With Trump’s win, ‘ordinary’ Americans declared independence from the elites

“You are not ordinary!”

That’s what Donald Trump told a voter who described himself as an “ordinary American” while the former president served fries at a McDonald’s in Bucks County, Pa.

Two weeks later, President-elect Trump has achieved a historic victory, marking the first time since Grover Cleveland’s win in 1892 that a president has served two non-consecutive terms.

This was not an ordinary election.

Trump overcame four clown-court criminal indictments, two Democratic presidential candidates and one bullet to the ear.

And yet, the election wasn’t primarily about Trump, who has been a known entity in our politics since 2015.

Nor was it about Kamala Harris or Joe Biden, whose interchangeability made it even more apparent that both were empty suits for the uniparty machine.

No, this extraordinary election came down to something much more fundamental: It was about Americans rising up and declaring independence from the centralized power of Washington, DC.

The era of elite manipulation is now over.

Our elites told us that crime was down, inflation wasn’t a major issue, opioid deaths were declining, and immigration was under control.

This victory means the American people — many of whom feel unsafe on the street, are struggling to afford basic goods and are mourning loved ones who have overdosed on fentanyl or been harmed by illegal aliens — don’t believe them.

Our elites told us that America was founded on slavery and is still systemically racist. This victory means the American people don’t believe them.

Our elites told us that men could become women and that women could become men. This victory means the American people don’t believe them.

Above all, our elites told us that we were “garbage.” They told us we were disposable, deplorable, bitter people desperately clinging to our guns and religion. This victory means that the American people absolutely do not believe them.

What does the movement that re-elected Donald Trump believe?

First, we believe that we are “not ordinary.” We are patriots.

We believe that America’s best days are yet to come and that if we advance conservative policies today, we can make America more safe, more virtuous and more prosperous for our children.

Donald Trump is the leader of this movement, but anyone can join it. To use the language of the Left — which spent its time this campaign season gaslighting voters and pandering to special interests — our movement is remarkably “inclusive” and impressively “diverse.”

It includes business executives and 60% of Teamsters Union members.

It includes Jews in New York and Muslims in Detroit.

It includes Evangelical Protestants in North Carolina and traditional Catholics in Pennsylvania.

It includes oil tycoons from Texas and parents who want to ban seed oils.

It includes hard-working black people, white people, Latino people and others, too. Indeed, the Pennsylvania man who Trump insisted was “not ordinary” is Indian-American.

The Left hates this diverse coalition because they can’t understand it.

That’s why they invent conspiracies, from nefarious theories about Russian influence in 2016 to ridiculous lies about “Project 2025” this cycle.

But these are nothing more than a cope — and a sign of weakness rather than strength.

But what unites this movement, and what mandate has it given Trump in returning him to the White House?

The answer is simple: Americans want their country back. They want a return to sanity, self-governance and the good life.

Much like in the 1984 landslide election when Americans re-elected President Ronald Reagan to defeat communism, Americans today have re-elected Trump to defeat the deep state.

To do so, we can learn from our predecessors. Just as the Reagan doctrine shifted American strategy from “containment” to defeating the Soviet threat, the new Trump doctrine must do the same to the deep state — requiring a shift in focus to institutional, internal challenges.

For conservatives, that means the fight must move from the arena of abstract ideas to the trenches of brick-and-mortar institutions: federal agencies, border walls, corporate board rooms, state houses and local school boards.  

Taking back the institutions that we can, destroying the ones we can’t, and building better ones in their place is the next frontier of Trump’s new movement.

Winning the White House is an excellent place to start — but it’s only the first beachhead. The hard fighting and the real tests are still to come.

Thank God, we can approach them with confidence — because the men and women by our side are “not ordinary.”

Kevin Roberts is president of The Heritage Foundation and Heritage Action for America.