What Happened

Plus, a little angel.

November 07, 2024

The Flag

Good morning and Happy Friday! Here are the Flag’s Top Five stories that should be on your radar to start the day:

  • US: Biden urges Americans to 'bring down the temperature' after Trump's US election win (Reuters)

  • World: Australia proposes social media ban for children under the age of 16 (NPR)

  • Business: The Fed cuts interest rates — but Trump's election could make things trickier (NPR)

  • Technology: Max is getting ready for its own password-sharing crackdown (The Verge)

  • Sports: Steph's Celtics dominance backed up by eye-popping career stat (NBC Sports)

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📏 Thomas Jefferson, a French scientist, and a rogue band of pirates—an unlikely cast in the story of America's measurement misadventure. Curious? Subscribe to go premium and get the full scoop! 

POWERED BY MONEY

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Right: No, Trump Wasn’t Just ‘Dark’ Rich Lowry, National Review

Right: How Musk Helped Will Trump Back to the White House Gabe Kaminsky, Washington Examiner

Right: Voters Saw Through the Lies Miranda Devine, New York Post

Left: No Working-Class Majority, No Presidential Victory Timothy Noah, The New Republic

Left: Long Night's Journey Into Hell Harold Meyerson, American Prospect

2024

What Happened?

Today’s Top Story: Following President-Elect Donald Trump’s decisive electoral victory, political voices across the spectrum are discussing what went right for Trump and what went wrong for Vice President Kamala Harris.

Reporting from the Right: Kamala Harris tells supporters it’s ‘going to be OK’ after blowout election loss, casts herself as Democratic leader in defiant concession speech (New York Post)

Reporting from the Left: 'This is a realignment': Shattered Democrats grapple with Harris' loss (NBC News)

RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Democrat’s Agenda Is Unpopular

The Top Argument From The Right: Democrats Get a Wake-Up Call about How Unpopular Their Agenda Really Is Jim Geraghty, National Review: “Democrats believed that progressivism was still popular — and the traditional midterm backlash of 2018 convinced them that Trump had proven to be so unpopular, they could move as far to the left as they wanted, and the electorate would still always pick them over Trump and his MAGA candidates. They thought wrong. Progressivism, liberalism, woke-ism — they will never be the same. They won’t wither away completely. But the Democrats just learned the hardest of hard lessons: The electorate — not just straight white males — doesn’t want their brand of deeply divisive identity politics, deliberate conflation of legal immigration and illegal immigration, policies that reflexively recommend and enact permanent bodily changes for teenagers questioning their gender identity, and basically the entire agenda of the 2019 Kamala Harris presidential campaign. … Democrats, the electorate is just not going to eat your dog food. It doesn’t matter if you raise more money and spend more on ads and have more campaign offices and have more doorknockers and volunteers. The sales pitch isn’t really the problem; the product is.”

Honorable Mention #1: Harris is burdened by what has been after all W. James Antle III, Washington Examiner

LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT

No Easy Explanation

The Top Argument From The Left: Why Kamala Harris lost the election Christopher Cadelago and Holly Otterbein, Politico: “[Harris] never sufficiently buried Biden’s ghost, severely hamstringing her ability to sell voters on the idea that hers was the turn-the-page candidacy. It happened, simply, because Harris refused to make a clean break from the last four years when voters indicated that’s what they wanted. Worse, she hesitated to draw any daylight between herself and her boss on Biden’s biggest vulnerability — his stewardship over the economy — nor identify any specific way her presidency would be different from his tenure beyond naming a Republican to her Cabinet. … Another Harris aide said it was clear Biden should have made a graceful exit much sooner, allowing Democrats to hold a primary they believed Harris would have won. … And other calculations Harris made at least internally seemed even riskier — notably the refusal to separate from Biden, even after the president publicly offered her his permission to do so. Harris’ aides during the campaign stressed that this was a line she was unwilling to cross, offering that doing so would undermine a litany of public statements she’d made about the president and blow holes in her own record of accomplishments in the White House.”

Honorable Mention #1: How Donald Trump completed a historic political comeback Steve Contorno, CNN

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Key Demographic Data

According to data collected by the Associated Press, Trump secured the presidency by reinforcing his core voter base and making incremental gains among demographics that traditionally lean Democratic:

  • Over 80% of Trump’s voters were white, which is consistent with 2020, compared to about 66% of Harris' voters.

  • Trump gained slightly more Black voters, with around 30% of Black men under 45 supporting him—about double his 2020 share—while Harris held around 80% of the Black vote overall, down from Biden’s 90%.

  • Hispanic voter support for Harris dropped slightly from Biden’s 60% in 2020, with nearly half of Latino men backing Trump in this election.

  • Trump narrowed the gender gap by gaining modestly with both men and women; Harris won 53% of women’s votes to Trump’s 46%, a slimmer margin than Biden’s 55%-43% split in 2020, while Trump’s support among white women remained steady at slightly over 50%.

Do you believe these demographics shifts indicate a permanent shift or an isolated incident?

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WATERCOOLER

X-Rays, Pompeii Discovery, Incendiary Irony

On This Day in 1895, physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1845-1923) became the first person to observe X-rays, a significant scientific advancement that would ultimately benefit a variety of fields, most of all medicine, by making the invisible visible.

POWERED BY MONEY

Veterinarians nationwide reported that corporate managers pushed clinics to focus on profit, with vets often paid based on revenue. This encouraged them to see more pets, order more tests, and upsell services, creating a growing burden for uninsured pet owners. Pet insurance could help you offset some of these rising costs, with some providing up to 90% reimbursement. View Money’s top pet insurance picks to see plans starting at only $10/month.

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