Perhaps it is inevitable that the winners take their victory lap and losers stare at the ground wondering what went wrong. But this time seems different. The winning Republicans are not only not gloating, but rather are trying to see something more deep-seated, structural and transformational in their victory.
Meanwhile, the losing Democrats have turned the rifles on each other, seeking blame, but ignoring the larger reasons and implications of their decisive defeat.
From Trump on down, there seems to be a realization that something larger is going on. The Republican Party bears no resemblance to itself since at least the end of World War II. It has become the workingman’s party, the party of the little guy, the breadwinners, the parents, the regular people of all races, creeds, religions and ages.
What is binding these people together is not the force of personality of a Donald Trump, but rather what he stands for. It is the party of renascent patriotism, an unabashed willingness to believe in God, and an overwhelming desire to put America back on the track of can do, instead of identity-based aggressiveness.
Trump sincerely connects with these aspirations. Making America great again also entails decoupling it from policies and mindsets that have caused the country to go off the rails.
Looking back 100 years from now, I venture to bet that historians will shake their heads at the insanity of transgender surgical brutalities, much like we look back at Eugenics today and wonder what these so-called leading lights were thinking.
Victory sparks hope for a reinvigorated American vision
THOSE OF us who now have a critical distance from America but maintain a rooting interest in it, look at this blossoming of awareness and see Republicans suddenly connecting the dots of possibility and potential. Trump certainly shares this mindset, as evidenced by his poignant statement that perhaps God spared his life for a reason.
Hopefully, we will see a mission-driven desire to re-enshrine the values and policies that made America the great nation it became, offering opportunity to all and bringing people together instead of ascribing blame and goodness based on one’s identity. Trump supporters are waking up to the reality that the US military has become DEI infected, resulting in unfilled quotas for soldiers and lower than needed supplies of critical munitions.
There is a clear recognition that the open borders of the Biden administration have brought crime, civic ruin and economic displacement for legal lower-income Americans. There is the realization that billions have been squandered on sanctimonious climate-directed initiatives that have not succeeded in anything except adding to the debt and deficits of the US government.
Now, in the wake of a historic victory, there is a strong conviction to do something about it. Ironically, Trump’s status as a lame duck (since this must be his final term) is liberating, not enervating. Trump will focus on his signature issues and initiatives, and his victory showed his ability to bring the strong swath of middle and working class America along with him.
MEANWHILE, back at the clubhouse, the Democrats’ self-recrimination offers a great view of how they have misread and misunderstood the mood and mindset of the great majority of Americans. Rather than contemplating their severance from regular people, the backbone of the post war Democratic Party, Democrat solons are pointing fingers, looking for the smoking gun in the mistakes and malfeasance of one or another player.
This attitude of “but for the mistakes of (fill in the blank) we would have won,” has blinded Democrats to the deeper reality of what the election represented. This is a reality that they will not want to engage with, because it questions many of their priorities, pillars and postures.
So long as Democrats secretly blame the electorate for not “getting it,” they will continue to be marginalized and spurned. The election was not just a victory for Trump and the Republican Party: It was an awakening for Americans who were empowered and were able to express the conviction that the country was in dire need of a directional correction.
Trump is not approaching the presidency the same way he did in 2016. He is more knowledgeable and savvy as to the workings of the system. He understands that he did not drain the swamp nor uproot the deep state last time, but he is surrounded now by professionals who are intent on doing just that this time around.
Trump clearly identified and embraced the working man, the regular guy, and during the next four years, we should expect that he will be focused on ameliorating, elevating and advancing the interests of these critical but usually ignored Americans.
One senses an excitement reminiscent of the election of John Kennedy, and of Ronald Reagan’s “Morning in America.” Trump has energized, encouraged and empowered regular people to see an America not in inevitable decline, but capable of a bracing and palliative correction and restoration.
Above all, Trump has brought back optimism to the American discourse. The next four years could be very exciting ones for America.
The writer is the chairman of the board of Im Tirtzu and a director of the Israel Independence Fund.