If your candidate lost the election, find out why.

As always, Alan, you hit the nail on the head.

I think most Americans are sick of being dismissed as "morally inferior." Too many have lost the ability to disagree civilly and to respect another point of view, even if we disagree with it. 

A professor here in RI cancelled his classes today because he needed a day to recover from Harris's defeat. This is the heart of the Democratic supporters' arrogance. This tenured guy can take off with a mental health day because he's so shocked the electorate doesn't agree with his morally superior stance. There are people who lose loved ones and must show up for work because they have no choice. Thus, the real gap, between the self-appointed, morally elite and everyone else whom they find unequal.

I'm tempted to tell the sore losers on social media, bemoaning the victory bestowed by the "uneducated" (viz.: "stupid") that they couldn't carry my IQ in a bucket even with the help of three of their friends. 

Anecdotal, but I happen to be visiting New York City and literally every person I’ve met here, from cab drivers to CEOs, starts our conversation by bemoaning yesterday’s result. Is it peculiarly American to take an election outcome so personally? In England we don’t get this overwrought except when our football team loses (which is most of the time).

Yes, but keep in mind Manhattan is overwhelmingly liberal. (How many CEOs are you meeting?) Pauline Kiel, a noted critic from the Times, famously observed once that she couldn't figure out how Nixon was elected since none of her friends (all on the Upper East Side) voted for him. 

Three CEOs, all in shock. My question was more about the highly personalised reaction from both sets of "fans" -- we know one group rioted when they lost, and now it looks like the other is having a collective nervous breakdown. Brits don't take politics nearly so seriously.

One group did NOT riot when they lost. A hundred crazies went to the Capitol and illegally tried to enter. Almost all of them are now in jail. We take democracy pretty seriously, and this was a lesson in Democratic hubris that failed to understand that people who disagree are neither inferior nor unintelligent. The market went up 1500 points immediately. Here's an advance copy of my blog this morning: 

Election Lessons

• If you are one of the people who think that anyone who disagrees is automatically in that half of the population that is morally inferior and/or uneducated, YOU are in that half.

• If you don’t believe the media are biased, just watch the grimaces on the newsreaders and commentators faces as they read the results of the vote counts. I thought David Muir on ABC was going to need EMTs.

• The state of Rhode Island—and I am not disparaging any office holder or party member—is weaker for not having a vibrant Republican party that is competitive in elections. (Things are changing, though, Trump took Kent County.)

• You need policies good for the electorate to win elections, not simply castigating the opponent as toxic and evil, even if the opponent is vile and obnoxious. Otherwise, you descend to that level instead of raising your own.

• There are no “one-issue” elections. Candidates have platforms and they should be diverse enough to encompass enough voters to win. Separating voters by “blocs” or ethnicity or gender these days is obviously ineffective.

• The celebrity endorsement means next-to-nothing. Shut up and sing, or act, or dance, or do whatever you do to entertain people, but don’t assume you’re any other kind of expert.

• The group of talking heads on the TV show “The View” are probably the most biased and least intellectual people ever paid to be in public. Of course, they may be off the air now, because I assume their heads exploded the other night.

• Viewership of primetime coverage for a presidential election across major networks and cable news channels falls to 42.3 million viewers, down 26% from 2020; lowest percentage of households follow TV coverage since 1960. Perhaps because the biased reporting and how some county voted in South Dakota just turn people off?

• Despite the official mourning of the New York Times and people taking time off for their “mental health” because their candidate lost an election, it’s not the end of the world. It’s simply the continuation of a great democracy.

8 hours ago, Alan Weiss said:

A hundred crazies went to the Capitol and illegally tried to enter

Alan, surely it was more than just a ‘hundred crazies.’ The FBI estimates that between 2,000 and 2,500 people entered the Capitol Building. They were largely supporters of then-President Trump. According to the bipartisan House select committee that investigated the events, this wasn’t just a random event but part of a seven-part plan to overturn the election results. A police officer lost his life following an assault by rioters, and 174 police officers were injured. The damages from the attack exceeded $2.7 million. Many of those involved are indeed facing legal consequences, but the scale and impact of the event were significant.

And a whole lot more people fuelled the conspiracy theories and denial of the election result -- which is what I mean by a highly personalised reaction. 

Some British people didn't like our decision to leave the EU but there wasn't anything like the type of visceral response that appears to have occurred in both of the last two US elections.

5 hours ago, Rich Litvin said:

Alan, surely it was more than just a ‘hundred crazies.’ The FBI estimates that between 2,000 and 2,500 people entered the Capitol Building. They were largely supporters of then-President Trump. According to the bipartisan House select committee that investigated the events, this wasn’t just a random event but part of a seven-part plan to overturn the election results. A police officer lost his life following an assault by rioters, and 174 police officers were injured. The damages from the attack exceeded $2.7 million. Many of those involved are indeed facing legal consequences, but the scale and impact of the event were significant.

Estimates from a compromised FBI has significant credibility concerns.

Furthermore, calling a protest an insurrection is propaganda tantamount to the works of Goebbels.  Insurrections use firearms and are well organized.

Ashley Babbitt was the only firearms casualty and I question the ruling on her shooting being justified when non lethal alternatives were available.  

Rich, this wasn't an "insurrection" it was an unorganized riot. The Republic was never in danger, and there was a horrible mistake in not calling the nearby National Guard immediately. Trump I think was complicit in not immediately condemning it, but its import has been blown way out of proportion. There was no credible way to overturn election results, that would have been better done in the courts.

The people with the biggest guns usually win. These people had sticks and flagpoles and horns on their heads. The structure of this country is far stronger than loony survivalists and people shouting in the streets. This election just proved that. After Trump's first election there were cries for resistance and lawsuits and media outrage. Today, it's life as usual and a hell of a lot of people who lied on the polls saying, "Thank God."

The real test, of course, is whether Vogue will finally put Melania on the cover and stop its stupid political self-righteousness! 

On 11/7/2024 at 4:33 AM, Douglas Squirrel said:

In England we don’t get this overwrought except when our football team loses (which is most of the time).

And the Wallabies won on the weekend 😬