After the heartbreaking results of the presidential election, there has been no shortage of definitively-stated takes about what went wrong and how the Democrats need to change going forward. At first, I was hesitant to add my voice into the fray, but after seeing some particularly egregious takes, such as Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moultan’s suggestion that Democrats would win if they stopped talking about trans people so much, I began to feel the need to set the record straight on what is actually needed for Democrats to win and Trumpism to be defeated. You might understandably question how writing this in the student newspaper of an already liberal college will help change anything, but, I believe it matters a great deal. As presumptuous as it sounds, we are the future of the Democratic Party. Many of us will go on to have some role in decision making on the left, whether through non-profits, advocacy groups, or elected office. That is why I view it as extremely important that we all collectively have a clear understanding of the path forward. 

First, let’s start with a positive aspect of this election. Voters across the country, in both red states and blue states, voted to pass ballot measures that enacted progressive policy goals.

And yet, Democrats still lost in all those red states. Why? 

It clearly cannot be that these voters just do not support progressive ideas. The success of the ballot measures provides evidence against that.

The reason is that voters across the country did not believe Harris was going to fix the very real economic problems they faced.

You may wonder, how is that possible? Trump’s policies are so obviously terrible for the working class! I understand; I feel the same way. But for a moment, take yourself out of our Massachusetts liberal arts college bubble. Pretend you’ve forgotten all about the events of Jan 6th and all the ‘unhingedness’ of the previous Trump Administration. Now, listen to Trump as he speaks about the elites in Washington not caring about you and your working class community. Listen to him talk about free trade agreements that shipped jobs overseas, destroying the livelihoods of entire towns. Listen to him talk about how prices have gotten too high for basic goods. Can you see how someone might feel like he really sees the problems you face and has your back?

In order to have won, Harris and the Democrats needed to address those problems head on and take economic policy positions that would dramatically help working class people. You might say “but Biden and Harris already did this?” To some extent, that’s true. Biden enacted policies that made things better for working people.  However, as much as I hate to say it, in politics, it matters not just what you do but how you talk about what you do. In other words, rhetoric matters. Compare hearing a politician say, “The CHIPS and Science Act is bringing back good paying American jobs by forging positive incentives for companies to construct manufacturing plants” versus hearing a politician say, “the elites are shipping away your jobs and robbing you of your livelihood. I will take on the elites and bring your jobs back”. One of the reasons populism works is because, when people are suffering, they want someone to blame. Trump has turned that blame towards a vague depiction of elites, as well as towards immigrants and minorities. To counteract this, we Democrats need to have an entity to blame. Of course, we should absolutely NOT be like Trump, who used minorities and immigrants as scapegoats to blame. That’s cruel and evil. Instead, we should forcefully blame the group that deserves the blame: the corporations and billionaires who lobby to keep wages low and prices high and pocket more money and more money for themselves. Besides being the group responsible for harming the working class, forcefully blaming and calling out these groups with antagonism will give our message the kind of populist zeal it needs to resonate with people who have become disillusioned with the system. 

Throughout history, the ones in power have sought to divide the population against themselves through any means possible. By creating artificial divisions, those in power keep the lower classes fighting amongst themselves instead of banding together as one class to fight the universal exploitation they all face at the hands of the elites. This is precisely what Trump and the Republicans have done. They get people worked up over race, abortion, and immigration so that we fight each other instead of realizing that the CEOs and billionaires who essentially run the Republican party are exploiting us all. Now, this does not mean that we, as Democrats, should abandon these fights, but when we talk to Republicans, it is important to provide this framing. After all, if you take away the main reasons Republicans have been taught to hate those groups, all that hate and anger can be directed where it is deserved: at the corporate class. 

To get people to vote for Democrats, we need to show them that we believe in and will fight for pro-working class positions they likely already agree with. We need to show them that we’re on their side. But we need to prove it, too. Changing rhetoric is essential, but once in power again, Democrats must enact big changes to our economy to make working people’s lives better. If we do that, we can eliminate the widespread discontent that acts as kindling to fuel right wing populism. That is how we defeat Trump himself and whoever attempts to succeed him as king of Trumpism. While Trump will eventually go away, the disillusionment that fuels him won’t go away on its own. It is up to us to fix it.