A former aide to President Obama has made some dark observations as voters decisively chose to return former President Trump to the White House four years after his ouster.
Ben Rhodes, former vice presidential national security adviser in the Obama administration, said, “Democrats understandably have a hard time understanding why Americans would put our democracy at risk, but we want our democracy to be safe.'' “You're missing the reality that you're part of what makes them angry.” I wrote it in an essay In this week's New York Times.
“Many voters see democracy as an end in itself rather than a means to combat globalization, corruption, financial capitalism, immigration, eternal war, and inequality and rein in a rigged capitalist system. It has come to be associated with elites (like me) who say that there is, respond to global conflicts, and foster a sense of common national identity.,” he added.
Mr. Trump won the election by a landslide over Vice President Harris, securing at least 312 electoral votes and a majority of the popular vote.
In the days that followed, Democrats weighed in on how Harris would respond to Trump, who was impeached twice during his previous term, including for storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to try to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election. I spent a lot of time explaining in detail how I lost. . Trump also faces multiple criminal and civil issues.
“Given the devastation of this election, Democrats must reject the urge to become a force of resistance, simply condemning Mr. Trump’s outrageous statements,” Rose wrote. “While we confront Trump when necessary, we must also focus on ourselves: what we stand for and how we tell our stories.”
Mr. Rose wrote a book called “After the Fall: The Rise of Authoritarianism in the World We Made,” which details the modern history of foreign countries. In an essay for the Times, he recalled the 2008 financial crisis and its impact on Americans and the world. the acceleration of authoritarian leadership in Hungary, Russia, and China;
“President Obama's eight years in office after the financial crisis felt like swimming upstream against the tide of world politics,” he wrote. “Barack Obama's political skill and cultural appeal helped him overcome these trends, but it hasn't necessarily transferred to other Democrats.”
He went on to compare it to Trump's rise in popularity, lamenting the bloated “global oligarchy” and “homogenized and often crude popular culture” behind those who suffer economically.
“The financial crisis hit like a hurricane, destroying the lives of people already struggling to make ends meet while the wealthy profited behind the scenes,” he wrote. “Then, the explosion of social media provided an avenue to spread discontent and conspiracy theories, allowing populist leaders to radicalize their followers with algorithmic precision.”
Reflecting on Trump's victory, Rose wrote that Democrats had “lost touch with the anger people feel toward their government.”
“I'm by no means saying I have all the answers to what went wrong, but I think Democrats have fallen into the trap of defending the very institutions that most Americans distrust, the 'establishment.' I am concerned that this may not be the case,” he wrote.
