Trump Won - but Is the Nation Moving Right for Keeps?

We're all still feeling the rush of the 2024 election outcomes, and justifiably so - our side won and won big. Donald Trump will be resuming the presidency in January of 2025, and this time, his vice president will be a young, vital, and intelligent up-and-comer with a compelling personal story, JD Vance. As of this writing the GOP is projected to pick up three Senate seats and are likely to hold a narrow majority in the House of Representatives.

So is this the sign of a major political realignment? A Washington Examiner editorial released on Thursday implies that it is.

President Donald Trump is a generational political talent, and nothing should detract from his historic comeback win Tuesday. But those who believe the election was all about Trump and his charisma should pay attention to the outcomes of ballot measures, which reveal an electorate that rejects the leftward lurch of the era initiated and presided over by President Barack Obama. There is a clear signal of a desire to return to better, more conservative policy.
Efforts to normalize recreational drug use yet further failed in Massachusetts, Florida, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Florida’s Amendment 3, which would have legalized recreational marijuana use, secured a majority of the vote but it failed to reach the 60% threshold needed to amend the state’s constitution. Ballot measures in both Dakotas, which also would have legalized recreational marijuana use in those states, were rejected by a solid majority of voters. In Massachusetts, voters decided against legalizing the recreational use of psychedelic drugs, including psilocybin and psilocin.

Those are, yes, some big wins for the right. And, yes, there has been a political realignment since the Obama years. Not an overwhelming one, but it's there. There are signs among the younger generations, especially young men, that being a conservative is now the cool, hip, counter-culture thing to do.

And Donald Trump, unlike a lot of more traditional politicians, appears to be planning to move fast once he is seated back at the Resolute Desk.

It doesn't look as though Donald Trump is confident that this is a lasting realignment; he's not waiting around - he's moving. And he may be justified in so doing; American politics have always resembled a pendulum more than a highway. During the Reagan years, our politics were sliding to the right, although the Democrats held Congress through most of Reagan's two terms - granted, the Democratic Party in the 1980s was very different than it is today. Then came the Obama years and a slight leftward tilt, which was reversed in 2016 - I would argue that befuddled old Joe Biden's term was an aberration rather than part of a trend, and the utter failure of the inept Kamala Harris is evidence of that.

And the current realignment won't be permanent. Sooner or later the pendulum will swing the other way again. My concern? It seems to be swinging a little farther, in both directions, with every swing.

Even so: At least with this election, those of us who are concerned with liberty, property, prosperity, and constitutional principles have some breathing room - and in some surprising places.

Even the far-left jurisdiction of Berkeley, California, Vice President Kamala Harris’s real hometown, got in on the action by repealing a city law that banned the installation of gas stoves in new homes. Even in Berkeley, Democrats don’t like the government telling them what they can use to cook.
Political winds change direction. Voters seem fed up with government laws that micromanage productive lawful behavior such as cooking but turn a blind eye to crime, illegal immigration, and drug abuse. This conservative moment may not last, but Republicans should push for as big a return to law and order as long as it does.

The left won't - isn't - taking this sitting down. Sooner or later they are going to take a good hard look at what they did wrong in this election.

WATCH: Philly Dem Party Chair Lights Up Kamala HQ As the Democrat Civil War Gets Hotter

The contest of liberty never ends. There will always be another push. We must now count on another Democratic candidate as inept, as clueless, and let's face it, as dumb as Kamala Harris. Donald Trump has one term. He can do a lot - but clearing away generations of leftist chaff will likewise be the work of generations, and our side won't have control forever. That's a reality. That's something we must be prepared to face. That's a contest that will never, ever end.

There is an apocryphal saying attributed to Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and others, but it's true no matter who uttered it: Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. It's as true now as it was at the founding. We can enjoy this victory, yes, and we should - but let us harbor no illusions that the fight is over.