Why Biden Already Lost the Election
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It is November 4, 2020. Donald Trump has just been reelected president of the United States. Democrats are grappling with what that means for the future of the country. Republicans are either excited about four more years of Trump or simply content having anyone but a Democrat in office. Independents ended up carrying Trump to victory despite the fact that most planned to vote for Biden earlier in the year. Democrats once again find themselves asking what went wrong. The media will analyze this for weeks after the election. People will write books about it.
James Carville’s famous phrase “It’s the economy, stupid” from Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 presidential campaign highlighted that the main issue of that election was the early 1990s recession. The main issue of the 2020 election was not the economy. If it was, COVID-19 would have assured a Biden victory. The main issue was not the environment. It was not healthcare. It was not the wealth gap. If it was any of those, Biden would have won. This election was about Americans who no longer felt safe in their own country. Trump’s message of “You won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America” is what assured his victory. It’s the riots, stupid.
Trump’s campaign seized on the opportunity presented by the social unrest around the country. They elevated this issue to the forefront of voters’ minds, displaying images of cities burning, protesters screaming, and bystanders being mobbed. In the same way that a few bad acts by cops were used to turn Americans against the entire police force, a few bad acts by protesters were used to turn Americans against the entire Black Lives Matter movement. The problem for Biden was that more swing voters empathized with the victims of mob violence rather than the victims of police brutality.
Trump established the narrative that he is the president that will maintain order. This was given legs by the fact that Democrat mayors refused federal support and took no action as their cities were looted and burned. Whoever was behind this plan for the Democrats should immediately begin looking for a career outside of politics. It should not take a Gallup poll to figure out whether voters prefer order or chaos.
Biden mishandled the COVID-19 narrative. You can rattle off infection rates and death rates all day, but they are just numbers. Voters are swayed by images and by their personal experiences. People lost their jobs, their businesses, and their loved ones as they watched mass gatherings of protesters ignore every guideline to limit the spread of COVID-19. Democrats pushed for longer and more extensive shutdowns and at the same time supported and encouraged the COVID-spreading protests. The hypocrisy may have been lost on some, but it was not lost on America’s moderate swing voters.
Biden also fumbled his VP pick. Don’t get me wrong, Kamala Harris was a strong pick, but she was completely undermined by the manner in which she was selected. In the weeks leading up to her selection, Biden let America know that he would be choosing a Black woman to be his VP. Why? It is disrespectful to Harris to suggest she was chosen from a limited pool of candidates. I’m sure behind closed doors she is furious that it went down this way, and she should be. Before announcing Harris as his VP, Biden should have simply said he was going to choose the best person for the job.
Edit on 5 September, 2020: I was unaware that Harris previously encouraged protests to continue up until and through the election. This was a huge mistake and will greatly contribute to the Biden-Harris defeat.
Biden was supposed to be the moderate candidate that would appeal to swing voters and unite the country. I know Joe Biden supports our police. I know Joe Biden condemns mob violence. Unfortunately, he was tempted by the dark side of the Democratic party. That is why he failed.
