The new American Values
Out: honesty, civility and banal niceties. In: disruption, provocation and moral failings.
Honest. Caring. Even-tempered. Mentally sharp.
These are all traits the average human looks for in a mate, cherishes in a friend and admires in a co-worker, but we now know they are no longer features we prioritize when selecting a president.
Earlier this fall when the Pew Research Center asked Americans to choose between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris on a battery of nine personal attributes, they picked the vice president in eight. By a 7-point margin, Harris was perceived as more caring about ordinary people. On honesty, she was the victor by eight. A good role model? A wipe-out. Those polled selected Harris by 19 points.
The only advantage held by Trump somehow looks both unsurprising and at the same time revelatory. He stood by his core convictions, however risky and maligned. In fact, when narrowed to the cohort who thought their candidate upheld their beliefs “very well,” Trump’s chief asset mushroomed to a 16 point reward.
In the aftermath of the 2004 re-election, one voter at the time explained the result this way: “People say George Bush is a cowboy … People say he shoots quick … sometimes you have to do that, you have to be decisive. [John] Kerry never projected that.”
Strong and wrong over weak and right isn’t a new political phenomenon but listening to the explanations of reluctant-to-hardly-enthusiastic Trump voters this time around and a cowboy looks like a meek beta boy in comparison to what voters in 2024 were willing to accept. “People say he’s a dictator. I believe that. I consider him like Hitler. But I voted for the man.” “I could make a compelling case that Trump is unfit for the presidency … However, I will vote for Trump.“ “While Trump is deranged, he represented normalcy somehow to me.” Each are direct quotes.
An unfit, deranged dictator? U-S-A, U-S- …
As Democrats take the coming months to unearth the lessons of perhaps their most consequential political defeat of the 21st century, they should first take heed that the values once assumed to be indispensable and fundamental have been sidelined and subverted for whatever requires prosperity, even if that means accepting deception, indecency, unpredictability and some level of chaos.
“People want better lives, not moral dichotomies,” wrote Bradley Tusk, the Democratic operative who ran Michael Bloomberg’s re-election campaign for mayor.
And they’re willing to reward unfettered and even unpopular opinions if they’re delivered with resolve and conviction. Another Democrat who seems to get this is
