The 2024 election has been a test of two very different campaign strategies. The Harris campaign has represented a conventional, pragmatic strategy of assembling a broad, inclusive coalition while appealing to moderates to swing the election. Since 2016, the Make America Great Again (MAGA) coalition has represented a radical strategy focused on rallying a cohesive, enthusiastic base through the intentional exclusion and targeting of vulnerable groups. The 2024 election has vindicated the MAGA strategy, further incentivizing the politics of exclusion at the expense of the most vulnerable.

Kamala Harris’s and Tim Walz’s campaign stressed social progress, with an optimistic vision of a multicultural future. In contrast, the central theme of the Trump campaign has been the fear of the Other. Multiple groups have been demonized, insulted, threatened, or scapegoated by Donald Trump and JD Vance. Their campaign has targeted immigrants, including numerous examples of dehumanizing rhetoric and the willful circulation of vile fabrications on social media. At a campaign rally in New York’s Madison Square Garden, in a speech vetted by the campaign as part of its closing message, a comedian described Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage” while incorporating Black, Latino, and Jewish stereotypes into his material. Other targets have included the transgender community, Nikki Haley supporters and moderate Republicans, the disabled, women, people without children, urbanites, and anyone who does not fit within MAGA’s view of the United States. It has been a campaign built on exclusion.

One would think that intentionally alienating numerous groups would be a poor electoral strategy. My biggest fear is that today’s results will further incentivize exclusionary behavior on the part of opportunistic politicians, resulting in the suffering of vulnerable groups.

But today’s setback cannot result in defeatism. At similar times in our nation’s history, Americans have rallied to resist authoritarianism, protect the vulnerable, and advance inclusion. We must do so again.

Derek W. M. Barker is a program officer at the Charles F. Kettering Foundation, a political theorist, and the lead editor of the foundation’s blog series From Many, We.

From Many, We is a Charles F. Kettering Foundation blog series that highlights the insights of thought leaders dedicated to the idea of inclusive democracy. Queries may be directed to fmw@kettering.org.