TRUMP 2.0: A BIGGER MANDATE

The Democrats lost because they abandoned democracy. They bungled massively in selecting their presidential candidate.

- AVATANS KUMAR

On the other hand, former President Donald Trump had a track record of running the country for four years. The result: Mr Trump won a massive electoral verdict against Ms Harris, the chosen successor of President Joe Biden, who was pushed off the ticket by the party elites after his devastating debate performance against Mr.

Trump. Voters were willing to overlook Mr Trump's personal failings.

Mr Trump has now won a historic mandate, winning 295 electoral college votes at the time of writing for these pages and outCHICAGO DIARY performing Ms Harris in A poll s polling closed in some east-coast states, the exit indicated that "democracy" was the voters' prime (35%) concern going into November 5 election day. Most media pundits took this as a sign of a pro-Harris wave.

However, the concern for "democracy" was a bipartisan one at worst. Given the censorship and lawfare of the Biden administration against its political rivals, more Republicans were worried about freedom of speech, individual choice, the right to bear arms, etc., than Democrats about the perceived threat of a "fascist" and "Hitler" (re)entering the White House.

The media and the Harris campaign misread the electorate badly. Demonizing their opponent did not turn out to be a winning strategy by any stretch of the imagination. Vice President Kamala Harris failed even to articulate the agenda of her future adminispopular votes. Mr Trump's Republican Party wrested the Senate majority from the Democrats and is also at pace to retain the majority in the House of Representatives. With a conservative majority in the Supreme Court, Mr Trump and the Republicans can drive their agenda until at least 2027.