(I wrote this as a comment on another blog — Tracking Biden from the Left — but I decided to just put it out there on my own page. It’s a good enough summary for how I’m feeling after much thought and discussion on this 6th day of November, 2024.)
“Joe Biden is an extraordinarily unpopular President. Most of that is just Biden is old, not that charismatic, and prices went up while he was President." Then Kamala Harris campaigned as a younger, hipper, brattier version of Biden, only with the Cheney family as her best pals. She came off as a loon, and most Americans didn't take her seriously. So she lost.
It really is that simple. It's quite likely that she lost a couple million votes because she supports genocide. That was my red line, although I probably would have voted for Stein either way because she's a much better human being and a serious candidate who supports pretty much every position I do. But Harris lost by more than 5 million votes, and I suspect that even those anti-genocide voters would probably not have put her over the top.
I wish I believed that the majority of Americans -- or even a strong minority -- cared as much about genocide as we do, but I fear it's just not the case. I had a conversation with a dear friend who I've known since I was a kid. He told me the best way to vote for a candidate is to ask "what will they actually do to make my life better." And he's a good person! A caring, decent human being! (By the way, he voted for Harris because he needs government support for his medical care, plus his son's 401K has gone up handsomely under Biden/Harris)
The lesson for me is that most people don't view politics as some kind of moral statement of philosophical intent. They live their lives, they try their best to have a good time when they're not working their asses off, and they look around and ask, "What's my life like now compared to four years ago? Who's going to change that for the better?"
Trump once again conned enough people into buying his snake oil to get elected. Snake oil sales have been high in America for about 250 years now, and they show no signs of slowing down.