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Chris Kelly Opinion: H.L. Mencken was right

“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it, good and hard.” — H.L. Mencken, legendary journalist and satirist (1880-1956)

I’ll have the crow a la mode with a hunk of humble pie and a cup of sour grapes.

The bitter part of owning your words is that sometimes you have to eat them. It turns out America is not better than Donald Trump and Cult 45. Not enough of us, anyway. Not right now.

I broke the cardinal rule of drug dealing and opinion writing: I got high on my own supply. I believed in my bones that Tuesday’s election was a referendum on former, failed President Donald Trump and the hatred, division and indecency he normalized.

It was, but I could not have been more wrong about which way it would break.

A majority of Americans chose a convicted felon over a former prosecutor. They chose a vicious, vulgar fraudster who incited a deadly insurrection over an inclusive, dignified professional who served the public ably and honorably. They chose a profoundly flawed excuse for a man over an accomplished, qualified woman. My dear cousin Cheryl, the mother of a strong, loving professional young woman, put it plainly:

“They’ll vote for anything over a woman.”

Misogyny obviously played an outsized role in Vice President Kamala Harris’ decisive defeat. America — particularly 53% of white women and 54% of Latino men — is not ready for a “Madame President.” Racism was also a prominent cause. Nearly 60% of white Americans — mostly men — revealed that they would rather destroy American democracy than share its power and privilege with people of color and other minorities.

Focusing on these factors alone, however, risks missing the broader message, one the out-of-touch elites of the Democratic Party have been ignoring at the nation’s peril for decades. Trump’s “red wave” up and down the ballot represents a widespread rejection of modern progressivism. It is also a reflection of how far the “party of FDR” has drifted from the working class it once courted as its core constituency. Ironically, this rejection was amplified by “woke” value-signalers who somehow believe Palestinians will do better with Christofascists in power.

Congratulations, Jill Stein voters! When your friends and family are deported, they’ll be free to live the refugee struggle firsthand.

Back to the point(s), which my good friend David Snyder made in his thoughtful way when we met for coffee on The Day After. Regular readers know that Dave — a lifelong “Reaganite” and former Trump-voting Republican and I — an “FDR Democrat” with an inferiority complex — bonded over our shared reverence for the Constitution and abiding love for Our Republic. Our conversation carried on throughout the week. Some snippets, edited for space, clarity and unproductive bellyaching:

DS: “Misogyny doesn’t explain the Senate flip (to Republicans),” Dave said. “This was obviously a rejection of progressivism and Biden. We thought it was going to a be a referendum on Trump, but it ended up being a referendum on Biden and progressivism and what people believe about the economy, etc.”

ME: “The Dems definitely lost the messaging war on every key issue, particularly the border and the economy. We talked about this months ago, that the statistics didn’t match the lived experience — real and imagined — of everyday Americans.”

DS: “They failed to communicate to the American electorate that the worldwide economy suffered after the pandemic, and we’re coming back faster and stronger than anyone. It just didn’t translate to the average Joe who buys gas to go to work and groceries to feed his family and pays the bills. It just didn’t translate, and Harris didn’t distinguish herself from Biden. When she said, ‘Nothing comes to mind” in response to what she would do differently, people listened.”

ME: “Yeah, that stuck. Harris had just over three months to campaign, and I think she made a compelling case. Women are always judged more harshly for every slip of the tongue or mental misstep. Meanwhile, Trump’s stumbling around mumbling about Arnold Palmer’s ‘putter’ and mimicking oral sex on a microphone. America voted for that. It’s just so sad and disgusting.”

DS: “Disgust and sadness are understandable, but fear is another thing altogether. Should a healthy America have fearful people after an election? The fear of (targeted groups) is palpable and I’m concerned about them. Obama said elections have consequences, but one of those consequences shouldn’t be fear.”

ME: “Project 2025 is all about fear and consequences for anyone who isn’t white, heterosexual, male and ‘Christian.’ “

DS: “On that, I want to urge people to take a deep breath. In 2016, Trump had the House and Senate when he was elected and he didn’t get everything he wanted. America is not over. I said that in a letter that the Times didn’t publish. I opened it with ‘If Trump is elected, the Republic doesn’t end. If Harris is elected, we don’t become Communists.’ That kind of talk has got to stop. I was listening to someone this morning who said, ‘I’m ashamed to be an American.’ What? I don’t want to hear that. You have to do better than that. We all have to do better.”

ME: “Agreed, and that starts with accepting the outcome of the election. Antisocial media is frothing with claims of widespread voter fraud to Trump’s benefit, with zero evidence. Sound familiar? Still, I don’t see Democrats desecrating the Capitol come Jan. 6.”

DS: “This was supposed to be a wake-up call about Donald Trump. Instead, it’s a wake-up call for the rest of us. This is where the country is. Let’s not pretend. They’re Americans, too, and they voted for this. ‘We the People,’ right? Well, the people aren’t always going to do the right thing. The responsible way to respond to losing an election is to hang your head and say, ‘We’ll try harder next time,’ not that nonsense we saw four years ago.”

ME: “I’ve got no reason to hang my head. I’m on the right side of history. I actually feel a strange sense of liberation. I’ve been an underdog most of my life, mostly because I lived down to the low expectations I and others had for me. This is a time to rise above.”

DS: “Remember what Marcus Aurelius said, ‘The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.’”

ME: “Amen, brother. From now on, when I meet a Trump voter, I’ll smile, extend my hand and say, ‘Congratulations! I hope you get everything you voted for.’”

CHRIS KELLY, the Times-Tribune columnist, sincerely means that. Contact the writer: [email protected]; @cjkink on X; Chris Kelly, The Times-Tribune on Facebook.