FLASH
Shkruar nga Tim Stanley
Voters have learned to distinguish between jokes and serious comments, between Trump's lip service and what Trump will actually do. It is strange to write that he is an "elder statesman", but over time, that is what he has become.
Trump did it again. Graciously accepting victory on stage in Mar-a-Lagos – "everyone here is wonderful" – Trump said he was leading the "greatest political movement of all time" and JD Vance heralded "the greatest political turnaround in the history of America". It seems that America has made Trump great again.
The polls were right: Trump vs. Harris was close with a slight Trump lead, securing the Sun Belt and narrowly winning some northern states. A repeat of 2016, perhaps more decisive. Even when the winner appeared on his microphone - "we all think our children are wonderful" - the experts did not want to believe their ears. The mood on my television now is like a funeral, which is very entertaining.
How could Trump, that crazy old man – on trial for countless crimes – win a second term? Because to millions of Americans, he's not that crazy. As the results poured in, a friend sent me the picture of a frozen chicken. He said, "It used to cost $10-$11" a few years ago. Today it's $20. That is why his partner had voted for the Republicans for the first time in her life. Democrats are too expensive for him.
Exit polls highlighted three main issues: abortion, democracy, economy. The first two were Harris' strengths, the last was Trump's - with memories of his tenure, pre-Covid, when the stock market soared and unemployment fell to historic lows. Under Joe Biden, Americans endured soaring inflation. This, along with Biden's physical decline, set the country on an emotional downward spiral. The Democrats seemed incompetent, confused by liberalism. Impossible to bring peace to Ukraine or Israel; humiliated in Afghanistan.
In other words, the conditions for a Trump victory were set long before Biden dropped out of the race, weeks of melodrama that perhaps distracted us from the essential dynamic of the race: incumbents don't win when voters are miserable.
Harris replaced Biden and is credited with a surge in support for Democrats. But it failed to pursue a clear agenda or transformative policies. With supreme arrogance, she tried to enter the White House with aura alone — a promise to end the dram-a-la, conveyed with the sentimentality of Sesame Street and the sound of nails on a chalkboard.
And the American media made matters worse. They confused their love for a pathetic liberal with national enthusiasm - elevating Harris so high that it may have contributed to her defeat. People don't like to be told what they like. "Mammals"? No thanks-ala.
Meanwhile, Trump ran a fairly disciplined campaign. There were his usual outbursts: "Eating pets." And self-inflicted old men: he may never set foot in Puerto Rico again. But Trump stuck to his simple themes of Democratic malaise and Republican renewal, and none of it seemed as scary as it did in 2016 — because the big difference between then and now is that now he's normal. Even the endless court appearances seemed banal over time; the presence of television cameras, tiring.
Voters have learned to distinguish between jokes and serious comments, between Trump's lip service and what Trump will actually do. It is strange to write that he is an "elder statesman", but over time, that is what he has become. And his personal coalition, which once seemed lucky and tenuous, seems to have solidified into something like a New Deal or Reagan reshuffle. The old middle-class Republican vote—no longer enough for John McCain—or Mitt Romney—has morphed into a coalition of rural, low-educated, blue-collar voters, with sizable pockets of Hispanics, perhaps even black support (we have yet to crunch the numbers). Trumpism has a large base.
Assuming there are no last-minute upsets, Trump is on track to become the only president other than Grover Cleveland to win two consecutive terms. In hindsight historians will call the miraculous visible. Americans thought Trump was a good president. Biden disappointed them; Kamala protected them. So they decided to return Trump./ The Telegraph
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