How will the media and Democratic pundits explain Vice President Kamala Harris’ stunning defeat? How will the media and Democratic pundits explain former President Donald Trump’s incredible recapture of the White House, the most improbable comeback since heavyweight champion George Foreman regained the title at age 45 having lost it 20 years earlier?

How many times did the “experts” count Trump out? When he won the presidency in 2016, so many described Trump as mentally unstable that he took a cognitive test and allowed the White House doctor to hold a press conference to convince the country that Trump was not “crazy.” Critics, who considered Trump delusional, hoped out loud his cabinet would invoke the 25th Amendment over Trump’s supposed “incapacity.” The House impeached him twice. He was routinely called a “fascist.” He survived two assassination attempts.

Trump endured a barrage of personal, legal, financial and physical attacks that would have bludgeoned a normal human being into submission. This includes, but is not limited to, a nearly four-year investigation of his alleged “collusion” with Russia to win the election. The New York attorney general and the Manhattan district attorney ran for office promising to “get Trump” — a violation of the ethics of a prosecutor whose job is to do justice, not to promise indictments or legal action against a particular individual, particularly before gathering any evidence. Fifty-one “senior intelligence officials” wrote a letter during the 2020 campaign that described the bombshell Hunter Biden laptop as Russian disinformation. The media suppressed the story. A Media Research Center study found that 9% of Joe Biden voters in seven swing states would not have voted for Biden had they known about the story. Mark Zuckerberg spent over $400 million of his own money in 2020 to drive up Democratic turnout to help defeat Trump.

Oct. 23, 2024, CNN’s Anderson Cooper to Harris: “For weeks, you have been calling Donald Trump unstable, unhinged. You have called him dangerous. You have quoted General Milley recently, who called him a fascist. Today, you quoted General Kelly, who said that Trump repeatedly praised Hitler.”

Harris: “Yes.”

Cooper: “… You’ve quoted General Milley calling Donald Trump a fascist. You yourself have not used that word to describe him. Let me ask you tonight, do you think Donald Trump is a fascist?”

Harris: “Yes, I do. Yes, I do. And I also believe that the people who know him best on this subject should be trusted.”

By regaining the presidency the night of Nov. 5, Trump became history’s first and only “fascist” leader who:

— Allowed citizens to keep and bear guns — unlike Adolf Hitler, who restricted Jews from access to and ownership of guns.

— Allowed freedom of religion — unlike Mao Zedong, under whose “Cultural Revolution” religious activity was banned.

— Did not create a state-controlled media. According to the Holocaust Encyclopedia: “The Nazis wanted Germans to … believe in Nazi ideas. To accomplish this goal, they tried to control forms of communication through censorship and propaganda. This included control of newspapers, magazines, books, art, theater, music, movies, and radio. … Even telling a joke about Hitler was considered treachery.”

— Did not have one journalist arrested, kidnapped, tortured or killed.

— Did not have one political opponent arrested, kidnapped, tortured or killed.

— Did not establish a secret police — no Brownshirts, no stormtroopers, no Red Guards.

— Did not coerce neighbors, friends and relatives into spying on one another or reward them for doing so.

— Did not impose a command-and-control economy.

— Did not force citizens to attend political rallies.

— Started no new wars.

— Negotiated peace deals in the Middle East that provided the Jewish state of Israel with greater security.

— Used the democratic primary process to win nomination, left office after one term and sought reelection through the democratic primary voting process against an opponent chosen by her party’s leaders.

A Marquette University poll found that 79% of likely voters consider the country on the wrong track. Most Americans say they are worse off than they were four years ago. Food has gone up 20% and gas prices up 50%. The Biden-Harris administration permitted millions of unvetted illegal aliens to enter the country. Asked by a friendly interviewer whether she would have done anything differently from President Biden, Harris said, “Not a thing that comes to mind.” This is why she lost.

Call this the revenge of the “fascist.”

COPYRIGHT 2024 LAURENCE A. ELDER