Victor Davis Hanson
American Greatness
The election is finally shaping up to be not only liberal Democrat Harris versus conservative Republican Trump.
Instead, it has become a larger contest between those who talk down to their fellow Americans and those who are increasingly sick and tired of being lectured. How smart is it, for example, for Harris supporters to claim nonstop that ex-president Trump is a fascist dictator—and thus, by extension, those also who vote for him?
Women voters poll about 53-5 percent for Kamala Harris. Trump enjoys a similar, although likely somewhat smaller, majority margin of male voters.
Yet Harris—along with campaign surrogates Barack Obama and Bill Clinton—has been lecturing both black and white male voters nonstop that they are misled.
Or they supposedly suffer from false consciousness—as if they have no clue that Harris and her progressive agenda are really in their own self-interest.
Such haughtiness reached a zenith when Harris ran ads of actors costumed as supposedly working-class men. They voiced scripted talking points to prove that “real” men are progressive Harris supporters.
But the actors were so patently ridiculous, their canned lines so unreal, that most viewers likely thought the ads were run by Trump himself—to show how arrogant, out-of-touch elites must imagine how the so-called “clingers” and “deplorables” think and talk.
The Trump campaign also tries all sorts of strategies to win over women voters, from promising to rectify the Biden-Harris hyperinflation to reducing spiraling crime in towns and cities.
But one method they avoid is claiming women are ignorant of their real self-interest and deluded by Harris—accurately assuming that a candidate does not win voters by belittling their intelligence.
Harris and Obama both dressed down black men, claiming they are especially culpable for not voting en masse for Harris—even though a far higher percentage of black males will vote for Harris than for Trump.
This hectoring the electorate on its supposed ignorance or moral shortcomings has become a Harris campaign trademark.
To Harris, objecting to 10-12 million foreign nationals entering the company illegally without background checks during the Biden-Harris administration is supposedly a sign of a lack of compassion.
And claiming that a current declining rate of illegal immigration should allay voters’ supposed paranoias utterly ignores the millions of illegal aliens who were all but welcomed in by Biden-Harris before the 2024 election cycle.
Voters are also talked down to ad nauseam that they do not appreciate the Biden-Harris economy given the rate of inflation is falling.
True. But most voters go shopping in a manner politicians do not.
So, they resent such top-down sermons. They know best that prices for staple foods, fuel, insurance, and housing have spiked by some 20-30 percent since 2021—and stayed astronomically high.
Currently, the auto industry is in crisis. Its huge inventory of electric vehicles sits unwanted and unsold. Harris and the left, remember, mandated all sorts of EV standards in their war against the internal combustion engine.
Then the proverbial people revolted against the comparatively limited range of EVs and the difficulty in finding accessible and quick-charging stations.
So, the free market and consumer demand ignored the increasingly strident lectures.
Likewise, Harris pontificated that crime that had spiked in 2021-2023 is now not all that bad.
But voters know all too well that their major cities are now unsafe. They sense one reason this year that crime is not soaring as it was two years ago is because it had gotten so bad that any further commensurate increases would have made life utterly unlivable.
The Harris campaign was further hurt by past videos that keep popping up of Harris lecturing voters about how they either must think correctly or remain cluelessly selfish or ignorant.
So, a recent clip surfaced on Columbus Day 2021 of a Vice President Harris lecturing America about Western civilization’s “shameful” sins in discovering the new world.
Another video reveals Harris warning the country in 2020 on national television that the massive post-George Floyd demonstrations—that had turned violent and deadly—were not and should not stop, as if the country had to pay collective penance for its sins.
This 2024 race may be becoming analogous to an October 1980 teachable moment.
Then a preachy and sanctimonious incumbent Jimmy Carter—ahead in the final October polls over challenger Ronald Reagan—finally turned off voters for good.
The previous underdog Reagan won in a landslide for a variety of reasons. But certainly, one explanation was that the electorate had finally collectively shrugged their weariness. They were sick and tired of Carter’s downer lectures about how they were wrong and culpable.
Reagan, however, reminded voters that America was better than all the alternatives, needed not be perfect to be good, and had nothing to apologize for.
The same contrast will likely determine the election of 2024.
Surely there must be some place for Dr. Hanson in a Trump/Vance Administration? Having such wisdom and depth available without tapping into it on an almost daily basis is virtual malpractice in governance. Thank you again Dr. Hanson.
Amen and Amen
Mr. Thompson, my said last night the exact wording that you said &I agree . The only thing that I had to tell her the from what I hear Mr. Trump is a very difficult hombre to work with if he doesn’t agree with you . That being said, I pray unceasingly that trump will be elected on Nov. 5th Thank you
The Democrats have for decades been advocates of a stronger central government, which carries with it an implicit assumption that politicians and bureaucrats are better qualified to make more decisions about how you live your life than you are. You can’t believe that without also believing that you are a superior person. So, the nagging is to be expected.
The Republicans pay lip service to reducing government, which would mean allowing people to make more decisions about how to live their lives, but unfortunately often aren’t very good at delivering it. No one ever became a politicians without thinking to some extent that the world would be such a great place if only everyone did exactly as they told them to do.
I look forward to Elon Musk, as an outsider, heading up a government efficiency commission to help cut out wasteful programs, reduce unnecessary regulations & streamline government services.
On federal & state levels, we probaby have 4 people doing the work of 1 person in the private sector – called workfare as opposed to welfare.
These government employees now earn more in salary & benefits than their counterparts in the private sector, which is a disincentive for small business in many respects.
Spot on. However, no matter what Musk’s recommendations are, he and Trump will have to contend with existing civil service law. The best they can do is have an early retirement event and then not backfill the vacated positions. Until civil service law is totally re-vamped and its protections removed or streamlined, nothing will change.
Right-on, Harry. About 1/2 of your fellow Americans agree with you.
Minor proof there professor, ‘Electric voters’? Obviously electric vehicles!
While you correctly point out the lecturing of Harris and Obama as well as taking it back to the Carter administration, I find this ties into how the democrat party want to change the country. It began slowly but is now on full throttle. Hopefully the voters will reject the remake of the great USA!
You are so correct! We have allowed this to happen. Now that our eyes are open, thanks to Victor, and Thomas Sowell, we must fight to get the word out.
God lead us please!
The auto industry’s electric voters are unwanted and unsold.
These electric voters remind me of those who do not vote democrat. Their values are unwanted by the left and they are unsold upon what progressives offer.
These electric voters can help turn the country around by voting for Trump.
Make America Representative Again – Make Americans Belong Again
Thank you, as always for shining your light on reality. As to the difference between Carter lectures versus the Reagan inspiration, you spotted exactly what boothers me about the current insanity of this election? Rather then throwing money at students, it might be better to encourage them to study hard- learn their multiplication tables, learn proper grammar and strive to pull yourself up by your “bootstaps” rather than say oh poor me the government owes me. The government don’t owe you a dime.
Let’s hope.
As usual, Dr. Hanson hits a commentary Homerun in his remarks. Two additional points should be made: when President Carter announced the weekend before the 1980 election that the hostages had not been released that cemented in the minds of Americans that the president simply did not have the strength to deter the Iranians. And on election night President Carter conceded quite early and as a result millions of Democrats did not vote in the states west of the Mississippi, which tilted the United States Senate to the Republicans by 55-45 century a result was not anticipated by any post at the time. The result changed history.
Fast-forward to 2000 the Gore campaign was repeatedly reminded that Florida has two time zones and that when the polls closed in one part of the state at 8 o’clock, they are still open in another part of the state for an additional hour. CBS’s Dan Rather given his hatred of Bush ignored the warning from the bush campaign and announced Florida had gone to the Democrats before the polls had closed. Every subsequent analysis showed that over 45,000 Floridians living in the panhandle did not vote for George W. Bush because they stayed home. If these voters had cast their ballots that would’ve cemented the state of Florida for then governor Bush and eliminated the court decisions leading to the declaration that George W. Bush won the election and there would not have been any charges that the election was handed to George W. Bush by the US Supreme Court.
Very well said, VDH.
I pray nightly that Trump and the Republican Senate candidates will win. If not, we are heading down a very steep and slippery slope…
Thank you once again Dr. Hanson for your comprehensive and enlightening comments. Yes, there is a stark contrast between the voter’s choice this November as there was in the Presidential election of 1980. Former Senator Alan Simpson’s words have become ever more immortalized, “Democrats are the Evil Party and Republicans are the Stupid Party.” If anyone can fix “Stupid”, it will be Elon Musk and Trump will bring him aboard. Go MAGA!!!
Excellent article Dr. Hansen. The higher ground “Virtue Broadcasting” by the Left and their minions embedded in the Government is truly Anti-American. NONE of these people have truly worn the uniform for the country and probably most have never left the country so they have no basis of comparison.
Last night, Kamala had her first, genuine “Mondale Moment”. She may have realized [her handlers did] that she doesn’t drive the conversation, the reporter does…like your Essay, she tried to lecture someone who has the facts, and proof of her doublespeak. She got angry, because she wasn’t being given the leeway she expects from the Fourth Estate. Now she needs to learn from that moment. Will she?
Democrats have successfully divided the nation into groupings and are then able to specifically lecture those groupings in order to gain their vote and win elections.
Individual citizens need to see themselves as Americans and vote according to their own critical thinking to better the nation as a whole.
I think the Dems are trying to sell a vote for them as a status symbol. If you want to be regarded as intelligent and sophisticated by all the right people, vote for Kamala. If you don’t, the in-crowd will regard you as ignorant, deplorable, etc.
I’m certain my liberal left leaning, voting democrat no matter what friends are tired of me tossing reasons for them to vote for Trump/Vance. Can anyone suggest a one liner/zinger that may get their attention, this late in the contest?
Elon calls it the “Woke Mind Virus”. I like the phrase. Not just because Elon said it, but because it pinpoints a sickness of the mind, and gives it a name.
To those not infected, it has the appearance of “nihilism”, a self-destructive philosophy that claims that since morals and values don’t exist there is no problem in destroying things.
I think the virus is more insidious than nihilism. The virus disguises itself as “altruism” – “Unselfish concern for the welfare of others; selflessness”. So how do we square the circle of someone “doing things for the benefit of others” that “results in destructive behavior”.
The virus also has a “gaslighting” component – according to studies, gaslighters are motivated to:
1. To avoid accountability for their own bad behavior.
2. To control the victim’s (our) behavior
Someone more knowledgeable than me (Jordan Peterson?) could explain it better, but I think that’s why we see those infected with the Woke Mind Virus doing such destructive things, then telling us it’s “all for our own good” (Those Who Lecture).
This election is simply a contest between the informed and the impressionable. I know who I want to win, but despair of who might actually win.
Phineas Taylor Barnum would be so proud.