Moving Forward, Again
It's been one month since Trump was declared the 47th President of the United States.
Since the election, I've intentionally tried to avoid making any public statements on what transpired, because I wanted to choose my next words very carefully.
Over these last few weeks, I've heard, watched, read, discussed, and thought a lot about how we got here, and what we can do moving forward.
The next ten excerpts are what I think are the most important things that I've found.
I'm no expert, and this isn't an all-encompassing list.
But I've spent many sleepless nights compiling these ideas and condensing them, so I would really appreciate it if those who cared about the future took a moment to read them.
1. The Bottom Line
First off, for those who oppose Trump and Trumpism, we can't give up, and the battle continues. That should be clear.
Second, this should be a wake-up call for all of us.
We underestimated the appeal of Trumpism, and more importantly, the willingness of others to hold their noses and put up with it.
We placed too much faith in the American people to make, what seemed to us was an obvious choice.
Now we see that we are in the midst of a seismic cultural, political, and even psychological shift in our country.
If we treat this as a normal time in American history, then we will fail to meet it.
2. Why Democrats Lost: The War of Messaging
From 2019 to 2022, liberal media and entertainment industries promoted a progressive agenda that highlighted marginalized races, genders, and sexualities. This alienated some moderates and conservatives, particularly white men.
The Left's attempts to teach students about LGBTQ people and systemic racism were framed by the Right as indoctrinating children.
The Left's attempts to help undocumented immigrants, increase voter turnout, reduce prison overpopulation, and fight police brutality were rebranded by the Right as attempts to buy illegal votes, rig elections, increase crime, and endanger law enforcement.
Covid-19 lockdowns and vaccine mandates were framed as authoritarian. Narratives about potential Trump-Russia collusion (2016) and Biden being fit for another term (2024) were framed as dishonest. The Biden Administration's attempts to curb misinformation were framed as unconstitutional censorship.
Biden dropping out of the race was framed by the Right as a "coup." The DNC nominating Harris was framed by the Right as anti-democratic.
Harris and others were labeled by the Right as a "DEI hires," only chosen for their race and genders. They were evidence of "reverse racism" against more qualified white men.
Biden's support of Ukraine was reframed as pro-war and capable of causing our nuclear annihilation. The Left's protests to stop support of the Israel-Gaza war were reframed as pro-terrorist and anti-Semitic.
Over the last 8 years, the Right has used these false narratives to create a caricature of the Left, pushing moderates to the right and radicalizing themselves.
3. Why Democrats Lost: The Disruptor
Historically, when Americans (or any population) think that the economy is bad, the incumbent party is voted out in the next election.
For most apolitical Americans, this election wasn't about Trump's controversies, abortion, or even the false caricature of the Left. It was about the economy.
Despite strong traditional economic metrics (GDP, inflation, unemployment rate, etc.), working-class wages have stagnated while inflation, price gouging, housing shortages, and rampant corporate greed have caused the costs of living to soar.
This problem did not start recently.
In 2016, decades of frustration with growing wealth inequality and a stagnant political system had reached a boiling point, leading to the election of Trump as a disruptor.
Trump's winning message: "Drain the Swamp."
For the past 8 years, from Clinton (2016) to Biden (2020) to Harris (2024), Democrats have defended the political status quo, a stance that has steadily lost appeal.
Democrats haven't prioritized the economic inequality issue or a populist agenda, allowing Republicans to claim the traditionally-liberal populist movement.
In 2024, Democrats doubled down and ran a conservative pro-political-establishment campaign, which not only failed to win conservative support, but alienated progressives, young voters, the frustrated working class, and non-college educated voters as well.
Why? Because more and more Americans, whether conservative or liberal, would rather support someone like Trump who will disrupt the system, than someone like Biden/Harris who will defend it.
4. The Future of the Democratic Party
In the coming decades, Americans will search for meaningful ways to conduct political reform.
The question is: whose vision of political reform will they choose?
Trump's brand of political reform will utilize democratic backsliding to consolidate power. Trump is merely a wolf in sheep's clothing, claiming to help the struggling working class, when he will actually disrupt the system for him and his close allies.
Trump has always been a conman, and this has not changed.
Democrats MUST offer a better alternative.
Bernie Sanders has said this for years: victory lies in removing corporate influence from politics, so that the government serves the people, not just the top 1%.
There is a reason that head-to-head polling of Sanders vs. Trump consistently showed the widest victory margin out of any potential Democratic candidate. There's a reason that Trump was afraid to run against Sanders.
Millions of Americans would choose his progressive economic approach first, but if that is not available, then they will choose the next most disruptive option.
These Americans have shown up in the data in 2016 and 2020. They voted for Sanders in the primaries, and then voted for Trump in the general election.
There is a term for these people: Sanders-Trump voters.
Joe Rogan and Tulsi Gabbard are two high-profile Democrats who once endorsed Sanders, and are now Trump loyalists. Andrew Yang and Jill Stein also endorsed Sanders, and have since left the Democratic Party out of frustration. Many of their supporters are either pro-Trump or anti-Harris. Former Democrats like Elon Musk and RFK Jr have had similar views of political frustration, causing them to leave their party in favor of Trump the disruptor.
The Democratic Party needs to acknowledge that it is leaking like a sieve. It is time that they started to listen.
Progressives are now demanding for changes in the Democratic platform, including progressive economic policies, political reform, and a reevaluation of foreign policy, particularly the end of support for Israel's Wars.
5. Alternative Facts
While all of that might help in a normal election, this election was far from normal.
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Many Trump supporters continued to insist that Harris "had no policies" all the way up to election night, despite Harris talking about her policies nonstop.
This "no policies" lie was invented by Trump, and propagated by conservative media.
Therefore, it didn't matter what policies Harris had. Trump supporters would continue to insist that she had none.
In 2017, Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway defended false claims made by the Trump administration, by calling them "alternative facts" for the first time.
The phrase was widely mocked at first, but has since become an everyday reality.
While Americans once argued about how to respond to facts that were widely agreed upon, Americans now argue about which alternative facts are true and which alternative facts are lies. We can't even agree on the version of reality to base a debate on.
Sources are doubted, conspiracy theories abound, and anything can be labeled as"fake news," from Trump quotes to mass shootings, from COVID death counts to climatology data. From court rulings to DOJ investigations. From election results to footage of war crimes in Gaza.
Any accusation of conservative media being dishonest is met with equivalent accusations against liberal media. "You think FOX is bad, but CNN is worse!"
This false equivalence disregards the vast difference in magnitude and frequency of misinformation (i.e. lies) coming from the Right.
Trump supporters believed that Harris truly "had no policies," and every other lie that conservative media told them. In the face of such engineered lies and gullibility, the Harris campaign never stood a chance.
We are truly living in a post-fact, "alternative facts" world. And that is a world that Trump has created.
6. Thought Reform
There is one explanation that is gaining more traction:
Trumpism functions like a cult.
The Trump movement, whether intentionally or unintentionally, engages in "isolation from external reality." It is a foundational tool in thought reform. And brainwashing.
This powerful technique limits or *strongly discourages* members' access to outside perspectives, making them rely solely on the cult for understanding reality.
It is commonly used by cults, radical groups, and totalitarian regimes.
Trump has convinced millions of Americans that everyone who criticizes him is lying and cannot be trusted.
This creates a system in which his followers turn to Trump for the truth, and will believe his words over everyone else's.
Any attempt to criticize Trump only validates their world view that his enemies are simply "out to get him."
Conservative media and social media algorithms play a key role, only delivering pro-Trump information to his followers, further cocooning them from outside perspectives.
In totality. Trump has created a monopoly on their perception of reality.
Not everyone has been radicalized to the same degree. But anyone who trusts Trump far more than those who criticize him is likely under his spell already.
These people would find the idea preposterous, as anyone under a spell would, just like the millions who supported totalitarian regimes throughout history.
It is not something that one can see in themselves without a jarring moment of clarity. Like being arrested from breaking into the Capital on January 6th.
For those radicalized by Trump, we should not look down on their intellect or character. In many ways, we are the same.
I know many Trump supporters who are smart, educated, logical, and moral.
We're all susceptible to cultist techniques, and it is often luck or misfortune that determines who is lured into an invisible cage and who is free.
No matter what, we must not lose hope. People in cults can be deprogrammed and become the people they once were.
We should all find ways to help our friends and family members return to the people they were in 2015, before the Trump movement began. That should be our ultimate goal, moving forward.
I plan on reading this book next.
Steve Hassan is one of the world's leading experts in cults. He's also a cult survivor.
After spending two years as a dedicated member of the Unification Church, he decided to "dedicate his life to studying cults and developing strategies to help members escape." He has done so for 48 years
This book was written to help members of the cult of Trump escape.
It was published in 2019, over a year before Trump followers stormed the Capital in an attempt to overthrow an election.
Pam Hephill, Penny Swan, and Cyd Chartier are just three examples of former Trump supporters or former cult members who now say that Trumpism is a cult.
I just want to make it clear that I did not come up with this concept. People all over the country noticed the similarities first, years ago. And the realization is growing.
I think it's imperative that we all start considering this likely scenario, protect ourselves from radicalizing cultist techniques, and learn how to engage in people who may be in a cult.
7. What Can We Do?
One of the main reasons that the Democrats lost is because Trump won over people who vote but also pay little attention to current events and political news.
There is a technical name for them: low information voters.
In fact, data shows that the more a group of people pays attention to the news, the more that group supported Harris over Trump.
If everyone in the country followed the news "a great deal," Harris would have won by 6%.
Given the total turnout of 158 million, that's a Harris win by a 9.5 million vote margin.
Starting in January, Republicans will control the Presidency and the Executive Branch, the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Supreme Court. They will therefore have full control.
Whatever happens now will be by their design. And it will likely be Project 2025.
The 2026 and 2028 elections will be a referendumon Trump and Republicans. They will be our chances--perhaps our last chances-- to bring back normalcy.
Democrats will need to be ready to provide an alternative that is better for all Americans.
We should start preparing now, and the best thing that you and I can do as citizens is make sure that we are not low information voters. Here's how:
