EDITORIAL: Democrats remain in deep denial over election defeat

Many Democrats remain comically befuddled over how they lost two of the past three presidential elections to Donald Trump. As one might expect from those obsessed with gender and identify politics, they now engage in projection, chalking up the defeats to a sexist and misogynist electorate.

“Will the U.S. ever be ready for a female president?” trumpeted a recent New York Times headline. The story quotes Bill Clinton, whose wife, Hillary, lost the 2016 election to Mr. Trump. “Ideologically, the people who are most likely to be against women are most likely to be conservative,” he said.

Republicans should rejoice at this line of thinking because it highlights the level of denial bubbling up in progressive political corners. Kamala Harris didn’t lose because voters were uncomfortable with her ethnicity or gender. She lost because she was a bad candidate forced to defend an unpopular administration that had unleashed 9 percent inflation, $5 a gallon gasoline and other indignities upon the American public.

Ms. Harris ran a stealth campaign, avoiding specifics and difficult interviews. She tried to pass herself off as a moderate, but her record dating back to her time in California reflected her embrace of the far left. Many of the ideas popular with her followers — defund the police, sex changes for pre-teens, a massive expansion of the welfare state — are anathema to wide swaths of voters, whether they’re espoused by a male or a female. Witness how quickly Democratic power brokers kneecapped socialist Bernie Sanders — a man — to pave the way for both Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton for fear the Vermont senator’s views would be toxic in a national election.

As for Ms. Clinton, Gallup polling revealed she — along with Mr. Trump — was one of the “least liked” major presidential candidates in history. She dragged around various controversies dating back to her time as first lady in the 1990s, when she pushed to nationalize health care. Voter distaste for her candidacy was grounded in far more than misogyny.

Yes, there are vestiges of racism and sexism that still pollute the national discourse.

But women have made tremendous strides, now holding 24 Senate seats — including both in Nevada — and 127 House seats. Clearly voters have no qualms about casting ballots for women. Voters are clearly more than willing to support women candidates.

Will America elect a female president? It was only a decade ago that a similar question was thrown about in regard to Barack Obama, who subsequently won two national elections. Yes, Americans will vote for a woman at the top of the ticket. But when that happens, the candidate’s campaign strategies and policies will be the determining factor, not the makeup of her chromosomes.