Okay, the election was a gut punch. And all of us need a moment to catch our breath.

But no more than that, for this is a long-term battle, and we have enormous democratic strength to give us heart and hope for a progressive future. Yes, yesterday’s Trump surge is depressing and dangerous, but the message of that surge is not for progressives to sulk and surrender. Rather, a workaday majority is fairly shouting for the Democratic Party to get out of the corporate boardrooms and Washington salons, standing unequivocally, FDR-like, with that majority, focusing intently on the very volatile, central issues of power and powerlessness in our nation.

Election analysts hurl a blizzard of election statistics at us, but here’s one that I think tells the real story: Despite the intensity and importance of this year’s presidential election, some 20 million FEWER people voted than in 2020. Kamala Harris drew 14 million fewer votes than Biden did back then. And, despite Trump’s grandiose claim of unprecedented popular support, he actually got 3 million fewer votes this year than in 2020.*

A big reason for Harris’ defeat, I think, in addition to the sexism and racism values that still raises its ugly head in our society, is that her campaign focused on how awful Trump is, rather than bringing a clear message of economic hope for hard pressed families. She bought into the establishment’s assertions that “objectively” the economy is doing great. While they exclaim that the Dow Jones Index is booming, most people say: But a boom for whom? Check the Doug Jones Index, and you’ll find Doug and Donna are struggling—and feeling some compatibility with Trump’s constant refrain that “the whole system is rigged .”

And when Harris did strike populist gold with her plan for Medicare to provide home health care  to help families who are struggling with the high costs of care for seniors, people with disabilities, and more, few people even knew she said that, because she didn’t hammer that popular message every day at every step.

Trump’s core message (magnified by X and a gaggle of other far-right media propagandists) is avowedly plutocratic, xenophobic, racist and sexist. But I believe that America as a whole is better than that.

So our challenge is not to try appeasing MAGA extremists, but to buck-up and recommit to the hard, steady work of grassroots organizing, directly challenging what I call the 6Bs: Bosses, Bankers, Billionaires, Big Shots, Bastards, and Bullshitters who’re running roughshod over America’s workaday majority. 

True progressivism has had to endure many downs, but it’s the ups that define us. So the fight continues, with renewed vigor. See you there. 

* Number of votes is as of midday on November 6th, 2024.

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