CORRESPONDENCE FROM NEW YORK The Message of the American Elections

The 2024 American elections mark a turning point in the history of the United States.

A few days before Election Day 2024, the polls were anticipating a very tight race: both Trump and Harris were hovering close to the 48-50% mark (However the "betting markets" were anticipating a Trump victory).

As Election night unfolded, it became clear that Trump would win and by a large margin, practically a landslide (by today's standards of close elections). Here are the results

- Trump won in the Electoral College 312 vs. 226. He was also ahead in the popular vote 50.3% vs 48.1%

- Republicans gained control of the US Senate 52 vs 47

- Republicans will also control the House of Representatives. As of November 14, Republicans had 218 seats vs Democrats 209 seats. 8 seats are still undecided, pending completion of vote counting

- Among State Governors, Republicans have 27 positions, Democrats 23

Trump gained across the board, and in particular among various demographic segments that had traditionally voted Democrat, such as Latinos and Blacks, and non-college-educated people.

These results were quite a surprise for everybody but especially for the Democrats and for the Democrat-leaning media.

What happened?

There were of course many reasons for unhappiness related to the Biden-Harris policies during 2020-2024:

- Inflation during the Biden-Harris administration (officially around 25% but 50% and more in many cases). This inflation was triggered by unnecessarily loose monetary policy ("printing money") at the end of the Covid crisis and beyond.

- Inept energy policy: Biden-Harris restricted fracking (which had enabled the US to become energy-independent) and canceled a Canadian pipeline that was intended to supply low-cost energy to the Southern states; Biden developed a "green energy" (e.g. electric cars) policy which vastly increased costs for Americans.

- Influx of illegal migrants across the Southern border of the US (some 11 million). These migrants have been resettled by the Biden-Harris administration in "sanctuary cities" like New York and Chicago and their costs absorbed mostly by the locals.

- Liberal policy on crime: crime rates have increased, partly due to migrants. Left-wing liberal district attorneys and judges are releasing criminals without prison sentences.

- Inept foreign policy: the disastrous bailout from Afghanistan, which signaled American weakness and encouraged Putin to invade Ukraine, Xi Jin Ping to threaten Taiwan and the Iranian proxies, Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthi to attack Israel. Furthermore: inept handling of an increasingly aggressive Iran; limited support to Ukraine.

There is a more fundamental reason however: Americans rejected the leftist "woke" ideology.

Of course, there has always been a right wing / left wing dichotomy in American politics.

Historically, Republicans believed in fiscal conservatism , low taxes, free markets and "small government" ; Democrats believed in redistribution of wealth, high taxes, regulation of markets and "big government". There was a certain balance and, although elections may have favored one party against the other, there was sufficient "bi-partisan" spirit to ensure the "centrist" path was followed.

In the last few years, starting especially with the Obama-Biden administration 2008-2016 and accelerating during the Biden-Harris administration 2020-2024, the Democratic party has adopted an increasingly extreme left ideology. Having lost some of their traditional support such as blue-collar workers to Trump in 2016-2020 Democrats have focused on "identity politics" seeking votes from "oppressed" minorities - Blacks, Latinos, LGBTQ (Lesbian, gay, transexual and queer).

The Democrat strategy has relied on building support for the party in several key sectors:

- Education - in public primary and secondary education, most teachers are left wing, in particular driven by the Democrat-dominated teacher unions. In higher education, college professors are under tremendous pressure to espouse left wing views. Consequently, entire generations of young Americans have been saturated with left-wing ideology.

- Media - most media is also controlled or influenced by the Democrats . The average American gets his or her news from a left-wing sources.

- Justice - in the US , the legal profession as a whole is also heavily influenced by the left. This is especially the case among District Attorneys and judges , many of whom are elected and need campaign funding. Non-governmental organizations, supported by people like George Soros , have channeled their support to left wing district attorneys and judges, who administer left wing justice i.e. criminals are viewed as victims of the social system and treated leniently.

As part of their left-wing agenda, the Democrats have stimulated the American version of "cultural revolution", wokeness.

What does "woke" mean? Wikipedia tells us:

Woke, the African-American English synonym for the General American English word awake, has since the 1930s or earlier been used to refer to awareness of social and political issues affecting African Americans, often in the construction stay woke. Beginning in the 2010s, it came to be used to refer to a broader awareness of social inequalities such as racial injustice, sexism, and denial of LGBT rights. Woke has also been used as shorthand for some ideas of the American Left involving identity politics and social justice, such as white privilege and reparations for slavery in the United States.

Wokeness has spawned other ideologies, movements and trends, such as:

- Occupy Wall Street - protest movement against the "rich" (slogan "We are the 99%")

- Black Lives Matter (BLM) - the movement of protest generated by the George Floyd story ( Black delinquent who resisted arrest and was killed by a policeman)

- Antifa - "antifascist" a movement seeking the defunding of police

- Critical Race Theory - which says that every non-Black American is "ipso facto "guilty of racism and must be "re-educated"

- Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) - which advocated that corporations and government hire people taking into account their race , gender and sexual preferences. Many institutions created "DEI departments" to implement these policies

- Ultra liberal district attorneys and judges who systematically released petty criminals apprehended by police. Shoplifting has become widespread...

The above movements emerged around 2020. The American population initially embraced some of them but later became increasingly fed up.

During the past year or so, a backlash emerged.

Companies began to eliminate DEI departments. On September 19 2024 , The Economist ran a prescient article which pointed out that the woke ideology had already peaked.

The recent election confirms that we are approaching the end of woke.

In this election, American democracy has spoken eloquently. "Elections have consequences" said Obama when he was winning.

Trump now has an unprecedented mandate to change the country and everything suggests he will do his best to stem the left-wing slide of America.

Hopefully, he will do so skillfully and eliminate the left-wing threat.