Over 100 leftist groups organize coalition to rebuild morale after Trump win
By bellecarter // 2024-11-14
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Failed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, who conceded in a speech the day after Election Day, said she'd "never give up the fight for democracy" and this could have signaled 100 or so progressive groups to create a coalition commencing the resistance for President-elect Donald Trump's administration. The groups responded to Vice President Harris' call "to keep fighting" as they work on rebuilding the left wing's crashed morale after the failed attempt at winning the White House. "I think the first priority is going to be holding space for our community and making sure that people understand that this is a devastating development. But it is a blow to democracy. It is not the end of democracy," said Leah Greenberg, co-executive director of Indivisible Project, which emerged in 2017 to invigorate political organizing on the left. Ravi Mangla, the national press secretary for the Working Families Party (WFP), which advocates for "unionizing labor, funding public services and combating racism," said that the priority is to get moving, adding that they are not interested in spending postelection momentum pointing fingers or assigning blame. "We're ready to get to work to fight back, state by state, against the second round of Trumpism," he said. Business news site Fast Company said in a recent report that per conversations with the leftist groups WFP, Indivisible Project and MoveOn, the coalition's major concerns include environmental protection, abortion rights and a crackdown on immigration. Mangla said that as soon as Trump assumes office, he will remake federal institutions and even replace large numbers of public servants with loyalists. "We don't have to speculate. It's all there, written out in excruciating detail," alleged Mangla, citing the recommendations listed in "Project 2025," the 922-page agenda crafted by one of Washington's most prominent think tanks, the Heritage Foundation. Trump has disavowed the policies listed in the said agenda, but of course liberals don't believe him. In the lead-up to the election, WFP joined with other sponsor organizations including MoveOn, Indivisible Project, Public Citizen and the American Civil Liberties Union. They have aligned with more than 100 other groups, according to organizers, along with Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA). The organizers have reportedly already set up eight weekly "Mass Calls" at 8:00 to -9:00 p.m. EST. They started meeting on Nov. 7. "We're not trying to organize into a big, top-down supergroup. Ultimately, what we want to do is be well networked and in deep relationship with each other," Greenberg claimed. Back during the 2016 election, many liberals were surprised by Trump's resounding Electoral College victory over his then-rival Hilary Clinton. They quickly regrouped, with spontaneous efforts all over social media like Facebook and even on shared Google Docs.

Trump wins by wrecking the "blue wall" in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan

Away from the swing states, the Associated Press called Trump wins in the three critical battleground states behind the blue wall – enough to signal the failure of outgoing Vice President Kamala Harris' effort to secure the White House. Pennsylvania has 19 Electoral votes and Trump led the Keystone State by two percentage points. Ninety-nine percent of the votes have been counted as of press time. (Related: Trump achieved victory in biggest battleground state Pennsylvania on his way back to the White House.) Wisconsin, where Trump is advancing by 0.9 percentage points, already has 99 percent of votes counted, as well. The Badger State has 10 Electoral votes. In Michigan, he is now leading by 1.4 percentage points, with nearly 99 percent of the votes counted. The Great Lakes State carries 15 Electoral College votes. "It appears Trump has breached the blue wall, or at least enough of it, to win the presidency," David Schultz, an author and political science professor at Minnesota's Hamline University, told Al Jazeera. Historically, several states voted for Democrats in every election between 1992 and 2012. They include California, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Jersey, Washington, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Oregon, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Rhode Island, Delaware and Vermont as well as the District of Columbia. In 2016, Trump breached the blue wall, flipping several of those states to red in the election against Clinton. These included Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan – all three of which were again major battleground states during this latest election. In 2020, President Joe Biden won back all three of these states, seemingly erecting the blue wall again. Experts also weigh in on some of the reasons why they think Trump was able to breach the blue wall. Major issues include the economy and cost of living and the current administration's failure to connect to "working-class" voters. A report from Al Jazeera's Sarah Shamim said that Democrats "failed to execute well in the three blue wall states" as Harris focused too much on abortion over other issues such as economic policies that would appeal to working-class voters. "Economic issues along with feelings of being ignored drove the Trump victory," Schultz said. Moreover, a preliminary national exit poll conducted by data provider Edison Research showed that 51 percent of voters trusted Trump with handling the economy compared with 47 percent who trusted Harris. Thirty-one percent of respondents said the economy mattered most in shaping their decision to vote, whereas only 14 percent cited abortion. Schultz further said that the VP lost in Pennsylvania because she failed to speak to working-class voters and thought abortion would drive enough women to the polls to help her win. Read more stories about Trump's victorious win in the 2024 U.S. election on Trump.news.

Sources for this article include:

FastCompany.com NPR.org AlJazeera.com
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