By Ahnaf Kalam | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice
As I settled into my usual spot at my go-to Colfax bar for its election watch party, donning my black MAGA hat, I could feel the tension even before the manager approached me.
I’d come to watch the election results, as did everybody else, but it seemed my hat alone was enough to make people uneasy. The manager — a friend, or so I thought — came over and, with a forced smile, asked if I’d either remove the hat or leave. Her reasoning was that “some women in the bar don’t feel safe with you openly supporting a rapist.”
Leaving aside the fact that the allegation she referred to is, at best, tenuous and politically motivated, I had to marvel at the double standard. People in Biden or Harris attire were mingling freely, without so much as a second glance. Yet, here I was, being ostracized for a simple hat. If anything, the fragility this encounter represented only underscored the chasm between perception and reality in today’s America.
And now, as the dust settles after a Trump victory that extended to the House and Senate, one wonders if the lesson will finally hit home for some of these folks. Eight years ago, in 2016, a similar opportunity arose — to consider why so many Americans had cast their lot with an outsider, why they rejected a progressive agenda. Yet, in 2024, it seems the walls of the left’s echo chamber have only grown thicker, shutting out voices that don’t align with their rigid worldview.
Nowhere was this clearer than in the reaction to Trump’s overwhelming support among voters from diverse backgrounds. The talking heads are apoplectic, unable to comprehend how Latinos, Native Americans, Black voters and, yes, white women could cast their ballots for Trump in droves.
In a sad twist, their response has been to demean these voters as somehow “self-hating” or “ignorant.” Disheartened Harris supporters took to Reddit and Twitter to label Latino Trump voters as “machismo sexists,” completely oblivious to the idea that many of us simply want basic, attainable things — like affordable housing, a secure job, and peace in our neighborhoods.
This disconnect — between what progressive elites think Americans care about and what they actually care about — could not be starker. Most Americans are not interested in the relentless pursuit of identity-based grievances. They want to afford rent and groceries without sacrificing their life savings. They don’t want to worry about whether a trip to the gas station will mean cutting back on food. They want to live in safe communities, free from the kind of chaos that groups like the Tren de Aragua, recently seen making their presence felt in Colorado, bring to our neighborhoods.
The irony, of course, is how little the self-styled “intellectual elite” grasps this. In Denver and other cities, the ivory-tower PhD holders and coffee shop academics can hardly comprehend why someone might prioritize security and basic economic stability over the so-called “progressive” agenda.
So, yes, I’ll admit: I’m savoring this moment. It’s especially gratifying to watch the same wealthy suburbanites who once chastised us for our political choices now quaking in fear of an imagined dystopia where they’ll become “handmaids” under some “sexist” Trump-led regime. And yet, it was their candidate—the Democrats—who left real women behind in Afghanistan to face unimaginable horrors. They were abandoned as the Taliban reclaimed power, and yet not a single one of these progressive “activists” will acknowledge the true cost of that blunder.
This hypocrisy encapsulates everything that has been wrong with the left’s approach: selective outrage, superficial empathy, and a refusal to face uncomfortable truths. And while it remains unclear whether they’ll learn anything from this latest defeat, what’s certain is that everyday Americans will keep pushing for the things that matter: safety, stability, and a voice that isn’t drowned out by elitist sneering.
Ahnaf Kalam is the digital editor and podcast producer at the Middle East Forum, where he has been a writer and researcher since 2017. He writes regularly on issues of national security, counter-extremism, and foreign policy. His work has appeared in The American Spectator, The Gazette, Daily Wire, The Daily Caller, and other publications. He holds a bachelor’s in political science and international studies from the University of Colorado.
Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in commentary pieces are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the management of the Rocky Mountain Voice, but even so we support the constitutional right of the author to express those opinions.