Twilight of the Elites? | City magazine

In light of Donald Trump’s second election as president, many observers, especially those in the luxury-believing class, are baffled. Branding Trump and his supporters as everything from “fascist” to “deplorable” to “racist” to “trash” did little to sway public opinion or the support of the electorate.

Although pre-election polls suggested a tight race, the former president has won a clear victory and is now on track to win not only the Electoral College, which he secured, but also the national popular vote. This is the best result for a Republican presidential candidate since George W. Bush in 2004.

Trump lost the popular vote by about 3 million votes in 2016 and 7 million in 2020. Although votes are still being counted in California and elsewhere, he is expected to win the popular vote by several million votes this time. As the Free Press noted, no state saw Harris surpass Biden’s 2020 performance by 3 percent or more.

If Barack Obama’s first win was the Facebook election in 2008 and Trump’s first win was the Twitter election in 2016, then 2024 is the Podcast election. Podcasts and independent media have allowed political ideas to circulate immediately and unfiltered by traditional media or other gatekeepers.

The online and offline worlds came together to influence politics in ways we’ve never seen before. The Republican campaign leaned into this new era. At age 40, JD Vance will be the third-youngest vice president in US history and the first millennial to win a ticket for a major political party. Vance used his platform The Joe Rogan experience and other popular podcasts to convey complex ideas in simple, relatable terms. He is also active on X and seems aware of online language in right-leaning spaces.

In his recent interview with Rogan, Vance stated, “The entire modern Democratic party grew up in an era of consensus. They grew up in an era of high social trust. Many of them try to reimpose that social trust from the top down, without recognizing that social trust arose organically from the way American society worked. When people try to re-impose it from the top down, what you are trying to create is degraded.”

Interestingly, a candidate like Trump, who has repeatedly accused the system of being “corrupt” and “rigged,” can only win elections in a society with little trust. If voters believed that their society was clearly functional and fair, such accusations would not resonate with them. As of 2024, public trust in the U.S. government is at an all-time low. Vance’s words resonated with a generation accustomed to questioning authority. He showed them a party willing to challenge the status quo.

The results of the 2024 election suggest a notable shift in the traditional base of support for both parties. Trump not only retained his core voters, but also significantly increased his appeal among non-white men, a demographic that Republicans have long struggled to reach.

He won 46 percent of Latino men and 24 percent of black men, according to early exit polls. These groups, historically democratic, signal a change in attitudes. Perhaps Democrats’ endless talk about “toxic masculinity” has alienated some members of their most reliable voting blocs. A recent Pew survey found that nearly half of black Democratic men and 39 percent of Hispanic Democratic men identify as “very masculine.” They apparently see nothing shameful in that identity, no matter how the political left frames it. These shares are much larger than the 22 percent of white Democratic men who consider themselves very masculine. Perhaps the most effective against this particular group is the relentless cries of “toxic masculinity.”

Many believed the abortion issue would sink Republicans, but it doesn’t appear Harris performed better with women than Biden. Others suggested that immigration would hurt Republicans among Hispanics, but Trump is likely to get a larger share of the Hispanic vote than in 2016 or 2020.

Meanwhile, the mainstream media has largely missed the mark in understanding this political realignment. If you listen to many elite news outlets, you would think that most of America is shocked by Trump and his policies. A journalist from the prestigious German South German Zeitung The newspaper noted last week: “In a few days, Americans could elect a criminal as their president.” Experts from elite organizations at home and abroad reflect on Trump’s numerous shortcomings. However, Trump’s campaign focused on the perceived gap between these media outlets and everyday Americans. The media seems unaware of why their rhetoric is not catching on.

As you might expect, this contrast in views is not without consequences. Large parts of the country no longer believe that traditional media understands or represents them. If these institutions want to regain their credibility, they might consider hiring more journalists who seek to understand American life as it is, rather than viewing it merely as an ideological battlefield.

As Trump prepares to return to power, the question facing Democrats is not just about political strategy; it’s about cultural understanding. Labeling Trump a fascist, racist and sexist failed to reduce his support enough to cost him the election. His critics exhaust every label in the book. It didn’t work.

Maybe it’s time for our media and elites to learn what people really care about, instead of forcing them to raise slogans (left-wing activists tell us that “silence is violence”) or silencing them (left-wing activists also tell us that “speech is violence”).

Luxury beliefs sound attractive in theory – safe in the bubble of academia or in affluent neighborhoods – but they fail to address the daily struggles of working families, small business owners and communities concerned about safety, jobs and education . As I wrote in my book Troubled“Ordinary people have real problems to worry about.” And further:

Perhaps most voters care about public safety and public order.

Maybe voters like border security.

Perhaps voters believe in competitive college admissions and hiring based on merit rather than racist DEI principles.

Maybe voters believe that education The establishment’s abandonment of standardized testing was misleading.

Maybe voters don’t believe that America is a structurally racist, white supremacist society.

Maybe voters don’t believe patriotism is a bad word, and they don’t see American history as a bleak landscape full of racism, sexism and oppression.

Maybe voters don’t believe that sex is “assigned at birth” and can be changed by forcing those around you to use different language.

Maybe voters don’t think it’s a good idea to police people’s language for “microaggressions” and biases against the “marginalized.”

Perhaps voters do not want to “disrupt the nuclear family structure prescribed by the West.”

Perhaps voters do not see murderous terrorists like Hamas as righteous liberators.