What Happened on Nov. 5, 2024?
It was Election Day. The last election for Donald Trump, and probably the last election for Kamala Harris.
This date will be known in history as Trump’s amazing comeback, and Harris’ last hurrah. Trump will become the second person in history to serve non-consecutive terms as president.
The first non-consecutive president (#22 and #24) Grover Cleveland was also the first Democrat to be elected after the civil war. In this respect he was an anomaly, just like Trump. Cleveland was a reformer who battled corruption at the state and federal level, and in doing so, made many enemies. He was also an anti-imperialist (one of the last) and fought for the sovereignty of the Hawaiian Islands, a small monarchy which the U.S. took over after Cleveland was out of office.
How did Trump become president twice (#45 and #47)?
Trump ran for president in 2016 and won against Hillary Clinton. He ran for reelection in 2020 against Joe Biden, and narrowly lost. In 2024, he won in a landslide against Kamala Harris, and again became president.
Trump improved on his campaigning in 2024, but largely won because the Democrats did a poor job in candidate selection and campaigning. In 2020, Bernie Sanders was leading the primary pack when the powers in the Party decided they would not support him. Barack Obama became the hatchet man who contacted all the other candidates and persuaded them to drop out in the interest of Party unity. All their votes went to Joe Biden who, until then, had been lagging in the back of the pack.
Trump’s progress toward the presidency was against three lackluster candidates in three elections. The first was Hillary Clinton, who had risen to the top of the “most hated” politician who seemed to have contempt for the voters. Biden made a better candidate but it soon became apparent that he had begun experiencing dementia. In the Trump-Biden election it was not that apparent, and Biden won with 81 million votes to Trump’s 74 million.
Four years later it was obvious that Biden was in no shape to run for a second term. Once again, the Democratic big shots, the Clintons, Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and others threatened Biden with the invoking of the 25th Amendment, which would have removed him as president for health reasons. A deal was struck that Biden would not run again but would remain president until Jan. 20, 2025. Many voters saw Biden’s departure as nothing more than an American coup.
In order to retain their billion dollar hoard that had been pledged to the Biden-Harris campaign, it was necessary to designate VP Kamala Harris as the Democratic Presidential Candidate. Harris had little experience as a candidate, and it showed immediately.
Instead of explaining to the voters how she would address the economic problems that plague the population, she spent most of her time attacking her adversary for his shortcomings. In the end, it was the poor campaigning by the Democrats that threw the election to the Republicans.
The necessary removal of Joe Biden for health reasons was the first blow the Democrats endured. Then, Trump was the victim of an attempted assassination at a Pennsylvania campaign rally. He turned his head at the last moment and a bullet struck his ear. A spray of bullets killed one onlooker and injured several others. Trump rose up immediately, holding his raised fist in the air. His “heroic” response won voters to his cause. Other assassination attempts continued, but none were as dramatic.
Trump’s support grew with the allegiance of several politicians and personalities with their own large followings. They included Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.; popular journalist Tucker Carlson; Tulsi Gabbard, former Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee; Elon Musk, richest man in the world, owner of X.com (formerly Twitter) and space pioneer; and Joe Rogan, the most popular interviewer in the U.S. The combined total of the support of these four has helped boost Trump’s popular vote by more than five million more than Kamala Harris’. According to The Hill, 38 million people watched Joe Rogan’s interview with Trump in the three days prior to the election. Seeing Trump sit still for three hours must have impressed many viewers. Harris had turned down an invitation to be interviewed by Rogan.
The Democrats Biggest Blunder
Little by little over the years the Democrats have abandoned the Working Class. In this election, they turned their backs on working people (although many workers have not yet found out they have been abandoned). Perhaps it’s time, to paraphrase President Kennedy, who wanted to “shatter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds.” The same might apply for a political party that has lost its purpose.
In Harris’ short campaign, where was the need for free health care for all? Where was relief in being able to pay rent or afford a home? Where is the plan to help homeless people get a home? Where was the possibility that people’s children would have a better life? Or that they would be able to go to college without breaking the bank? Where were the subsidies for food, which is still on an inflationary path? Where was the discussion of a universal basic income (UBI) as robots become something real, and not just a possibility? Every one of these needs can be easily funded if they would only stop funding every war on the planet.
The Democrats, having forsaken the working people, are now the party of the well-to-do middle class, business owners, and those who are too good to consider themselves associated with the working class. For the new leaders of the Democrats, working people are nothing more than “deplorables,” as Hillary Clinton characterized them.
As the Dems walked away from their historic class politics, the Republicans, that party of privilege, cast a greedy eye toward their new MAGA followers. They opened their doors to young people who could not afford to go to college. And at the same time they were bashing people who wanted to come to the U.S., they were embracing immigrants who managed to cross the border, many of whom joined in bashing those less fortunate.
Political struggles, like we just went through, have long been fought as class struggles. In this country, it was the Robber Barons versus the farmers. Then it became the industrial working class versus the oligarchs. Now it is the greedy versus the greedy. The Blues versus the Reds, neither of which wants to involve the working masses, whether in factories, offices, or some other kind of wage slavery. No, the working people have become only the viewers in this TV drama.
What is the Left? What is not the Left?
In this election the Left was often kicked around as if it was the source of all problems. In fact, the Left had little to do with the election.
Here is what the Left is not: It is not the Democratic Party. That Party, by almost any measure, is a “right of center,” party. As mentioned above, the DP is really not interested in the plight of the people. The Republican Party is a slightly farther “right of center,” party. It is not a fascist party, except in the scare tactics of the Democrats.
What is the Left? The Left is made up of people who believe that capitalism’s day is done, and it is time for a more caring, more collaborative, social system. People who agree with this are part of the Left. Those who are still clinging to capitalism are not part of the Left. That means that the two major parties are not part of the Left. In fact, in the U.S., that bastion of capitalism there are only two electoral political parties in the country. They are California’s Peace and Freedom Party, with 141,805 members, and a smaller party in Vermont, the Green Mountain Peace and Justice Party. These parties are usually ignored by the mainstream media which pretends that we have a full spectrum of viewpoints with the two major parties.
What can the Left do in the next four years?
Build genuine Left parties in all states. The Greens are not a Left party, they still support capitalism, although they are farther toward the Left than the Democrats.
Engage in all forms of media. Distribute newsletters in your neighborhood, get a site on YouTube, X, Substack, etc. where you share your leftist views.
Get some experience running for office. Cities and small towns usually have elective offices ranging from dog catcher to city councilmember where you can run. Tailor your grandiose political views to the needs of the community.
Anywhere and everywhere criticize the Oligarchs. You’ll find a lot of support. It’s the system that needs to be defeated. The people who are running it are incidental.
Help organize small and large rallies against the action of Trump and company when they do things harmful to Americans and/or people in other parts of the world.
Form a group in your community where socialist topics are discussed. Most people need moral support when they’re swimming in shark-infested waters.
Read about the history of socialism and labor in this country. Act accordingly.
Don’t Give Up!
STOP THE GENOCIDE! STOP THE GENOCIDE! STOP THE GENOCIDE! STOP!