MM#366--Election 2024 - America's Bender is Over & a New GOP has Emerged...so Let's Roll

0:07 Welcome to the Theory to Action podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time, to help you take action immediately and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life. Now here's your host, david Kaiser. Hello, I am David and welcome back to another Mojo Minute. One week ago, the second most pivotal election in my lifetime took place, 1980 being the first pivotal election in my lifetime, and just last Tuesday was the second most pivotal election because, just like in 1980, the country had been through a decade or so of what most college kids call a bender.

1:01 And for the sake of argument, let's define what a bender is, for our sake. It's a drunken barrage void of any rational thought and of which the rest of the outside world looks upon the person on the bender and says boy, that does not look good. Oftentimes outside interventions during the bender don't work by friends and family and in the end the person on the bender has to sober up, has to come back to reality and face it and, most importantly, suffer the consequences of the neglected time and responsibilities and finances spent on the bender itself.

1:53 For most Americans, most American citizens, that is, the last 18 years from 2006 to 2024 was seen as America went on a drunken bender. Nothing made sense Men playing in women's sports, despite a Democratic Party led by a liberal line of the Senate, ted Kennedy of all people writing the Title IX bill and becoming its overall champion of all people, writing the Title IX bill and becoming its overall champion. Yet the party is saying they approve men playing in women's sports.

2:33 Legacy media repeatedly telling the average American that men can indeed have children. What? And there's more than two sexes? Huh, a complete abdication of the rule of law from the summer of 2020 onward in blue states and blue cities, to the extreme absurdity that if you shoplifted any merchandise in the state of California under the value of $950, you weren't charged or even pursued by the law. What In the foreign policy realm? Americans watched for one whole week, bizarrely, while a Chinese spy balloon drifted across the whole country, from Alaska to the coast of South Carolina before being shot down.

3:21 And the most damaging and corrupt example of the legacy liberal and mainstream media was trying to convince the American people that the President of the United States was a compos mentis, meaning he was of his right mind, for the last four years. Likely, we have been without a fully functioning president of the United States for the better part of at least let's be gracious at least two or three years. We'll see if any journalist of the aforementioned legacy media will do any actual reporting on these last two or three tragic years of the Biden presidency, but in the words of the defeated Democratic nominee.

4:12 Let's be clear we won't be holding our breath and indeed Americans have to coin her phrase have indeed turned the page. They've just turned the page on the woke liberal, radical revolution that we have been living through for the last 18 years. The first GOP president to win the popular vote since 2004, donald Trump has the opportunity and we underline that, we highlight that the opportunity to set the American ship of state towards much better waters. His economic plan, if re-executed from 2017 during his first term, will be a much-needed kickstart, and Elon Musk dismantling the regulatory state will finally be the one-two punch, starting with Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, that the country has longed for since then.

5:08 The 2024 presidential election may indeed represent a significant political realignment, though it's too early to tell. We understand that To classify it as a major realignment on par with, say, 1932, we'll know for sure if that major realignment does indeed take place after the elections of 2028. The same measure was used in 1932 for FDR and the 1936 election solidified the direction of the country. But here are the key points about that potential realignment in 2024. We saw dramatic shifts in traditional voting blocks.

5:52 Donald Trump made significant gains among working class voters, including Latino men and other minority groups that have historically leaned heavily heavily Democratic. Trump improved his performance across nearly all demographic groups compared to 2020 and 2016. Democrats saw a great erosion of support among minority voters and labor unions. The gender gap was particularly pronounced, with a 16-point deficit between Latino men and women's support for Trump. Now the electoral map shifted in notable ways. Trump won back the key battleground states and Rust Belt swing states of Pennsylvania, wisconsin, michigan.

6:38 He recaptured Georgia from his 2016 win and he held North Carolina. Georgia from his 2016 win and he held North Carolina after that horrific devastation occurred just one month before in that state, in the western part of that state, from Hurricane Helene. Florida and Ohio that were once swing states some two decades ago became even redder Republican. Now. Trump made unexpected inroads in traditionally Democratic urban areas like the Bronx and the Obama prediction of major demographic change with Latinos and taking the state of Texas away from the GOP. His 2008 prediction just did not pan out.

7:23 In fact, texas went even more and deeper red. In fact. Here's some more details, as Josh Hammer points out in this piece. The Obama era ends and the MAGA opportunity begins. Trump made historic inroads with Hispanic voters, black voters and young voters and other demographic subgroups that have been vital to the Democrats since 2008. Again, we note that 2006-2008 timeframe, trump won the single most Hispanic county in the country Starr County, texas.

8:04 He won it. It's 97% Hispanic. He won it by 16%. He lost it in 2020 and 2016. Queens County, new York, famously one of the most ethnically and racially diverse counties in the country, moved some 20 points toward Trump from his 2020 performance. Overall, trump won just under half of the national Hispanic vote and made historic inroads with black men. Voters under the age of 35, such a core Democratic constituency in the not so distant past, frankly, are now a swing voting bloc.

8:45 As Hammer concludes in his piece, it's evident that the 2008 Barack Obama Democratic Party, its intersectional coalition, has died. It is not the coalition is wounded or endangered. It is that it is dead. Obamaism is dead, dead as a doornail, that cultural revolution, as we have said so many times over the last week from this mic that started in 2006 in the midterms, with Nancy Pelosi getting elected Speaker of the House and ushering in radical, radical policies, and then continuing with the presidency of Barack Obama from 2008 to 2016, with a little bump on, with Trump wrestling away from him, from Barack and his minions.

9:33 And then Joe Biden was the last gasp of progressivism, and that only happened because it was the electoral shenanigans of 2020. And Biden was a mere puppet for the last four years, but that, thankfully, that radical revolution is over, dead and gone. The American people spoke overwhelmingly. The American people spoke overwhelmingly. The 1932 election that ushered in the New Deal coalition, and many believe that 1968 election marked the end of that coalition, the rise of the Republican Southern strategy.

10:16 Then, in 1980, the Reagan election with the conservative was the conservative counter-revolution to the 1932 election. Reagan had complete sweeps across all the country, and then many believed in 2008, Obama sweep in, the new, largest sweep of the United States electorate. You can get in the modern era. No longer was there going to be 40 and 45 and 49 state sweeps like Reagan had. Frankly, most new political scientists said there was just too much polarization, too much fragmenting of the news and the opinions.

11:00 It's interesting to note, though, that the blue wall of Rust Belt states that Bill Clinton won and started for the Democratic Party in 1992, pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin remained that way until Trump came along in 2016 and broke it all up. The COVID 2020 election seems to be an aberration now, with Trump taking all three of those states again, just like in 2016. While the 2024 election appears to have significantly reshuffled voter coalitions in the electoral map and again it remains to be seen if these changes will persist in future elections to qualify as a major realignment on the scale of 1932.

12:03 But the dramatic shifts we observed one week ago suggest that it's far greater than FDR in 1932 in a shorter, two to four year period. Because, if so, if Trump completes in two years in economic success and restarts this economy, the major party realignment will be complete and, as Trump has said and has called for, it will be a golden age of American prosperity. Now, keep in mind FDR had that coalition and it stayed intact from 1932 all the way to 1968, over some 30 years.

12:44 1932, all the way to 1968, over some 30 years. If the new GOP, starting under Trump and continuing under the leadership of, say, jd Vance or Ron DeSantis or Kim Reynolds, they could have a run of 30 years themselves. We could reduce and completely eradicate a $35 trillion debt. We could grow the economy with such great gusto that 4% GDP growth would be the norm again for the United States, like our post-World War II economic era was. We could become the leader again, if not the sole superpower in the world who is energy independent, with a manufacturing base getting back on short.

13:30 Our closest competitor, china, who is facing some serious headwinds, finally will be left in the dust as America just keeps growing and growing. They can't. And of all American citizens who experienced the American dream, most especially Hispanic Americans and African Americans and non-college educated whites, who were the forgotten men all the way back in 1932. And even now that could be a dramatic, a dramatic change for the future of our country. So the future is bright. We are hopeful.

14:12 Another death we have to celebrate in addition to Obama-ism is dead. That progressive wing of the Democratic Party is dead. It's boy. We got to celebrate with extreme gusto. The death now of major legacy media. Yes, indeed, yes indeed. 2024 US presidential election highlighted significant shifts in the media landscape and its influence on politics. Can we just say there was a complete, devastating loss of major media and legacy media relevance and, frankly, any notion of them seeking the truth.

15:03 The days of Walter Cronkite telling the American people what to think and how to think is dead and gone. It's buried. Tv viewership for election night coverage dropped some 25% compared to previous elections. Trust in major media institutions is at record low, according to Gallup polling. Many voters, especially young ones, are turning to alternative sources like TikTok, youtube and our great podcast for all their political information. Candidates made strategic use of podcasts and social media to reach voters directly. Social media to reach voters directly.

15:46 Donald Trump appeared on the Joe Rogan podcast, which received nearly 50 million views in its first three days on YouTube. That's like three times the amount of viewership of all three networks traditional networks ABC, cbs, nbc networks, abc, cbs, nbc. Now Harris, of all things, participated in a podcast called literally the name of. It was Call Her Daddy, who advises these presidential candidates. 14% of US adults regularly get news from TikTok. That's up from 3% in 2020. Not sure if that's the best medium, but we're pointing it out because it's a significant shift.

16:28 59% of Americans age 12 to 34 listen to podcasts in January 2024. So candidates bypassed traditional media outlets. They control their own messaging through social media and alternative platforms. And the funny thing is the old GOP establishment. Can we just talk about the death of the old GOP establishment? There was a significant number of Republican establishment figures. This time there was a significant number of Republican establishment figures, this time in 2024, former officials that have endorsed or did endorse Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.

17:13 Let's just rattle through some details of these jokers Over 100 former GOP officials, more than 100 ex-Republican members of Congress and national security officials from Reagan to Bush 41, bush 43, and even some Trump administration signed an open letter endorsing Harris. 111 signatories released by the group called Reagan-Bush-McCain-Romney Alumni for Harris was signed by these 111 former officials.

17:54 Notable endorsements of the letter Former Vice President Dick Cheney. Loser. Former Representative Liz Cheney. Loser. Former Arizona Senator Jeff Flake. Loser. Former Kansas Senator Nancy Kassenbaum. Loser Former Illinois Representative Adam Kingsinger really big loser. Former CIA Director and FBI Director, william Webster. Former Defense Secretaries Chuck Hagel and William Cohen. Former World Bank President Robert Zolik. Former Massachusetts Governor William Weld and former National Intelligence Director John Negroponte Now Trump administration officials also endorsed.

18:44 They were Miles Taylor Don't know them. Him, her, whoever Olivia Troia and Stephanie Gresham she was the former White House press secretary. All of those are losers. Republicans for Harris Coalition had formed to support Harris' campaign, including former Republican officials and leaders, and there was an over 200 more Republicans that signed another letter opposing Trump. How disgusting. 2024 election marked a significant transformation of the Republican Party, the old GOP with its Bushism and Bushites, and now the new GOP, which has begun with Donald Trump's rise to power in 2015, and he has completely taken over the whole party, solidifying the shift in 2024.

19:53 Now this election cycle saw the emergence of a new GOP that differs markedly from its old GOP style and, frankly, the old GOP style in modern America since 1980, frankly, you have to go 80-84, gop is magnificent. Under Reagan, 1992, we have Bush 41 with a 91% approval rating some 18 months before the election and he loses. Yeah, bush, here it is, just threw a note down on a note card here.

20:33 Bush 41 in March of 1991 had 88% approval rating. By July of 1992, he was down to 31% approval rating. And it was the economy. Bush 41 wasn't a really big believer in supply-side economics, even though he was Reagan's vice president. When he ran against him in 80 for the presidential or the GOP nomination, he called it voodoo economics. So he never understood it. He never understood it, he never embraced it, and rightly so. That's the reason he lost. If he would have had supply-side economics, the economic downturn would have been negligible, he would have been able to write it out with no problem.

21:23 Dissecting the 1992 election still boggles the political science mind of many. Yes, it was the economy, stupid. And yes, bush said read my lips, no new taxes. And then did lie about it, which he didn't need to do. But he followed the old gop. Just be Democrat, light and paint and pale pastels, and not in bold colors as his former boss, ronald Reagan, who did paint in bold colors. He won big. Now Ross Perot certainly had something to say about that that he didn't help at all. So I should mention that.

22:04 But let's face it, the old GOP, starting with Bush 41, even the Republican revolution of 94 was much more conservative than the Bush folks, and we saw that with Bush 43. He barely wins in 2000. He wins in 2004 just because the Iraq war kicks off in 2003. So it was a rally around the flag moment. So where do the radical Democrats of 2006 and Obama's era go?

22:47 Where do those radical Democrats go? Well, who knows? But it doesn't look good. The 2006 election represented the seeds of the cultural revolution that was ended last week. It was a decisive rejection of Republican leadership by voters and ushered in a new era of divided government in Washington. It set the stage for further Democratic gains in 2008 and Barack Obama, bringing in radicalism into the mainstream. What the radicals tried to achieve in 1972 during their first attempt, was rebuffed by Nixon and he won a major landslide.

23:36 But in 2008, they succeeded and they did so on the coattails of Obama. If you want to look at another data point to see this whole evolution, here's an area and a place to deeper dive to really get a sense of how bad it was. It's never been talked about in books, at least I haven't found it. I've been searching for it. But here's a good barometer. The Congressional Progressive Caucus, the CPC, was founded in July 26, 1991. It was co-founded by several members of Congress Bernie Sanders, ron Dellums, lane Evans, thomas Andrews, peter DeFazio and Maxine Waters waters.

24:27 Now, the founders were concerned about growing voter alienation and the perception that the Congress was not repeat, not radical enough After all in 1991, they have no real leader. It's not until the middle of 1992 that Bill Clinton is running for the presidency and is making head roads, but after all he's just a minor back state or backwoods state governor from Arkansas. And then, let's face it, you know, and by 1991, all these blue state constituents. They had been reading Howard Zinn for some 10 to 12 years by now.

25:11 So all the young people are fired up. They wanted the radical march through the institutions that they had been reading about and they wanted it to happen much, much faster. So Bernie Sanders served as the first chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. He serves that chairmanship from 91 to 99. And, like I said, keep in mind Bill Clinton is winning most of the blue rust belt states of Wisconsin, pennsylvania, michigan, and so Clinton is balancing that progressive wing that is starting to ramp up, but he's keeping it in check and he could do so by saying listen, we have not won forever, just sit tight over there, don't make too much waves and I will win.

26:01 And the victory he did, the victory he won was by keeping them in check. And, frankly, if you listen to Clinton's 1996 State of the Union speech, there's a part of it he was railing against illegal immigration and, frankly, who does he sound an awful lot like? You got it Donald Trump 2016. Democrats should have listened. But back to this important political nugget of wisdom. The caucus, like I said, started with six members in 1991, but by the early 2000s that membership has grown like a weed to around 70 to 80 members Roughly of their majority.

26:55 It's roughly about 215, 220. So 70 to 80 members of the progressive caucus in the early 2000s. That's over a third, approaching a half as of 2023. Listen, the CPC has over 100 members in the house of representatives, making it the largest it has ever been. Now they are clearly forgetting bill Clinton and any amount of moderation. Okay, actually, here's here's a breakdown even further the 2018 election. The cpc grew to 96 members out of 233 democrats in the house.

27:36 41.2 percent of the democratic caucus was progressives. They actually caucus with them, and what I mean by caucused is there is subgroups within all the Democrats that will meet on certain days. Republicans traditionally have Tuesday group and Wednesday group. Wednesday group was at the time in the late 90s, was the more moderates, and then Tuesday group were the more conservatives. They would go to dinner or they would go to lunch. Rather, they'd talk about legislation that is coming up and then how they wanted to work together as a coalition to help drive their agenda.

28:22 So in 2018, 41.2% of the Democratic caucus is progressives. By 2020, it's grown over 100 members out of 213 Democrats, a 46.9% Democratic caucus. So that recent explosion of growth reflects the broader shift within the Democratic Party towards a more progressive and a more radical position on all policies, especially particularly among younger and more diverse members of Congress.

29:03 So where does the Democratic Party go? Where does the radical Democratic Party go that we just pulled the onion on All those layers? Well, the political wilderness for the next two decades is our prayer, and I think I've shared these with you guys earlier. But one of the major takeaways from last week was that Trump's win was so broad-based. He not only ran up numbers on friendly turf. Trump took Florida in 2016 by less than two points and 2020 by less than four points, but last night he ropped to a 13.4 victory 13.4 point victory.

29:48 He also flipped the Democratic stronghold of Nassau County on Long Island, new York. One observation is that the Democrats race card is maxed out and facing cancellation. Like I said, we talked about Stark County, texas, probably the most Hispanic county in the United States. Nearly 97% of its residents self-identify as Hispanic. Here's some history on Stark County it went for Hillary Clinton by 60 points in 2016. It went for Joe Biden by five points in 2020, last night, trump wins it by nearly 16 points.

30:32 Hazleton, pennsylvania, 62%. Hispanic County 2016, d plus five. 2020, r plus 11. And last Tuesday, r plus 25. Hat tip to Steve Karnacki for those two stats. He has a great Twitter handle. Be sure to follow him. And this transformation represents a significant departure from the pre-Trump Republican Party. Bushism is dead. And how about this stat from Ryan James Godersky?

31:13 Here's what Ryan says how have deep blue states moved in this election from 2020 to 2024? This is fascinating. State of New York 2020, d plus 23. 2024, d plus 23. 2024, d plus 12. New. Jersey D plus 16, d plus 4. Massachusetts D plus 33, d plus 26. Not a big jump, but marginal. Rhode Island D plus 23. 2024, d plus 13. Here's one Connecticut 2020 D plus 20 and 2024, d plus eight.

32:03 He cut it in half, over half. In Connecticut, vermont D plus 36, D plus 32. Bernie Sanders territory is Vermont, so we can understand that. Maryland, former slave state, democratic stronghold for years and years and years Democrats in 2020, plus 33. Democrats in 2024, only plus 22. Delaware D plus 19. And in 2024, d plus 14. Folks, those are big, wholesale changes. And, let's face it, people aren't voting for Donald Trump because he's the most charming person with the greatest personality.

32:52 This isn't Obama 2008, with someone making fantastic, great speeches. This is all policy movement. So it is not. It, frankly, is tied to Trump because he started it. But the policies are going to carry the day, if they're explained correctly. But those are big changes in ideology, policy priorities, voter base, communication style. That's all changed from the old GOP to a new GOP. The 2024 election has started to begin with those changes Now.

33:36 The emergence of the new GOP is it's more populist, culturally focused and aligned with Trump's vision of America. First, so, and today's Mojo Minute. For the last 18 years, america went on a long and winding bender a big bender of sorts, woo boy, and we all had to suffer through it. And last Tuesday America sobered up. A new electorate, more diverse and more populist, emerged, said we're going a different direction. Trump's win last week looks like the beginning the most promising beginning since 1980 of a trend that crosses races, ethnicities, demographics, the sane versus the insane, the radical versus common sense.

34:26 Four years of competent, principled governance could move progressive Democrats to the ash heap of history. So here's looking to you, jd Vance and Ron DeSantis, and let's pray for President Donald Trump and, as always, let's keep fighting the good fight and, for the love of the country, let's roll. Thank you for joining us. We hope you enjoyed this Theory to Action podcast. Be sure to check out our show page at teammojoacademycom, where we have everything we discussed in this podcast, as well as other great resources.

35:15 Until next time, keep getting your mojo on.