Trump's win was "an epic failure of every major institution" — especially the media

Donald Trump and his MAGA movement steamrolled Kamala Harris and the Democrats. Although the final vote totals will be fairly close, Trump won all seven key battleground states, and swept the "blue wall" across the Midwest. He increased his support significantly among Democratic base voters, most notably Latino men, and performed better than expected among Black men. Despite the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade, women did not rise up unanimously to stop Trump. According to exit polls, he won a majority of white women, just as he did in 2020.

In the most basic sense, the 2024 election can be understood as a referendum on the direction of America and the future of pluralistic multiracial democracy. Its results were not uplifting. Today’s Democratic Party, the mainstream news media and other defenders of political “normalcy” have few answers for the cultural force and energy of Trump's brand of right-wing populism. In too many ways, they appear locked in an echo chamber, largely talking to each other and convincing themselves that all intelligent and rational people agree with them. 

One significant element of this failure is a reluctance to understand or recognize that today’s Republican Party is more of a front organization than a traditional political party. This is from Hannah Arendt's "Origins of Totalitarianism":

The world at large ... usually gets its first glimpse of a totalitarian movement through its front organizations. The sympathizers, who are to all appearances still innocuous fellow-citizens in a nontotalitarian society, can hardly be called single-minded fanatics; through them, the movements make their fantastic lies more generally acceptable, can spread their propaganda in milder, more respectable forms, until the whole atmosphere is poisoned with totalitarian elements which are hardly recognizable as such but appear to be normal political reactions or opinions. The fellow-traveler organizations surround the totalitarian movements with a mist of normality and respectability that fools the membership about the true character of the outside world as much as it does the outside world about the true character of the movement. The front organization functions both ways: as the facade of the totalitarian movement to the nontotalitarian world, and as the facade of this world to the inner hierarchy of the movement.

Ultimately, Trump's 2024 victory reflects exactly that kind of failure of imagination and comprehension. America and the world are changing rapidly; the Democrats, the media and the mainstream political class cannot keep up. In an attempt to make sense of Trump’s victory, our collective emotions in this time of trouble and dread, what this election reveals about American values and character, and what comes next when Trump takes power in January, I recently spoke with a range of experts. 

Katherine Stewart is the author of "The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism."

I have written three books about the movement that brought Donald Trump to power. My forthcoming book, "Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy," is a dissection of that movement. For those of us immersed in this research, the election results may be disappointing and alarming, but it’s not like we didn’t see it coming. Many people have not been paying attention to the movement that brought Trump to power, and may not be aware of the misinformation bubble that it has funded.

One issue with the mainstream media is that they don’t often go to the places where this movement is happening. One of those places is the local church and their larger networks. Prior to the election, we got a lot of stories about the Democratic Party's ground operations, which often involve strangers knocking on doors. The Christian nationalist turnout machine is much more robust, and it brings huge numbers of extremely reliable voters to the Republican side. Getting messages about who to vote for from your pastor or faith leader, who you trust, is much more effective than getting that message from a stranger. A lot of Americans voted for Trump simply because their pastor told them that Republicans are “people with ethics” and Democrats want to destroy families.

But we shouldn’t simply focus on media failures. The fact that a convicted criminal and credibly accused rapist, who has attempted to overthrow an election, was elected again represents an epic failure of nearly every major institution in our society. It represents a failure of the judicial system to hold this individual genuinely accountable. It represents a failure of much of the education system to help students discern the difference between news and propaganda. It represents a failure of the Republican Party to filter out candidates who are egregiously unfit for office. Trump’s victory in this historic election where the future of the country’s democracy is at stake and greatly imperiled also represents a failure of large parts of the American public to understand their basic duties as citizens.

What Trump is offering to his supporters is pretty close to pure poison — lies, grievance and division. But here’s the thing: Just because they voted for him doesn’t mean that his policies are going to benefit them in any substantial material way. Because most of these policies will not. We can all imagine a leader who appeals to identity issues like religion and immigration while pursuing a program of genuine economic reform. But Trump has married his demagoguery to an extreme right-wing agenda that calls for disinvestment in public projects and public benefits, replacing federal employees with Trump loyalists, breaking alliances with our more liberal allies while forging stronger ties with reactionary regimes.

This 2024 election is a referendum on the character of the Trump-voting public, and let’s not make it nice. They place minimal value on respect for truth and democratic institutions. They are more interested in punishing other people than in advancing the common good. They have a remarkable tolerance for crass and bullying behavior, care little for empathy and ethics, and are incapable of weighing basic facts about public life.

What happens next, with Trump becoming president? I think the big question, which is hard to answer now, is how serious members of the incoming administration are, regarding the agenda they put forward. If they do attempt to impose the agenda of Project 2025 or the America First Policy Institute, I expect it will lead pretty quickly to major blowback and significant damage. If they get even halfway toward the kind of mass deportation they talk about, for example, it’s going to be brutal and incredibly ugly — and will cost American taxpayers a lot of money. That, and the reaction to what they do, will drive what happens next. 

Dr. Gary Slutkin is an epidemiologist formerly with the World Health Organization, where he founded the Intervention Unit, which designed innovations in epidemic control. He is credited with discovering the scientific basis for diagnosing and managing violence as a contagious disease and is the founder of the NGO Cure Violence Global. 

I am pausing to regroup with myself, to try to understand what happened more fully and proceed more capably. I pause by going quiet and walking in nature. The brain then works on things on its own. The emergency was the last few weeks; now we have a new situation. On medical wards, things can take turns and you still have to figure out how to help right things. 

Many in the news media live in their own bubbles, do not really collect information or understand their best roles. We would be better served if they were educators and explainers, rather than reactors to daily news. They are easily distracted and taken advantage of. They don’t understand disinformation and propaganda. Most importantly, they don’t have priority themes or frames and are commonly in the wrong frame. The correct frame for this election was not how entertaining or outrageous anyone is, or how well one side or another is doing. It was: What is authoritarianism, how does it work, and what are the outcomes? Some of the educational matters missing still include how to understand lies, insults and dehumanization, why that is done, how it affects the brain and what to do about it.

When fighting epidemics, the media would cover me or the group I work with, when what we needed was to educate the public on the problem itself. For example, what is AIDS, or COVID, or epidemic violence? How is it transmitted or not transmitted? How can you protect yourself and interrupt the spread? In this case, it would be preferable for the media to educate us on our rights, and what it’s like to have those rights taken away; on the value of pluralism versus uniformity; what it’s like to be an immigrant, which not a bad thing but a hard thing. And most urgently now, how violence, lies and cruelty work in and on our brains, and how to stop it. 

The media are looking at Trump and his followers superficially and judgmentally. We need a different level of thinking and analysis, as Einstein advised. This level considers understanding fears, and how they are inflamed and manipulated. Our brain flaws need to be better understood by the public, because they are being manipulated. 

Eastern teachers who have taught in the U.S. have recognized that in the West people generally don’t feel good enough about themselves. This was a total surprise to find that this exists in a culture. The Dalai Lama has said there is no Tibetan word for this disorder. It is also clear to people from other cultures that Americans can be relatively loud, expect things to be given to them, and are pushy and individualistic. We also blame others for our problems, which is more universal. 

I am most immediately concerned about possible deportations, raids and camps, and restrictions of people’s rights. We must condemn hate and protect individuals and groups who might be targeted. We need to stop the forces of violence that have been unleashed. We all need education and training in stopping violence.

Jen Senko is an documentary filmmaker, activist and author. She directed the 2015 documentary "The Brainwashing of My Dad."

I’m not sure I can characterize what I’m feeling. It is a combination of numbness and a stubborn determination to both protect myself and carry on. As for managing my feelings, I’m careful and selective as to what news or information I consume. It’s far less than it was before the election, and devoid of almost any cable TV news. I nourish a sense of satisfaction with the simple accomplishments of the day; getting up early, making coffee for my mom and me, walking, performing some activism, reminding myself that “movement of the muscles overcomes the defeatist babble of the brain.”

When I do feel overwhelmed, I’ll sit completely still and look out the window at trees. I avoid indulging in “rage porn” and limit myself to only what is helpful to know. But because I’ve heard so many others talking about fighting back, I find myself surprisingly more in that spirit now. I stay involved with groups that are committed to fighting back. This sustains me and has given me courage and hope. Before the election, I thought that if Trump won or managed a successful coup, I would just withdraw. I would burrow and seek refuge in reading narrative stories and watching movies. But others determined to fight have revived that spirit in me. 

The media got it wrong in many ways. Since 1969, Republicans have railed against the “liberal media,” deploying a “complaint machine” to intimidate and guilt-trip the press. Any perceived display of liberal bias was quickly attacked, so the media got the message and gradually acquiesced until liberals and their point of view were marginalized. By now it's partly reflex, operating from a fear of being called liberal. Some may be under the mistaken impression that if they curry favor now, maybe they will be spared retribution under a Trump presidency. Infascism, this never works. Acquiescing here and there won’t suffice. Fascists and authoritarians want complete control and 24/7 propaganda. 

The most critical point is simple: Corporate media refuses to understand that its own power and influence are the reason millions of Americans believe lies about immigrants, crime-ridden cities and evil, traitorous Democrats. Right-wing media now dominates with its lies, while corporate media has failed to counterbalance the right-wing narrative. Oonce people accept these lies as truth, their minds seek only information that confirms these beliefs, and social media algorithms push them even deeper into this distorted worldview.

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For those of us who did not vote for Trump, do not “pre-obey,” as Timothy Snyder says. Remember, they are bullies testing their strength. They talk tough, but we must stand up to them. There is strength in numbers, so consider joining a group that aligns with your values and inspires you.

For those Americans eho did vote for him, brace yourselves. It’s going to be a rough ride. You will be told, despite evidence to the contrary, that everything is better than ever. You’ll be told that the economy Biden left is because of Trump. You may experience cognitive dissonance. You may eventually see that you’ve been bamboozled, or you may continue to descend into the mass psychosis gripping the American mind. If you ever come out of it, we’ll be waiting for you on the other side.

D. Earl Stephens is the author of “Toxic Tales: A Caustic Collection of Donald J. Trump’s Very Important Letters." His website is Enough Already.

I am furious, but I have no regrets. I didn’t do enough in 2016 and I made sure that wouldn’t happen again. If the majority of my country is fine with an America-attacking vulgar racist, whose only true talent is the ability to somehow always go lower, I find it terribly sad and wildly dangerous. Anybody who stood up for what most certainly is good and right and decent should be plenty proud of themselves right now. Good people kicking themselves and pointing fingers isn’t helping. Brush yourselves off and stay in the fight.

I encourage pro-democracy people to engage with like-minded folks and hash it all out. Gold will be mined in these conversations. There is strength in numbers, and people need more than ever to understand they are not alone. Millions of lives are literally on the line, and my job as an old white man is to make damn sure people know there are privileged people like me who are not only not giving up, but standing by to help. We must have skin in the game. 

The news media was not just wrong about the election but is largely to blame for Trump winning. I have been reading media postmortems on the election and not one has blamed itself for this mess we are in. They treated it all like some terrible board game when they should have been sounding the alarms and giving the most menacing threat in American history the editorial weight it deserved. As a career journalist, it will always be impossible for me to reckon with this. I call them out today, and will continue to do so in the future. Democracy needs more bandwidth. I could stand to see some sane, good-hearted billionaires funding independent journalism that reports on the extreme threat to our country. If democracy-supporting billionaires even exist.

Misogyny and racism powered Trump’s victory. Looking in the rearview mirror, I am astonished that I convinced myself that a woman of color could actually be president of the United States. A country that supports such a vulgar man isn’t capable of electing such a qualified woman. And one other thing: Listen to the quiet. It is the quiet ones who are the scariest. There is a lot of quiet support for Trump out there that is constantly missed in all these polls.

Finally, one thing that is being missed badly, in my opinion, is that more Americans identify as independents than they do as Republicans or Democrats. This year, more independents leaned right than ever before. As Gallup reported in January, the parties were closely matched, but Democrats were "clearly in a weaker position than they have been in any recent election year.”

This turned out to be an ominous warning. Truth does not matter one bit in politics, and Republicans understand this. They ran on the issue of crime, even though it is down. Goods are too expensive, mostly because of corporate monopolies and concentration. Democrats should have offered a solution to inflation and price gouging. In a year or so, you can expect Trump to take credit for the programs Biden and the Democrats put into place, which is going to be the most insulting thing of all. Democrats must get better at communicating at a fourth-grade level and reaching people where they are. We have the strongest economy in the world right now — Republicans would have been shouting this nonstop from the rooftops. I blow hot and cold with Bernie Sanders, but he is the only person on the left who knows how to connect with that kind of punch.

If there’s any good news, the only person who has proven able to consistently stop Trump is Trump himself. He’ll invariably overreach, and fail. There are still far too many people who will pick him back up.