No sooner was the election called than the finger pointing began. The Democrats were out of touch. They were too far left. They were too far right. They pissed off the Muslims. They pissed off the Jews. They pissed off the young left-wing radicals. They catered too much to the young left-wing radicals. They betrayed their base by inserting a candidate who had not entered the primaries. Kamala Harris was too weak. Her campaign was incompetent. Her message was not clear enough. She was too radical. She was too moderate. Her platform was too vague. Her platform was too detailed.
All of which is total and utter bullshit.
Harris and Walz were strong candidates and likeable individuals, running against one of the most loathsome human beings who ever walked the planet. They had a constructive and fairly well-detailed platform that was clearly spelled out on their website. And they ran a superb campaign, one of the most brilliantly executed campaigns ever, with few if any missteps. Fellow Democrats were praising and reveling in the campaign right up until the results were announced, and everyone abruptly turned doomsaying critics.
The problem was not the candidates, their positions, or their campaign. Nor was it the Democratic Party. The problem was the voters. And they had a great deal of help from a more than abundant supply of propaganda, misinformation and disinformation.
About a month before the election, a Reuters/ Ipsos poll queried voters about their answers to a few questions on the economy, the border, the stock market, and crime. These were questions that were not a matter of opinion, but had definite correct answers; however, the incorrect answer in each case had become much more entrenched in the media narrative. And in each case, Democratic voters were much more likely to provide the correct answer, and Republicans the incorrect answer. Which is hardly surprising; Republicans are much more aligned with the habitual purveyors of misinformation. (The one surprising thing about their campaign was that they hardly touched their customary fire hose of lies about abortion — not even the fallacious premise that banning it is an effective way to prevent it.)
What’s more impressive, however, is that despite the relentless tsunami of misinformation an disinformation, voters still distinctly preferred Harris. Well, at least they preferred her platform, if they didn’t know it was hers.
In a blind survey conducted by YouGov, 89 percent of proposals advanced by Harris were supported by most voters, compared to 48 percent of her opponent’s. Voters even preferred her positions on the economy and the border — the two most heavily hyped issues of the campaign season. Hell, even most Republicans approved of her. But when the names were attached to the issues, it made all the difference in the world; many people would not vote for Harris simply because they’d been duped into believing they didn’t like her.
In polls naming the candidates, most voters preferred the opponent on the economy. Even though he’d failed at every business venture he’d undertaken, and had racked up 6 bankruptcies. Even though he’d already wrecked the economy by letting the pandemic rage out of control. Even though the Biden-Harris administration had been commendably pulling the country back up out of the muck — and gas prices, inflation, and unemployment had been falling steadily.
They preferred him on crime. Even though she was a distinguished prosecutor, and he was a career criminal. Even though he had a history of fraud and corruption stretching back decades. Even though he was a rapist. Even though he stirred up a violent insurrection in an effort to overturn a free and fair election. Even though he had 34 criminal convictions, with dozens more counts pending in 3 cases.
Voters preferred him on immigration. Even though he’d pressured his lackeys in Congress to kill a border bill. Even though he had no solutions except to build a vanity project wall and round up as many brown-skinned foreigners as he could. Even though his level of knowledge about immigration was reflected in his spreading a tabloid rumor about immigrants from Haiti eating pets — and then vowing to send those immigrants back to Venezuela. (And his running mate, while acknowledging that the Haitians were legal residents, promised to keep lying about it anyway.)
Immigration is indeed one point on which Harris and Democrats dropped the ball, as they have done consistently. She could have denounced the fearmongering as groundless. She could have pointed out that literally everything the public believes about “illegals” is wrong — that far from being a threat, they benefit America and Americans in just about every conceivable way. She could have emphasized establishing an easier path to legal residency for these refugees rather than playing along with right-wing fantasy. But would it have made any difference? Or is the public to steeped in propaganda to be fazed by facts?
It doesn’t have to be this way. These days, anyone and everyone, regardless of educational background, is capable of researching the facts. Instead, many people refuse to stray outside their bubble of beliefs. Admittedly, it’s much easier to do that; genuine journalism is often hidden behind a paywall, while Fox “News” is always free, and blaring around the clock wherever you turn. As a result, we have women voting against their reproductive freedom, seniors voting to gut Social Security and Medicare, and Hispanics voting to have their loved ones harassed, threatened, jailed and deported.
The mindset of the U.S. electorate is perhaps best summed up in a statement by a Pennsylvania voter interviewed by the Philadelphia Inquirer:
“People say he’s a dictator. I believe that. I consider him like Hitler. But I voted for the man.”
This is where we are now. And it’s not a good place to be. At all. Of all the observations that have been made about this grotesque election, perhaps the most astute was this: that those who think they have won have, in fact, lost just like the rest of us — they just don’t realize it yet.
The Propaganda Professor 
All we heard from Trump Republicans was that Biden was destroying the country, over and over again. So I wrote to CNN and even the Harris campaign to tell them they must start rebutting all the Trump lies on television, in full, but all they seemed to do was say general things,(like the stats don’t reveal that). Dems needed televised town hall specials in which the accomplishments of Biden were compared with the accomplishments of Trump, including interest rates, oil production, price gouging, myths about Covid vaccines, the evidence of impending climate disasters, as well as crime rates which could voters could have gotten from FactCheck.org, Politifact, The Washington Post, etc. which could have informed them that Biden passed more legislation, than any president before him and that interest rates have gone way down. That’s what might have convinced voters who did not like Trump’s personality, as well as many Latinos who believed he could have helped get them jobs but disliked being portrayed as depraved criminals.
Now it’s often too late to win an election based on facts, partly because many working people are busy taking care of their children, buying groceries, and finding good-paying jobs, so they don’t bother to check what fact-checkers say, Yes, it was about propaganda, not the economy, because the economic progress under Biden was kept hidden under tons of lies and garbage dispensed by Trump and his loyal minions.
But thanks for such perceptive comments and observations. I intend to use some of them when I write letters to my local papers. I did notice that now CNN is telling it like it is, but it is too late and too little. It is so unfortunate that many people who voted for Trump did so without knowing the truth about his incompetence while trying to handle our economy, as well as the many outrageous lies he used to get into office. Let’s hope that some political power the left still has will enable us to escape all the horrific things that are on the way. No doubt he won the election via electoral and popular votes, but unfortunately that does not mean he was the best choice. Nowadays we no longer care about character, and we eat up any lies that we are bombarded with.
As P.T. Barnumsaid “no man has gone broke underestimating the intelligence of the american public”
After this election I maintain that the paraphrasee “that no campaign has lost underestimating the intelligence of the american voter”
If we are lucky to have any free elections at all! Trump and the Republicans could fire Federal judges and replace thousands of civil servants with yes men, and when alternate delegates are assigned at the end of any close election, Trump will mysteriously win each election with 99% of the vote. He, and Putin, will both control the audacity of their supreme leader’s power while taking away many of their people’s real freedoms by revising any frequently played music to ensure that the people are friendly with XI ping, Kim Jong Un, as well as with the ghosts of Lenin, Stalin, Mao Tse Tung, and Hitler, never knowing that their glorious leaders are far closer to being Communist Dictators, autocrats, and Fascists like Hitler, as they are telling everyone that Big brother is safely defending their supposedly privileged servitude. Well Hey! You know, you never really know until after it’s gone–after they destroy nature and racial harmony, they will make sure of your compliance while telling you all about the benevolent intentions of those who happily serve Big Brother–because he selflessly defends them from the travails of being allowed to think for themselves!
Right now, near the end of April, I have several times not been allowed to post my opinions on future posts, if they are too critical of you know who? Why are they being so cowardly about simple criticisms?
12-3-2025
The perils of Overzealous Christians (2025)!
Today most Christians still worship the teachings of Jesus, but we face a rather unorthodox threat from fundamentalist Christians whose main concern seems to be preaching their beliefs (AT) others while claiming that they are being persecuted by “Godless secular humanists,” who question the beliefs of Christian fundamentalists—But are Fundamentalists really being persecuted?
American Christians spend money that says, “in God we trust.” Our Presidents are sworn in by placing their right hand on a Bible. And American Christian leaders have political power at the Local, State, and Federal levels. Still, many Christian Fundamentalist consider the phrase, “Have a Great holiday season,” sacrilegious?—maybe because humanist want to share their good will with (everyone), not just Christians?
In the middle ages virtually all of Europe and the middle east, were compelled by Church leaders to kill infidels during the Holy wars, assuring that, fighting in the Holy wars and killing non-believers would secure their admission to heaven. Yet for 1500 years, the Orthodox Christian church did horrible things to anyone who dared to deny Christ—like cutting deep gashes, in their limbs and chests, and filling them with hot lead, or skinning them alive, just like Hitler’s Nazis tortured their enemies into absolute compliance!
Christian fundamentalists still support actions that large numbers of other Christians find inappropriate, like compulsory “group prayers” in “diverse public,” classrooms? Thus what the Supreme Court actually did, was ensure that fundamentalist teachings, can’t be ignorantly forced on children whose parents object”—instead of studying objective scientific, and historical facts–all of which can be verified. But Fundamentalists want to establish their own versions of science and history, to brainwash kids into rejecting real knowledge, I guess all faiths are equal, but some faiths are more equal than others?
I’ve not been able to leave a post on any article but this.
Anonymous
I have no idea why.
This may sound delussional but I have become an unpopular Democratic voice by religious fundmantlsts in our local newspaper,and one in Duluth Mn that is an independed publication which publishes many pro-democraxy letters in their pages. Many times here, and on other websites seem to be scrubbed of unwanted facts about science and history etc. And even when I do not break the rules of vairous websites, the moderator and his likely IA correction system refuse to publish simple facts that contradict Trumps intenitons, so maybe I’m not on the top ten wet blankets list of those which destroy Trumps fun, but I am probly somewhere among 100s of others.
Here I have had numerous road blocks intended to reject my comments by failing to allow them, either a (you can’t post that here) or (anonymous commenters can’t post here). virtually every week I get hate mail from a Christian fundamentalists who says (I am a baby killer, a Nazi, a Communist, and Maoist and an atheist) but he leaves no return adderss etc. And mails his leters from a large city hundreads of mile a day and he typically lobs personal and upsettin lies about me like, (When Peterf lies Peop;le die) etc. But typically my critisisms are about MAGA lies and propagana not personally against the letter writer. Further more I know you are not censoring me, because yoiu never have to. So The forces of Autocracy are getting damn close to completely destroying the America we knew!
The comment above contains many more mistakes than the one below, so you can delete the first one if you want.
This may sound delussional but I have become an unpopular Democratic voice among ,manu religious fundmentalists in our local newspaper,and one in Duluth Mn that is an independed publication which publishes many pro-democray letters in their pages. Many times here, and on other websites seem to be getting scrubbed of unwanted facts about science and history etc. And even when I do not break the rules of various websites, the moderator and his likely IA correction system refuses to publish simple facts that contradict Trumps intetions, so maybe I’m not on the top ten wet blankets list of those which destroy Trumps fun, but I am probably among several 100s of others.
Here I have had numerous road blocks intended to reject my comments by failing to allow them, either a (you can’t post that here) or (anonymous commenters can’t post here). vrtually every week I get hate mail from a Christian fundamentalists who says (I am a baby killer, a Nazi, a Communist, a Maoist and an atheist) but he leaves no return adderss and mails his leters from a large city hundreds of mile a way, and he typically lobs personal and upsettin lies about me like, (When Peterf lies Peop;le die) etc. But typically my critisisms are about MAGA lies and propagdana, not personally against this other guy. Further more I know you are not censoring me, because you never have to. So The forces of Autocracy are getting damn close to completely destroying the America we knew!
sometimes I worry about loosing benefits because I have little money, but that hidden ‘Troll seems to be part of everthing in Trump’s BBBill!