Elite Disdain for Ordinary Americans Once Again Exposed In 2024 Election
The elites and their admirers need to take a hard look in the mirror, step outside their coastal bubbles, and realize just how far they’ve moved from the center of American cultural norms and beliefs.
The Trump candidacies of 2016 through 2024, if nothing else, have exposed the snobbery of elites—be they at universities, in the media, or in government—and their general disdain for the concerns of ordinary Americans.
Much was made of Trump as a “strongman” or “dictator” and so those in the echelons of power and influence could write him off as another Hitler or Mussolini and, in turn, excoriate his followers as “anti-American,” “deplorables,” or “garbage,” or as people who “cling to guns or religion” in times of stress. What these elite failed to see, fundamentally, is that Trump spoke to their common-sense values and beliefs – sometimes crudely, yes, but clearly and authentically.
What sorts of values and beliefs? For starters, that the nation’s border should not be wide open as long as lawful immigration avenues exist. That the government should take care of its citizens first and foremost, rooted in basic ideas of social contract. That males don’t belong in women’s sports and that gender is essentially biological, not “fluid.” That criminals should be punished, regardless of race or ethnicity, and that crime should be brought and kept under control. That American jobs and industry should be fostered, not exported. And that America should be energy independent and not beholden to hostile nations abroad.
From the vantage point of ordinary Americans, these are nothing more than basic, common-sensical ideas that largely aren’t up for debate. That’s why they chose Trump in 2024 and that’s why they didn’t choose Harris. I confess that it’s harder to explain why Americans chose Biden in 2020, though Trump’s victory in 2024, not just in the Electoral College but by popular vote, suggests that there was a fair amount of buyer’s remorse on that score.
No, Harris didn’t lose because she’s a woman, or black, or biracial. Nor did she lose because of bigotry or white supremacy or Christian nationalism, whatever these might mean. Rather, she lost because she was attached to policies opposed to common sense and, when she tried to distance herself from them, it looked more like pandering than a principled change of heart. When flipping on issues, she didn’t actually seem to believe that her past positions were wrong, only that they wouldn’t get her elected. Ultimately, she came across as inauthentic and evasive and, like Hillary Clinton, entitled. And that’s on her and the establishment media that enabled her, not on Trump or the bogeymen of patriarchy and systemic racism.
Enough, then, with the Hitler comparisons and the doomsaying about the death of democracy. Enough also with the claims of fascism and white supremacy. Many citizens, frankly, are sick and tired of history and race being exploited to keep dysfunctional politicians in power, or to make Americans feel bad about their country, which by and large has been exemplary for its integration of people from all over the world of different races, ethnicities, and religions. They’re also sick, for that matter, of race and identity categories being exploited generally, whether by establishment media, college DEI programs, or the entertainment industry.
Sure, there’s lingering racism and bigotry in American society, but it occurs across many different races in many directions, not just whites against blacks. And yes, the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow and redlining likely still have effects. But these are grievances, not proposals to move the nation as a whole forward. And most people—besides talk show panelists and naive college students—are tired of grievances for their own sake. Instead, they’re most concerned about whether they can pay the bills this month and about what kind of nation they’ll be leaving for their children and grandchildren.
This is what Harris and the Democratic Party establishment don’t seem to understand. Maybe they can get away with their policies in heavily blue states like California or Massachusetts, where their power is entrenched, but a lot of ordinary Americans don’t accept these policies and refuse to have them foisted upon them from above. They also don’t appreciate being called deplorable or racist at every turn, just because they want the country’s trajectory to be grounded in normalcy and common sense.
And that, in the end, is why Trump won and Harris didn’t. It’s no more complicated than that, and trying to make it about race or sex or foreign interference is simply to perpetuate the same worn-out narratives that led so many to vote for Trump in the first place.
The elites and their admirers need to take a hard look in the mirror, step outside their coastal bubbles, and realize just how far they’ve moved from the center of American cultural norms and beliefs. Until they do, they will remain angry, perplexed, and self-righteously indignant, which will only lead them to drift further away from the lives of ordinary Americans.
Scott Idleman is a Professor of Law at Marquette University as well as a husband, father, and ardent baseball fan. The views expressed in this piece are his own and do not necessarily represent the views of Marquette University.
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Comments
Multi-culti simply does not sell to a majority of Americans. Today’s left abhors the concept of a melting pot, which is not vulnerable to identity politics.
The left favors the fondue pot…throw it all in and mix it together then swab your whims to sate your own appetite.
The turn away from assimilation is definitely regrettable. Though it may at times have been misused, it was nevertheless a vital instrument to developing useful and law-abiding citizens who by and large believed in the nation’s ideals. Without it, and turning instead toward radical individualism and identity politics, we become merely a collective of self-interested victims who share no common history or shared aspirations. Along with the decline of genuine education, it’s also led to a level of civic and historical ignorance that is simply dangerous, as the college protests over the last year (and other protests over the last decade) have plainly demonstrated.
I was dismayed and greatly saddened to see that a childhood friend had become one of these condescending elitists. He is retired from a university where he was a professor of foreign languages. Getting into a discussion on Farcebook is frustrating because of the underlying tone of his posts, that he seems to consider himself superior. Yes, he has an advanced degree and a personal history that is very fulfilling for him, but no, he’s not superior as a man.
.
Give him time, maybe he can become superior as a woman …
DSH said the person was an academic, not an athlete.
Just sayin’.
educated beyond his intelligence yet still seeking his own understanding.
Although Kasparian has since had an epiphany about Leftists, as a Leftist she was one of the few to be honest about her holier-than-thou attitude towards others. They really do think this.
https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2017/10/30/ana-kasparian-claims-the-moral-high-ground/
Kamala’s Al Smith bail-out skit showed the elites’ disdain for humor.
It isn’t so much disdain as lack of comprehension. Libs are humorless adolescents.
Bulwark guest Tom Nichols expresses his contempt for Trump voters, perhaps marking an end to the 2-long thoughtful self-reflective turn at Bulwark
https://youtu.be/QZOrYc86lUE
As if we needed any reminder at all. There is a reason that Trump just won in a landslide and that’s because he admit it quite obvious that they hate normal people
“I confess that it’s harder to explain why Americans chose Biden in 2020”
Not mathematically.
And Democrat pundits are now discovering the proof and bitching about it, without actually realizing what it is that they’re busy proving.
The postmortem on the ’24 election by d/prog searching for the ‘missing’ votes from 2020 turnout is not gonna lead them to the answer they want to see.
How could Nixon have won???? I don’t know anyone who voted for him!
That’s not what Pauline Kael said. She observed that he was elected, with majorities in 49 states, including hers. Therefore, she concluded, she must be surrounded with Nixon voters. Everywhere she went, about half the people she saw had voted for Nixon. And yet she knew only one person who had done so. Therefore, she correctly concluded, she must live in a bubble.
That was her point. That one can live ones whole life in a bubble and not know it until something (like Nixon’s victory) comes along and rubs your face in it.
Newsom & James, Hochul, Murphy, and Pritzger, among others. Looks like they plan to engage in war. Proving how out of touch they are, uninterested in the common welfare, despite their pretend altuism. Too dumb to see they are on the self-chosen path to ruin and oblivion.
Will Doug slap Kamala for
losing?
I think the last straw for many voters was Kamala’s refusal to say how she would vote on California Prop 36, which passed and repealed Prop 47 several years ago which pretty much decriminalized theft up to $950 and led to a crime wave of shoplifting and organized smash and grab actions. This from a “former prosecutor”, no less.
I thought the GOPe hated their base, but it turns out the Democrats hate their base even more, driving them literally insane with absurd hoaxes.
The d/prog have in large part morphed into the party of the very well off and very poor. Many of their policies seem to be directed at the desires of the top 15% and the bottom 15%. The vast middle 70% is largely rejecting this and moving to a center/right populist stance that demands the needs and interests of the vast middle-class be served by govt policies… and in many cases they want an absence of govt policies to get rid of strangling regulatory overreach.