Her first major error was not selecting Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as her running mate, in an effort to appease hard-Left anti-Zionists.
President Donald Trump declared that his overwhelming victory gives him a mandate to pursue the policies on which he campaigned. That is true but only to a degree. The election results also constituted a widespread rejection of the policies of the Democrat Party and the qualifications of their candidates.
More than most presidential elections, this one was about negatives as much as positives. Many voters cast their ballots against the opposing candidate rather than for the candidate for whom they reluctantly voted. Both parties must understand this reality if they are to glean the appropriate lessons for the future.
The Democrats must recognise that we are a centrist country and that, as a party, they have moved far too aggressively to the Left, platforming radicals at their convention, praising anti-American and anti-Israel campus protestors, and appointing too many extremists to positions of authority.
American voters want pragmatic moderates rather than extremist ideologues. They also eschew the elitism of the current Democratic leadership and large parts of its voting base.
The Democrats used to be the party of working-class people who care more about feeding their families than pursuing a progressive agenda. Recently, they have become captives of the hard-Left, especially among young people.
Their leaders, including Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz, categorically refused to stand up to the extremists and to marginalize them. Instead they welcomed them into a tent that was far too inclusive of elements that are widely perceived by voters as being too extreme, too ideological and even too anti-American.
Harris’ first mistake involved her first important decision, namely her selection of a running mate. The obvious choice was the popular governor of the most important swing state — Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania — but Harris did not want to alienate the hard-Left, which includes anti-Semites and anti-Zionists.
Shapiro is both a Jew and a Zionist, and Harris feared that she would lose Michigan if she provoked its pro-Palestinian voters by choosing him. Instead she chose a Minnesotan with even less experience than she had, especially in foreign policy. Neither she nor her vice-presidential choice were ready to be president, and voters worried about her judgment in selecting him.
Harris might still not have won the election if she chose Shapiro and consequently won Pennsylvania. But her rejection of Shapiro on what appeared to many to be religious grounds and her capitulation to the hard-Left alienated many moderate voters throughout the country.
President Trump also made numerous missteps, especially in the last 10 days before the election, but many votes had already been cast and other voters had made up their minds.
If Trump wants a successful presidency, he too must move to the middle. He will be tempted to use the criminal justice system against his political opponents, claiming that they started it. He would be right in that claim, but he would be wrong to emulate it. He should announce that he will never use the criminal justice system against his political opponents.
To demonstrate his bonafides, he might consider pardoning Hunter Biden along with non-violent January 6 protestors (full disclosure: I represent one peaceful protestor who entered the Capitol). Trump should appoint an attorney general who is above reproach and who is non-partisan.
Trump himself must be given credit for exploiting his opponent’s weaknesses and running an authentic, if controversial, and often disturbing campaign. He seems to have the pulse of the American voter better than his critics. But his election is not a vindication of his excesses, nor a mandate for persisting in them.
What we need now is a Lincolnesque approach to bringing a divided nation together, with malice toward none and charity toward all. It’s a tall order, especially for Trump. But if he succeeds, his legacy will be secure and the world will be better off. This is his greatest challenge. It’s up to him to meet it with strength and magnanimity.
Alan Dershowitz’s latest book is “War Against the Jews: How to End Hamas Barbarism.” Stein is a former president of the New York City Council. This article is republished from the author’s Substack page, which can be viewed here.
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