COMMENTARY Democrats in denial about the liberal condescension that helped elect Donald Trump are like Venezuelans still in denial about the elitist corruption that helped bring Hugo Ch谩vez to power.
Democrats and liberals are awash in dread and despair after Kamala Harris鈥� blowout loss last week to former President and now President-elect-again Donald Trump 鈥� a man they understandably regard as the malignant antithesis of democracy and decency.
But in South Florida, anyway, I would point them to a place where they can see the response they 蝉丑辞耻濒诲苍鈥檛 surrender to.
The place is Doral. The response is denialism.
I鈥檓 not talking about 2024 U.S. election denialism in Doral. Most voters in that Venezuelan enclave support Trump. I鈥檓 referring to the 1998 Venezuelan election denialism that still hangs in the Doral air like reina pepiada that鈥檚 been left out too long.
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Doral is full of Venezuelan exiles who watched that 1998 vote bring the late strongman Hugo Ch谩vez to power, six years after he鈥檇 led a failed coup 鈥� a violent insurrection that brings to mind Trump鈥檚 attempt to overthrow the U.S. Constitution and overturn the 2020 election he lost.
After Ch谩vez鈥檚 victory 鈥� which ushered in one of the most ruinous and dictatorial leftist revolutions in South American history 鈥� the Venezuelans who would later become "Doralzuelans" blamed everyone and everything for his ascent 鈥� except themselves.
They faulted everything except the corrupt elite so many of them were tied to.
隆颁贸苍肠丑补濒别! they cried: how could they and their patrician east-side-of-Caracas class have pushed Venezuela鈥檚 west-side-of-Caracas plebeians into the arms of a vulgar autocrat like Ch谩vez?
Well, there were plenty of warnings 鈥� like the popular, three-volume chronicle of establishment scandals titled Diccionario de la Corrupci贸n en Venezuela, a book published in 1992, the same year Ch谩vez staged his aborted military putsch to thunderous applause in the country鈥檚 barrios.
In the 20th century, Venezuela's elites alienated voters by robbing them. In the 21st century, America's liberals alienate voters by talking down to them.
People don鈥檛 elect demagogic thugs like Ch谩vez 鈥� or Trump 鈥� unless they鈥檙e pretty damn angry. But Venezuela鈥檚 sifrinos, or yuppies, never really acknowledged they were the focus of that anger.
Too many still don鈥檛, a quarter century later, while they watch from Doral as Ch谩vez鈥檚 barbaric regime rolls on 鈥� and they wait delusionally now for a Trump military invasion of Venezuela to set everything right.
Another "c" word
So, a warning to South Florida Democrats: don鈥檛 be Doralzuelans.
In your case, the denialism issue isn鈥檛 corruption. It鈥檚 another 鈥渃鈥� word: condescension.
For several decades now, you鈥檝e managed to alienate working- and middle-class voters 鈥� even Latinos and Blacks, it turns out 鈥� not by robbing them but by talking down to them.
It鈥檚 hard to forget an episode back in 2015 鈥� about the time Trump descended his escalator and announced his presidential aspirations 鈥� when Kim Davis, a county clerk in Kentucky, did jail time for refusing to certify legal gay marriages.
She was of course in the wrong, both legally and morally. But liberals couldn鈥檛 let it sit there.
They took to Facebook and other platforms ridiculing Davis鈥� less-than-Manhattan appearance and less-than-Harvard education 鈥� clueless to the fact that her county had a 30% poverty rate, that she and her neighbors spent a lot more time making ends meet than they did going to salons or reading Salon.com.
It turns out folks who weren't necessarily heartland homophobes like Davis took a look at that smug, spiteful snobfest 鈥� and considered voting for Trump.
It turns out, too, that people who weren't necessarily xenophobes listened to the support Harris and other Democrats had voiced for decriminalizing illegal immigration 鈥� and then gave a thumbs up, as , to Trump鈥檚 draconian plan to deport all undocumented migrants.
It turns out citizens who weren't necessarily racists watched worthwhile diversity, equity and inclusion projects at colleges and companies intolerant cancel-culture orgies 鈥� and then asked in exasperation if maybe Trump held their common sense in higher regard did.
It turns out men who weren't misogynists heard woke gender jargon like 鈥淟atinx鈥� 鈥� and cringed.
It turns out women who weren't evangelicals got shouted down in what they thought would be reasonable discussions about transgender girls in sports 鈥� and felt demonized.
I鈥檓 not justifying Trump votes or excusing Trump voters. But that condescension 鈥� that liberal overreach 鈥� helped elect Trump as surely as corruption helped put Ch谩vez in power.
So unless you really need a great arepa right now, Democrats, I鈥檇 stay clear of Doral 鈥� and the sort of denialism that鈥檒l keep you from confronting your dread and despair.
