The 5th of November 2024 will go down in history... for all the wrong reasons. It marks a day when one of the most powerful nations in the world voted for a geriatric criminal, with the world's worst spray tan, to be their president once again. It marks a day when just over 50% of US citizens voted for a man convicted of 34 counts of falsification of business records; for the only president to ever be impeached twice.
The thing that left me most disheartened is that millions of people voted for a man with several sexual assault claims against him, who has publicly demeaned and sexualised women (including his political opponents) and even made inappropriate claims about his daughter. Why? Because the alternative would be having a woman of colour in power. That's not so progressive of you America...
If it weren't for Trump's clever schemes and campaigns, he would likely be in a jail cell instead of the White House.
Whilst I do believe that part of Harris' presidential downfall had to do with the fact that America wasn't ready to accept a female president, especially a non-white female president, I believe there were other factors to play in her defeat. If it weren't for Trump's clever schemes and campaigns, he would likely be in a jail cell instead of the White House.
With powerful men, such as Elon Musk (who since January 2021 has held the title of 'The World's Richest Man') heavily endorsing his campaign, much of Harris' campaign was drowned under Trump propaganda. Let's not forget Musk now owns one of the world's leading social media platforms, X (formerly known as Twitter) which has 586 million active users, 106.23 million of which are American (Demandsage.com). As the owner of this platform, Musk swayed political agendas, misled and used AI models to make his account and tweets the most visible.
An eye-opening video shared on Instagram, by @ledbymonkeys, broke down exactly how Musk used his enormous platform and wealth to drive Trump's campaign. It demonstrates how he systematically endorsed Trump and his values while damaging Harris' campaign through misinformation.
Other factors, such as Trump's attendance on popular podcasts, such as the Joe Rogan Experience, also influenced the presidential outcome. The 2024 election has even been dubbed the 'Podcast Election', given that Trump appeared on 14 popular podcasts, garnering a total of 124 million views.
Harris was unable to completely separate herself from Biden and his presidency, leaving some Americans to question her authenticity...
As stated by Ray Chao at VoxMedia: "Every presidential election is a snapshot in time of the media landscape." Unfortunately, Kamala Harris catering to her younger, liberal supporters through Instagram trends wasn't enough for her to win the Vote of Popularity.
Furthermore, the Democratic reputation was damaged just before the election, with Joe Biden leaving a sour taste in people's mouths. Harris was unable to completely separate herself from Biden and his presidency, leaving some Americans to question her authenticity and ability to fix certain political issues, namely the American economic crisis.
Though it would have been historic to finally see a woman of colour as the President of the United States, Harris sadly fell short in terms of media exposure and endorsement, not to mention she was a woman of colour running for president in a divided country, leaving Trump to win a second term.