A Range of Lessons From Trump’s Victory

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• G.O.P. Plan to Bar a Transgender Member From the Women’s Bathroom
• The Matt Gaetz Gambit
• Elon Musk’s Cuts

Credit…Damon Winter/The New York Times

To the Editor:

Re “Enough,” by Roxane Gay (Opinion, Nov. 17):

I empathize with Ms. Gay’s feelings regarding not yielding “even a little” to Trumpism’s “odious politics.” But we also cannot be naïve about what’s necessary to most effectively fight and defeat Trumpism: political power.

To win future elections Democrats — increasingly the party of well-educated, well-off citizens who have the privilege of voting based on concerns over the rule of law and cultural issues, not whether they can pay this month’s rent — do not need to cater to all who voted for Donald Trump.

They just need to win over a small slice of the electorate that may have voted for previous Democratic candidates but, perhaps holding their noses, didn’t in 2024.

They must acknowledge many voters’ fear, anger and insecurity over both major parties failing for decades to adequately address ever-increasing income and wealth inequality — that even when “the economy” improves, too often everyday workers still fall farther and farther behind. And they must relentlessly focus electoral messaging on their plans for how to repair this ever-worsening economic gulf.

Pursuing such a path to electoral victory doesn’t mean embracing the worst of Trumpism or turning their backs completely on left-wing social and cultural issues. But continuing to lose elections guarantees a harder fight to achieve equality and justice for all.

Justin Schack
Westfield, N.J.

To the Editor:

I’ve seen enough opinions picking apart Kamala Harris to last me a lifetime, as Roxane Gay so dutifully noted in her essay. So here’s my opinion: Thank you, Kamala Harris!

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