A note to readers: I’m taking some much-needed time off while traveling, so publishing will be a little more sporadic at The Banter over the next few days. I’ll be republishing some of my favorite pieces, putting out a mid-week mailbag, and diving into the comment threads, so don’t go anywhere!
Today’s republished piece is the essay I wrote in the hours after Trump defeated Kamala Harris in 2024. I’ve reread it several times since, and I stand by every word. It was probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to write because I understood what his return to power was likely to mean—not only for America, but for the rest of the world. Millions of immigrants would be deported. Ukraine would be hung out to dry. Palestinians would be left with even less hope of a political settlement. And America would be governed by chaos, corruption and revenge. Again.
What strikes me most is how little of it feels dated.
I’d be curious to hear what readers think. Did I exaggerate—or did I underestimate just how bad it would be?
by Ben Cohen
You could blame the Democrats for not being strong enough on immigration, or Joe Biden for not stepping down soon enough, or Kamala Harris not connecting with white rural voters and Hispanic men. You could blame the “woke”, or you could blame their use of gender pronouns and their obsession with identity politics. Or you could blame Democrats for not holding a primary, for rushing Kamala Harris through without the public getting a say.
There are a million things the Democrats could have done differently, or better, and in time these things must be examined.
But right now I want to focus on the real culprits for this heartbreaking election that has returned Donald Trump to the White House. And those culprits are the malevolent billionaires who funded Donald Trump’s campaign, the media outlets that sane-washed his candidacy, Elon Musk’s brutally effective disinformation platform, and finally the people who voted for him.
Last week I wrote an article outlining what I called the biggest psyop in modern history. I argued that a coordinated effort between America’s oligarchs, far right provocateurs, Fox News, and opportunistic Alt “journalists” had created a frightening alternative reality. In this reality, Trump was a genius, a brilliant negotiator, a free speech martyr, and democracy’s only hope. Jan. 6th was not really an insurrection, and the Deep State was out to get Trump from the get go. The Democrats were a cabal of sinister, Bill Gates funded Marxists who wanted to trans America’s kids and inject them full of microchipped vaccines.
I believed Americans would reject that reality at the ballot yesterday. The smartest analysts I know thought the same, that the polls showing a tight race were wrong, and that Harris and American women would prevail. I believed Americans wanted to turn the chapter on Trumpism and elect someone who was competent, smart, and actually cared about their wellbeing. I was wrong.
Enough Americans have been taken in by this extraordinary cult of personality and have voted in a madman to be their president. The mainstream press failed spectacularly, again, to focus on the danger Trump posed to America. They turned the presidential contest it into yet another horse race where the reds were fighting the blues in battle to the finish. Trump was sanitized, repackaged, and finally thrust back into the White House with barely a scratch on him.
The polls, having been basically wrong about everything since 2016, were far more accurate than I and almost everyone in the media anticipated. They did not overestimate the Democrats, and they appear to have correctly gaged Trump’s almost mythical ability to activate his base and bring low propensity voters out to the polls. And that really is the story of the race. Despite having run one of the most racist, deranged, insane campaigns in modern history, Trump pulled out the victory again.
He massively over performed with Hispanic men, and shockingly made the huge gender gap irrelevant. It is the comeback of all comebacks, only it isn’t the good guy who has won, but the convicted felon and sexual abuser who tried to overthrow the US government only four years ago.
Sane, well adjusted people know that Donald Trump should not be allowed anywhere near the White House. He should be in jail for the multiple crimes he committed while in office, including his attempted coup. Now he will grant himself immunity and no doubt commit more crimes during his second term in office.
We are headed to a very, very dark place right now, and those who enabled, funded and voted for this despicable charlatan will have to own what is about to happen.
A story broken by Tim Alberta in The Atlantic this week cataloged the final weeks of the Trump campaign. It is a brutal read that outlines the breathtaking corruption and dysfunction in his inner circle. As Alberta describes it, Trump is so loathed by his staff that the majority of them ended up not caring whether he won the election or not. Alberta describes a Trump who is less tethered to reality than ever before. He is unable to control his darker impulses, incapable of behaving rationally, and more malevolent than ever. This new version of Donald Trump will be leading the country for the next four years, and it will take all of our might to preserve America’s democratic institutions and civil society.
I am not looking forward to this task. After nine years of covering Donald Trump, I am, like many of you reading this, utterly exhausted.
But this is a war that cannot be ceded. We cannot allow Donald Trump, Elon Musk and Fox News to destroy reality and decimate truth. He does not get a grace period, and he must not be respected. Donald Trump is a fascist, and fascists must be defeated. His lies will be countered with truths, and his disinformation will be fought with facts. This is war, again. And we here at The Banter will be fighting it with you.
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