We are going back.
Kamala Harris’s campaign slogan notwithstanding, Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States. Just what does this mean? A few things stand out for me already.
The first is that the late-campaign focus among Democrats and commentators on whether Black voters, and men in particular, would turn out in large enough numbers for Harris hurt her candidacy.
Black people don’t like to be told every four years that the future of American democracy rests on their shoulders, only to be forgotten until the next election. And Black men resent being scolded about their supposed apathy—even when this comes from another Black man, as in the case of former President Barack Obama, whose starchy rhetoric on Harris’s campaign trail was probably counterproductive. This push may have also driven away some white voters, a group that has leaned Republican in recent elections, reinforcing their sense of the Democratic Party as a Black party.
The message Harris’s campaign relied on most to appeal to white people, and especially white women, was a pledge to restore the right to abortion. However, according to exit polling, the majority of white women voted for Trump, which seems to suggest that racial identity is as powerful among white people as it is commonly assumed to be among Black people.
Against a weak candidate with as many liabilities as Trump, what Harris lacked most of all was a program. Harris had barely 100 days in the race, but she and her party failed to define a platform that went beyond leaning on traditional constituencies and the abortion issue. Trump’s campaign was almost entirely free of details, but it did project a vision—one of resurgent nationalism, of turning back immigrants, and of heightened executive power. For the majority that elected him, that was enough.
This post is part of FP’s live coverage with global updates and analysis throughout the U.S. election. Follow along here.