Guest essay: Trump beat not just Dems, but Left culture

By Guy Ciarrocchi

Trump’s victory was historic — meaning it’s important and worth studying. The unfortunate reality is that in today’s America, any Republican win in a swing state or district is actually historic. However, Trump’s victory is in a “super-historic” category.

With all the post-election debate over why he won, too many have failed to take note of how much adversity he had to overcome in order to win — and not the obvious adversity. Perhaps more importantly, his victory says a lot about the mindset of an emerging majority in our nation. 

The win underscores how academia, the legacy media, social media and Hollywood are, in fact, disconnected from our lives, our reality, and our values.

Let’s put aside the comeback from 2020. Put aside the federal and state indictments. The legal cases brought against his former staff and allies. The attorneys trying to bankrupt him. The endless attempts in the courtroom and the court of public opinion to further destroy his reputation. And let’s even put aside the two assassination attempts — be they rogue actors or part of a conspiracy.

Whether you consider the court cases to be the weaponization of the justice system or legitimate, overcoming them is what makes Trump’s win “super-historic.”

But putting the court cases and the assassination attempts aside, Trump had to overcome a generation or more of factors working against him — and most Republicans. His supporters and his voters had to look past so much propaganda that’s constantly put in front of our eyes and ears that many others just see as “normal life.”

The multiple, deep, omnipresent challenges for Republicans and for conservative ideas are so engrained into our society and culture that many Americans, regardless of party, no longer recognize them as challenges. And for Trump the obstacles were super-sized.

Consider who voters are. Most voters are products of public schools. Recognize that voters under 40 were overwhelmingly taught by teachers whose values or curriculum are the backbone — or at least backdrop — of today’s Democratic Party. From “climate crisis” to “systemic racism.” From viewing the United States as an “oppressor” to men as misogynists — or at least portraying white men as the unfair beneficiaries of a biased culture. From “sex education” to “gender.” From questioning the legitimacy of police officers to questioning the fairness of capitalism. As we learned during the Covid era, public schools have been preaching the harms of American society. Heck, the very textbook teaching American history in many school districts — Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States —is premised on America being flawed from the start, a force for harm to its citizens and the planet. [Editor’s note: I had my own take on Zinn’s work back in 2015.]

Then state universities and especially the Ivy League and other “elite” universities, double down on this. They not only preach those values, they go further. They shield students from conservative thought and thought-leaders, mock or ridicule their ideas and spokespeople — and offer safe-spaces to students when conservatives are on campus (or win an election). Twenty-first century colleges may not produce job-ready graduates — ready to work hard, face adversity and deal with responsibility, but they do produce left-of-center graduates who are told they are duty-bound to advance their view of the world and oppose and shame anyone offering conservative outlooks. Heck, even questioning liberal orthodoxy is taught to be shameful.

Plus, students from Pre-K to college graduation, those same students and their parents and their peers are immersed in a social media world of progressive thoughts, products and advertisements. All too often due to algorithms and “friends,” they either never see or hear conservative thoughts or they see them as something that’s mocked — as representative of the very harm, sins and immorality of Americans and our flawed culture.

The traditional family, respect for the rule of law, civil society, capitalism, and the Constitution are all portrayed as the harmful pillars of a flawed nation. Therefore, they should (must) be pulled apart.

For those going into corporate America, it’s the same, re-enforced by HR departments and corporate culture.

Layer on the near unanimity of the legacy media. Those reading newspapers — online or in paper form — all too often view them as having almost biblical importance. And we know “newspapers” frame what news they choose to cover, their headlines, and the facts chosen to be shared, or skewed.

Now, layer in legacy TV — from the overt propaganda of CBS and MSNBC to the slightly more subtle bias of the other “major networks,” plus, the “comedy” shows that are essentially 30, 60 or 90 minute commercials for Democrats and their policies or attack ads against the GOP or conservative values.

Finally, add in the cancel culture and shaming — online, in the work place and even at the bus stop.

For decades, by design or through a series of decisions—or a go-along to get along mindset, American culture from pre-K to college, from Facebook to CBS and from corporate America to Saturday Night Live, there has been an almost factory-like unified focus in mass producing left of center voters: Democrats. And vilifying Republicans, conservative values, or anyone else who questions progressive orthodoxy.

That Trump could overcome all of that — and Kamala’s $1.5 billion actual campaign — and win, carrying every battleground state, speaks to the relentless, tireless, effective efforts of Trump and his party.

But it actually speaks louder to the values, hopes and dreams of a majority of Americans. Despite being programmed to distrust and reject all Republicans and their values, they voted against the machine.

That they saw through all of that to vote for Trump is historic, super historic.

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Guy Ciarrocchi is a Senior Fellow at the Commonwealth Foundation. This first appeared in  Broad + Liberty. Publication of guest essays does not imply agreement.