Futility is a Knife

Alex Gervais ’28

Contributing Writer

On Nov. 5, we saw the culmination of two campaigns. One was grounded in levity; in the belief that our nation truly could reach its full potential and remain the idol of democracy for the rest of our world. It was led by an inspiring and qualified leader who simply wanted Americans to be able to live freely and justly. The other was a geriatric, repugnant exercise in fear, tethered together only by fascist ideas and unbounded charisma. It was headed by a tottering and insane old man whose only vision for America was a corporatist hellscape that benefited him and his cronies. The charismatic fascist won.

In the end, this entire campaign season was futile. From the Biden dropout, to being coconut-pilled, to a dominating debate, to Ann Selzer’s Iowa poll, to Gallup’s reported enthusiasm gap, to unprecedented canvassing and donation numbers, none of it mattered. The historic unpopularity of the Biden-Harris economy, notably the strongest in the G7 post-Covid, dug this race’s grave long before it ever began. Millions of Americans gave up their time, their money, their sanity to try to delay what we didn’t yet know was inevitable. It’s this meaninglessness that makes the outcome even more poignantly painful. 

This inevitability didn’t always exist; it didn’t have to. At so many points over the last four years, Democrats could have run from destiny and embraced competent strategy, yet time and time again, they failed. This loss is squarely on the inaction of Joe Biden, ignoring his left flank on the genocide in Gaza and waiting to drop out until it was too late. It’s on the back of Jamie Harrison, an incompetent DNC chair who couldn’t recognize a focused message if it bit him in his ass. It’s on the shoulders of the out of touch Democratic campaign organizers, who instead of being forceful and righteous in their anti-Republican messaging, chose to make the warmongering Cheney family “brat.” It’s on the Democratic donor base, entertaining and bankrolling this electoral hilarity even as it spiraled towards doom. Now, because of the party’s acceptance of futility, millions of Americans will suffer. Democrats have blood on their hands.

We also must internalize that this could’ve been so much worse. America still hates Donald Trump. Throughout this whole mess, that idea must not be misconstrued. Doug Burgum or Nikki Haley or any other competent Republican would’ve won a supermajority in a terrifying blowout this election. On 538’s generic ballot, voters supported Republicans 46% of the time, a mark 3 points higher than Trump’s 43% approval rating. A three point swing in this election would have meant every single swing Senate seat going to the Republicans, bringing them ever closer to the 60 votes needed to bypass cloture. It would have meant Republicans winning Democratic strongholds like Virginia and New Jersey on the presidential level. 81 million Americans voted against Trump last election and 65 million did in 2016. Our nation has said time and time again that they want somebody else. According to a 538 polling aggregate, in January of 2023 his support was hovering at 45% in the Republican party, only his extremist base coming to his aid. Yet, on Jan. 20 at 12 p.m., he’ll become the 47th President of the United States. And not only will he be the next president, but he’ll be doing it with a popular mandate — and if current House results hold, a Republican trifecta. 

This race and its ensuing fallout will fundamentally alter the way politics can be studied and quantified. Clearly, material conditions, identity or rational interests have no place in the souls of the American electorate. According to CNN exit polling, Trump won Latino men by 12 points, he tied in voters who believed that abortion should be “legal in most cases,” he won back suburban voters. Most astoundingly, he won voters making under $50,000 a year, the very people who will have their lives decimated by his policies, by one point. Rarely do we see social cleavages fall apart on this wide of a scale.

The next four years will be perilously hard times for many across this nation. Trump and his Republican trifecta will create a terrifying moment of path dependency, passing and enforcing legislation that will fundamentally alter the nature of American democracy. Democrats must not forget the passiveness that stabbed them this election day. For every woman who bleeds out being forced to deliver a stillborn baby, for every child who starves because of ill-conceived tariffs, for every person of color who is assaulted without consequence by an unchecked police state, their pain will not solely be because of the demagoguery of Donald Trump and his allies, but because of the futility of today’s Democratic party.