The Democratic party's biggest stars, the Obamas, are coming in for criticism after Kamala Harris' Election Day flop.
ESPN anchor Stephen A. Smith says the Obamas' condescending messaging to voters helped re-elect Donald Trump, who many Americans saw as more responsive to their concerns about the economy.
Smith criticized the Harris campaign's reliance on wealthy celebrities, like Oprah, and the hectoring tone many Harris surrogates adopted.
While Americans were worried about the border and cost of living, wealthy elites told voters that they had a moral obligation to support Harris, Smith noted.
"This is the kind of stuff that alienates an electorate, alienates a voter," Smith said. "Because the freedom that you tell them you have, you try to confiscate morally by letting them know, you ain’t worth a damn unless you vote the way we say you should vote. Who’s going to go for that in a general election? With an economy rife with inflation, with over 12 million people crossing the border … the value of their dollars dissipating before our very eyes."
Many are crediting Trump's victory in part to significant gains with black and Hispanic men, as well as men from ages 18 to 29.
In the home stretch before Election Day, Barack and Michelle Obama both admonished male voters to support Harris. Barack Obama faced backlash for singling out black men, in particular, who were considering a vote for Trump.
At a rally in Michigan, Michelle Obama told the nation's men that a vote for Trump was a vote against "us," meaning women. Smith blasted Obama's messaging as divisive and an ineffective way to reach male voters.
"If we don’t agree with you, we’re against you?" Smith asked on The Stephen Smith Show. "How do you think the men felt about that? So we have to do what you tell us to do; otherwise, we’re anti-you? You thought that worked? Do y’all know anything about most men? You think that’s going to work?"
It's not likely that Democrats could have done much in the span of a few weeks to make up lost ground with men. This was more of a cultural shift that took several years to fully appear.
Unsurprisingly, men broke for Trump instead of the people lecturing them and putting them down.
Smith has a point. If Democrats are not willing to learn, their prospects won't improve in the future.
