I take it as foundational the belief that people behave in their own perceived self-interest, and that, with limited exceptions, they are best able to determine what that self-interest is. That a person is able to act on that self-interest, again with exceptions, is the essence of individual lliberty.
So I do not find particularly persuasive those arguments, always propagated after an an election by the losing side regardless of party affiliation, that people are just too dumb to know what’s good for them.
More often, this is an attempt to avoid reconicling one’s own political views with an electorate who deemed those ideas insufficiently convincing. It is hard to be in the minority when one is certain of the correctness (or righteousness) one’s beliefs. I’ve been there many times.
Since the election, I’ve encountered wild justifications for the election results. This is politically dangerous, because the polling on the matter is stark. The top three issues for voters were, in order, the economy, immigration, and social issues. Whatever your personal views on these topics, the Democratic Party got these issues wildly wrong by the lights of the majority of the electorate. I do not think “wildly wrong” is an understatement because that’s what it took to give us a second term of the worst president in the history of the United States.
It is unhelpful to say that Harris lost because of racism or sexism. First, there is no polling to suggest that this is the case. That is not to say that there are not racists or sexist voters, only that they did not swing the election. (Further, the Democratic catastrophe was not limited to the presidental race. Plenty of Democratic male candidates of various ethnicities got trounced as well.)
It is unhelpful to engage in conspiracy theories. I love my friends, but I’m sorry, the notion that the attempted Trump assassination was staged is ludicrous. It is on par with saying that the US faked the moon landings. It is nuts.
It is unhelpful to think that voters were too stupid understand their own self-interest. There is, as yet, little evidence of so-called “buyer’s remorse” with the Trump presidency. He has had a positive approval rating every day of his presidency, something he only achieved 11 days of his first term.
It is unhelpful to blame white voters. Comparing 2020 to 2024, Trump’s margins increased with just about every other voting group: Hispanic voters +14%, Black voters +3%, under 30 voters +8%, no college degree +6%, and women +3%.
If Democrats want to win, they need to engage with the electorate. If they don’t, well, it will be a full four years of Trumpian politics unchecked by a loyal opposition.