Big red shock: Takeaways from Trump's election night romp
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Former President Trump is on the verge of the most astonishing, gravity-defying comeback in the history of American politics.
Why it matters: Across the country — across all demographics — the results early Wednesday tell the same story: Trump was improving on his margins from 2020, well on his way to assembling the most diverse GOP coalition in decades.
- The 2024 election, while not officially called by The Associated Press, has delivered a historic repudiation of Democratic rule that's likely to eclipse Trump's upset victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016.
- With a lead in all seven swing states, Trump is set to win a decisive democratic mandate to return to the White House — making him, unambiguously, one of the most transcendent political figures of our time.
Takeaways
1. Harris' inescapable headwinds
- Vice President Harris, unable to shake the Biden administration's baggage, faced the same voter backlash as virtually every incumbent government in the world during the past several years.
- Inflation — and a dream of returning to the pre-COVID prices of the Trump presidency — far outweighed Harris' pitch on democracy, Trump's divisiveness or even abortion rights.
- The vice president's 100-day campaign was hailed for its minimal missteps, massive grassroots enthusiasm and huge fundraising — and seemed to have momentum in the final weekend.
- But money didn't matter. Nor did the Harris campaign's vaunted ground game in key battlegrounds. She lost because she failed to convince voters she was the "change" candidate.
2. The red wave arrives
- It wasn't just the battlegrounds: Trump carved double-digit gains in states as deep-blue states as New York and New Jersey, helped Republicans take the Senate and possibly keep the House, and cemented Florida as a conservative haven.
- Trump built a multiracial juggernaut of a coalition, with a surge in Latino support that could fundamentally reorient American politics for a generation.
- His margins were so big they can't be attributed to factors Democrats will second-guess in coming days — including Harris' past liberal positions, her running-mate selection or President Biden's handling of the war in Gaza.
3. Democratic DEFCON
- It's an impossible pill to swallow: Democrats spent all of their political capital making the case that Trump — a convicted felon who tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election — was unfit for office.
- Backed by Trump's own former advisers, they accused him of being a fascist, campaigned on his history of racism, and warned that he would govern as an authoritarian with no guardrails.
- Yet early Wednesday, America was on its way to electing him anyway — papering over the stain of Jan. 6, plunging the government into uncharted territory, and leaving the Democratic Party searching for answers.
The bottom line: The politics of the most powerful country in the world have lurched sharply to the right, led by a rejuvenated MAGA movement that defied all odds by expanding its voting coalition.
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