Let me be clear at the outset. I want Vice President Kamala Harris to win. I’ve spent most of the past two to three months on the ground in one battleground state after another, encouraging independents and Republicans to vote for her. I’m part of the “Republicans for Harris” effort. And the main reason I want Harris to win is because former President Donald Trump is utterly unfit to hold office. The man who refused to concede the 2020 election, who has indicated he’ll refuse to concede this election if he loses, is a danger to this country and must never sit in the Oval Office again.
Harris, by moving much more to the center on policy, has made my job of getting Republicans to vote for her much easier. But when it comes to the health and viability of these two political parties, I do worry about how each party would be negatively affected if it’s victorious. Sound confusing? Let me explain.
A Harris victory would be all the excuse party leaders need to continue ignoring these lingering issues.
The Democratic Party has real problems that have gone unaddressed for quite some time, and a Harris victory would be all the excuse party leaders need to continue ignoring these lingering issues. As the GOP devolved into an anti-democracy, authoritarian-embracing cult, Democrats have been able to simply point at the other guys and say, “Look, they’re burning our house down, they’re attacking our democracy, vote for us. We’re normal.” And it’s generally worked. The perceived threat posed by MAGA Republicans has carried Democrats to better-than-expected results in 2018, 2020 and 2022 — and may carry them to victory again on Tuesday.
But that victory might not be a great thing for the long-term prospects of the Democratic Party. Democrats have lost touch with working-class Americans — regardless of race. They’ve become the party of wealthy, educated elites. This is anecdotal, obviously, but if I had a dollar for every conversation I’ve had over the past five or six years with a regular, working-class man or woman who told me a variation of — “Joe, I know Trump is an asshole, I know MAGA can be kind of crazy, but Democrats are elitists who don’t understand me and look down on me” — I’d be a wealthy dude.
The Democratic Party has lurched left, become increasingly driven by “woke” social issues that put a primacy on identity, while being dismissive of issues that working-class voters of all races and ethnicities care about — like crime, inflation and the border. This condescension to so many voters who can’t relate with coastal elites in academia and the media provided the opening Trump needed eight years ago. He spoke directly to these people. Sure, Trump is a demagogue and he lies to these folks and tries to scare them, but the perception they have is that, unlike Democrats, at least Trump is listening to them.
A Harris victory would be a win for the country — and might just be the final curtain on Trump’s improbable and historically destructive political career. But it would also give Democrats all the excuse they need to avoid any meaningful soul-searching on how this race was so close. If Harris loses, the party would have no choice but to look inward and ask how this man could have beaten its candidate two out of the last three elections. Think about this way: Would Harris win on Tuesday if the Republican nominee were anyone but Donald Trump? If Harris loses, the party would have no choice but to look inward and ask how this man could have beaten its candidate two out of the last three elections. There would finally be a real, honest, difficult assessment of the party’s problems. It would be painful and would take a few years. But at least it would happen. And it might just help the party correct its course. Assessing a Trump victory for the Republican Party is much more straightforward. My biggest worry for the Republican Party is that a Trump win will be the absolute end of my former party. MAGA, Trump and Trumpism will have been fully validated, and there will be no turning back to a party of freedom, free markets, free trade and limited government. The MAGA party — an authoritarian, big government, intolerant, hypernationalistic party will be here to stay. Young Republican candidates will all espouse this MAGA ideology. If Trump wins, the GOP is MAGA forever. Yes, our country comes first. Our democracy comes first. Which is why Trump must lose and Harris must win. But both of our two major political parties have major issues. If Harris wins, the Democratic Party’s issues will likely get worse. If Trump wins, the Republican Party will be lost to MAGA forever, leaving the United States with no true conservative party — just a liberal party and an authoritarian personality cult.
Joe Walsh
Joe Walsh is a former congressman and the host of “The Social Contract with Joe Walsh” podcast. 
