Sherrilyn Ifill: Why Have Race & Gender Been Erased from Analysis of the Presidential Election? Part 1

How should we analyze the meaning of the re-election of Donald Trump? What factors about this election can help us navigate the very dangerous and challenging time we face in our nation? It’s complicated of course. Many factors bear on the outcome of any election, and this one was no different. Most of us rely on the analysis provided by those whose job it is to analyze difficult political moments to make sense of what we don’t understand. We listen (sometimes incessantly) to the conclusions reached by political pundits - those who have covered national elections, run campaigns and been deeply engaged in observing and analyzing politics for years, sometimes decades. Most who are part of this cohort of political experts have very particular knowledge and expertise born of this experience.

But they also have very particular blind-spots.

That may be why we have been subjected to the most tortuous post-election analysis of the most consequential election of the modern era. Think pieces began dropping the day after Trump soundly defeated Vice President Harris, and led the Republicans to recover the House and Senate. Armed with (notoriously tricky) exit polls and vibes, we learned that Trump had won because “ Women Didn’t Let Trump Down, Men Did.” That Democrats have yet to learn how to talk to the working class. That Democratic elites had misjudged the significance of the economy. That Harris had talked too much about trans people and used the term “Latinx” (she hadn’t) That Harris, the Vice President of the United States as well as a candidate, made a fatal error in not bending her schedule to appear on Joe Rogan’s podcast. That Harris didn’t distance herself enough from Biden. That the Democratic party must stop relying on “identity politics.” That Bernie Sanders would have won.

Others described the significance of the election as a Damascus Road moment for the Democratic Party, suggesting that the Party should be torn down and rebuilt. We are also learning more about the outsized role of Elon Musk - his money, his social media platform, and his advisor’s funding of false flag ads to turns voters away from Harris. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/15/republican-ads-false-flag/

But with shockingly few exceptions, two glaringly obvious factors have been virtually ignored by writers of post-election think-pieces in the nation’s leading journals. Understanding the reason for this omission tells us as much about the significance of this election for the future of this country, as the outcome of the election itself.

Continued

https://sherrilyn.substack.com/p/why-have-race-and-gender-been-erased
https://substack.com/@sherrilyn