Democracy In Crisis: Recapping the 2024 Election

Bex Heimbrock, Nazaaha Penick, and Poppy Lasher

November 7, 2024

Democracy In Crisis: Recapping the 2024 Election

The Right Celebrates Sweeping Victories

Donald Trump is set to become the next President of the United States, having won 295 electoral college votes. What this means for Whitman, Walla Walla, and the rest of the country is still being debated. America’s Right, however, is exuberant.

Social media posts have proliferated on right-wing sites such as Telegram and Truth Social. On X, formerly known as Twitter, conspiracy theorist and right-wing personality Alex Jones posted “Trump’s Victory is 1776 2.0.”

“November 5th., 2024 Is When American Voters Declared Independence To The Globalist Depopulation Death Cult,” wrote Jones.

A Trump fan account on X with 470.6k followers named “realTrumpNewsX” posted, “Give me your honest opinion: do you agree that all of the J6 political prisoners should be released by Trump?”

Others have begun to speculate about Trump’s proposed plans to move Government offices out of Washington, DC.

User JoyousMischief on Patriots.win wrote, “Half of DC is black, so there’s a great place to work on things.”

The White House in 2020, during Trump's first Presidency.

Looking Ahead: Project 2025

With Trump’s victory, much attention has turned to Project 2025, a conservative playbook organized in part by the Heritage Foundation which pledges to “take down the Deep State.” While Trump has repeatedly distanced himself from the project, many of his allies are involved in it.

Maris Bronson, a Sophomore from Los Angelos, wants to take action against the incoming administration in order to counter Project 2025.

“I am sad that it came out this way. That said, I think I feel very incentivized to do something,” said Bronson, “I just think being passive would make me feel very bad, but if I can be a part of something where we’re just trying to counter, like, Project 2025… would feel really good.”

The White House in 2020, during Trump’s first Presidency. (Kintsugi Kelley-Chung)

Washington’s Results Are In

While most of Washington’s races went blue, Republican Michael Baumgartner won the race for US House of Representatives District 5. Baumgartner has previously come under scrutiny for his right-wing positions. In a September town hall at Whitman College, Baumgartner claimed that Chinese spies and Arab terrorists were entering the United States through the Southern Border. As a State Senator in 2017 Baumgartner doubled down on other controversial opinions, telling the Inlander “there is no special interest group more obtuse and self-serving than the teachers union.” That same year, Baumgartner advocated prohibiting University boycotts of Israel. At the time of publication, Baumgartner has not responded to questions about whether he will endorse similar prohibitions at the Federal level.

Measures listed on Washington’s ballot displayed issues concerning healthcare, the environment and taxes. The Associated Press reports that Measures 2109, 2117 and 2124 were rejected. Washington Measure 2066 which ensures access to natural gas is projected to pass.

An accessible voting sign outside the Walla Walla Courthouse.

Students React

Reagan Bain, Senior, says that while she was unsurprised by the results, they were still dismaying.

“My mom said something this morning that I think is really good,” said Bain, “Republicans made the red redder, and the Democrats made the blue redder as well.”

For Yahir Tzec, a Senior who identifies with the Latino community, the election results are both angering and motivating.

“As an artist, I felt like this is what I’m gonna dedicate myself to doing, which is expressing myself through my art,” said Tzec, “I think that vigor comes from knowing that people, that most of the country doesn’t like me.”

An accessible voting sign outside the Walla Walla Courthouse. (Bex Heimbrock)

Whitman Wire

Whitman Wire

Whitman Wire

Democracy In Crisis: Recapping the 2024 Election

Whitman Wire

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