In 2020, because of COVID, the Democratic party was able to run what has been termed a “basement campaign” for the presidency. While many grassroots Democrats wanted the more progressive policies of Senator Bernie Sanders, they recognized that Joe Biden could present himself as a more moderate alternative and as someone who would unify the country. While the Joe Biden of 2020 was absolutely not the Joe Biden of 1988 or even of 2008, he was able to run a severely restricted campaign that hid his very real decline.
Once in office, a series of disasters overtook the Biden administration. Horrible scenes of a hurried and botched withdrawal from Afghanistan tanked Biden’s popularity. Rampant inflation bankrupted Americans. The US government wholeheartedly embraced destructive “woke” agendas that the public did not support. The policies of the Biden administration veered into the most progressive policies ever realized – with no compromise or moderate actions. Vice President Harris was the deciding vote on the most bills ever. Democrats in Congress rammed through far-reaching bills without any Republican support – often without even allowing substantive discussion.
As President Biden’s cognitive decline was even more pronounced and the public became increasingly aware of that decline, the Democratic party chose a three-pronged approach to win in 2024. They wanted the power of incumbency, so they would keep Biden in place and crush any opponents from within the party; they would weaponize the Justice Department and other agencies to arrest Donald Trump and convict him of a series of crimes – and thereby eliminate him as an opponent, and they would further “bubble wrap” President Biden – showcasing him in symbolic events while keeping him from talking or engaging the press or public to the greatest extent possible.
However, all of these efforts failed in 2023 and 2024. Former President Trump gained support during the criminal prosecutions, as the public realized that this was “lawfare” and that the cases against Trump were political. It also proved increasingly difficult to portray President Biden as performing well, as foreign, domestic, and economic policy disasters kept coming.
Finally, the disastrous June 27, 2024 presidential debate revealed that President Biden could not be propped up. Even the mainstream media, which had served as a tool of the Democratic party, could not keep up the fiction that President Biden was in charge and doing well.
With all primaries completed and no other candidate in sight to replace President Biden, the party turned to Vice President Harris. This was in part because Biden was sitting on a very large war chest of funds. They pressured President Biden to withdraw from the race and throw his support to Harris. Biden eventually did that, but he extracted a promise that Harris would not criticize him. The party then quickly rigged a process to have delegates elect Harris before the Democratic convention.
With the full-throated support of the mainstream media, Harris was then lionized as a great American success story and a breakthrough candidate rather than as someone with a history well outside of the American mainstream and as a historically bad candidate for President, who also has a horrible record of building or working with staff.
Because of that media buy-in, Kamala Harris rose from a 28% approval rating before being selected as the Democratic candidate to leading in polls and seemingly having the presidency in her grasp.
However, she did this by campaigning in a similar bubble to President Biden’s. She refused to engage with the press or respond without a teleprompter scripting her responses.
As the spotlight of candidacy glared on Harris, and as former President Trump kept traveling across the country and campaigning quite actively, the momentum shifted. By now, with only weeks left in the campaign, Trump has pulled well ahead in the projected electoral college. The latest polls and analysis show that he won with at least 302 electoral votes. While a month ago, he was five percentage points behind Harris in the overall vote totals, they are now even at 48% each. This is significant because, in both 2016 and 2020, he outperformed the polls by a good margin. Trump is polling well among voting groups that have been historical strongholds for the Democratic party – making great inroads among Black and Latino voters, as well as among union members and working-class voters.
Democratic analysts and the media are now in panic mode. Unfortunately, Harris is among the worst candidates in history. She does not seem to be able to make the adjustments needed to get back in the race. Furthermore, while Donald Trump’s selection for Vice President, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance has proven to be tireless and an ideal advocate for the campaign – especially by ably engaging with all media, Kamala Harris’ Vice Presidential pick, Governor Tim Walz, has been largely inept as a campaigner and has a long history of lying about his resume and history.
As we rapidly approach the election, Donald Trump seems destined to be the first American President since Grover Cleveland to serve two non-consecutive terms.
Read our opinion on the 2024 election from the Democrat perspective.