How Our Misplaced Outrage on the Left Elected Trump — Again
A 10-year autopsy of how performative rage became the GOP’s greatest gift — and why refusing to learn will guarantee President Vance in 2028.
Updated February 2026. Originally published 2025. Same thesis. More receipts.
The moment I realized many liberals had replaced strategy with hatred for Trump, something clicked.
We stopped thinking. We defended nonsense. We mistook outrage for power. And in doing so, we handed him the keys again.
I hoped I was wrong.
The 2024 election confirmed I wasn’t. And 2025 confirmed that we hadn't learned a damn thing.
Trump wasn’t defeated by outrage.
He was sustained by it.
Protected by it.
Elected by it.
Re-elected because of it.
Ten years of outrage didn’t defeat Trump. It re-elected him and built a permanent Republican machine powered by a multiracial working class.
This isn’t his victory lap.
It’s an autopsy.
If you’re still coping with “but he’s evil,” you’re the reason Vance is next.
Real liberals don’t just scream at the other side. They question themselves, argue internally, and stay rooted in truth instead of tribal comfort..
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The Real Mistake Liberals Made
The most dangerous mistake liberals made over the last decade wasn’t underestimating Donald Trump.
It was building an entire political identity around reacting to him.
Instead of building an alternative strong enough to beat him, we fed him oxygen. We convinced ourselves the “resistance” would end with prison bars while ignoring the reality that we were gifting him immunity, relevance, and turnout.
While liberals obsessed over symbolism, indictments, and moral theater, the underlying systems went untouched:
Party gatekeeping
Media incentive structures
Professional activism
A widening disconnect from the multiracial working class
.Trump didn’t hijack these systems. He exploited the ones we failed to reform.
This isn’t a story about Trump’s genius or his voters’ ignorance.
If Trump is the symptom, this piece is about the disease.
Unless it’s treated honestly, the next version won’t even need his name to win.
⚠️ SCROLL WARNING
Keep scrolling only if you’re ready to burn the machine we built for them.
If you’re already thinking “yeah but Trump…” you are the reason we keep losing.
“No Kings Day” and the Theater of Resistance
Cue the bragging about “No Kings Day” rallies drawing bigger crowds than Trump’s inauguration.
I saw the signs.
The costumes.
The Sharpie-on-cardboard zingers.
The message: “We are not going to stand for this.”
And the very next day, Trump was in office. Without a crown.
Mission accomplished. Right? We did it! We showed him we weren't going to take it and then we bent over and went shopping for organic farm to table broccolini.
The Minutemen of the Revolution must be quaking.
... From laughter.
📊 THE CHART THAT SHOULD END EVERY BLUE-CHECK CAREER
IIf you’re still reading, you already know corporate media isn’t telling this story.
👉 Subscribe now before this gets labeled “problematic” and quietly shadow-buried.
Left-leaning and right-leaning writers aren’t journalists.
They’re DJs playing the same song for predictable reactions
The Demographic Realignment That Broke Liberalism Forever
While liberals were busy calling everyone racist and sexist, the multiracial and white female working class walked out the door and never came back.
Congratulations.
You “cured” racism by turning the Republican Party into the new home of the global working class.
Maybe leave the country clubs and gated communities.
Go talk to the people you claim to speak for.
Don’t preach it.
Be it.
The Ten-Year Receipt Tape | No Coping Allowed
2015
Outrage: “He called Mexicans rapists”
Outcome: $5B in free media. GOP nomination secured.
2016
Outrage: “Grab ’em tape will end him”
Outcome: Hillary loses MI, WI, PA by <78k votes.
2017
Outrage: “Muslim ban = Kristallnacht”
Outcome: SCOTUS upholds version 3.0.
2018
Outrage: “Kids in cages,” Kavanaugh hysteria
Outcome: Kavanaugh confirmed. ICE panic fuels GOP ads.
2019
Outrage: Mueller Eve celebrations
Outcome: Mueller fizzles. Trump approval spikes.
2020
Outrage: Defund the police, 1619 absolutism
Outcome: Trump gains historic raw votes and minority support.
2021
Outrage: Jan 6 = worse than Pearl Harbor + 9/11
Outcome: Roe falls 14 months later.
2022
Outrage: Handmaid’s Tale imminent
Outcome: Senate held. No reform passed.
2023
Outrage: “91 felonies will end him”
Outcome: Fundraising windfall. Popular vote win.
2024
Outrage: Assassination attempt framed as partisan stunt
Outcome: Biden exits. DNC anoints successor. Trust collapses.
2025
Outrage: Deortations = “cruelty” / family separations / “worst since slavery”
Outcome: Deportations trail Obama-era peaks (~600k-675k removals + self-deports claimed vs. Obama’s 400k+ annual highs / 3M+ total). Rage replaces grocery prices again (inflation still biting wallets, but media cycle stays on .
That’s not spin.
That’s the scoreboard.
Why This Still Matters in 2026
This section is for the people who think this is “old news.” It isn’t.
Selective Outrage as a Distraction Machine
The modern left outrage machine fixates on cultural flashpoints — DEI rollbacks, immigration optics, performative “genocide” labels — while sidelining the issues voters rank highest:
Cost of living
Housing affordability
Healthcare costs
Energy and utility bills
This selective outrage protects entrenched power, not people drowning in an affordability crisis.
It’s the same dynamic that helped re-elect Trump — and it’s now positioning Republicans for easy wins in the 2026 midterms.
Fresh 2025–2026 Examples
DEI bans and executive orders dominate media cycles while:
Deportations continue at levels trailing Obama-era peaks
Inflation remains stubborn for households
Housing shortages worsen affordability
War funding remains largely unquestioned
Voters notice. Polls consistently show cost of living as the top concern — yet the outrage economy keeps delivering content instead of relief.
Why It Backfires
Performative moral grandstanding alienates swing voters and hands Republicans a ready-made “out-of-touch elites” narrative.
This is not accidental.
It’s the scoreboard of misplaced liberal outrage in Trump’s second term.
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DEVIL’S ADVOCATE — LET’S BE FAIR
Yes, many of these issues were real.
Yes, Trump was norm-breaking.
Yes, January 6th happened.
Yes, Roe falling hurt millions.
But the data is merciless.
The volume, framing, and follow-through of the left’s response didn’t weaken Trump.
It made him stronger.
Every moral panic cost swing voters and created Republican ones.
Right-wing outrage is local, concrete, and winnable.
Left-wing outrage is national, existential, and symbolic.
One side converts rage into power.
The other converts rage into paid newsletters and cable contracts.
YOU KNOW WHAT REALLY PISSES ME OFF
The outrage industry the left built.
They lose their minds over a word or a pronoun slip-up,
while rent explodes, groceries bleed people dry,
and billionaires laugh all the way to the bank.
But at least the right person got canceled this week.
Political correctness is intolerance wrapped in a rainbow flag.
The left used to fight for free speech.
Now they’re the hall monitors.
That’s not progress.
That’s distraction.
And in 2024, it handed Trump the keys again.
THE CRUELEST PARAGRAPH
The professional activist class spent ten years getting rich writing about late-stage capitalism.
Then they delivered it — and kept the money.
You got deportation raids.
They got TED Talks.
You got the Supreme Court.
They got verified checkmarks.
You lost reproductive rights.
They got book deals.
You’re drowning in inflation.
They’re charging $500 for Zoom seminars on “resistance.”
They’re not your allies.
They’re your suppliers.
THE ONE LAW NOBODY WILL SAY ON CABLE NEWS
For ten straight years, the Democratic Party and its media ecosystem accidentally operated the single most effective Republican turnout machine in American history.
And they did it for free.
The working class already left the chat.
IF THE LEFT HAD DONE THE OPPOSITE
None of this was radical.
It was popular.
Run on $2,000 checks and five million new homes.
Treat Trump like an annoying clown instead of Satan.
Expand the Supreme Court in 2009.
Talk about grocery prices instead of pronouns.
Confirm judges at triple speed.
Primary every corporate Democrat.
Pass universal healthcare.
Erase student debt.
Build public housing.
We would not be here.
That’s the road not taken.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT IF NOTHING CHANGES
2026 midterms: Republicans expand their Senate majority.
Democrats lose 15–20 House seats.
2028: President J.D. Vance defeats whoever the establishment anoints.
2030: The activist class writes think pieces about “the long game,”
while the right owns every lever of power.
Or we stop feeding the machine that’s killing us.
Your call..
PREDICT YOUR OWN COPE
“Hitler.”
“Victim blaming.”
“Republican-lite.”
“Source???”
“Touch grass.”
👇 Comment your favorite. I’ll pin the best one.
Wrap-Up
If your instinct is “Yeah, but Trump is uniquely evil…”
Congratulations.
You are the case study.
Do this now or this meant nothing:
Screenshot the hero image + link and post it where it will annoy people
Send this to the one friend still stuck in 2016
Drop your most embarrassing cope in the comments
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DO THIS NOW OR THIS MEANT NOTHING
Screenshot the hero image.
Send this to the friend still stuck in 2016.
Drop your most embarrassing cope in the comments.
Watch the full video breakdown on
YouTube.com/RealRxanSmith
Upgrade to paid. Someone has to fund the autopsy.
Updated February 2026.
Originally published 2025.
Same thesis. More receipts.
Credits – The Prophets Who Called This Exact Collapse Years Ago (Go Subscribe, Follow, and Send Them Money)
Ruy Teixeira & John Judis book – Where Have All the Democrats Gone? Ruy Teixeira
The Liberal Patriot Substack – Ruy Teixeira’s archive on working-class shifts: liberalpatriot.com
Richard Hanania – “Why the Political Realignment Is Permanent”: Read Here Richard Hanania
Richard Hanania Newsletter: richardhanania.com
Matt Yglesias – “The real reason Democrats lost”: Read Here mattyglesias
Slow Boring Substack: slowboring.com
Nate Silver – “How Trump Won” autopsy: Read Here Nate Silver
Silver Bulletin Substack: natesilver.net
Zach Goldberg original “Great Awokening” thread (2019): Read Thread Zach Goldberg
Zach Goldberg Twitter: @ZachG932
John Burn-Murdoch FT piece (working-class realignment chart): Read Here John Burn-Murdoch
John Burn-Murdoch Twitter: @jburnmurdoch
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I hear you — the exhaustion is real, and the Canada fantasies are too. I’ve been there.
But here’s the part we have to finally say out loud, together:
Those voters we kept calling racist, misogynist, and deplorable aren’t cartoon villains. They’re the same multiracial working-class people who used to be the heart of the Democratic Party — nurses, truck drivers, factory workers, small-business owners, Black barbers, Latino contractors from Mexico who came here legally. I talked to them all and I understand why they left. The left doesn't even resemble a party with talking points that touch their world. Hard to call them racist when it's the majority of black men and Latino men.
They certainty didn’t wake up one day and decide they love racism or misogyny.
They woke up and realized nobody in power was talking about the price of groceries, rent that doubled, or wages that haven't moved in fifteen years.
Instead they got lectured about pronouns, statues, trans athletes in girls’ sports, “Latinx,” and how every traditional value they hold makes them terrible people.
We didn’t lose them to Trump.
We pushed them away.
And Trump just opened the door and said, “Come on in — I’ll at least talk about your problems.”
If we want them back (and we have to get them back if we ever want to win again), we start by changing what we lead with.
Instead of the three issues that fire up maybe 100 hardcore activists (trans athletes, the exact manner of deportations, what Israel does 6,000 miles away), we lead with the three issues that decide elections for 100 million normal people:
- Can you afford rent and groceries?
- Can your kids ever buy a house?
- Is the country you’re proud of still going to be here for your grandkids?
That’s it. That’s the whole game.
We need to stop handing the GOP free turnout every time we have a meltdown over a niche issue.
I’m here for it.
Here is a trending issue that is blatant rage bait put out there by Trump that I have a feeling no one on the left will be able to resist. Cancellation of Martin Luther King day and Juneteenth.
People need to understand that he doesn't care and his followers don't necessarily agree he's doing this just to see how off the rails the left will go when they read it and that will forever win an election because ignoring him is the only weapon against him when it doesn't hurt people and this doesn't hurt people it just makes us look bad until we get back in and change it back. Strategy over emotion.
And I know this seems radical but how about we have a political party that asks the people what they need and then reacts instead of the other way around.