Election 2024 Post Mortem, Part Two
More on the 2024 election, which is not only the most consequential election in our life time, but, if truth be told, the most interesting as well.
TECHNOLOGY
A sometimes neglected aspect of both Trump’s 2016 and 2024 campaigns, is his utilization of new technology. In 2016, he was the first presidential candidate to make extensive use of the technology provided by Twitter (now “X”) to get his message out, thereby doing an “end run” around major media that would not have given his message a fair hearing. Although there were many observers (my self included) that were quite a bit distressed by the off hand, injudicious, ill considered and, sometimes, even juvenile nature of some of his Tweets, there’s no question that that platform allowed his voice to be heard. Eventually, after being banned from Twitter, he would start his own “Twitter like” platform, “Truth Social” which now has an estimated worth of over 10 BILLION dollars according to the Associated Press. Then, in 2024, Trump made use of another new technology: podcasts. Not only did his campaign make ample use of that media, but commentators (Joe Rogan, among many others), supporters and “surrogates” did as well.
BIGGEST LOSERS
Speaking of new technology and the changing face of media, it is apparent to ALL observers that the BIG LOSERS in the 2024 race were traditional (sometimes called “legacy”) media, which has taken a beating. Among plummeting viewership, parent company Comcast has severed ties with that leftist rag, MSNBC. CNN is unable to pay its bills and is looking for a buyer. The rabid anti Trump TV show, “The View” is now desperately looking for conservatives to balance the extreme leftist bias that was the show’s hallmark for many years. Even the traditional networks are firing staff and cutting pay for the survivors. Disney is said to be revamping its leftist subsidiary, ABC.
In addition to the demise of legacy media, the 2024 election has produced two other big losers. The first is celebrity endorsements. Somehow the Harris/Walz ticket was able to garner endorsements from nearly every celebrity and “A lister” from Harrison Ford to J Lo. (A partial list: George Clooney, Oprah, Springsteen, Harrison Ford, Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Julia Roberts, George Clooney, Eva Longoria, Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, Ellen Degeneres, Barbra Streis.and and many many more). None of that mattered, however. Like legacy media, celebrities have become irrelevant. Quite simply, NO ONE CARES WHAT THEY THINK.
Which is as it should be. Why anyone would listen to the political opinions of a group of self absorbed, analytically challenged actors/actresses in the first place, is hard to fathom.
Next, is the eclipse of that tired and sad group of Republicans referred to as “Republicans In Name Only” (RINOs). Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Susan Collins (R-ME), Mitt Romney (R-UT), for starters. And, rounding out the list, let’s not forget: Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, John Kasich, Larry Hogan, and even Mitch McConnel. Why these geniuses can’t figure out that the Republican Party NEEDS to be unified in order to combat a virulent Democrat party that ALWAYS VOTES IN LOCKSTEP, is, once again, hard to fathom.
A BILLION DOLLARS DIDN’T HELP
One of the big benifits of the 2024 election that can NOT be overstated: 2024 proved that, against all odds, big money alone, CAN’T buy elections! (Who knew!). Harris was able to fleece over ONE BILLION dollars from (naïve) donors, but money alone could’t do it. How refreshing! Despite gobs of cash which allowed the Democrats to flood the airways with vicious attack ads, as well as garner high profile endorsements (Oprah enjoyed a cool ONE MILLION DOLLAR deposit into her corporation), America, literally, “wasn’t buying it.”
GOOD RIDDANCE
One off the most satisfying results of the Trump victory is the long overdue eclipse of Barack Hussein Obama, a man that has done more than, perhaps, any other to damage the United States of America. This treasonous operative has, FINALLY, become irrelevant. Despite Obama’s scolding of the “brothers” (read: black men) saying, in essence, that, somehow, being black REQUIRED each of them to vote for an obviously unqualified woman that was only 25% black (50% Asian, 25% black and 25% IRISH!). As reported in Newsweek: Nationally, “he (Trump) roughly doubled his support among Black men under 45 compared to 2020, with about 3 in 10 in this age group voting for him.”
In Part Three, I’ll share additional thoughts and observations.