In the aftermath of the 2024 Presidential Election, the Democratic Party needs to reevaluate its response to right-wing rhetoric about immigration, antisemitism and ‘wokeness.’ Without some change, there’s little chance of them rebuilding and reinvigorating a party that can truly advocate for the working person and the growing diversity of this country.

There’s no question that under Trump, the Republican Party has employed masterful rhetoric to convince Americans of what their future could look like. Trump preys upon Americans’ fears about safety through topical issues like crime, immigration and antisemitism. Yet, instead of charting their own path, the Democratic Party plays into these fears themselves. 

In the days and months before the election, opinion pieces, campaign speeches and policy initiatives all made an effort to prove that the Harris-Walz ticket would be just as critical of illegal immigration, just as interested in funding police to slow crime in urban areas, and just as willing to support Israel for the sake of Jewish safety. An Oct. 30 New York Times opinion video was titled: “If You Think Biden and Harris Were Weak on the Border, Think Again.” One of Harris’ first campaign speeches indicated that her history as a prosecutor who was “tough on crime” would be an essential contrast between her and Trump, by then a convicted felon.

Perhaps the largest flaw, which many on the left cite as the reason they voted for someone else or didn’t show up to the polls at all, was the genocide in Gaza, which the Biden-Harris administration failed to stop through a number of means including an arms embargo. While many felt hopeful in August that a change in the Democratic ticket would bring change to America’s policy on Israel, Harris reaffirmed her support for the apartheid state, stating numerous times that “Israel has a right to defend itself.” 

Now we’re seeing Democrats actively supporting the Laken Riley Act, despite its harmful impacts on civil rights. These right-wing pieces of legislation aren’t just passing with Democratic support because the party is becoming more conservative. The Democratic Party and the Harris-Walz ticket failed to provide any comprehensive alternative to right-wing proposals and the rhetoric that fuels them. 

It would be beneficial to note that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than Americans born in the U.S. and that more police funding usually doesn’t have an impact on violent crime. Rather than embracing conservative talking points, the Democratic Party would be wise to center their own progressive vision of the future. 

Supporting immigrants and engaging wholeheartedly in the idea that they provide economic and cultural opportunities to the U.S., redistributing funding to support urban communities in other ways besides police, and above all else, showing that this work can happen alongside economic assistance that supports the working class, would be in the Democratic Party’s best interest. The Biden-Harris administration had four years to show that these efforts would lead to positive change in our communities, but the party must now look forward and be willing to push back aggressively against rhetoric that is sure to come from the right. No matter how far Democrats turned to the right, the Republican Party still successfully presented them as radical socialists, so why not embrace the agenda they are being blamed for supporting anyway? 

Whitman College’s administration and Board of Trustees could learn some lessons from the Democratic Party’s most recent shortcomings as well. In 2023, U.S. Congress failed to meaningfully challenge right-wing rhetoric and ruled that anti-Zionism was indeed antisemitism. In the midst of the Trump era, Whitman College would be wise to veer away from these kinds of assertions if it is to meet the demands of many students on campus and a growing number of people around the world. 

We all have a responsibility to call out, remember and take note of the differences between the antisemitism we saw at the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus in November of 2023 and the efforts of student activists who are highlighting Israeli apartheid and U.S. complicity in its efforts. If we cannot clearly locate these differences, we risk putting Jewish people’s safety in jeopardy and alienating those that want to make the world a safer and more equitable place. 

Trump’s first weeks in office have already shown that the U.S. is heading in a radically new direction, but in order to move it back towards our collective hopes we need to recognize how we on the left are failing our own communities and falling into the strategically placed rhetorical trap that the Republican Party set. We ensure safety by responding to fears with proven solutions, not by further inciting the fears we want to curb.