While the US election results weren't sensational, American and global media reported them dramatically, as if they were a complete against-all-odds surprise victory. One explanation is that Trump is widely perceived as anti-establishment, a fringe figure who penetrated American political institutions, despite having served as president and being a central political player for at least a decade. Moreover, most mainstream American media outlets supported Harris, so despite the steady tie in polls, most election coverage included an implicit assumption that Harris would win.
Nevertheless, the election results were surprising in two key aspects: First, the sweeping quantitative victory that even the greatest Republican optimists hadn't imagined pre-election, across all parameters – electoral votes, total voters, and number of states won, including in swing states. But Trump also surprised in a more substantial way – the significant increase in both number and percentage of voters from what are called "sectors," except for African American women, who remained loyal to the Democratic candidate.
The Republican victory demonstrates that despite American society being divided among different groups, populations, and cultures – above all, Americans want to be simply Americans. During the campaign, Trump succeeded in addressing Americans as citizens belonging to the American nation, regardless of their origin, gender, religion, or skin color. This stood in stark contrast to Harris, who nurtured identity-based discourse among different groups in an attempt to address the needs, desires, and worldviews of each group separately, even though a significant portion of the issues at the center of public discussion are disputed among these groups themselves.
The divisive political discourse has flourished in recent decades in Israel too, with the perpetuation of class, cultural, and geographic distinctions becoming the bread and butter of candidates and campaign strategists' playbooks. Israel is rich with immigrants and children of immigrants from various countries and cultures, a fact that deepens the sectorial, fragmented aspect of the political system.
Journalists, politicians, celebrities, academics, and opinion leaders from all groups do everything to contribute to shaping Israeli society as a mosaic, composed of different ethnic and cultural groups. The political results of identity discourse are the increased power of parties built on ethnic or class identity, difficulty in seeing national interests, tribal judgment of every national move, and primarily – the emptying of public discourse from pan-Israeli issues.
Thus, derogatory labels for working-class conservatives on one side, and elitist liberals on the other, became objects of ridicule by the opposing camp, until they penetrated deep into the DNA of Israel's political system. In the name of identity politics, discourse became shallow and separatist – as often reflected in media interviews, Knesset discussions, speeches, and various declarations during routine days, and during campaigns through Ayalon Highway billboards depicting "Us or Them," accompanied by threatening photographs of "Them" representatives.
Identity politics has become established in Israeli society and brought many achievements for some political and social players. It seems that in Israel too, the time has come to abandon ethnic and sectorial thinking and return to pan-Israeli identity. The political body that manages to do this will amass considerable political power and will be able to reshape Israeli politics for generations.
