Politics

/

ArcaMax

Commentary: Democrats keep expecting white women to save them, and they keep getting burned

Lorraine Ali, Los Angeles Times on

Published in Op Eds

I’d like to speak to the manager.

The election did not go the way I wanted it to go. I’m angry. I demand a redo.

Except that’s already Karen’s line, and the election did go her way.

A quick refresher on Karen: The name, which became a widespread meme around 2019, has been used to describe a certain type of middle- or upper-middle-class white woman who overexerts her privilege in situations she finds to be unfair. Her angst is often aimed at service workers and people of color.

Karen’s viral acts include calling the police on a young Black girl selling water on her block, throwing her grocery basket at Trader Joe’s employees when asked to wear a mask during the pandemic and calling the police on a Black family who dared to barbecue in the park.

Karen’s latest act of aggression in service of protecting her own self-interest? Voting for Donald Trump.

National exit polls show that 53% of white women voted for an adjudicated rapist whose previous actions in office laid waste to Roe vs. Wade. So much for Democrats tapping into the hidden power of a “silent majority” of women who were thought to be hiding their political views from their husbands. They were in step with white men, 59% of whom voted for the former president.

Remember way back to, say, three weeks ago, when the media and pollsters were prognosticating that Black men were leaving Harris for the other side? They were going to throw the election to the Republicans, many worried. But the very same exit polls show that just 20% of those men voted for Trump, and Black women’s support for him was barely at 7%. Both were nearly identical to 2020 levels, according to exit polls.

As disappointed Harris supporters perform a post-mortem on the vice president’s candidacy in an effort to root out America’s entrenched misogyny, they need to look in an entirely different direction — toward (white) women themselves.

More than 150 years after Susan B. Anthony was arrested for the crime of voting while female, we’ve still had just two female contenders who’ve made it to the top of the presidential ticket. Both lost to the same candidate, a man with less experience in lawmaking and public service but more disdain for women and their rights than any nominee in modern memory.

 

For many, it’s hard to imagine a mother or auntie who thinks it preferable to vote for a man who paid hush money to a porn star and bragged about groping women than for a scandal-free female candidate with more experience in politics. Or that such a large swath of women were unmoved to change their vote despite rape victims forced to give birth to their attacker’s child for lack of abortion access, or by deaths due to pregnancy complications in states where the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision has led to restrictions on doctors.

But these weak sisters exist — and persist. The same share of white women that voted for Trump over Harris, based on exit polls, supported Trump over Biden in 2020, which followed the plurality of white women who supported Trump over Clinton in 2016.

The question is, why does this keeps happening? And is there’s any hope of the left changing the grim pattern? Democratic “campaign experts” apparently think so. They keep giving Karen four more years to see the light. By gum, the old girl will get it soon!

I don’t buy the argument that Clinton and Harris weren’t strong candidates, especially considering who they were up against. Trump had no experience in governance going into the 2016 election, and 34 felony convictions headed into 2024, with a questionable track record on everything from pandemic deaths to the economy.

Yes, that’s right, the economy, which the media now point to en masse as a driving factor in Trump’s victory. Let’s get real. Trump was the first president since Herbert Hoover to depart office with fewer jobs in the country than when he entered. To paraphrase Democratic operative James Carville, it’s about identity, stupid. In our uniquely fractured times, Trump and his allies like Joe Rogan and Elon Musk have weaponized racism and misogyny, including of the self-inflicted variety, to create their winning coalition.

They are building on a long tradition, of course. For a country that loves to shout “We’re No. 1,” we’re woefully behind the rest of the world when it comes to electing female leaders.

Mexico elected a female president. Pakistan chose a female prime minister — in 1988. There are, or have been, women elected as heads of state and government in Honduras, Turkey, India, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Guyana, Ireland, Britain, Israel and Germany. Throw a dart anywhere on a world map and she’s there, or has been there, leading nations and governments that Americans often label as inferior or intolerant.

From the perspective of those who see Trump as a danger to democracy, this election marks an incredibly dark turn for our nation. I won’t cry “fraud” or “vote-rigging” — that’s a MAGA thing. But I will blame some of my sorrow over the outcome of this election on Karens. These women weren’t secretly hiding their vote for Harris from their Trump-loving husbands. They were hiring a supervisor who understands entitlement.

Now we’ll see how quickly he responds when they demand to speak to the manager.


©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

Comments

blog comments powered by Disqus

 

Related Channels

ACLU

ACLU

By The ACLU
Amy Goodman

Amy Goodman

By Amy Goodman
Armstrong Williams

Armstrong Williams

By Armstrong Williams
Austin Bay

Austin Bay

By Austin Bay
Ben Shapiro

Ben Shapiro

By Ben Shapiro
Betsy McCaughey

Betsy McCaughey

By Betsy McCaughey
Bill Press

Bill Press

By Bill Press
Bonnie Jean Feldkamp

Bonnie Jean Feldkamp

By Bonnie Jean Feldkamp
Cal Thomas

Cal Thomas

By Cal Thomas
Christine Flowers

Christine Flowers

By Christine Flowers
Clarence Page

Clarence Page

By Clarence Page
Danny Tyree

Danny Tyree

By Danny Tyree
David Harsanyi

David Harsanyi

By David Harsanyi
Debra Saunders

Debra Saunders

By Debra Saunders
Dennis Prager

Dennis Prager

By Dennis Prager
Dick Polman

Dick Polman

By Dick Polman
Erick Erickson

Erick Erickson

By Erick Erickson
Froma Harrop

Froma Harrop

By Froma Harrop
Jacob Sullum

Jacob Sullum

By Jacob Sullum
Jamie Stiehm

Jamie Stiehm

By Jamie Stiehm
Jeff Robbins

Jeff Robbins

By Jeff Robbins
Jessica Johnson

Jessica Johnson

By Jessica Johnson
Jim Hightower

Jim Hightower

By Jim Hightower
Joe Conason

Joe Conason

By Joe Conason
Joe Guzzardi

Joe Guzzardi

By Joe Guzzardi
John Micek

John Micek

By John Micek
John Stossel

John Stossel

By John Stossel
Josh Hammer

Josh Hammer

By Josh Hammer
Judge Andrew Napolitano

Judge Andrew Napolitano

By Judge Andrew P. Napolitano
Laura Hollis

Laura Hollis

By Laura Hollis
Marc Munroe Dion

Marc Munroe Dion

By Marc Munroe Dion
Michael Barone

Michael Barone

By Michael Barone
Michael Reagan

Michael Reagan

By Michael Reagan
Mona Charen

Mona Charen

By Mona Charen
Oliver North and David L. Goetsch

Oliver North and David L. Goetsch

By Oliver North and David L. Goetsch
R. Emmett Tyrrell

R. Emmett Tyrrell

By R. Emmett Tyrrell
Rachel Marsden

Rachel Marsden

By Rachel Marsden
Rich Lowry

Rich Lowry

By Rich Lowry
Robert B. Reich

Robert B. Reich

By Robert B. Reich
Ruben Navarrett Jr

Ruben Navarrett Jr

By Ruben Navarrett Jr.
Ruth Marcus

Ruth Marcus

By Ruth Marcus
S.E. Cupp

S.E. Cupp

By S.E. Cupp
Salena Zito

Salena Zito

By Salena Zito
Star Parker

Star Parker

By Star Parker
Stephen Moore

Stephen Moore

By Stephen Moore
Susan Estrich

Susan Estrich

By Susan Estrich
Ted Rall

Ted Rall

By Ted Rall
Terence P. Jeffrey

Terence P. Jeffrey

By Terence P. Jeffrey
Tim Graham

Tim Graham

By Tim Graham
Tom Purcell

Tom Purcell

By Tom Purcell
Veronique de Rugy

Veronique de Rugy

By Veronique de Rugy
Victor Joecks

Victor Joecks

By Victor Joecks
Wayne Allyn Root

Wayne Allyn Root

By Wayne Allyn Root

Comics

Gary Markstein Tom Stiglich Kevin Siers Michael Ramirez Rick McKee Bill Bramhall