CONGRATULATIONS TO PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP, WHAT WENT WRONG FOR KAMALA HARRIS?

by Nicholas Patti

November 6, 2024, Wake Forest, NC—If anyone deserves to serve a second term as U.S. President, that person is Donald Trump. He never stopped fighting for it, facing considerable obstacles and overcoming numerous significant personal challenges. I congratulate him on his victory. He earned it, more than anyone else, after all.

That said, his victory in the electoral college, and so far, in the popular vote, as well, has left Vice President Kamala Harris supporters like myself wondering, what happened (Wolf Blitzer, CNN, 11/6/2024)? Wasn’t there supposed to be a so-called “blue wall” of three states that would tilt, reliably, toward the Democrats? Was it merely a glass ceiling among these and other voters around the country that could not support a woman in a leadership role, again (re: Hillary Clinton’s loss in 2016)? What exactly went wrong for Kamala Harris with the American electorate? I have some thoughts.

Finally, I should note that while I congratulate President-elect Donald Trump on his victory in this national presidential election, I continue to have very different politics than he does. I am a democratic socialist, locally and globally, and he is something of a nationalist. I supported Kamala Harris because she is closer to my politics, and because she had the message of looking forward to a better future in America, which is an idea that is closer to the socialist, utopian dream. That dream is for a better world, here on Earth, in the future that we make for ourselves, collectively. That dream has been attempted on Earth in recent history, but has yet to be attempted or achieved on a global scale, and never in the United States. When state socialism fails in one country or another in line with global capitalism or militarily beset against it, people write off the entire idea of socialism. I do not. I believe it is in our collective best interest to continue to strive toward that goal, locally and globally, for a better world for ourselves and for all. That includes improving the environment, and avoiding the pitfalls of over-industrialization on our climate and planet.

Kamala Harris was not a socialist. She was a liberal whose ideas were rejected in a popular vote by the American people yesterday in favor of an American, nationalist, and populist conservatism. For the next four years, we will all live with the results, here in America.

Our only consolation is that we have seen this playbook before. President-elect Trump has already served one term, and we know that he loves the job and takes it very seriously. We lived through it before; chances are we can live through it, again. We know that while he will definitely put his own imprimatur on how he does the job, he will definitely do the job of an American president, just like his successor, and now predecessor, President Joe Biden, did, as well.

First, I should say that I admire just how hard President-elect Donald Trump fought, time and again, to reach this pinnacle for himself. He achieved his political comeback from absolute pariah who lost in 2020 and rioted in response against the entire American political establishment, to victor in this 2024 national election, a victor who has now claimed the new title for himself, President-elect, in addition to only former President. President Trump fought hard, he never stopped fighting, and he won. He deserves credit.

What obstacles did former President Trump overcome on his way to this election victory? First, there were the trials. Namely, two federal trials on hold, and two state trials. The trial in New York actually happened and resulted in 34 felony convictions in New York State criminal courts for President Trump. He is awaiting sentencing. Next, there were the assassination attempts. During one rally in Pennsylvania, Donald Trump was shot. The bullet grazed his ear, but the secret service saved Trump’s life. In this instance, Donald Trump came within inches of dying from the gunshot, but he came out alright, with a small wound on his ear. This assassination attempt did not slow Donald Trump down on the campaign trail, however. He continued to hold rallies, with updated security measures from the Secret Service. Then, there was the second assassination attempt. This time, the Secret Service caught the shooter before the shooter was able to shoot at Trump, at all. Add these challenges for Trump to the usual brutal schedule of frequent rallies and two debates against two different presidential candidates during the course of a heated campaign season. Trump faced it all, and Trump triumphed.

I should note at this time that President-elect Trump did not only defeat one candidate, he defeated two. First, he vanquished President Biden in the first debate of the campaign. Biden dropped out. Enter candidate number two. Vice President Kamala Harris made it through the election, when she lost, including a second debate, for President Trump, against candidate number two. In the end, President Trump not only defeated President Biden in this campaign. President Trump defeated Biden’s entire administration, including President Biden, himself, and Biden’s Vice President, Kamala Harris.

Meeting all of these challenges and winning at the ballot box in the final, national vote is the scale of President-elect Trump’s victory in this election. He came, he saw, he conquered. Now, he wins his second term. That is how much Donald Trump wanted this, and that is what Donald Trump receives—his second term as US president.

TrumpGoogleImage — President-elect Donald Trump

That is all the better for President-elect Donald Trump. What about Vice President Kamala Harris, however, Americans’ last and best hope for progress from the top? She lost. Her supporters, like me, are left wondering, what went wrong?

The first thing that comes to mind is the so-called blue wall. She lost all three states, namely, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. They went red, i.e., Republican, every one of them. Those three states were supposed to represent the Democratic Party’s working class support, and would provide the easiest pathway for candidate Kamala Harris to win 270 electoral votes and win the Presidency. Not so. Every last one eventually fell for candidate Donald Trump. Trump turned the so-called blue wall into what could best be described as a purple door. Trump won all three in 2016, then President Biden won all three in 2020, and now Donald Trump has won all three, again, in 2024. They can no longer be described as a blue wall, in my opinion. They have voted for President Trump in two out of three elections since 2016, including this one. I would describe them, instead, as a purple door. They swing this way or that, like a door, in a purple fashion, politically speaking, from election to election.

Of course, there is more going on here than only that. The fact is that real wages have not kept up with inflation during the years under President Biden, according to CNN, 11/5/2024. Biden failed to deliver for the workers of the Blue Wall states, and the economy, high costs, and inflation became a key issue driving voters to the polls for President Trump. If the Blue Wall working class voters failed to deliver for the Democrats, it was because the Democrats failed to deliver for them. They fell for Donald Trump and the Republican Party’s message.

In defense of President Joe Biden’s economic policies, briefly, I will only note that President Biden has helped deliver for Americans in general the best economy in the world, at this time. What that means is that Biden delivered on jobs for the American worker. With all of the money flowing around the economy, as a result, and in addition to massive public spending to stimulate the economy, the economy picked up. As a result, prices and costs increased substantially for the individual American worker and consumer. Gas prices, groceries, and housing costs all skyrocketed. This situation did not produce gratitude for having money and a job; instead, it caused significant discontent. Americans in general, and blue wall American workers, voiced their discontent at the ballot box.

There is another dynamic going on here, however, that I would like to note. This dynamic I would term as the glass ceiling. In 2016, Hillary Clinton lost the blue wall to Trump. People blamed Hillary Clinton. She neglected campaigning there, and she took their support for granted. The fact is, they voted for the man, Donald Trump.

Nobody thought too much about that, however, after President Joe Biden won back the blue wall states in 2020. Then came this election, in 2024. Again, the Democratic Party candidate was a woman. Again, the blue wall voters fell in line for President Trump, not the woman Democrat, Kamala Harris. No one could accuse Kamala Harris of neglecting these voters, nor taking them for granted. Both the Harris and the Trump campaigns spent incredible amounts of time and money campaigning intensively across the traditional Blue Wall states. Nonetheless, the Blue Wall voters fell for Trump, not Harris. It seems that the support from the Blue Wall state voters can be counted on for male candidates, namely, Joe Biden, but not for the women candidates, namely, Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris.

In light of this, the Blue Wall, working class male voters cannot be accused of being feminists. They can be accused of not delivering their support for a woman candidate, however, in contrast to actually supporting a male candidate. It seems that if a woman candidate takes the primary leadership role, she loses support among the Blue Wall. The glass ceiling, in these cases, seems to end at the Vice President’s office. Above that, forget it. There, the woman candidate will discover a glass ceiling, and not receive the same support that a man does receive. In this case, in 2024, these voters broke for the man in the race, Donald Trump.

Both of these trends help explain the victory of Donald Trump over Kamala Harris, but there is yet another dynamic at play here, so far as I can see. While I may be a socialist voter in America, voting Democratic, the general voters in America, including but not exclusively the Blue Wall voters, are more anarchists than socialists. What do I mean? Vote the bums out, in other words. Since 2016, there is a strong ani-incumbent tendency to the American electorate, writ large. First, the Obamas were surprised that American voters favored a major change in direction when the voters chose the right-wing alternative of Donald Trump in 2016. Next, after one term of Donald Trump, the American voters were sick of him, and elected the challenger, Joe Biden, for many reasons. President Biden promised a dramatic change from the atmosphere and direction of President Trump. Voters chose President Biden.

Now, voters expressed discontent at President Biden, also after one term. They chose the alternative. Donald Trump promised a radical change of direction from President Biden, and papered over his own record as a rosy past for Americans, including jobs and lower costs. Voters chose President Trump, the alternative.

Enter Vice President Kamala Harris. She tried to portray herself as an alternative to both President Biden and President Trump, calling a vote for her a vote for “a new way forward.” She campaigned on a break from the politics of the past. Ultimately, Trump tied her, successfully, to President Biden’s current term, pointing out that she currently served as the Vice President. One campaign ad comes to mind in which Vice President Harris said she could not think of one thing she would do differently from President Biden in her next four years. That ad resonated with voters. They chose to vote against her as part of the incumbent administration of President Biden.

American voters have been voting the bums out since the election of 2016. With limited choices, they continue to vote in this pattern, today. This shows a more anarchist approach to leadership in the United States, notsomuch a socialist vision. I am not seriously arguing that American voters are a bunch of anarchists, which some people, by the way, would take as a complement. No, I am merely saying that American voters are voting, in the last three presidential elections, as if they were anarchists, happily, or angrily, voting in US presidential elections.

This anti-incumbent fervor must be noted among voters in this and recent US presidential elections. In any case, now we are left with President-elect Donald J. Trump. Again. May we all survive his second term. Donald Trump fought hard for this second term, and Donald J. Trump achieved it. Good for him. Now, if we all can just survive a second term of his right-wing, national populism, again, I should note, then we will be all the better for it. I do not think the American government is at risk of falling, now, however. Instead, I think the American government continues, from the last ten to twenty years, and ongoing from here. May we all learn to fight for a better future the way Donald Trump fought for his second term. There is still hope on our horizon, despite the chaos of this election and our recent shared history.

—Nicholas Patti

Wake Forest, NC

USA

Harris_606bb0_copy — Vice President Kamala Harris

Additional Sources:

CNN, 11/6/2024, 11/5/2024.

WRAL news, WRAL, Raleigh, NC, 11/5/2024, 11/6/2024, NBC, television news and alerts.

ABC news, 11/5/2024, 11/6/2024, television news.

News and Observer, Raleigh, NC: 11/6/2024, digital news.

President Joe Biden Deserves Credit on Economy, Middle East

by Nicholas Patti

January 31, 2024, Raleigh, NC—President Joe Biden is handling major domestic and foreign policy issues well. As such, he is doing well as President, and deserves re-election, at this time.

First up is probably the most important single domestic issue that could determine whether President Biden wins re-election this Fall. That issue is the economy. The economy is doing surprisingly well, at this time, and that fact benefits and reflects well on President Biden and the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

First, GDP, or gross domestic product. The annual rate clocked in at a healthy 3.3% from October through December, 2023, according to a report from the US Commerce Department, as quoted in the Daily News (New York, NY: 1/26/2024, p. 18). Why? Apparently, despite high interest rates and prices, prices that “have frustrated many households,” still, consumer spending by Americans remained strong, according to Paul Wiseman, writing for the Associated Press in the Daily News (New York, NY: 1/26/2024, p. 18). Wiseman credits strong consumer spending by Americans in the fourth-quarter of 2023 with propelling that growth in the GDP in America, during that time period. The actual number of the expansion of consumer spending is 2.8%, during that fourth-quarter, according to the Daily News (New York, NY: 1/26/2024, p. 18).

The big issue facing the Federal Reserve now is what to do about the interest rates. The Fed may choose to keep interest rates high, at 5.4%, unchanged, or could choose to lower interest rates, which would significantly cut costs for Americans to access money, through loans for anything and everything. The Federal Reserve is meeting now, and finishes the meeting this Wednesday, when they are expected to make an announcement on this key topic, according to Christopher Rugaber, reporting from Washington for the Associated Press, as published in the News and Observer (Raleigh, NC: 1/30/2024, p. 9A).

The pivotal factor for the interest rate level is, of course, inflation. News about inflation could not be better. Over the past six months, inflation has fallen to the Fed’s actual target level, 2% annually. That would suggest that the Fed may begin cutting the interest rate, increasing Americans’ access to money, through borrowing.

The politics of the data and the prospects cannot be missed. For his part, however, Fed Chair Jerome Powell denies any involvement. “We don’t think about politics. We think about what’s the right thing to do for the economy,” he is quoted as saying in News and Observer (Raleigh, NC: 1/30/2024, p. 9A).

I do think about politics, however, and it is one of the central themes of this blog post. I do not think that Powell’s and the Federal Reserve’s choices are politically motivated; I take him at his word. The facts showing how solid the economy and American consumer spending are right now, however, those facts can motivate Powell’s and the Federal Reserve’s choices regarding the interest rate level. These facts, and the resulting interest rates, do impact politics, centrally, in America, especially during this election year.

Currently, those facts look good for President Biden and his handling of the economy. The Daily News describes the political implications: “The state of the economy is sure to weigh on people’s minds ahead of the November elections. After an extended period of gloom, Americans are starting to feel somewhat better about inflation and the economy—a trend that could sustain consumer spending, fuel economic growth and potentially affect voters’ decisions” (New York, NY: 1/26/2024, p. 18).

I would argue that the state of the economy definitely affects voters’ decisions. Remember the campaign slogan that helped win former President Bill Clinton the White House in the 1990s: “It’s the economy, stupid.” That was his main campaign slogan, and that slogan worked. President Clinton won that election. Once again, I would echo that slogan for this presidential election: “It’s the economy, stupid.” Those economic facts currently benefit and reflect well on President Joe Biden. The Federal Reserve’s decisions on lowering interest rates this year will only prime the pump for President Biden.

I know that the economy is somewhat unpredictable. It remains a risk, therefore, for any president to tie his re-election chances to the economy, because it can change quickly. Paul Wiseman, writing in the Daily News (New York, NY: 1/26/2024, p. 18), made the point about how unpredictable the economy can be, and in fact has been, this past year. “The economy has repeatedly defied predictions that the Fed’s aggressive rate hikes would trigger a recession,” Wiseman writes. “Far from collapsing last year, the economy accelerated….”

All of this benefits President Joe Biden and his re-election campaign this year. President Biden deserves credit for this, and deserves re-election, in my opinion, but he would be wise to be somewhat careful about hanging all of his re-election chances on the currently strong economy. That could change, and quickly, but right now, it looks good.

Historically and currently, how the economy is doing at the time of the election, and how Americans feel about the economy, impacts the outcome of the election, centrally. President Biden would do well to continue to try to bring forth the message that the economy is doing well, and that President Biden is doing a good job managing the economy for the American people, at this time. If the economy continues to do well through the election this November, all of this will benefit President Biden’s re-election campaign and his chances of winning in November. If the economy were to take a turn for the worse and tank, however, that possibility would negatively impact President Biden’s re-election campaign, and would, conceivably, cost President Biden his re-election.

President Biden needs to be careful about how he takes credit for the current strength in the American economy under his current management. I think he should take credit, however, and bring out the message about the good economy, currently. I think President Biden and the Federal Reserve deserve credit for the strong American economy, currently, and I think President Joe Biden deserves re-election on the basis of this domestic issue, at this time.

On foreign policy, namely the Middle East, President Biden is handling the situation well, also, at this time, in my opinion. The latest news is that three American soldiers were killed in a drone attack in Jordan on Sunday, according to a statement by President Joe Biden this past Sunday. In addition, 25 American soldiers were injured in the same attack, according to the U.S. Central Command, as reported in the News and Observer (Raleigh, NC: 1/29/2024, p. 8A; 1/30/2024, eEdition, p. 29).

President Biden vowed a response, but a measured response. Speaking on CNN (1/30/2024, television), President Biden said he had decided on a response, meaning a military response, but that he continued to try to avoid a wider war in the Middle East, namely, against Iran. Quoted in the News and Observer (Raleigh, NC: 1/30/2024, p. 9A), President Biden said, “We will hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner of our choosing.” President Biden named “radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq,” in the same article in the News and Observer.

From a North Carolina perspective, it is worth noting that all three U.S. Army soldiers killed were from Georgia, according to the News and Observer (Raleigh, NC: eEdition, 1/30/2024, p. 31). There is this local, regional, Southern connection to this tragedy. The important point about these soldiers, who were killed, however, is not the U.S. state or region they were from, namely, Georgia and the South, but that they were American soldiers, United States service members. Three American soldiers were killed in this attack on U.S. forces in Jordan this past Sunday.

Another American footnote to this news story is that, simultaneous to the multiple attacks that have occurred in the Middle East since Israel invaded the Gaza Strip, in America, however, anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian bias complaints have increased substantially. During the final three months of 2023, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) reported a 178% increase of complaints of bias in the United States, totaling 3,578 complaints, as compared to the same period in 2022, according to the News and Observer (Raleigh, NC: eEdition, 1/30/2024, p. 33). For all of this talk of war in the Middle East, against Iran and its proxies, between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in Palestine, we should remember that hate and discrimination of any kind have no place in America. We should stand up against anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian bias and harassment in America, regardless of our opinion of the Israeli occupation and war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in Palestine, and regardless of our outrage at our own, U.S. casualties and injuries in the U.S. Armed Forces, currently engaged in low-level armed conflict across the Middle East, but notably, not in Iran, itself.

I support President Joe Biden’s measured military response to attacks on U.S. service members in the Middle East. I agree with President Biden, as he said on CNN today, that we do not need a wider war in the Middle East, namely, against Iran, directly (1/30/2024). President Biden is determined to answer the attack on U.S. soldiers in the Middle East, namely, in this specific attack on the U.S. base and soldiers in Jordan, however. The three U.S. soldiers who were killed in last Sunday’s attack on U.S. forces in Jordan are the first U.S. soldiers to die, by the way, from any attacks since tensions in the Middle East have increased dramatically from the start of the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, in Palestine, since October of last year (News and Observer: Raleigh, NC, 1/30/2024, p. 9A).

dreamstime_m_137555553 — Jordan © Butenkow | Dreamstime.com

It should be noted that Iran itself distanced itself from the attacks in Jordan. “Resistance groups in the region do not take orders from the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the Foreign Ministry Spokesman for Iran, Nasser Kanaani, was quoted as saying this past Monday in the News and Observer (Raleigh, NC: 1/30/2024, p. 9A). I think the best way to contain any possible regional, Middle Eastern conflagration from flaring up is not to attack Iran, directly. I would not support any attack on Iran, directly, as I think this would escalate the situation unnecessarily, and could lead to an increasing spiral of violence that could drag the U.S. into a wider war in the Middle East, namely, against Iran. America does not need a war with Iran, and the Iranian people, in particular, do not need a war against America.

Wars against America in the Middle East can be particularly deadly for the people of the Arab World. Remember the U.S. war in Iraq. Approximately 100,000 Iraqi civilians died at the hands of U.S. bombs, alone. The Iranian people do not need to experience something similar.

What is more, the United States does not need another long, unending, deadly war for the U.S. in the Middle East, either. Remember, also, the war in Iraq. The world protested for peace and against the war in Iraq on February 15, 2003. The U.S. commenced a ground invasion of Iraq, anyway, and the war in Iraq dragged on for literally, years to come. Thousands of U.S. troops lost their lives in that war, as well. The chant of the peace movement against the war in Iraq was, “Support the troops. Bring them home.” Eventually, we did, mostly.

Aside from the recent historical experience of the U.S. and Iraq, however, I would like to focus on the current challenges facing the U.S. in the Middle East, namely, Iran and its proxies.

It should be noted, also, that the reason the U.S. is currently having problems with Iranian proxy fighters in the Middle East is the war in the Gaza Strip, namely, the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, with the goal of eliminating Hamas. The U.S. stands by Israel. Iran, and in particular, its proxies across the Middle East, are on the other side, and passionately so. I agree with President Joe Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza, and President Biden’s defense of American forces across the Middle East, without bringing on another wider war for America, in particular, in the Middle East. President Biden, as the American President, is duty-bound to stand by American soldiers, placed in harm’s way in the Middle East. I think President Biden is doing a good job defending American soldiers deployed in the Middle East, while avoiding a broader, even more devastating, war.

There are hawks on this subject in America with whom I disagree. One such hawk would be Republican U.S. Senator Lindsay Graham, of neighboring South Carolina. Reportedly, he is urging President Biden to attack Iran, in Iran. “Hit Iran now,” he is quoted as saying in the News and Observer (Raleigh, NC: 1/30/2024, p. 9A). “Hit them hard.”

In light of comments such as these, President Biden may be seen as weak. I disagree. I think President Biden is doing a good job as our American president defending American soldiers overseas, precisely without embroiling the U.S. in another wider, unending, bloody, particularly American war in the Middle East. I agree with President Biden that it is in American interests to avoid such a war. Also, I support President Biden doing his job as our American president to defend our soldiers, militarily, who are currently deployed in the Middle East.

I think President Biden is handling the situation in the Middle East well, currently. I do not know what form the U.S. military response will take to the death of three U.S. service members in Jordan, last Sunday. I do know that President Biden has vowed a response. When asked about more details about such a strike, President Biden deferred, saying only that there would be a military response, and as for any details, he would only say, “We’ll see” (CNN, 1/30/2024).

President Joe Biden is handling the U.S. economy well, at this time, and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, as well. On two significant issues in this election year, one domestic, one foreign policy, President Biden is doing a good job.

President Biden deserves to win his re-election in the Presidential campaign this year.

—Nicholas Patti

Raleigh, NC

USA