Top Trump and Harris strategists had a session together at Harvard last week. It was tense and bitter. At times, F-bombs flew. But what struck me most was how much they agreed on why Trump won and Harris lost in 2024. Here's my account: www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202... - ThreadSky

ktumulty.bsky.social • 192 days ago

Top Trump and Harris strategists had a session together at Harvard last week. It was tense and bitter. At times, F-bombs flew. But what struck me most was how much they agreed on why Trump won and Harris lost in 2024. Here's my account: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/12/09/trump-harris-campaigns-harvard/?utm_campaign=wp_follow_karen_tumulty&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F3fdf0f0%2F6756d3c79a856778d401a1d1%2F596added9bbc0f403f869710%2F6%2F26%2F6756d3c79a856778d401a1d1

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angelmyeye.bsky.social•191 days ago

It was/is the misperception and misinformation about the economy. Whose fault is that?

ktumulty.bsky.social•191 days ago

People were voting, as both campaigns argued, on perceptions of their own lives. Not economic statistics. For working class especially, prices for rent and groceries were too high. They didn’t care that things were worse elsewhere.

ktumulty.bsky.social•191 days ago

Elite arguments about economic statistics were irrelevant to people whose livelihoods had been devastated by Covid and who didn’t feel that they had recovered.

mikekaspari.bsky.social•191 days ago

Not just livelihoods, but lives. The trauma of 2020, like 1918, was memory-holed from collective PTSD. How else could T run on "you were better off 4 years ago"? Why else would masking during outbreaks—a fairly benign practice—become something actively scorned? That fear/anger was promoted and used.

ktumulty.bsky.social•191 days ago

This was not a “misperception.”

ulrichw.bsky.social•191 days ago

It's a genuine perception, but I feel you dismiss the statistics too quickly. If prices are up by 20% but an individual's wages are also up by 20%, is the individual worse off? The perception seems to be based on only part of the picture. I think it's valid to suggest there's a communication gap.

ktumulty.bsky.social•190 days ago

https://www.bankrate.com/banking/federal-reserve/wage-to-inflation-index/

thegonch.bsky.social•191 days ago

There are always people below average in the economy. About half, in fact. That doesn't explain the belief that Trump has some magic economic wand. Dems running on low employment might have helped.

ktumulty.bsky.social•190 days ago

Omg. I went to paul. Walking over. With my coffee.

ktumulty.bsky.social•191 days ago

Wage growth wasn't keeping up with inflation. (When inflation goes down, prices are still rising.) When people hurt, they blame the incumbent. Trump, I expect, will discover that in the midterms, as he did in 2020. https://www.bankrate.com/banking/federal-reserve/wage-to-inflation-index/

tjfournier.bsky.social•191 days ago

“Elite” arguments?

dskamper.bsky.social•192 days ago

📌

johnnyapril.bsky.social•192 days ago

I guess they didn't discuss how the cable and news networks failure to report important important issues such as Project 2025. It's all in the media matters report. At least great newspapers like the Washington Post did their job by even having a report about fake border videos.

progress2025.bsky.social•192 days ago

We made so much progress in the last 4 years, but Americans are quite ignorant and impatient.
They handed the keys back to the fraud that crashed the economy in 2020 and will destroy working class opportunities and safety nets.

matts1967.bsky.social•192 days ago

Republican policies only help the rich. If this was explained to the American people by the MSM, that would be super helpful

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