MSJ Voices: The dangers of political scapegoating

1. What do the election results tell you about the mood of the country?

“I think … the anti incumbency sentiment was probably the strongest factor here. I also think that the economy is also really important here, because at the end of the day, I think the Democrats were too focused on identity politics. Kamala Harris didn’t do a good enough job of disting herself from the mistakes that Joe Biden made during his administration. And I think that made it hard for voters who were already a little bit unhappy about the Biden administration. [It allowed them] to opt for Trump and see Trump as a new way forward and a more hopeful future for America.” — Aman Shah, 11

 

“Many different types of Americans have incrementally moved towards the conservative side of the spectrum: Trump has never carried such a large amount of diversity across every demographic. There was no paradigm shift, however. I would say that there’s about like a couple percent shift which was all that Trump needed in such a close election.” — Social Studies Teacher Keith Kottenbach

 

2. On a personal level, have you witnessed any bitterness towards any demographic group as the result of the election?

“I’ve seen a lot of bitterness from the Democrats about Latinos and about men, particularly by Gen Z. The groups that swug the most toward Trump, are getting the most flak from Democrats … I guess it kind of makes sense. You lose an election. It’s a pretty big shock to lose by that much, and then you see what groups shifted towards your opponent, and then you blame them. But hopefully the Democrats can get out of this ‘Blame the voters, blame everything except themselves’ idea, and kind of look at themselves and see what they need to fix.” — Ashwin Vaidyanathan, 11

 

“It’s difficult, because the win rate of Trump was so small. It allows within this 2% window, it allows for this room of scapegoating. Historically, blaming people, defining it, blaming people for issues that they are not responsible for, but because they are such a vulnerable minority, they are unable to push back against the dominant narrative. I think everyone is equally responsible for both the Kamala Harris’s loss, as well as Donald Trump’s victory. ” — Social Studies Teacher Keith Kottenbach

 

3. Why might such groups be blamed? Do you believe there is any merit to blaming these groups for Harris’ loss?

“It’s a game of linguistics, for instance, use the word blame, right? Is it someone’s fault? Do they deserve blame because they disagreed with someone’s politics? I don’t think that’s blame. I think that’s a conclusion that a person came to and I don’t think this was pushed on them. in their perspective, the best educated judgment that they could. I don’t think it’s I don’t think it’s healthy or desirable to blame people for for making judgments that reflect on what they feel that is most important for them. It is necessary for the Democratic Party to try and understand why it lost voters that it normally doesn’t lose. But the blame is never on the individual voter. — Social Studies Teacher Keith Kottenbach

 

“… I don’t think [holding a specific minority group responsible for the 2024 election is] okay. That’s essentially scapegoating. One example would be … a lot of Democrats blamed the Arab Americans in Michigan for voting red, but in reality, it’s the Democratic Party’s own fault. The Arab Americans are not entitled to vote for the Democratic Party, and where the party really failed was that … they failed to address … supporting a ceasefire.” — Scarlett Xu, 11

 

4. In the context of this election, do you think this country is growing more or less polarized? What might some of the causes behind growing political polarization might be?

I’m just in a lot in my bubble with ethnic studies and government economics, and from my perspective, I think [the cause of political polarization is] the lived experiences of Americans [being] just so different. You know, you have us here in the Bay Area. 
Our experiences are just way so different from someone who are living in, I don’t know, Florida or in Kentucky, and because of those differences, their values and their beliefs about all approaches on how things should go are just so widely different.” — Humanities Teacher Cyril Macasero