2024 in review: A look back at the election through Tribune op-eds

by dap | Dec 29, 2024 | Chicago Tribune

Donald Trump is going to be our nation’s next president, but how he got there and how the Democrats lost are a journey worth revisiting. 

After a bad debate performance and immense pressure from his party, President Joe Biden bowed out of the presidential race. Vice President Kamala Harris replaced him as the Democratic nominee but could not keep the momentum going — even with running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and after a successful Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Several voices opined in our section about the future of both parties as well as: What will Biden’s legacy be? What motivated traditional Democratic voting blocs to turn out for Trump?

Here’s a look back at this turbulent race in excerpts. 

July 25: John Mark Hansen, “Democratic Party’s backward induction problem in the presidential race”

The only way for the Democratic Party to seize this opportunity is to devise an open process — and have talented candidates such as Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro participate in it. And unless the party is able to change the incentives of the decision-makers in the final stage of the process, they will not.

At the end of an open process, at the last stage of some kind of “beauty contest” mini-primary, the choice of the nominee will belong to the delegates to the 2024 Democratic National Convention. There once was a time when convention delegates were party officers and elected officials who actually brokered nominations. But that was more than 50 years ago. Today’s delegates are chosen, most of them, as a reward for their loyalty to the Democratic Party and the strength of their personal and political connections to the winner of the primaries. Ninety-nine percent of them are pledged to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Many of them are devoted to Harris. Even more are longtime Biden supporters who will put heavy weight on the endorsement he has given his vice president.

Even after an open process, conducted in good faith, the delegates to the 2024 convention, by their very makeup, are very likely to vote for Harris as the Democratic presidential nominee. Reasoning by backward induction, then, the major talents waiting in the wings are very likely to stay right there, declining to be considered, uniting behind the vice president. Indeed, the cascade has already begun: Recently, Beshear, Newsom, Pritzker and Arizona U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly pledged their support for Harris.

July 28: Storer H. Rowley, “Biden’s vision of democracy? ‘Enough of us came together to carry all of us forward.’”

GOP vice presidential nominee JD Vance got it mostly right when he said that America is not just an idea, but people bound together by “shared history and a common future.” Of course it is, and Joe Biden, whatever his flaws, has embodied the best of it.

To be sure, the president left his own party in chaos for weeks as he hung on to the notion of running and winning a second term, amid significant pushback from Democratic Party leaders worried about his disastrous debate performance and growing signs of age. His dithering was Shakespearean, and Republicans were gleeful about the chaos.

But the truth is, Biden’s record as a one-term president was already among the most accomplished and consequential in history. Of course, it was going to be hard to give up the reins. He has said again and again he wants to finish the job. But he did the right thing.

Beyond just stabilizing the country and cleaning up the messes he inherited, Biden has presided over an economic recovery that produced about 15 million jobs and beat back inflation, and he won a series of legislative victories, many with bipartisan votes, when his party held one of the slimmest margins in congressional history. From the infrastructure bill that Trump promised and couldn’t deliver, to the largest investment ever in funding to combat climate change, Biden signed laws that helped veterans, promoted gun safety, lowered the cost of prescription drugs, and boosted clean energy jobs and manufacturing of computer chips back on American soil. That’s only a partial list.

Abroad, Biden battled unfair Chinese trade practices and cemented alliances in the Pacific. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Biden demonstrated his years of foreign policy experience and led NATO allies to support Ukraine, presiding over a resurgence in NATO’s mission and unity, even helping it expand with two new members, Finland and Sweden.

More than that, he restored America’s leadership and reputation abroad as a reliable ally following his predecessor’s courting of dictators, abrogation of agreements on climate change and Iranian nuclear weapons, and denigration of NATO. In the volatile Middle East, Biden continues to push for a deal that would not only end the war in Gaza but also could put the region on a path toward eventual peace and a two-state solution. No easy task.

Aug. 25: Clarence Page, “Walz helps Democrats offer voters a better reflection of themselves”

When Gov. Tim Walz spoke, he offered proper thanks to Kamala Harris, President Joe Biden’s endorsed successor, and the rest of the delegates in the Chicago arena for “bringing the joy” to this election. That sounded familiar. Was it a reference to the “politics of joy” that many of us old-timers associate with another decade and another Minnesota Democrat?

Could be. Former Vice President and U.S. Sen. Hubert Humphrey used this phrase while announcing his own candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination back in 1968. It was a fateful year of the sort that Democrats have been trying to live down ever since. Amid widespread protests against the Vietnam War, President Lyndon B. Johnson had decided to step aside without running for another term, and Humphrey won the Democratic Party’s nomination. Unfortunately for Humphrey, the tumult surrounding the convention in Chicago defied his attempts to forge unity and promote the “politics of joy,” which seemed disastrously out of touch with the riots and protests on the streets. Worse, Humphrey failed to distance himself from Johnson’s unpopular war policy, of which he had been a loyal defender. He lost a close election to Richard Nixon.

Against that historical backdrop, it is easy to see why Walz would be delighted to see signs of joy returning to Democratic politics.

It remains to be seen whether the theme will attract enough new voters to bring a Democratic victory. But the chances have been helped by the former schoolteacher’s folksy charm and, from what we’ve learned about him, an admirable record of public service.

Aug. 29: Peter H. Schwartz, “Trump’s visual politics are reshaping America”

As we observe the 2024 presidential campaign unfold, the power of Donald Trump’s visual politics continues to shape the political landscape. Consider the following developments in the past 12 months alone.

Mug shot phenomenon: Trump’s booking photo became an instant cultural touchstone, transformed into a powerful symbol of defiance.

Courtroom as stage: Trump’s courtroom appearances have become political theater, each a visual performance crafted to communicate strength, victimhood or righteous anger.

Rally aesthetics: Trump’s campaign rallies continue to be exercises in visual branding, creating visceral, emotional connections with his base.

Social media evolution: Trump has adapted his visual communication style to new formats, favoring short, punchy video clips and memes.

Assassination attempt: Following the attempt on Trump’s life, the visual narrative shifted to images of him as a quasi-martyr, reinforcing the idea of his presidency as divinely ordained.

Democratic Party politics are and always have been about concrete goals and some measurable concept of progress. As Trump and his cohorts might say: Boring.

Oct. 2: Laura Washington, “Here’s what Harris must do to appeal to a fractured voter base”

If Kamala Harris wants to broaden her base, she must attract voters seeking a conservative message. The Nikki Haley voters, constitutionalist types and Dick Cheney-esque characters. Recall that Haley, a former United Nations ambassador and South Carolina governor, won 20% of the 2024 Republican presidential primary vote. That’s a cache of support Harris can capture. In the swing states, that could be the difference between a loss and a victory.

Then, there are the progressives, perhaps the most motivated Democratic voters, but also the most difficult to compromise with. Their left-leaning agenda is not that popular with most Americans. Harris leans with them. Yet, her nearly four years serving with Joe Biden in the White House has taught her that if you want to get stuff done, you start in the center.

We all remember what happened in her last presidential run in the 2020 Democratic primaries. Harris ambushed Biden in the debates, then got decapitated by then-U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii.

Progressive voters need to be massaged. They make up a large cohort and often identify with third-party candidates and independents such as Jill Stein and Cornel West, who are big on protest votes.

So herein lies the rub for Harris. How does she appeal to these three groups without antagonizing any one of them? Remember, Biden tried the “Trump threatens our democracy” line. It went nowhere. Messaging matters. Fragmented communication with her voters is certainly less effective than Trump’s messaging.

Nov. 13: J. Marcos Peterson, “I am a Mexican American who voted for Trump. No, I don’t hate myself.”

I’m a proud, first-generation, college-educated and gay Mexican American with undocumented family in the United States, including a mother who was previously deported to Mexico, and I experienced homelessness as a child. I am everything Democrats claim to support, right?

Wrong.

Democrats have accepted a progressive platform, ignoring decades worth of change and focusing on erroneous issues. They have built campaigns on a foundation of misleading airs and fake vibes.

Voting for Donald Trump does not make me racist, sexist, misogynistic, homophobic or any other “ist” and “ic” I’ve been called. I, along with more than half of the voting public in America, am sick of the self-righteous and label-obsessed left alienating us over differing opinions.

In her concession speech, Vice President Kamala Harris claimed to have built strong coalitions. What she did was the opposite. She did not motivate enough Black voters, Latino voters, Asian voters, Jewish voters, union voters and female voters to cast their ballots for her. Fewer women voted for Harris than they did Joe Biden, even with abortion being a top issue. To the very end, Harris ignored the data; she ignored what voters needed.

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