The president of Harvard University’s Institute of Politics has declared that the lesson of the blowout 2024 election is not a need for greater inclusivity and balance at the school but, you guessed it, the express abandonment of nonpartisanship going forward. While many would argue that the school left neutrality behind years ago, Pratyush Mallick is calling in an op-ed for The Harvard Crimson for an official change. It would align the Institute with the building “resistance” and reject not just nonpartisanship but neutrality in its programs and grants.
After the election, I wrote that people hoping for a moment of introspection after the Trump victory will likely be disappointed, and “the rage in the media and academia will only likely increase.” That has unfortunately proven to be the case. The meltdown after the presidential election appears to be building rather than subsiding with attacks from the left on male, female, and minority voters as racists, misogynists, or despotic dupes.
The call for partisanship at Harvard is not unique. Before the election, I criticized Wesleyan University President Michael Roth for urging universities to abandon neutrality and work openly for the election of Kamala Harris. Immediately after the election, Roth doubled down and promised to join the “resistance” against Trump’s “authoritarian” regime.
A few weeks before the election, I participated in a debate at Harvard Law School over the lack of free speech protections and intellectual diversity at Harvard.
This year, Harvard found itself in a familiar spot on the annual ranking of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE): dead last among 251 universities and colleges.
The Harvard Crimson has documented how the school’s departments have virtually eliminated Republicans. In one study of multiple departments last year, they found that more than 75 percent of the faculty self-identified as “liberal” or “very liberal.”
Only 5 percent identified as “conservative,” and only 0.4% as “very conservative.”
According to Gallup, the U.S. population is roughly equally divided among conservatives (36%), moderates (35%), and liberals (26%).
So Harvard has three times the number of liberals as the nation at large, and less than three percent identify as “conservative” rather than 35 percent nationally.
Among law school faculty who donated more than $200 to a political party, 91 percent of the Harvard faculty gave to Democrats.
While Professor Randall Kennedy, in the debate, dismissed the notion that Harvard should look more like America, the problem is that it does not even look like Massachusetts. Even as one of the most liberal states in the country, roughly one third of the voters still identify as Republican.
The student body shows the same bias of selection. Harvard Crimson previously found that only 7 percent of incoming students identified as conservative.
Yet, the Institute of Politics student executive committee president wants it to be more official.
”Today, Harvard’s Institute of Politics has a choice to make too. Nonpartisanship — a founding principle of the IOP — is no longer a tenable position in today’s political environment. Donald Trump’s imminent return to power underscores the importance of the IOP finally breaking from our long-standing commitment to it.”
So, rather than considering the implications of a majority of voters rejecting the narrative of the media and political establishment, the idea is to move even further toward orthodoxy and intolerance.
Mallick wrote that as the Trump administration moves forward, “we must resist platforming anti-democratic voices in the guise of nonpartisanship.” Those “anti-democratic voices” are likely to be found on one end of the political spectrum.
In a truly Orwellian twist, Mallick added, “In fact, we must strive to defend principles of democracy, due process, and justice precisely to ensure that we can continue carrying out our age-old mission of nonpartisanship.”
So, the Institute would become partisan in order to fulfill its mission of nonpartisanship.
As I discuss in my book, The Indispensable Right, we have seen the same abandonment of neutrality in the media with disastrous results.
Students in “J Schools” today are being told to abandon neutrality and objectivity since, as former New York Times writer (and now Howard University journalism professor) Nikole Hannah-Jones has explained, “all journalism is activism.”
After a series of interviews with over 75 media leaders, Leonard Downie Jr., former Washington Post executive editor, and Andrew Heyward, former CBS News president, reaffirmed this shift. As Emilio Garcia-Ruiz, editor-in-chief at the San Francisco Chronicle, stated: “Objectivity has got to go.”
The result has been the increasing rejection of mainstream media in favor of new media. The falling revenue and readership have not produced any more introspection among leading figures in the media. After the election, various figures such as MSNBC host Mika Brezinski did not acknowledge how media bias has led to the decline but instead blamed the election in part on the availability of opposing views as “massive disinformation.” Others called for free speech to be curtailed to prevent such contrary information from affecting another election.
Ironically, the Harvard Institute has a number of advisory board members accused of such bias in the past, including CNN’s Abby Philip. While there are a couple of Republicans, it has a majority of current and former Democratic politicians and advisers, including Michael Nutter, David Axelrod, LaTosha Brown, William D. Delahunt, and Joseph Kennedy III.
In the end, the Institute’s formal commitment to partisanship is unlikely to matter. While Mallick insists that “nonpartisanship—a founding principle of the IOP—is no longer a tenable position in today’s political environment,” it has long been out of vogue at Harvard.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. He is the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage” (Simon & Schuster, 2024).
N.B.: After this column ran, the director of the Institute wrote a letter to the editor at the Harvard Crimson saying that the Institute would remain committed to a nonpartisan approach.
The Harvard Alumni must halt their contributions and abridge their endowments until and unless this lunacy has been eliminated
All Federal Dollars going to the Ivy League and many other “woke, anti-American” universities should be pulled back and thrown into the federal coffers. They still have their freedom of evil speech abilities (not taking away their 1st Amendment rights), just not using my tax dollars.
There should not be one single federal dollar going to ANY public or private university.
In two years there will be the mid-terms. Trump will then be a quacking, mouthy lame-duck, and eventually of course a dead duck. The rabble will have to find another rotten populist.
I’d rather have a real conservative, but will settle for a populist over the authoritarian fascists the democrats keep offering up.
Try to critique modern leftists without using the word “fascist”, Richard. Can you?
(It is fair to note that both sides like to toss this word around).
Facist is the proper word for “modern” leftists. You might review 1930s Germany.
This is not about Trump.
Republicans have two years to turn things around.
And they have to avoid overreach.
If they do – they will do well in the midterms.
If they do not – they too can be replaced.
That said – I would suggest that democrats need to figure out why they lost this badly.
Hint it is the same reason they lost in 2016
and the same reason they were off by 7% in predicting 2020.
It is not racism, misogyny, homophobia.
It is not the quality of candidates – though Democrats have overall really poor candidates.
Blaming the electorate is NOT going to win elections.
Separately – Trump accomplished an enormous amount in his first term – most of it without congress.
Congressional support is necessary to make semi-permanent changes, and to make spending changes.
Democrats already laid the foundations that allow executives to apply the laws of congress with enormous discretion.
John: WHAT did Trump accomplish other than tax cuts mostly benefiting the wealthy?
Gigi, Trump did numerous things, but I will provide only one in order to keep the discussion simple.
American presidents continuously promised to move the American Embassy to Jerusalem. Trump accomplished what the other presidents failed to do.
S Meyer – I’ll respond to Gigi as well, like you, with just one of the MANY accomplishments. The Abraham Accords. Do your own research Gigi! I can assure you, Obama, Biden, and Harris would never have got that accomplished.
Gigi won’t respond to facts. She can’t and she has none.
If a monkey were given a choice of sentences from all view points, the monkey would get more correct than Gigi. In other words, a monkey is smarter than Gigi.
Substantial reductions in regulation – which benefited all of us in a growing economy and lower prices.
It is estimated that the benefits of deregulation under Trump were about $1T/year.
Trumps energy policies reduced energy costs in the US and throughout the world. It also reduced the cost of food throughout the world.
It also reduced the ability of malignant countries to use energy as a weapon. Ukraine would have lost the fight with Russia very quickly but for Trump’s energy policies which meant that the US was able to replace all the energy that Europe lost from Russia with LNG from the US. Biden had more tools because of Trump.
The cost and supply of energy effects absolutely everything – including world peace.
Reduced illegal immigration is a major factor in rising wages for the working class.
Trump negotiated the first mideast peace accords since Jimmy Carter, and the largest ever. I would hope you think peace in the mideast is a good thing.
Lower capital gains taxes and the end of taxation of foreign income when returning to the US resulted in Trillions in US investment in the US.
It is amazing what can happen when you do not have complete morons running things.
That is just SOME of what Trump accomplished.
Republicans have two years to do a better fob than democrats.
Democrats have two years to try to earn back the trust of the american people.
You keep fixating on Trump – this was a small bloodbath for democrats and it came within a fraction of a percent of being a massive bloodbath.
What happens in 2 years will depend on the behavior of democrats and republicans. Trump is a big part of that but still just a part.
At the absolute top of the exist polls was that Democrats had gone too far left.
If Democrats keep that up – the midterms will favor republicans.
Too many of those of you on the left think that somehow about 325% of the media mesmerized the majority of voters into beleiving nonsense.
But the trust of voters in the media is at an all time low. People do not trust the MSM – and at best they trust Fox and conservative media only slightly more.
The claim that somehow voters were decieved is stupid – first even it true – it just means you will keep losing.
And 2nd because it is obviously not true.
People do not trust the media because those in the media openly admit they are advocates, not neutral unbiased obsevers.
We do not trust advocates – and we do not trust the media. So you claim is that people were decieved by institutionas they have about 10% trust in ? Really ?
Regardles syou are correct that republicans and democrats will be judged by voters in 2 years.
It is way too early to decide what those results will be.
I would note that voters have expectations of republicans.
Those expectations are NOT the same as what those of you on the left want.
Republicans must deliver on the ACTUAL platform of the GOP and Trump – not made up stuff by Harris the media and the left.
It has only been a few days – but so far Trump shows great promise at delivering.
Progress towards peace in Ukraine is in very preliminary stages – but that is still more than since March 2022.
Unilaterally several things have happened in the mideast. Qatar is preparing to deport Hamas leaders.
The Houthis have declared a cease fire. Iran has been put on notice that more nonsense and they will pay – starting with the Ayatollah’s personally.
Numerous business have announced they are leaving China.
Many other businesses announced they are dropping DEI and ESG programs.
Trump has asked and Mexico has agreed and already implimented “remain in Mexico”.
Trump has announced the outline of how he will be ending government efforts to censor – that includes firing anyone who is found to have engaged in improper censorship of american people. He has asked congress to condition the immunity that Internet companies get on complying with the same constraints on free speech as the government must.
That means providing a neutral platform. That requires congressional action. But that should happen – the people have spoken, and they want the end to government and social media censorship of speech – particularly political speech.
All this and much more in less than a week.
like bernie? march off to your gulag princip. or we will do it for you.
This is what real fascism looks like
Go on now and explain yourself.
Of course: you won’t because you loonie lefties have been taught by your mentor, Saul Alinsky, that the accusation ( even a false accusation) is enough.
However, the American people just told you (in a landslide) that you are full of cow patties.
I feel like I just witnessed a piece of history.
As I’ve made clear over and over, this and the war in the Ukraine is why I decided to support him, however this far exceeds my actual expectations, at least with regards to free speech and the Biden regimes unholy undemocratic and unAmerican censorship program.
As President Trump would say this is “huge”.
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/15G9acuNBj/
Now you understand that the Constitution provides maximal freedom to individuals, including the freedom of speech and press and the absolute right to private property, and Article 1, Section 8, restricts taxation to that required for debt, defense, and general Welfare,” or security and basic infrastructure so that ALL WELL PROCEED, and regulation to the value of money, commerce among nations, states, and Indian tribes, and land and naval Forces.
Now you understand that the people were intended to be maximally free and the government was intended to be severely limited and restricted.
The singular American failure is the judicial branch, with emphasis on the Supreme Court.
My opinion(s) & I don’t debate opinions. If you have a Liberal friend & you care enough to explain to them WHY the Democrats were stomped. Tell them that they were being Idealists while the voters were Pragmatists. The Democrat Party has become the Party of Elitists. One can’t be concerned with the top of the Pyramid until they have secured their needs at the very bottom. Maslow’s Pyramid (Hierarchy of Needs) is perfect & it will continue to be taught in Sociology & Psychology classes until our Sun becomes a Super Nova & Earth becomes a Crispy Planet.
Kamala spent $1 Billion + & has a $20 Million debt now. Who did she PAY to support her? Celebrities. Yes, she paid them. For example, Oprah received exactly $1 Million.
Who did Trump get to support him at NO COST? Everyday Americans. Some of them had been able to work their way up the Pyramid but they still sympathized with those who were struggling at the bottom level. This is an indisputable fact! If the Dems had not run Kamala, if they had run the smartest Dem in their party, as long as they stuck to the same message she had, they would have had no chance.
Money laundering. You’d could trace the money. Oprah sent it on to someone else. Maybe a taliban charity.
Nope. Harris wasn’t “stomped “. Trump and MAGA media lied to voters by telling them that if they voted for Trump their personal wealth would soar and housing costs and grocery prices would fall precipitously. They know that most people don’t understand economics, that Trump has no clue how to do this, and that the economy is more complex than just food and housing costs. In fact our economy is the envy of the world and inflation is coming down—Trump will try to take credit for that, too.
He also lied about massive numbers of migrants raping women, murdering people and overrunning towns, and played the race and misogyny cards.
Trump had massively low approval ratings, but with the help of MAGA media, Trump and Republicans managed to convince large numbers of people that the country is in dire economic straits and that the country is headed in the wrong direction—all based on lies. And, when Trump flops again, which is inevitable because he has no plan for how to do the things he lied about, he’ll try to shift blame—but not until after he takes credit for the successful economy created by Biden from the ashes of the mess he left behind. Studies show that voters prioritize their own economic interests when voting—and that explains the outcome of the election. Make no mistake—The Trump campaign was based on lies, baseless promises, racism and misogyny, not support for him.
And Trump got hundreds of millions just from Musk, not to mention Miriam Edelman who also pledged $100 million in exchange for Trump announcing that the US supports Israel taking the West Bank away from the Palestinians.
“. Trump and MAGA media lied to voters by telling them that if they voted for Trump their personal wealth would soar” _Gigi
You invent this stuff and attribute to millions upon millions, ….such hubris.
No “Gigi” that’s not why I or so many others who didn’t vote for him the first time, voted for him this time.
It was because we don’t want WAR WITH RUSSIA, and we don’t want CENSORSHIP.
These were the two main reasons that I and so many other independents and libertarians and others who did not support him first time around, did this time.
See it or don’t see it but this isn’t a debate. We supported him because we don’t want Bidens war or his Censorship regime. We want free speech and we don’t want war.
But you keep lying to yourself and telling yourself what you want to hear and we’ll see you right back here in the same place again in another 4 years.
You’ll never learn, ….and maybe that’s best.
WHAT “censorship “? You have OAN, Fox, News Nation, News Max, Breitbart, Info Wars, and endless podcasts—and don’t forget that Musk now owns X—formerly Twitter. Isn’t this enough MAGA media? Just how is the government trying to “censor “ them?
WHAT war with Russia are you talking about? Putin isn’t coming after us, and Trump’s weakness would be far more likely to embolden Putin than Harris . Do you think that Putin didn’t see Trump stumble, lie over and over and lose the debate with Harris who was far more articulate and poised than Trump? Do you think it escaped Putin’s notice that Trump was chicken to have any more debates? Do you think that Putin is unaware of Trump’s pathological need for attention and praise and that this makes him vulnerable to being manipulated? Or that he has little grasp of world affairs and that he stole classified documents, stole money from a charitable foundation, sexually assaulted a woman, and is a convicted criminal? Do you think any world leader really respects Trump? What is there to respect? Don’t you think that Putin and other world leaders are aware that Trump lied and played the race and misogyny cards to “win “?
Do you really think that most Americans want demonstrably crazy RFK to “go wild with the food and medicine”? RFK has no medical background and collects road kill to eat and his daughter reports that he cut the head off of a dead whale to conduct some half- axed autopsy. How do you think this looks to the rest of the world—- to have an anti-vaxxer conspiracy theorist who does these things in charge of the CDC, FDA, the National Institutes of Health, etc?
And what about Musk, who purchased some kind of de facto vice presidential role—he’s even involved in phone calls with world leaders—why? He has multiple government contracts and it is highly unethical for him to be directly involved in governmental affairs—a very serious conflict of interest.
The election results are best explained by the polls in which a large majority of Americans believed that the economy was bad and that the country was headed in the wrong direction—all based on MAGA media lies, coupled with baseless promises of pie in the sky personal wealth and dramatic drops in the cost of food and housing with no plan for how to deliver. Polls before the election show that the majority of Americans had an unfavorable opinion of Trump.
Gigi,
Absolutely Putin is a bad man.
A bad man with half the nukes in the world.
Further he has drawn several red lines that if crossed would result in nuclear retaliation.
And Biden has one by one crossed each of those.
The threat of global nuclear war is greater than it has been since the Cuban missile crisis.
Is Putin going to start a global nuclear war ?
Probably not.
But are you prepared to bet 3Billion lives on that ?
Trump has already talked with Both Putin ans Zelensky. the preliminaries for peace have started.
In fact foreign leaders accross the world are reacting to Trump’s victory.
Trump already talked to Sheinbaum in Mexico – Mexican troops have deployed to the US border to stop border crossers,
Mexico is turnng back people at its southern border and sending home those in Mexico.
50% of US companies with operations in China have given notice they are moving operations back to the US.
The Houthis have declared a cease fire.
Qatar is expelling Hamas leaders.
Hamas is talking more seriously about a cease fire. As is Hezbolla.
Trump has told the Ayatolah’s that he will blow them to smithereens if they do not wind down their terror operations.
Trump has EXTRA credibility there as Iran was paying people to assassinate Trump.
In many ways Trump is already the defacto president – and most of the world knows it.
With regard to RFK Jr.
So What ?
Is RFK Jr. FORCING you to eat roadkill ? Or conduct whale autopsies ?
Are you capable of making your own choices regarding food and medicine and your health ?
Gigi
The US government needs Musk – not the other way arround.
SpaceX could survive and thrive entirely on private contracts and those with foreign companies and governments.
SpaceX is responsible for 50% of all launches into space, and close to 75% by weight.
Everyone else costs far more. The US governmetn is shutting down its own launch vehicle programs – as they are 10 times as expensive as SpaceX.
Did you honestly expect that Musk was not going to have a role in a Trump admin ?
Frankly I wish he could run for president in 2028.
As to being part of calls with Ukraine – Zelensky owes his country to Musk.
Without Starlink Ukraine would have collapsed in the 1st month.
Then lets just shutdown CDC FDA, NIH
So you are going with the Voters are garbage morons explanation for the election.
Lets assume stupidly that you are correct.
Why will that change in 2026 ? 2028 ?
If Trump can convince people that life is bad when it is goof, then he can convince the same people that life is good when it is bad.
If Trump has this amazing power to mesmerize people, then it makes sense why you would try to assassinate him.
Recall that Nelson Mandela & M Ghandi were also convicted criminals. And here I thought the Dems were big on giving convicted criminals a 2nd and 3rd chance
Gig,
Exit polls say that the #1 reason for voting for Trump was “The democrats have gone too far left”
But yes, voters beleive the economy was not what it should be, and that the country is headed in the wrong direction.
The average income of american families rose by 4500/yr under Trump’s first term. That is reality – not pie in the sky.
That is what voters expect. If Trump does not deliver – they will voter republicans out of office too.
No Plan ?
Increased energy production and lower energy costs – that impacts most everything
The return of deregulation – that was worth about $1T/ year in reduced costs to consumers during Trump’s first term.
Free Markets ALWAYS drive prices down – ALWAYS. At any given time if we are NOT seeing mild deflation, that is because of Government.
Mild Deflation was the norm in the US and the world before the advent of cetral banks which DELIBERATELY induce small amounts of inflation as that is a requirement for the way they control the economy. Regardless even with central banks – deflation measured in real dollars as opposed to nominal dollars is STILL the norm – aside from those areas of the economy with the most govenrment – healthcare and education. Pick ANYTHING, what did it cost in terms of the number of hours of minimum wage labor needed to buy it when you were 18, and the same thing today ? With very few exceptions the price has gone down.
TDS is will be the death of liberals!
“Israel taking the West Bank away from the Palestinians.”
@Gigi TDS: What you call the West Bank is Judea and Samaria. Do you recognize why Judea is called Judea? No, because you can’t think critically. Do you know that Jordan illegally occupied Judea and Samaria? Of course, you don’t because you don’t know your history. Do you know that if war were not declared against Israel by the Arab states, Judea and Samaria would still be under Arab control? Instead, they are under the control of Israel, which is the legal sovereign over that territory. That sovereignty probably surprises you because you never check your facts or listen to anyone else. Do you know that Arabs being called Palestinians is a recent construct from the Soviet KGB, your friends. Your type of behavior and attitude is stupid.
Nope. Harris wasn’t “stomped “. Trump and MAGA media lied to voters by telling them that if they voted for Trump their personal wealth would soar and housing costs and grocery prices would fall precipitously. Trump had massively low approval ratings
Gigi invites schadenfreude as her response.
Trump’s approval ratings are so low that he took the majority of the vote. The Kackle Ho didn’t even come close: Trump
If he hadn’t, Gigi would be here yet again whining that Electoral College must be abolished so that the presidency goes to whoever gets the popular vote.
The cognitive dissonance and shameless transference of personal guilt by Gigi, The Democrat Fire Ho Of Lies at such levels is remarkable.
“Harris wasn’t “stomped “.”
Correct – the Democratic party as a whole was “stomped” – this was not about Trump v Harris.
It was not about personal attacks – though Democrats noses have grown so long – almost no one beleives anything the say.
This was not about policy – though americans by super majorities prefer the platofor of the republicans.
This was because the democrats party has been taken over by extremists.
Harris was not a great candidate – nor was Biden, but it is likely ANY democrat would have lost.
Democrats lost 4 senate seeats – and barely held another 3 because those incumbents started emphasizing their ties to Trump’s policies late in the campaign.
It is likely that Kari Lake will once again lose a squeeker in AZ – but she was supposed to get beat by 10pts. It is within 1pt with 14% of the vote left and a significant portion of that vote is Red.
I beleive there are 10 house seats left to call – nearly all are within 1% Republicans only need to win 2 to control the house.
They are ahead by 5pts in AK 1pt in AZ6, 1 in CA13, 2 in CA41, 2 in CA45, 1 in CO8
Again this is not about Trump v Harris – the entire Democrat Party lost. And it easily could have been much worse.
Our economy is the envy of the world – as it has been since WWI. Every president since Wilson could honestly says that.
FDR could have said that in the middle of the great depression and it would have been true.
That does not alter the fact that Democrats F#$Ked up the economy.
Though I would note exit polls list the economy is the #2 reason voters voted for Republicans.
The #1 reason was that left wing extremists had taken over the democratic party.
That is on YOU.
That has nothing to do with Trump or Republicans.
It has nothing to do with your absurd claims that voters were mesmerized by allegedly false claims about the economy.
“They know that most people don’t understand economics . . .”
Or perhaps the Left’s economic theory (a destructive mix of Keynes and Marx) is detached from the reality of kitchen table economics.
Notice again, for the nth time, the Left’s smear of the average person’s brain: You’re too stupid to understand our lofty (economic) theories. Stop worrying your pretty little head over trivialities like bread and gas. We know what’s best for you. Shut up and obey.
America rejected your totalitarian mindset. Time to “turn the page.”
“Harris wasn’t “stomped “.” (sic)
She lost *every single* swing state, the electoral college 312-226, and the popular vote by some 4-million votes. Trump massively increased his vote total in deep blue regions of NYC and NJ.
At some point, the Left has to get a grip on reality. Or don’t. I like last week’s results.
Gigi,
If democrats ever expect to win – they had better figure out why they are losing.
Republicans have been gaining approx. 1M voters nationwide per year since 2012.
Democrats are gaining about 250,000
As lots of DEMOCRATS on X are noting – those trends have been solid EXCEPT 2020.
Why did Biden get 20M more votes than any Democrat before or since ?
And in a year when Trump got record numbers of votes too.
Biden was an abysmally bad candidate and ran a horrible campaign.
Regardless, Democrats need to figure out what was magical about 2020, and then how to recover that magic
unless as seems obvious to growing numbers the actual magic was fraud.
But ignoring the digressions on Fraud.
I would strongly suggest to you this election was not nearly as bad as it could have been.
Democrats help 4 senate seats by the skin of their teeth – this easly could have been an R+8 senate.
Kari Lake was supposed to lose by nearly 10pts, She is down by 1pts with 86% of the vote counted and alot of red precincts left.
She is probably losing – but this was supposed to be a slam dunk.
Further not only did Trump win swing states – but lots of blue states are turning light blue or purple.
California and New York are not turning red for a long time.
But they ARE headed that way.
In another few cycle the swing states will no longer be swing states.
While it is likely that parts of the sun belt will go from red to purple,
The great whale for Democrats – TX – is getting redder – not turning purple.
Trump even did better than expected in New England,
and very nearly won NH.
I would strongly suggest for the benefit or your party and the country – because we actually need two robust parties,
That Democrats figure out why they lost.
Hints:
While Harris and Biden were abysmal candidates – Harris actually did run a pretty good campaign.
Nor is it because of Musk or Edelson’s money – Democrats outspent Republicans by more than 2:1
Though I would suggest that the failure to win will likely cost democrats money in 2026 and 2028.
No one spends $16B for a massive loss.
Nor it is because of racism, misogyny, homophobia – blaming voters is not going to win you elections.
Nor is it because voters are stupid or duped – blaming voters is not going to win you elections.
“Men at some time are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves”
Shakespeare Julius Ceasar.
You spend alot of time telling us how absolutely awful Trump is.
Either voters did not believe you, or they did not care because they decided democrats are worse.
Regardless EITHER reason means YOU need to change if you want to ever win again.
Wherever the vote is delayed, and the margins of victory slim, one has to think cheating may have occurred. In this time frame, it is the Democrats doing most of the cheating.
Gigi – either everything you say is true – and voters voted for Trump anyway deciding that democrats are worse.
Or voters were smart enough to determine that what you say is lies and voted against you for lying.
Studies prove that voters prioritize their vote based on their own personal financial interests. A majority of Americans believed the lie that American was in dire financial straits and that the country was headed in the wrong direction—even though all evidence proves this isn’t true. The reason they believe this is LIES by Trump and MAGA media.
“Studies prove that voters prioritize their vote based on their own personal financial interests.”
I wish that were actually the case – no democrat would ever get elected again.
The left wants the “social democrat” policies of Europe – which has a standard of living 1/3 of that of the US.
Free things from Govenrment is NOT in voters self interest.
I would note that Harris fell alll over herself promising “free things” – like 25000 downpayments on homes and student loan debt forgiveness.
As well as ripping off many of Trump’s economy policies.
If this election was about giveaways Harris would have won in a landslide.
“A majority of Americans believed the lie that American was in dire financial straits and that the country was headed in the wrong direction”
Yes, they CORRECTLY beleive that.
Inflation over the past 4yrs is more than 20%, Wages have risen about 10% – Most of the country is POORER than in 2021.
That is OBJECTIVELY true – the inflation and wage numbers are FROM THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION.
“even though all evidence proves this isn’t true.”
Nope, See above.
“The reason they believe this is LIES by Trump and MAGA media.”
Those “lies” are straight from Biden Administration data.
Keep telling yourself those fairytales if it helps you sleep at night. But the FACTS are that millions of American chose POTUS TRUMP.
He stomped the dimbocrat party both in electoral votes by more than 80 votes and the popular vote by 5 millions.
Invent all the Fractured Fairy Tales you may want but facts are stubborn things.
Trumps authoritarian?
Yet they ban opposing views and censor free speech.
How’s that work?
I think ill apply and sue if rejected just to see how it goes.
Now President Donald J. Trump MUST pull a full “Lincoln” and declare English the sole official language of the United States, suppress the communist rebellion, prosecute a war on communists without a formal declaration, impose martial law, shred the Communist Manifesto and irrevocably extirpate all principles of communism in America, implement the “manifest tenor” of the Constitution and Bill of Rights including absolute freedom, absolute free enterprise, absolute free markets, and absolute private property with a fully constitutional dearth of taxation and regulation, issue the “Deportation Proclamation” deporting all illegal aliens, past and present, including those who illegally pursued citizenship as criminal border crossers and “asylum” seekers who all made false and fraudulent claims of phantom, nonexistent persecution as foreign citizens with no U.S. rights, suspend habeas corpus, smash oppositional printing presses, networks, podcasts, social media platforms, etc., and throw anyone and everyone who opposes him in prison to Save the Union until America is placed squarely back on the Constitution.
Not that’s quite a sentence!
“All journalism is activism.” False.
Territorially-speaking, take a look at the enclosed map, showing Red and Blue counties in America. Why do dense coastal areas of population believe that they best represent America’s values/ideology?
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/map-trump-red-blue-counties-2024/
@lin
My wife showed that to me, and going by counties rather than by state – stunning. The blue elite really are a shockingly small minority in America. I think that realization actually sinking in is just too much for some.
All 85million of them from 2020
Right
Lin: What does Trump represent? Studies show that people’s first priority in voting is their personal economic interests. Trump repeatedly told supporters that if they voted for him their personal wealth would soar and grocery and home prices would fall precipitously.
Of course, he has no clue on how to accomplish either of these things and economists warn that his stupid tariffs will cause inflation to skyrocket. Add to this the fact that Trump had very low approval ratings and it’s clear that substantial numbers of people believed the lie that Trump could do these things.
Of course, Trump bears responsibility for the inflation we have been experiencing. Because he destroyed the successful economy Obama handed him, unemployment went way up, so consumer demand went way down. Schools, restaurants and businesses were closed down and COVID was spreading. This is what Trump created.
When Biden turned all of this around with his stimulus plan, consumer demand went way up but supply lagged. Trump’s stupid trade war with China resulted in shortages of computer chips that are used in so many products. High demand and low supply means higher prices. Add to that an epidemic of bird flu that resulted in millions of chickens having to be slaughtered, there were shortages of eggs and chicken products. Trump’s campaign knows that most people don’t understand these basics of economics— so they harped about high grocery and housing costs now compared to when he was in office— of course, he takes credit for the successful economy created by Obama.
Inflation is coming down consistently and our economy is solid. Trump and MAGA media lied to the American people and managed to convince substantial numbers of them that higher grocery and housing costs meant that the economy was bad. Polls showed that a majority believed that our country was headed in the wrong direction, and that Biden did a poor job of handling the economy— neither of these things was true. This is Big Lie version 2025.
Add to that the lies about migrants raping women, overrunning towns, and murdering people and the misogyny, and the basis for Trump’s “victory “ become clear-its all lies—lies about the state of our economy, lies the causes for inflation and the positive trajectory Biden has put America on, lies about Trump somehow having the power to cause personal wealth to soar and grocery and housing prices to fall precipitously, (for which he has no plan— more bluster and braggadocio, like “Mexico will pay to build the wall”)—coupled with racist and misogynistic attacks on Harris—calling her “stupid “, and Marco Rubio called her “trash”.
Americans voted for having their personal wealth to soar, for housing and grocery prices to fall precipitously and to stop nonexistent rapes, murders and mayhem by migrants— not for Trump or the Republican agenda—Trump’s low approval rating proves this.
Of course, Trump will fail spectacularly just he did the last time because there’s nothing behind him or his campaign but lies, misogyny and racism. He does not have a solid economic plan. Of course, he’ll try to blame Democrats when it all goes to hell.
Maybe the election results are necessary to teach voters that Republicans will tell any lies necessary to get power, that the economy is more complex than the temporary cost of groceries and housing and that Trump always was the power- hungry narcissistic pathological liar that those who know him best and who worked with him always said he was.
Lin— neither Trump nor Republicans represent American ideology or values. Trump and Republicans lied and played the race and misogyny cards to “win” and contrary to MAGA media, the results were far from being either historic or a”blowout “.
* They vote by morality, crime v. No crime. They’ve had it. They’re done.
What we actually experienced under Obama was eight years of stagnation and layoffs to the tune of some hundreds of thousands. The American worker/ consumer was so infuriated by his job growth claims that he actually stopped spending in protest. And obviously the Fed did not believe them either because they held the line on artificially low interest rates. Add that his response to any and all events, foreign and domestic, was so wholly at adds, completely contrary, to anything any reasonable American would do or would have done… add that divisiveness and “dirty deeds” are central to the Obama presence and somewhere in there you will find the “magic wand” that created Donald J. Trump. What was it Obama said about returning manufacturing jobs? But Trump has absolutely proven, not only that his economic approach can be successful, but also that it’s the only means by which any culture can truly flourish.
In his bid for re-election, Nixon won 49 out of 50 states–THAT was a blowout. Then, came Watergate, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Yes, Carter barely won against Ford and then the next 3 presidential elections were GOP Blowouts – with Mondale only winning Minnesota in 1984.
This is almost as big as Obama’s defeat of McCain and unlikey that does not hinge on an unanticipated recession happiening right smak in the middle of the election.
What is more important to this election is that barring democrats coming to their senses – this is the future – except worse with each cycle.
Republicans will continue to gain with minorities in each cycle until democrats get their act together.
What should also disturb democrats is that Democrats have lost enormous ground in the under 30 vote – while they still won it, they did so by a much smaller marging that normal.
Worse still – Trump ran up the popular vote in Blue states. NY, VA, CA, NM, NH, CT NJ VA IL MN are all states that are trending Red.
The swing states will mostly be Red by 2028. I do not think any of the above states will be swing states by 2028 – but 2032 ? If Democrats do not get their act together and move back to the center.
Gigi
How in the world do you expect anyone to take you seriously ?
The rate of increase in standard of living under Obama was 1.48%/yr over the full 8 years.
Further Obama took offive very nearly at the bottom of a recession – he should have seen 7-9% growth in the 1st 18months if he did absolutely nothing.
In 2016 before the eleciton the country was headed into a recession. Trump inherited a WEAK economy.
Things did not get worse under Obama. But they barely improved.
Precovid Trump averaged just under 3%/yr – that is a HUGE difference.
But even with Covid – Trump still averaged 2%/year making his economy the best of the 21st century – INCLUDING COVID.
Growth under Biden has been bouncing all over (worse than Obama), while under Trump it was slow and steady.
Further growth is usually not measured factoring out inflation. It is likely that after accounting for inflation that standard of living has DROPPED under Biden.
All of the above can be verified from govenrment sources or from private sources like Trading economics which aggregates economic data for the entire world.
Pratyush Mallick locked his X profile:
https://x.com/mallickprat
These posts are protected
How do these narrow minded, patriarchal, rigid, dogmatic young men (?) get accepted to Harvard U? It appears this is what Harvard seeks in their applicants: brain dead young individuals to mold ala Karl Marx & Frederick Engels’, 1872, Communist Manifesto. Very backward thinking, not progressive at all.
A more intelligent, mature, anaytical response was published in the WSJ written by a liberal, Democrat, Obama voter who, in her words, I don’t care for Trump, but I needed to strike back against the hectoring and fanaticism of the left
refreshing!!
Why I Voted Against the Democrats
By Ann Bauer
My people were so bathed in righteousness, they’d become a living satire.
That’s what Americans like me voted against. We didn’t vote for Mr. Trump. We voted to stop the cancerous mutation of well-intended ideas, misused by institutions, turned self-serving and dictatorial by an elite few. This is the story of so many catastrophes, from Lysenkoism and the internment of Japanese Americans to weapons of mass destruction and the Patriot Act. We’ve been watching parallel manias unfold on myriad fronts.
Loving acceptance of trans people was transformed into speech control, and a consumer pool for Big Pharma’s hormone treatments. Empowerment of educators became disregard for the well-being of kids. Opposition to racism morphed into elaborate and profitable shaming rituals. Privileged, lucky people filched the causes of the impoverished, becoming irate and striking back when the downtrodden dared speak for themselves.
Speech has been under attack, universally. Many people I know voted against Mr. Trump in part because he has threatened to shut down unfriendly media. This is a position I respect. But from my vantage point—shared by many of my fellow anti-Harris voters—it is the Democrats who have gone too far, breaching our First Amendment rights again and again, using canny convolutions like “misinformation” and “conspiracy” to justify suppressing ideas they don’t like.
We voted to check the momentum of these movements—to halt a progressive disease. We voted against the idea that going further is always better. In our hearts, many of us were striking back against the hectoring superiority, the people who told us we were too stupid to understand, or too racist, too sexist, too self-hating, too similar to Nazis. We voted to make those fiercely divisive and destructive arguments stop.
I realized my friend had a point about the drawbacks of voting for a candidate. The last time I did so was in 2012. Barack Obama was smooth and kind and wicked smart. He wept over slain children (authentically, I believe), spoke with everyman authority, and had great taste in music and books. I felt a deep emotional tie to this man who represented hope and change. How lovely, how feel-good, how vague. Yet I—along with my community—felt held and “seen” and celebrated when he prevailed.
Years later, the revelations about Mr. Obama started to emerge. Like old infidelities, each one was a slap. The razing of protected park land in Chicago so his presidential library would have a better view. Invented histories that casually elide his cronyism and transactional social climbing. His lavish, star-infested 200-guest birthday party during Covid shutdowns. More recently, his astonishing condescension stumping for Ms. Harris, when he scolded black men for their assumed sexism and told them how to vote
In a recent echo of this effect, I cringed and nearly caved in the day a comedian told an inexcusably offensive joke at Mr. Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally. But my will to vote against the Democratic regime was resurrected when President Biden sneered that more than half of the country’s citizens were “garbage” for supporting Trump.
I fear the sway of Big Pharma, the mad scientific modification of children, inflationary monetary policy and Cheneyesque forever wars. More than anything, I cherish freedom of expression and believe it is our most spiritual right.
Wall Street Journal
Excellent!
* creative writing
Why would any parent sent a kid to Harvard. Even if they are super progressive, don’t they want their child to have some diversity?
For many with great SAT scores it’s a free ride.
This is a classic example of the ill-informed, low information comment in MAGA world and on this blog in particular.
Harvard does not offer merit scholarships.
EVERY student admitted to Harvard has outstanding SAT scores, so the scores are of no value in offering scholarships.
However, only half of admitted students pay full tuition, and 24% do get a full ride.
Harvard has a needs based system for tuition.
The families of admitted students submit tax returns, and other financial information about their assets. Harvard then uses a formula to determine what the family can afford to pay and are charged accordingly. 24% of students pay nothing.
Most of the top tier universities use this system, because all the admitted students have such outstanding academic achievements that it is not possible to differentiate them for scholastic scholarships.
They don’t use SAT anymore. MCAT OR LSAT
More ill-informed made up nonsense.
Harvard College REQUIRES SAT or ACT scores for undergraduate admission.
MCAT and LSAT are required for postgraduate admission to medical school and law school respectively.
But god forbid you are asian.
Resisting the results of an election that doesn’t go your way is not democracy. Being intolerant is not Liberal. Harvard continues to demonstrate not being smart.
Yale psychiatrist says go ahead and cut off your Trump voting relatives for the holiday:
https://www.foxnews.com/media/psychiatrist-says-essential-liberals-set-boundaries-trump-voting-loved-ones-during-holidays
Is that of a piece with today’s topic? Possibly. It’s part of the hate-Trump religious cult, where all of existence is redefined around being anti-Trump as the highest and virtually the only value.
* Yes, it’s the time of the dregs. The wine bottle is empty.
False shrink.
Cults isolate their victims from loved ones…
Somewhere GEB provided a good list of things that need to be done for this country’s health. In the following Trump provides his ideas to dismantle the Deep State. Let’s hear disagreement or agreement.
———–
First, I will immediately re-issue my 2020 Executive Order restoring the President’s authority to remove rogue bureaucrats. And I will wield that power very aggressively.
Second, we will clean out all of the corrupt actors in our National Security and Intelligence apparatus, and there are plenty of them. The departments and agencies that have been weaponized will be completely overhauled so that faceless bureaucrats will never again be able to target and persecute conservatives, Christians, or the left’s political enemies, which they’re doing now at a level that nobody can believe even possible.
Third, we will totally reform FISA courts which are so corrupt that the judges seemingly do not care when they are lied to in warrant applications. So many judges have seen so many applications that they know were wrong, or at least they must have known. They do nothing about it, they’re lied to.
Fourth, to expose the hoaxes and abuses of power that have been tearing our country apart, we will establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to declassify and publish all documents on Deep State spying, censorship, and corruption, and there are plenty of them.
Fifth, we will launch a major crackdown on government leakers who collude with the fake news to deliberately weave false narratives and to subvert our government and our democracy. When possible, we will press criminal charges.
Sixth, we will make every Inspector General’s Office independent and physically separated from the departments they oversee so they do not become the protectors of the Deep State.
Seventh, I will ask Congress to establish an independent auditing system to continually monitor our intelligence agencies to ensure they are not spying on our citizens or running disinformation campaigns against the American people, or that they are not spying on someone’s campaign like they spied on my campaign.
Eighth, we will continue the effort launched by the Trump administration to move parts of the sprawling federal bureaucracy to new locations outside the Washington Swamp. Just as I moved the Bureau of Land Management to Colorado, as many as 100,000 government positions can be moved out. And I mean immediately out of Washington to places filled with patriots who love America, and they really do love America.
Ninth, I will work to ban federal bureaucrats from taking jobs at the companies they deal with and that they regulate. So they deal with these companies and they regulate these companies and then they want to take jobs from these companies. Doesn’t work that way—such a public display cannot go on and it’s taking place all the time, like with Big Pharma.
Finally, I will push a constitutional amendment to impose term limits on members of Congress.
This is how I will shatter the deep state and restore government that is controlled by the people and for the people.
https://substack.com/@randpaulreview/note/c-76114041
S Meyer-I would agree with those. There is a lot to do.
A few more:
1. Require a warrant to query US persons under 702.
2. Publish all the remaining JFK assassination files.
3. Review, and publish where possible, all DoJ and WH documents and communications relating to the federal and state criminal indictments of Trump
4. Publish all information held by the Government regarding Biden family corruption in Ukraine, China and elsewhere.
5. Publish all information held by the Government regarding the Wuhan lab leak.
6. Publish all information held by the Government regarding the development and implementation of the response to Covid.
No doubt there’s more.
Missed this one:
7. End all efforts by the Government to induce social media platforms to censor posts.
Trump’s speech concerned direct attacks on the Deep State to destroy it. I think he will be doing your suggestions as well but I didn’t get what you were saying referring to,”Rule 702. Testimony by Expert Witnesses”. Are you saying expert witnesses can be forced to testify?
No, I was referring to 702 under FISA, where Johnson cast the deciding vote against requiring a warrant. After he had committed to just such a requirement before becoming speaker.
Thanks. Though I agree with you, there are risks associated with a warrant when there are significant national security risks. Without more knowledge, I am stuck for an answer, but I would fire, remove a pension and consider criminal charges for such abuse.
The most precious commodity in the bureaucracy/corporation industrial complex is access, and the currency of choice on the corporate side is the continuing security clearance. The ability of a retired general or admiral to strut around the Pentagon or a former Assistant Secretary of some cabinet department to have unfettered access to their former colleagues’ deliberations is very highly valued by businesses trying to influence the decision making process.
One of the first things Trump should do is not automatically renew all of the security clearances of former government employees and military service personnel. Personally, I would start by revoking the clearances the 51 political hacks that signed the ‘Russian disinformation’ letter regarding the Hunter Biden laptop. Next revoke the clearances of the 7 (I think) former heads of the CIA(!) that sit on the Atlantic Council. From there every former field grade or general officer that works for any company doing business with the U.S. government should have their security clearance revoked pending independent review for necessity. In the final analysis no prior security clearances should be granted without justifiable necessity.
These actions would cutoff some of the backdoors that companies have to government bureaucrats these prior special privileges afford. It might also slowdown the speed of the revolving door that goes from government-to-corporations-to government-and back again.
Finally, Trump should not announce he is going to do this; he should keep his big mouth shut and just do it. The unearthly howling of all the mortally wounded swamp critters would be deafening, and gratifying.
Couldn’t agree more.
“Trump should not announce he is going to do this; he should keep his big mouth shut and just do it.”
I agree, but I don’t think he would announce anything of that nature unless it is combined with legislation or it is after the fact.
” Trump should not announce he is going to do this; he should keep his big mouth shut and just do it.”
I disagree, these are important announcements. Many, many people are hearing or reading this and many more will eventaully.
These deflate the iditioc Claims that Trump is an authoritarian and will lock up his political enemies.
Or that he thinks everyone that disagrees with him is an “enemy of the state”
This makes it clear Who he is going after and Why.
He is not going after people by NAME, But because of their conduct.
If you are a government employee engaged in censoring people you will be fired. If it was egregious – you may be prosecuted for violating someones civil rights under color of law.
This is the opposite of Levanti Berias show me the person and I will show you the crime.
This is look for crimes, and then go after those who committed them.
That is the rule of law.
There is going to be lots of Tyrant, Dictator, Fascist nonsense.
By going public clearly and early Trump has gotten ahead of the media and the left.
* Government money to Harvard comments blah blah. Harvard’s endowment is 50 billion and invested. FOREIGN donors middle east at a billion and now we KNOW the reason the plagiarism Claudine Gay skirted the congressional questions about antisemitism with–> it depends on the context?
No college nor university should lawfully accept donations, gifts, money of any kind from foreig
* foreign nations!
Maybe your star congress can do that. You know, bleached blond bad body butch baby gurl congress? How about the fire alarm man? How about, Somalia, I’m here to represent you. How about this is my Spartacus moment or RECLAIMING MY TIME?
There’s 27 republican governors but there’s 23 Democrat governors. The glass is half empty.
Abortion? Women will give up abortion when rapists are executed. Deal?
Good day
Yes, there’s federal and State funding for research. NIH has a piece of the pie. Someone can research it. The federal government reserves the right to call upon these research universities. Perhaps someone can or shall look at exactly what’s being funded and withdraw it.
You’ve got foreign money coming in. Stop that, too.
What must be understood is Harvard isn’t a domestic university as is thought. It’s a global university with a new global agenda. It’s basically un-American. Ez fix.
“Shut Up & [Study]!”
– Laura Ingraham
Democrats are going to have a difficult time in the future without major changes. They should see what happened and learn from it but won’t. I sincerely believe democrats would sacrifice the middle class and all they claim to hold dear to thwart Trump. It’s already started.
A year from now
What grants?
Mallick is trying to keep the whole Harvard ‘intelligencia mystique’ in the Spotlight.. but.. alas.. we believe this presentation belongs in he same ‘Box’ as Jimmy Kimmel’s crying (literally!) presentation the other night… back handed ways of trying to lay a guilt trip at the feet of We The People.. who happen to be one step ahead of all of these folks who persist in lecturing us with their toxic delusions of grandeur……….
All I can say is that I am very happy that a majority of Americans reject the nonsense spread by mass media which is seeded with journalists from the likes of Harvard, Columbia, etc., etc. The same is happening in the law schools and the medical schools.
Mallick wrote that as the Trump administration moves forward, “we must resist platforming anti-democratic voices in the guise of nonpartisanship.” Those “anti-democratic voices” are likely to be found on one end of the political spectrum.
NOTHING IS MORE DEMOCRATIC THAN BANNING OPPOSING OPINIONS- WHO ELECTED OR LISTENS TO THIS A$$HAT?