Why Trump made inroads in the Democrats’ urban strongholds

Cities never sleep, but neither does Donald J. Trump. That might explain why he managed to make inroads in the most unlikely of places. 

Trump’s gains in the Big Apple were able to do some damage to the Democrats’ star candidate and helped contribute to his popular vote win. “Kamala Harris won New York City by a thirty-seven-point margin, far shy of the nearly fifty-four-point margin of victory that President Biden held over Donald J. Trump in 2020,” Dana Rubinstein and Stefanos Chen wrote in the Times. 

So how did he do it? It depends on who you ask. 

Take a look at some mainstream media pundits’ post-election autopsy results and their answer is clear: there was a swing toward Trump in big cities such as New York, Miami and Chicago because city voters — like all voters who turned against Kamala — are sexist, racist and dumb. 

 “What is wrong with this country that they would choose a message of divisiveness, of xenophobia, of racism, of misogyny, over a message of inclusiveness, a message for the people, by the people, of the people?” The View’s Sunny Hostin bemoaned to her confederacy of dunces. After all, Sunny is an expert on inclusion — but only on the days when she isn’t comparing white women to roaches! 

But let’s indulge her delusional blame game, shall we? Let’s pretend that anyone who didn’t buy into Kamala’s concert campaign is bigoted and evil.

The logical question is: why weren’t those voters racist when Barack Obama was running? Why did they keep their supposed sexism on the down-low during Hillary Clinton’s campaign?

In Cook County, Illinois, Barack Obama managed to capture 74 percent of the vote. Hillary Clinton didn’t fare much worse — retaining 73.9 percent. Kamala, for all of her talents, only managed 69 percent. 

So why the drop? It could be that folks in Chicago were just saving all of their racism and sexism for Harris. But what is far more plausible is that the voters in Cook County and other metropolitan areas felt they were worse off under the Biden-Harris administration than they were under the Trump-Pence administration. 

In the Big Apple, there were over 30,000 more felony crimes in 2023 than in 2019. Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg seemed more interested in devoting time and taxpayer money grandstanding about his trumped-up indictments against the former president in the Stormy Daniels case than getting violent criminals off the streets. 

While Trump sat in a dingy courtroom this past spring, the New York Times ran a piece titled “Why Are Men Randomly Punching New York City Women?”

The Democratic Party was so focused on getting Trump, they didn’t leave time in their schedules to do anything else — including listening to their constituents. Trump made double digit gains in Manhattan.

The Boston Globe ran a piece this past week titled “How the economy, high prices drove some Boston voters to Trump.” One of those Bostonians, Bob Roll, explained how the increased price of eggs, baked beans and bread “adds up” before expressing his concern about people with multiple mouths to feed. Trump gained twelve points in this year’s election versus 2020. 

In Chicago, the Wadsworth Elementary School — after being closed for ten years — was reopened in 2023 to house hundreds of illegal aliens being bussed to the sanctuary city by Texas governor Greg Abbott. Trump gained twelve points in the Windy City.

Trump’s new voters from these Democrat bastions didn’t suddenly warm up to his personality — and they most certainly didn’t turn into racist bigots in the last four years. 

They rejected Kamala Harris because she did so little to distinguish herself from her predecessor, who has become the poster boy for high prices, lawlessness and illegal immigration. 

In fact, in what will be seen as a seminal moment in her campaign, while on The View Sunny Hostin asked Kamala if there was anything she would have done differently than President Biden. Her reply? “Nothing comes to mind.” 

That moment spread like wildfire. If Sunny wanted to start understanding the results of this election, she should perhaps spend less time focused on Americans’ supposed bigotry and more time blaming herself.