#Trump’s moral vindication and other commentary

From the right: Trump’s Moral Vindication

On Tuesday, declares Spectator USA’s Dominic Green, President Trump did “the impossible” — by winning “the moral high ground.” Democrats and the media had insisted that “Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton was an electoral and moral aberration” and “a threat to democracy.” Chastened by four years “under the orange flag of fascism,” voters would surely recognize their sin and “repent.” Yet, win or lose, Joe Biden “failed to break through” and register an overwhelming win, despite “the moral blackmailing,” “gaslighting,” “fake news from the polling companies” and the “ludicrous” charge that COVID-19 deaths were Trump’s fault. Instead, voters vindicated Trump’s “attacks on elite corruption.” He “remade American politics, because American politics are being remade by the voters.”

Libertarian: Big Wins Against Drug Bans

Americans issued a staunch rejection of the failing war on drugs on election night, argues Elizabeth Nolan Brown at Reason. “Decisive victories” of nine ballot measures legalizing or decriminalizing drugs — some in states that previously rejected such proposals — point up a change in views on drug use in “a diverse array of states”: Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, South Dakota and Mississippi all passed measures to legalize marijuana use, while the District of Columbia voted to have cops deprioritize arrests for hallucinogenic mushrooms. And ­Oregon decriminalized possession of all noncommercial drugs. “If Americans across the country provided a clear mandate for anything this year, it’s ending the hold that drug prohibition has on our country.”

Ex-elector: The System’s Working Fine

The 2016 election, which Donald Trump won despite having fewer voters support him, led many to call for presidential elections based on popular, not electoral, votes, recalls former elector Will Sellers at City Journal. But “a presidential campaign aimed at achieving a popular-vote majority would completely ignore most states and focus, instead, on a few populous states containing the nation’s largest cities.” Such an “urban-centric strategy would silence the political voice of most regions of the country” and push aside minority voters, since only the votes of the majority would matter. Meanwhile, the Electoral College has “a pretty good track record.” Those who don’t like election outcomes should learn to “master the rules” and “attract supporters — and votes — from all portions of the country.”

Election desk: Trump Scores With Florida Latinos

President Trump spent much of his time after taking office cultivating the Latino vote in Florida, and “it paid off on Election Day, especially in Miami-Dade County, the most populous in the state,” reports NBC News’ Carmen Sesin. In the past, Latinos have heavily favored Democrats, but some 55 percent of Florida’s Cuban-American vote Tuesday went to Trump, NBC News exit polls show, while 30 percent of Puerto Ricans and 48 percent of “other Latinos” also backed Trump. Cuban, Colombian and Venezuelan Americans all upped their support for Trump. The president’s “endless” Florida rallies before the pandemic and “incessant messaging in Spanish-language ads” no doubt helped. Many Latinos “came to believe the United States would become a socialist country if Biden were elected.” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted as the election results rolled in: “We’ve been sounding the alarm about Dem vulnerabilities with Latinos for a long, long time.” She was right to be worried.

Health experts: Don’t Shut Down Schools

The recent COVID-19 surge has made some officials even more reluctant to reopen schools, but evidence that schools “can open safely, with reasonable precautions and, perhaps soon, regular testing,” continues to grow, ­report Scott Gottlieb and Mark McClellan at The Wall Street Journal. For example, a study of North Carolina counties found that the most successful approach is a “hybrid” model that combines virtual and in-person schooling. How do we contain outbreaks while protecting kids and school staff? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should conduct further research, Congress should “treat teachers like first responders” and provide funding for protective gear, and schools should conduct testing. Rather than shuttering schools, Gottlieb and McClellan urge officials to put “the priority” on “helping more schools reopen — and stay open — so American children can” keep learning.

— Compiled by The Post Editorial Page