America is heading into uncharted territory

For some people, November 5, 2024, was one of the greatest days in American history. Others may well remember it as a day that will live in political infamy.

Regardless, the 2024 presidential election is over, and Donald Trump has been reelected as the 47th president of the United States. And if people are honest with themselves, they would probably admit that Tuesday’s results shocked but did not totally surprise them.

Throughout various periods in our nation’s history, charismatic politicians espousing a populist message have sporadically emerged onto the political scene, garnering the support of those citizens who felt disenfranchised or ignored. Both Trump (and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in 2016) successfully tapped into the intense populist tsunamis that were raging throughout the nation. Both men fervently discussed economic marginalization, outsourcing of jobs, Wall Street (Trump has made a U-turn on this issue), unchecked globalization, neoliberalism, and other factors they saw as contributors to many working-class people’s demise.

The major difference is Trump has brazenly tinged his message with a blatant and dangerously high level of jingoism and nationalism.

Another undeniable factor was the double standards that segments of the media applied to both campaigns. The passive-aggressive approach to which Harris was subjected to was disingenuous and annoying. While Trump routinely went off the rails and little if anything was said, every comment made by Harris was meticulously critiqued and dissected.

CNN commentator Van Jones stated it most accurately when he declared while Trump “is allowed to be lawless, she has to be flawless.”

W.E.B. Du Bois accurately stated in his classic book “The Souls of Black Folk” that race would be the definitive issue of the twentieth century. His prophetic message still rings true today.

To be blunt, the Trump campaign once again engaged in a blatantly racist, sexist, divisive campaign. Remember the October 27 Madison Square Garden carnival? His advisors and surrogates employed the same nativistic playbook that has preyed upon and exploited fearful whites’ resentment toward immigration, DEI and affirmative action (despite the fact that white people, especially white women, are the biggest beneficiaries of the policy).

Then there were the double standards. Throughout the campaign for president, some voters insisted they just did not know enough about Harris. Several political pundits argued she was light on specifics, while journalists bemoaned she did not engage in long interviews and avoided answering tough questions. Her opponents cast her as an “empty suit,” a lightweight with dangerous ideas.

In contrast, they gave Trump leeway to espouse all sorts of crude, incoherent rhetoric, which much of the mainstream media largely dismissed and ignored. They would often let him go off on tangents about various topics without challenging him to verify his statements, as they required of other candidates. It is also probably safe to say the press was largely unprepared to cover a presidential candidate who was already a professional media celebrity. He was able to manipulate much of the press core successfully. There are others. This fact itself was disturbing.

Differences and double standards aside, many American people returned this morally deficient man to power, despite behavior in the past that includes chronic sexual abuse, rampant fraud, abundant lies, multiple felonies, racism of his campaign, insults, and threats. His previously loyal vice president declined to endorse him, his top generals referred to him as a “total fascist,” and some of his closest aides and Cabinet members described in detail his unhinged character and callous indifference to the Constitution.

The nation awakened to a president-elect who ran an overtly sexist and racist campaign, who threatened to weaponize the armed forces against his political enemies, and who terrorized transgender and immigrant communities — because the American people granted him permission to do so. It is a disturbing reflection of who we are.

Race aside, we cannot totally dismiss the reality that Trump’s political coalition was totally devoid of people of color. In fact, he achieved a surprising upset victory in a heavily Black county in North Carolina and won Dearborn, Michigan’s largest Arab-majority city. He doubled his Black support in Wisconsin and won Hispanic men by ten points.

On the contrary, Harris’s efforts to bolster her appeal in the suburbs failed to materialize. She performed worse than Biden did in 2020.

As is the case with race, America is a nation with sexism deeply etched into its social fabric. Hillary Clinton was unsuccessful in her bid to become the nation’s first female president, and Harris fell far short in achieving this goal. If we are honest, more than a few women refused to cast a ballot for another woman. They can be conditioned to be misogynistic, whether conscious or otherwise. In Harris’s case, being Black and Asian were additional impediments against her. The intersection of race and gender worked against her.

The nation is entering uncharted territory. Those of us who are committed to liberation and equality for all citizens regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion must remain unrelentingly committed to fighting for what we know is right.

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Elwood Watson is a professor of history, Black studies, and gender and sexuality studies at East Tennessee State University. He is also an author and public speaker.