America Has Changed. So Must Democrats.

“Failure is the pillar of success” goes the adage. There is wisdom in that, and hope. It’s good that Republicans have decisively defeated the Democrats. There is no excuse, no crying foul, no ambiguity. Donald Trump has won the White House, the Popular Vote, the Senate and most likely, the House. 

For Democrats to overcome this stunning and total defeat will require a deep and brutal reordering of priorities.

Our Hispanic and white women population helped win women’s reproductive rights in 7 out of 10 red states but also supported Trump, the anti-abortion commander-in-chief, in those states.

We are bending over backward trying to explain this contradiction by invoking economic hardship and anti-immigration sentiments when the only reason is a toxic combination of racism, sexism, misogyny and male chauvinism. For these voters, electing a female president, far less a female president of color, is worse than hell.

We will not progress unless we learn to call a spade a spade, which is that America will not elect a female president, and certainly not a female president of color, in the next hundred years. If we Democrats want to win back the White House, the Senate, Congress and the popular vote, we must field a relatively young, white male to contest for the presidency, starting in 2028, political correctness be damned.

So forget the pundits offering their earnest post-mortem analysis: Biden was too late to call it quits, Kamala Harris did not go through a trial by fire, and although she excelled in set pieces like the presidential debate, when it came to answering questions about American workers barely making rent, she completely botched it. Too many Americans were left in the dark about who she really was and what she stood for. We mistook shadow for substance, carried away by Republicans for Harris while ignoring ordinary Democrats clamoring for her attention. And on and on.

Make no mistake: If Harris won, this same chattering class would be riding their high horses to condescendingly tell us: “I told you so!”

So what now?

We must put our efforts into grassroots activism at the local, state and national levels. Some may counter this by saying, “But we were doing it!” To which I will respond, “Only as a show, that is, in a performative way in the spotlight, and not focusing on genuine performance on the ground, far from the limelight.”

Consider the endless parade of mega-rich celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Beyonce, Taylor Swift, LeBron James and First Couples Michell and Barack Obama and Hillary and Bill Clinton giving their full-throated endorsement to Harris. After a while, though, it came across as hypocritical when these super-wealthy people claimed that their hearts were bleeding for us working stiffs.

While we must be generous and kind to our fellow Americans irrespective of their political affiliations, it is equally necessary that we fight injustice and any attempt to subvert the law of the land. Given his demagogic nature, Trump is likely to make such attempts on the very day he takes the helm. We must be prepared. Already Trump’s sycophant, Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, has called for Republicans to secure Trump’s "third term" following her victory in Colorado's 4th District in the 2024 election. Even though the 22nd Amendment prohibits a third term, we must be prepared if Republicans, with Trump’s certain approval, try to break it. Overcoming the amendment will not succeed but with Trump and his pliant, blind followers, nothing is beyond the pale.

Here is the text of the 22^nd Amendment:

Section 1

No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.

Section 2

This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission to the States by the Congress.

The language is confusing for ordinary Americans like me but I only need to understand the first 14 words to know that Trump cannot run for a third term.

So, in a sense, as soon as Trump takes office, he also becomes a lame-duck president. Yes, he will preside over what are expected to be four tumultuous years from 2025 to 2028, but that will also be the permanent end of his presidency.

Who will represent the Democrats in the 2028 presidential election? I hope Democrats will not overlook the very real and ever-present Puritanical streak that runs through the hearts of a majority of Americans which will prevent the election of any female president. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer or Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota is as capable as any male candidate, if not more, but they simply will not win even if either of them were to run against someone as unfit for the presidency as JD Vance.

Who then among the Democrats?

In my opinion, one of the safest choices we can make is Gavin Newsom, Governor of California.

Newsom, to his credit, has already made his move. On Wednesday, November 6, a day after Trump won the presidency, Newsom congratulated Trump but also wrote that “the freedom we hold dear in California are under attack, and we won’t sit idle. California has faced this challenge before, and we know how to respond. We are prepared, and we will do everything necessary to ensure Californians have the support and the resources they need to thrive.”

The Governor has called for a special session of California’s Legislature in December “to safeguard California values and fundamental rights in the face of an incoming Trump administration.”

California’s proactive Governor has begun his 2028 campaign for the presidency of the United States. It is not a moment too soon.

Let there be a contentious and bruising fight among Democratic aspirants for the presidency in 2028. A trial by fire is necessary but I am confident that Gavin Newsom will come through and return America to its rightful owners: to us Americans in all our maddening diversity and our hunger for a “shining city upon a hill.”