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Culture War Roundup for the week of January 27, 2025

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I think he avoided talking about the 2020 election too much. I mean, everyone knew what his position on it was, but it wasn't a huge topic of conversation.

Agreed. In part, Trump won because he made things about the future, and provided a vision for an America he wanted to create, whether you liked the vision or not. He brought 2016 energy to the 2024 campaign. His debate performance was generally bad (not as bad as Biden's!), but his RNC performance was good, and the assassination attempt gave him a huge boost; that iconic photo will be what you see in the encyclopedia when you look up the 2024 election. Biden and Harris just didn't seem to have a vision, the core of the campaign was "we are not Trump."

It's my belief that the winner of most presidential elections is the one with the strongest, most compelling vision for the country. "It's morning in America." "Putting people first." "Compassionate conservatism." "Yes we can." "Make America Great Again." "Build Back Better." Biden's vision in 2020 was a return to normalcy, and he narrowly won on that basis, largely due to the pandemic.