“President-elect Donald Trumpis a phrase many of us thought we’d never use again, but here we are — and an almost equally brief phrase from a ubiquitous attack ad sums up how we got here.

As Election Day approached, it was expected to be a close presidential race that could take days, if not longer, to reach a clear decision. But once the polls started to close and the results flocked, it was only a matter of hours before the points of sale called the race for Trump.

This shocking result – which promises to be a landslide comparable to that of the president That of Joe Biden margins in 2020 — triggered spasms of introspection and recrimination among many Democrats. One of the most astonishing aspects of Trump’s victory is the group list with which he made gains – notably among women, black voters and Hispanic voters.

The key to understanding how he did this lies in the final seconds of an ad that bombed in every swing state. He attacked the vice president Kamala Harris on this interview with the National Center for Transgender Equality, in which the then-senator spoke about ensuring medically necessary care for trans inmates:

Supports taxpayer-funded sex changes for prisoner surgery.

“Um, for the prisoners, for the prisoners, all transgender inmates in the prison system would have access.”

It’s hard to believe, but it’s true. Even the liberal media were shocked.

Kamala supports taxpayer-funded sex changes for prisoners and illegal aliens.

“All transgender inmates would have access to it. »

Kamala is for them. President Trump is for you.

My name is Donald J. Trump and I approve of this message.

There were several versions of the ad, including one targeting black voters and featuring clips from Charlamagne Tha God to show.

In the final week of the campaign, there was a lot of discussion about the sheer volume of these ads running, including this election night comment from the CNN anchor. Chris Wallace:

DANA BASH: I mean, Pennsylvania and Michigan, in particular, in Pennsylvania, because there has been so much focus on the Latino vote in Pennsylvania, particularly the Puerto Rican population, since the Madison Square Garden debacle. Even Donald Trump and his entourage, even if they do not say it publicly, believe that what the comedian did did not help.

And yet, and yet, according to this exit poll, it shows that she – that – let’s stick with Trump – that Trump is doing much better than he did four years ago with this same population, the Latino population -American as a whole, not necessarily with Puerto. The Ricans.

CHRIS WALLACE: Yes, and let’s face it, even before the “trash” remark – Trump was making a very concerted effort. He believed and obviously had reason to believe that he could make progress with Latinos, especially Latino men. I think there are economic issues that everyone is facing.

I also think about cultural issues. There’s a real social conservatism, you know, among Latinos.

And you know, one of the ads that Trump and a lot of people wondered about, I think more than any other, was the transgender ad. And you wonder if he actually won over social conservatives and won votes for him and lured them away from Kamala Harris.

Whatever the reason, you can see huge gains. I mean, Michigan is amazing, just a turnaround.

The use of trans people as a wedge is not new, although it has intensified. It was helped by the constant anti-trans rumors from non-conservative celebrities like Bill Maher And Dave Chappelle. It has been relentless and disgusting (and of course liar) pushed by Trump.

This is not the point of this article, but it is absolutely crucial to understand how cruel and wrong this all is. Most anti-trans animosity is fueled by lies, distortions, and cherry-picked outliers in order to generate votes – all while creating an atmosphere of deadly hatred. Some of it is just fanatical people.

And I find it really unfortunate that no effort has been made to tackle these ads head-on, and not look away from them. Colin Allred did in Texas. They should have punched these lies full force. We should do this in the future.

But that’s not why Trump won. Most voters who legitimately hate transgender people were already going to vote for the GOP.

No, the key to Trump’s victory was in the last line of that ad’s voiceover: “Kamala is for them.” President Trump is for you.

Trump won by making big gains among black voters, Hispanic voters, women and Asians while he was still alive. losing all these groups. The Misunderstood Thing About Politics white resentment What propelled Trump in the first place is that he is not, in large part, based on “hate.”

For decades, Democrats have failed or succeeded because they have walked a tightrope between fighting for and protecting rights and equality without panicking straight white voters. The first is why I became a Democrat, the second is probably why I take blood pressure medication.

Republicans succeed by trying to convince voters that the rights and equality of others means that something will be taken away from them. There has always been a feeling among white voters, even among some Democrats, that Democrats were looking for someone else.

But in an election in which women’s bodily autonomy is at stake, and Trump literally calls people “trash” and “vermin” and promises to arrest and deport millions and make collapse economy, and his own former top national security advisers say he’s a fascist, how could that work?

Because Trump was able to convince enough voters that Harris needed them to be part of the “we” that the vice president wasn’t looking for. Unfortunately for the rest of us, they will “figure it out” – and so will we.

Watch above via ADMO.

This is an opinion article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author alone.