[New York Diary] Do Not Buy Votes with Hatred... The Bitterness Left by the U.S. Midterm Elections

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy New York=Special Correspondent Joselgina] Is love stronger than hate? Does affection overcome hatred? Looking at the recent U.S. November 8 midterm elections, the bitter answer to this question is clearly "No."

In this election, held nationwide for the first time since the pandemic, there were unusually many voters who had no preferred candidate. This was because even the long-standing support bases of the two-party system were hardly certain about one direction. However, one thing was particularly clear: hatred. Even without a candidate they supported, there was a candidate they were fiercely opposed to. Even without a direction they wanted America to move toward, there was a direction they felt must be blocked at all costs.

The political sphere was quick to exploit this atmosphere. The Trump-style political strategy of building a support base by inciting hatred and anger against the enemy was confirmed once again this time. The "election conspiracy theory," which had been firmly instilled in conservative voters over the past two years, flourished again during this midterm election. The assailant who shocked everyone by attacking Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the third highest-ranking official in U.S. power, with a hammer at their home, had an SNS filled with various hateful remarks and conspiracy theories.

Although relatively milder, the Democratic Party also employed election strategies that used such hatred. President Joe Biden, who had been busy boasting about his various achievements, suddenly began fiercely attacking former President Donald Trump and far-right forces by grouping them as the "MAGA crowd," insisting they must be denied any foothold in American democracy. With few suitable cards to raise his low approval ratings, President Biden's new strategy was essentially to 'define the enemy and rally the anti-Trump forces.'

And this intention seems to have worked. Despite the characteristics of midterm elections, often called the graveyard of the ruling party, low approval ratings, and a recent economic environment far from favorable to the Democrats, everything seemed to aid the Republicans, yet there was no Red Wave (Republican landslide). Watching the ongoing razor-thin Senate election count for days, one recalls a voter in his 30s at a polling station in Manhattan, New York, on the 8th, who said, "I dislike Biden and the Democrats, but I dislike Trump more, so I came to vote," uttering curses between words that could not be included in the article.

The use of political campaigns during election seasons as tools of excessive hatred and division is not new. We cannot avoid mentioning the 2018 midterms and the 2020 presidential election, when Trump-style hate marketing was rampant. Especially after the 2020 presidential election, the "democracy that does not concede," which shocked everyone, is now shaking the very essence of America along with intensifying hatred and division. Moreover, this will continue through the 2024 presidential election.

The politics of hatred is not just a story about America. What about Korea? Although democracy is inevitably a history of conflict, shouldn't the extreme strategy of buying votes through hatred stop? Hatred, once transmitted, tends to take on the character of collective madness. And the wounds inflicted by hatred give rise to further anger and hatred. We already know that politics of hatred, exclusion, and agitation led to the horrific tragedy of Nazism in history.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.