Trump Wins Georgia and North Carolina
Few occurrences in American political history have been as divisive or as significant as the power-shifting electoral contests that take place in the United States. They are always closely watched and hotly debated, and they happen to be just a couple of months away. The most recent elections of consequence have seen Donald Trump carry the states of Georgia and North Carolina. The political landscape is moving in a direction that seems ominous for Democrats and promising for Republicans — a direction that could well have serious implications for the next series of power-shifting electoral contests that take place in 2024.
In this article, I will contend that Trump’s wins in crucial states like Georgia and North Carolina aren’t just isolated incidents—they’re signs of a serious electoral shift. This electorate increasingly looks and thinks different from the way it did even a few years ago. These November wins bear the implications of this watershed moment for American democracy.
Republicans Gain Control of the Senate
Recent election results carry a weighty broader narrative about American democracy’s current condition. A fairly recent Gallup poll tells us that 77% of Americans think the country is on the wrong path. This is not just a common sentiment, but one that underscores the urgency (even near desperation) of trying to figure out what is going on with our political discontent. Dr. Lisa Johnson, who covers this sort of thing for a living, says that “Trump’s victories in swing states are emblematic of a deeper dissatisfaction with the status quo. Voters are seeking alternatives, even if those alternatives come with significant risks.”
I think this is a pretty safe and decent summary of what many analysts have said in various forms after these elections.
Trump’s Lead in Key Swing States
Georgia and North Carolina’s roles in the electoral map are undeniable. These two states have historically been battlegrounds, often swinging the nation’s balance of power in elections. They have been North and South star performers in the American Reconstruction era and in the Civil Rights Movement. They led the Republican comeback in the South in the 2000s. They went Democratic in 2008—a one-year wonder. Our (Democrats) presidential candidates are looking weak again in both states, and we lost key state assembly races in 2019. On the House side, Georgia is the only state where we lost seats in 2020 after having gained them in 2008, while we have been losing ground in the North Carolina congressional delegation as well.
Trump’s wins show a rising tide of populism. Many who vote feel cut off from authority. They have a sense that governing elites—whether they are found at the level of the state or nation—have lost touch with reality. They are willing to embrace just about any figure—especially one who has not spent his or her life in politics—as a way of asserting themselves against the nameless, faceless authority that they imagine governs them. Trump’s supporters are coming to see him as a man of the people in the same dangerous, primal way that Benito Mussolini and Rafael Trujillo were once seen by their supporters. Seeing the crudity and insensitivity of a man like Trump as part of an emerging top-of-the-dictatorship-table insult to the common man really goes against the grain for many Americans, especially those who ever-unfavorably compare authoritarianism to democracy.
Harris Campaign’s Diminishing Spirits
Critics may charge that Trump’s wins are nothing but a reflection of short-lived trends and do not indicate any enduring change in our political landscape. Nonetheless, historical patterns show that close states tend to reflect national electoral sentiment. That Trump is ahead in several of these key states—states, what’s more, that he carried in 2016—looks like a serious, substantial, hard-to-ignore kaboom for the Democrats. Even in what should have been an apparently nonpartisan ruling, the Judicial Conference of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a ruling that allows the government to require that any individual or group seeking an employment-based visa must first provide a list of all “persons, residents, and employees of the applicant,” and that the government reserves the right to use that information to enforce any immigration laws that Congress has enacted.
For most people in the United States, the results of these elections are more than just political trifles with no impact on their lives; they are serious matters with direct consequences. All the plebiscites concern the kind of legislation that can touch large segments of the population and influence all sorts of life-altering decisions, like access to healthcare. When the Council of Conservative Citizens sits in judgment on the kind of people and arguments that should be allowed to have access to public forums, it is society that is wrestling with the outcomes of the elections: the citizenry judging itself by the culmination of all these plebiscites. Being informed, and insofar as it can be managed, being engaged in a kind of meaningful discourse that brings light rather than heat, is a necessity in any functioning society.
To sum up, Donald Trump’s wins in Georgia and North Carolina are more than just electoral victories; they reflect a seismic shift in American politics. This is an all-too-apparent development in contemporary U.S. history that bears noting because the power to shape electoral outcomes ultimately rests with the citizenry. As our governance, societal harmony, and democratic vitality come under threat from Trump’s brand of politics, it is to future historians’ credit that they shine a light on the path we are presently following.
When we consider these election results, it is our duty to ask: What sort of democracy do we want to create? The answer will influence the direction our country takes, and it is a question that commands our attention, now more than ever. We can’t be complacent; we’ve got to engage, we’ve got to talk to each other, and we’ve got to remember—and in some cases rediscover—the principles that are supposed to guide our democratic society.