The 2024 election was the ‘Bud Light’ moment for the Democrats
The meltdowns I’ve seen by Kamala Harris supporters since Donald Trump exceeded all expectations and trounced her in the polls has been epic. They cannot fathom why over 73 million people flipped the lever for Trump over their savior. They are so out of touch with regular Americans that this election cycle should aptly be called their Bud Light moment.
On April 1, 2023, Dylan Mulvaney, a man who calls himself transgender and dresses in women’s clothing, wears makeup, and had nearly 11 million social media followers, posted a clip advertising his partnership with Bud Light in conjunction with March Madness. The backlash was swift as conservatives and Bud Light customers immediately called for a boycott. The company’s long-held niche was one of manly men drinking beer, Clydesdale horses, and Americana — all of which they threw away during an attempt at wokeness.
Sales tanked and revenue was down over 10% from April-June 2023. Bud Light, which was America’s top-selling beer for more than two decades, slid to number three a year later. The company never issued an apology to its customers. They attempted to explain their reasoning, had their CEO go on several television shows to “clarify” what happened, and released multiple ad campaigns to win back their customers — all to no avail.
At least Bud Light knew what went wrong but if they ever win back the trust of their customers, it will take a long time to do so. A formal apology would go a long way but more than a year after the debacle and billions of dollars in losses, it’s hard to imagine they will take that route.
The Democrats thought they knew their base, but it turns out that they were vastly wrong. They were so out of touch and pushed so hard on radical, woke policies that they managed to alienate more than half the country. They destroyed any kind of moderate policies they may have held by delivering a candidate who believed in zero restrictions on abortion, no protections for women in sports, no border control, and no plan to help working Americans get back on their feet.
The Harris-Walz ticket campaigned on creating a country where parents no longer have the right to protect their children from harmful and so-called gender-affirming care hormones, which Tim Walz took away in his home state of Minnesota. They wanted men to play in women’s sports, not only putting those girls in harm's way but taking away scholarship opportunities for them. According to exit polls, parents of minors supported Donald Trump over Kamala Harris 54% to 44%, a shift of 15 percentage points from the 2020 election. Fathers with minor children living at home supported Trump in a landslide, 60% to Harris’ 37%.
As a mother of eight kids, I voted the way I did for their protection. There are many people in this country who think more than half of those who voted for Trump simply voted for “hate and bigotry.” They think we voted because we “hate women.” Our very own president, Joe Biden, literally called Trump supporters garbage just days before the election. And then all these people are shocked that over half the nation didn’t vote for Harris. Who enjoys being insulted for months and then expected to vote for the party who hates them?
The audacity that the Harris campaign showed — and consequently the Democratic Party — throughout this campaign cycle by their outright hatred for conservatives and their values landed them exactly where they deserved. They have shown how out of touch they are to the average American who believes in science, who believes that abortion is abhorrent, and who wants to protect their kids from radical wokeness.
This election was the Bud Light moment for the Democrats. They touted a candidate whose beliefs were so far left of more than half the country and had no idea how much pushback they were going to get come Election Day. Americans were pushed too far and the Harris campaign and all the people who maneuvered to get her on the top of the ticket were shell-shocked because it turned out they listened to the shrill but smaller majority of radicals in this nation.
Actor John Cusack, one of many celebrities who stood behind Harris, said, "The fact that the country would choose to destroy itself by voting in a convicted felon rapist and Nazi is a sign of deep nihilism — To put it mildly."
Sure, Donald Trump is a convicted felon but look at what Americans had as their only other option. She was so much worse than that to more than 73 million Americans.
Abby Johnson is founder and CEO of And Then There None and ProLove Ministries. She is also the author of Unplanned.