Maggie Haberman, longtime New York Times political correspondent, published a new piece this morning about how Trump won the election. In it, she correctly reveals several key components of what led to the landslide victory, but she fails to recognize several key points.
Before delving into what she got wrong, The Manhattan is surprised to say, for the first time, that Haberman wrote a fine piece (with the help of underlings Shane Goldmacher and Jonathan Swan).
Haberman correctly traces the arc of Trump's debate with Harris (not his finest hour, but neither was it damaging). She recognizes that the two most obvious attempts on his life buoyed the campaign. She points out that the Harris-Walz labeling of Trump-Vance--starting with "weird" and spastically swinging to "fascist" and "unhinged"--was a miscalculation.
NYC’s top Democrat politician confirms Trump is not a fascist. pic.twitter.com/cMuZbYZQwq
— @amuse (@amuse) October 26, 2024
Haberman identifies the 34 felony convictions as a source of energy and fundraising for Trump. She notes that abortion was a tricky issue (hasn't it always been, for both sides?), and that Trump's advertising and masculine image appealed to male voters.
Finally, Haberman correctly states that Harris struggled with her ads, struggled with her wild stance in support of taxpayer-funded transgender surgery, and that “There is not a thing that comes to mind" when asked how she would differ from Biden. In passing, she alludes to the all the celebrities who endorsed Kamala. She mentions that Barack Obama exerted a heavier hand on Harris' campaign toward the end of the race.
And then the article ends, leaving so much on the table.
Haberman misses an awful lot. Sure, what she said was mostly true, but it amounts to a pile of half-truth.
First: the hyperbolic labeling. She never mentions Hitler. Liberals have a long history of turning labels up till eleven. The result is, we all turn deaf when they are used. The left has desensitized not just the right, but the public body politic. Slurs don't mean what they once did. Being called a Nazi, a racist, a fascist--it not only falls flat, but is worn as a badge of honor by some. It means a lefty just lost an argument.
Democrats rigged their own Primary for Biden, threw him out and Installed Kamala.
— Willie D 🙏✝️ Praying For America🇺🇸 (@WillieDMack1) November 6, 2024
Then, KAMALA went from the Freedom and the Joy of Abortion, to Trump is Hitler.
Meanwhile, Trump 45-47 Campaigned on helping Americans, and Trump had Fun, even joked about being shot. pic.twitter.com/lPmFa452cd
Haberman fails to report that the 34 felonies invigorated base because the case was so preposterous, forehead-smackingly obvious lawfare. As for Trump's masculine appeal and Hulkster endorsement? That also works on (straight) women. Projecting strength is a good thing for a leader, regardless of the audience's chromosomes.
To that same point, Obama's presence in the Harris sphere--bro-hugging Bruce Springsteen while Harris stood by and cackled--reminded everyone of what Harris isn't: smooth, serious, charismatic.
This particular lefty blindness, combined with insincerity (the Alinsky tactic of labeling your opponents with your own evil tendencies), is why the left can't meme. They pretend to be something absurdly good, they pretend their enemies are something absurdly bad--and open themselves up for ridicule.
Haberman glosses over and/or fails to mention key turning points in the meme wars and public interest stories. The impulse to report on such seeming triviality has no doubt been trained out of her by the Gray Lady. And that speaks to the declining relevance of the once great standard-bearer of legacy media.
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Trump turned Kamala's almost certain McDonald's job fabrication--a desperate appeal to the common person--into political gold as only The Donald can. Serving fries? Waving from the drive-thru window? It made people nostalgic for a better time. Not just four years ago, but 40 years ago.
Then came P'nut. The upstate New York case of rescued pets euthanized by a government agency based on phone calls from a tattletale? Almost brings to mind labels like, oh, fascism? Nazi gestapo? Trump didn't have to capitalize on that, his cadre of meme warriors flooded the zone.
Finally, the garbage pivot. Trump took a negative blow--comedian Tony Hinchcliffe's joke about Puerto Rico being a floating garbage island--and counterpunched. Yes, it required Joe "Liability" Biden stepping in it when he referred to Trump supporters as "garbage", but that's the price you pay when let an octogenarian speak to the press.
Trump works the fries at McDonald’s 🍟
— CHRIS’WORLD (@CHRISsW0RLD) October 20, 2024
Something Kamala has never done and WOULD NEVER DO! pic.twitter.com/QdSJDH6W2O
Biden's slip led to Trump riding in a branded garbage truck, donning a reflective safety vest. Poetry! The cherry on top: leaks that the Biden-Harris administration sought to get the transcript of Biden's comments altered. Again, those labels coming back to bite the Harris campaign like so many beautiful dogs.
So there you have it, Maggie. It was a nice piece, but you left out the stuff that gets the jaws of American conservatives--and their independent friends--wagging. This stuff is obvious to Trump fans, and seems to elude his foes. It's as if they are blinded by a disease...a derangement, you might say.
Despite his wealth, Trump is something Harris could never be: a man of the people.
