Donald Trump can never run for president again. This fact will thrill some Americans and sadden others.
Kamala Harris may never run for president again. This fact may also delight some and upset others.
As a moderate who resides in Southern California, I have had one consistent experience when engaging with friends, professors or colleagues who were die-hard leftists: They were always right and everyone else was hopelessly stupid.
At a training event for an on-campus job as an undergraduate in 2004, I stood and listened as my new boss declared that anyone who voted for George W. Bush was an idiot. I voted for G.W. Bush. I didn’t like John Kerry. I still don’t like John Kerry. Years later, my vote was vindicated when, as an Iranian American, I was revolted over his dangerous “shadow diplomacy” with the former Iranian foreign minister, to whom he leaked intelligence.
I don’t enjoy pointing fingers, but between Kerry, former Iran special envoy Robert Malley, and the Pentagon’s Ariane Tabatabai, who, last month, allegedly leaked unauthorized information assessing Israel’s plans to attack Iran, why does it seem that the only American officials who recently collaborated with Iran stem from one political party?
Last Tuesday night at the ballot box, Americans didn’t necessarily send a direct message in support of Donald Trump; instead, they sent a clearer message to the Democratic Party. And now, the very same Americans whom President Biden recently called “garbage” may just prove helpful in finally forcing Democrats to clean house. How ironic.
On CNN, Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky offered some “hard truths” to members of her own party: Last week’s defeat was “the fault of the Democratic Party not knowing how to communicate effectively with voters,” she asserted.
I seldom rely on actors to weigh in on politics, but on X, Jonah Platt said it best when he wrote, “The assertion by the Far Left that Harris’ loss is due to her essentially being too moderate and not bc millions of voters switched precisely bc they despise the Far Left, who are taking the whole party down with them, is breathtaking in its lack of self awareness.”
The lack of self-awareness is truly breathtaking. And do Democratic Party heavyweights actually believe they could win back the White House in 2028 by embracing more radical Leftism?
In a statement conceding his loss to Nathan Hochman, outgoing Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón said, “The right-wing shift across America last night is heartbreaking.” One can only wonder if Gascón and his followers could ever bring themselves to understand that this election was less about a “right-wing shift” and more about an escape from the rabid left-wing. Again, the self-awareness is nowhere to be found.
Regarding voters’ choices, the inimitable Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) also got it right: “Donald Trump has no greater friend than the far left, which has managed to alienate historic numbers of Latinos, Blacks, Asians, and Jews from the Democratic party with absurdities like ‘Defund the Police’ or ‘From the River to the Sea’ or ‘Latinx’,” he posted on X. “There is more to lose than there is to gain politically from pandering to a far left that is more representative of Twitter, Twitch and TikTok than it is of the real world. The working class is not buying the ivory-towered nonsense that the left is selling.”
In another post, Torres wrote, “Popular explanations for the outcome of the election seem to include white supremacy, patriarchy, misogyny … I am going to state the obvious here: Vilifying voters of color as white supremacists will not attract them back to the Democratic Party. It will drive them further into Trump’s camp. The purpose of politics is not to repel but to attract. Condescension is the most powerful repellant in politics. Voters will viscerally resent condescension and will punish you for it at the ballot box.”
Like the kind of condescension that tells you you’re an outright idiot if you vote for one candidate over another? For the record, with one exception, my friends who are die-hard Republicans have never insinuated that I was stupid, immoral or hopeless when I shared that I had voted in a way with which they vehemently disagreed.
On X, Rep. Alma Hernandez (D-Ariz.) wrote, “It is clear today that the far left is what continues to not only divide our Democratic Party but lose us core support. I am sure progressives will claim that we lost because we didn’t go far enough and I adamantly disagree with that. I am not a one-issue voter. My commitment to the Democratic Party is unwavering, and I will always stand up for the core values that make it strong: equality, justice, and the protection of human rights but I refuse that we must bend and be one [sic] the far left.”
Rep. Alma Hernandez (D-Ariz.) wrote, “It is clear today that the far left is what continues to not only divide our Democratic Party but lose us core support.”
I have read one analysis after another in legacy media this week by a “baffled” author who described a “baffled” nation. Who, exactly, is baffled by these election results, other than the elites on both coasts who probably have never had an interaction with someone who voted for Trump?
As a female and as a member of a religious minority, I understand the distrust and frustration that Democrats, and women, in particular, feel about the power held by right-wing Christians in this country, especially when it comes to abortion. But that frustration is now expressed as open hatred. I am not Christian, but I was stunned when I read the words of Kaitlin Shelter, who wrote, “I won’t argue the Bible with you anymore. I won’t discuss hermeneutic or whatever your special little magic guys said about love or peace or whatever,” as well as “You don’t get to decide what my life looks like based on what your invisible friend says it should be. Be a good person or don’t. Quit pinning that on your fanfiction main character.”
I’m not sure whether that “invisible friend” or “fanfiction main character” is a reference to God, or perhaps to Jesus. I’m also not clear on the reference to “special little magic guys.” I only know that it’s a sad day in this country when Americans who unequivocally do not believe in God feel they are at war with those who do, and vice versa. And while both parties hold responsibility, where are the voices of Democrats who believe in God and still hold firm to their belief in a woman’s right to choose? Why does one party seem to hold a monopoly on God?
It’s hard for me to believe that this country, which offered me refuge from Iran three decades ago, is mostly comprised of deplorables or garbage. Republicans suffer from their own unbelievable problems, but I fear that the most radical voices in one particular party teeter between utter disconnect from most Americans, and utter hatred of America.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. And now that this election is finally over, President Biden and Vice President Harris are free in at least one way that holds a world of meaning. Addressing both of them on Instagram, Amy Albertson, a Chinese American Jewish advocate, poignantly wrote, “There are no more politics to stop you from doing anything and everything you can to secure the release of ALL of the remaining 101 hostages, including 7 U.S. citizens.”
She is right. Amid a backdrop of pro-Hamas protesters swarming Times Square on election night or destroying nearly all liberal institutions in this country, imagine if Biden and Harris’ lasting legacies included saving lives and actually freeing human beings from the inhumane clutches of Hamas, before turning over the keys to Trump and Vance. And though saving a life is its own reward, one can only hope that their party would be given long-term credit for this very hallowed act.
Tabby Refael is an award-winning writer, speaker and weekly columnist for The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. Follow her on X and Instagram @TabbyRefael.
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