5 Reasons Why the 2024 Election Will Not Be a Repeat of 2016

Kamala is going to win big, it's the end of MAGA and the beginning of a transformative era

Hello Friends,

Little by little, the days are slipping away and we're inching closer to either fulfilling our dreams or descending into nightmare. I realize that there's still a lot to do and we have to maintain focus, but it's equally important to keep our spirits high and recognize the positives.

For one thing, we have a truly great candidate running for president in Kamala Harris. She's smart, she's compassionate, she's capable and she's tough. There have been few moments in my life that I can remember having somebody as accomplished on the ballot. She's going to make a wonderful president and it's about damn time.

One of the nefarious tactics of Trump supporters is to try to draw you into their worldview by saying, “Well, both candidates are bad.” They try to give the appearance of making a concession, but really they're trying to trick you into smearing Kamala. It's a false gesture, don't fall for it. The problem with Trump supporters is that they don't care that Trump is bad, so lumping him into that false equivalency doesn't hurt them.

They know that if they can get you to agree to something that you know in your heart not to be true, they're halfway towards normalizing their position.

Instead, say this, “He's an awful candidate, she's a great one, they couldn't be any more different.”

In saying that, some people will criticize you for being overly confident. You’ll hear, “I remember what happened in 2016. All the polls said that Hillary was going to win. But look at what happened.”

Yes. Let's look.

To be clear, considering what's at stake, it's completely reasonable to invoke the specter of 2016. But in doing so, we should also remember that there's no reason to expect history to repeat itself. There are many reasons why 2024 is not 2016. Here are 5 for you to consider:

1. In 2016, the public had not seen a trump presidency

The United States of America has always maintained an unearned reverence for individuals who are offensively wealthy. It doesn't matter if those people got rich by murder, child sex trafficking, drugs, fraud, or any other of the limitless means of acquiring wealth.

If a man is rich, America loves him. That's all there is to it.

Even in 2016, I tried to tell people that we should consider rich people to be the enemy. They want only to exploit and marginalize poor people and the working class. Their wealth is most often the product of stolen labor and stolen property.

But, in 2016, I knew I was fighting an uphill battle. Every time I said, “The purpose of the government is to PROTECT us from the rich. We can't entrust a rich person with that office,” I got snorted at. That was 2016. In 2024, even the people who still disagree with me no longer snort.

The reason is that now we've seen a trump presidency. We saw how the only thing he did was give a tax cut to the wealthy. That's not going to convince everyone that he's a bad choice, but it will erode away the vote of those that believed the absurd propaganda about billionaires, and assumed he'd do for the country what he did for himself.

He didn't.

We've seen it. It's why he was defeated in 2020, and it's why he'll be defeated in 2024.

2. The cheaters have lost the element of surprise

Back in 2016, the American public didn't believe that a presidential candidate would collude with foreign powers, or attempt to overthrow the government. Basically, for the last 10 years, trump has tried a bunch of stuff that nobody's seen in modern times.

I'm not saying he's trying anything new. All you have to do is flip through the pages of history and you'll see trump's playbook. But until 2016, we didn't think it could happen here.

To put it simply, he took us by surprise. Every time we thought he had descended as low as he would go, he showed us another level. Then he went even lower, and lower still. I think we've learned to put aside the false belief that he “can't” go any lower. Now we're just resolved to anticipate the worst.

That's a good place to be.

We know that just like in 2016 and 2020, the trump team is going to rely on truly underhanded tactics. After so many election cycles that feature this kind of behavior, our 2024 team is ready for them.

3. Kamala is more likable than Hillary

I proudly voted for Hillary in 2016. I think she would have made a great president. She certainly would have been worlds better than what we got in trump. However, I'm also frustrated that she allowed the trump victory to happen.

Hillary is capable and intelligent, but she has a bad habit of saying things like “Get over yourself.” I realize it's completely unfair to hold that against her based on the odious and awful things that trump says, but getting a woman in the White House will be a great way to help erase that double standard.

Kamala's been very smart to embrace joy and respectfulness in her campaign. Candidates that embrace progressive policies always do better. From this vantage point, 2024 looks nothing like 2016.

4. There won't be a concession without a fight

Frankly, I feel that trump stole the 2016 election. In the interest of common decency, Hillary did the honorable thing and offered her respectful concession. That would have been fine had she been running against a decent human being, but based on what trump has inflicted upon us, I wish she would have explored a few more legal challenges.

In 2000, the Supreme Court awarded the presidency to the Republican candidate. In 2016, Trump again got a Republican win without earning the majority of the vote. That's twice in my lifetime that the American people were stuck with a president the majority voted against. It's time for the Democrats to both earn and defend the vote.

Kamala was a prosecutor before she became a politician. She's dealt with criminals all her life. She's the perfect person for this moment. I don't expect her to roll over and give the win to trump. I don't believe he's going to win more votes than she is. I don't believe in the red illusion. I don't believe Kamala will allow faithless electors to try and steal the win.

Kamala holds the gavel. She's not going to certify a rigged election that shows a false trump victory. No way.

5. Republican defections

Every day, it seems like a few more members of the Republican party have spoken up about how trump cannot be trusted with power ever again. How many defections can trump afford at this point? He tries to shrug it off, but it has to hurt him that so many of the people who were closest to him are vocal about the fact that he's incompetent and dangerous.

This is relatively unprecedented. I'm 50 years old, and I've never seen anything like this. Politicians of the same party don't come out and say, “Don't vote for the candidate my party nominated, he's a crook.”

But they're saying it now. To be fair, there were a few Republicans who said such things back in 2016, but that was mainly during the primaries. They came together to support their guy in the presidential campaign.

Not this year.

Kamala is going to win

Everybody's been working really hard. I get dozens of calls and text messages every day. Kamala's ground game is strong, and trump is asleep at the wheel.

At the end of the day, I feel a majority of the American people will choose democracy over tyranny. They'll choose joy over hatred. They'll choose the truth over lies. They'll choose kindness over cruelty.

All of that is represented by casting a vote in favor of Kamala Harris and to defeat Donald Trump. The billionaire doesn't get what he wants. How often in American history have poor and working class people been given the chance to oppose a billionaire from getting what he wants?

Voting for Kamala is like pushing back for every time you haven't gotten a raise, or every time your boss has taken credit for your innovation, or every time you couldn't get a day off to take care of a sick child... the list goes on and on.

November 5^th will be our moment of glorious retribution. But don't wait until then. In my state, early voting starts on October 22^nd. Make sure you're registered. Make sure your friends are registered. Tell everyone in your family that if they vote for trump, they are out of your life. You do not need that kind of toxicity.

Tell your dad you'll never talk to him again if he votes for trump. Daughters have more power to sway the opinion of their steadfast, conservative fathers than they know. “I swear to you that if you vote for trump, I'll never talk to you again, I'll never visit you, you'll never see your grandchildren, you will be out of my life. I will not have anyone in my presence who supports a candidate who will cause me harm.”

Say it. It's liberating. You're better off without those jerks.

If they say, “Don't let politics come in the way of a relationship.”

Respond, “I'm not ending the relationship, you are by supporting and voting for a hateful and immoral individual.”

The 2024 election is your chance to prove your quality. It's not 2016 any longer. We lost our innocence back then. We're not getting it back. But we've learned a few things, and we'll be putting those lessons to good use on November 5th.

Kamala's going to win. Keep your chin up. Keep working!

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Thanks for reading everyone! As always, leave your questions or comments below!

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