with globalization and the relocation of companies. One of the big problems of the Joe Biden administration has been that it has not been able to transfer the good macroeconomic results to the citizens’ shopping basket. The feeling that the economy was worse has been translated into the fact that 39% of voters have decided their vote according to the economy, and 20%, according to immigration.
That immigration was one of the other causes of the decision of the vote is also an indicator of how the Democrats, despite being in the White House, have not stopped following Trump. The dynamic of acting defensively against the Republican was already installed in the party in 2016 and has not stopped playing since then. Biden, facing border criticism, signed an executive order in June that limits the right to asylum and will end his presidency surpassing the Trump administration’s record number of deportations. Without the ability to set the agenda, it is very difficult for the Democrats to win the game over the Republicans.
Internal criticism
“I think Democrats as a party spend too much time lecturing, condescending to people, talking down and telling them what they need, what they want, instead of just going out and listening to ordinary Americans,” reflected the Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton in an interview with GBH News about the defeat.
Democratic congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez expressed herself in the same way in an interview with the New York Times: “It is much easier to look outward, to blame and demonize others, instead of looking in the mirror and seeing what we can do . It’s not fun to feel responsible. It requires a mental flexibility that is painful.” The Democrats are in the position that they must first accept that they have been disconnected from American society and that they may not have been able to listen to their demands.
With little more than 90 days, it was very difficult for Harris to give an answer to a question that connects with the very existence of the party. Now, the future of the vice president contemplates a wide range of options, although the most unlikely is that she will run again for the 2028 elections.
