CBS chief political news correspondent John Dickerson was tasked on Wednesday’s CBS Mornings with explaining how Donald Trump pulled off his Grover Cleveland impression the previous night. As Dickerson tells it, the country had a “nostalgia for a past that didn't exist” and wondered if sexism had anything to do with it.

Co-host Gayle King began with a slightly different question. Instead of wondering why Trump succeeded, she wondered why Kamala Harris failed, “Why didn’t this work?”

After Dickerson started giving the underwhelming reply of “he got more votes than she did,” King interrupted and tried again, “I know that, but, you know, we were saying this morning that some people believe that issues like the economy and immigration seem to transcend class and race. Is it that simple?”

Dickerson started out well enough, “Well, his appeal, Donald Trump's appeal transcended class and race, and that appeal was built around the economy. It was also built around, you know, disliking elites and experts and fancy pants people who tell you what to do with your life when you want more freedom, which is about the backlash against what happened with COVID which isn't directly necessarily directly related to the economy.”

Then things went awry, “It’s also, I mean, we are still unpacking what exactly happened. It's also an incumbent president, Joe Biden, who people felt didn't hear their concerns about the economy. It's also nostalgia for a past that didn't exist. Donald Trump's favorability rating and approval rating now is better than it ever was when he was in office.”

Just about every president has a higher approval rating after they leave office, but Trump was unique in that he ran again. Still, Dickerson continued lamenting:

On the question of January 6th, which is important because it is a historic event where the leaders of the Republican Party said Donald Trump was responsible for this attack on the Capitol, you need two things: you need the people who are part of the institution to care enough about the institution and the Republicans who said Donald Trump was to blame for it, they changed their mind. So, they didn't care enough about the institution to worry about harming the institution.  

Dickerson added that if Republican leaders won’t care about institutions, then voters can’t be expected to either, “And the voters think you and your institutions, they're not giving me lower prices, they're not creating a better pathway to opportunity in America. They're not fixing these challenges that I see in my life, the high cost of health care, the high cost of education. So, you and your institutions, that has nothing to do with me.”

A few minutes later, Dickerson played the gender card while trying to insist he wasn’t, “I'm really hesitant to make snap judgments about exactly what happened at this moment, but the question of whether America is ready for a woman and how people process a woman in a position of leadership and power, that is absolutely a part of the mix.”

Chief election and campaign correspondent Robert Costa discovered whatever remains of his former National Review self and replied, “We should remember that Vice President Kamala Harris was elected vice president of the United States in 2020. The country has shown an openness to having a woman serve as vice president of the United States. The Democratic Party nominated a woman in 2017 [sic] in Secretary Clinton, nominated a woman in 2024 with Kamala Harris. So, there's certainly an openness in America to female leadership. They have not broken through that glass ceiling. But they have shown an openness.”

Here is a transcript for the November 6 show:

CBS Mornings

11/6/2024

7:30 AM ET

GAYLE KING: Why didn’t this work?

JOHN DICKERSON: Well, he got more votes than she did. I mean, it’s—

KING: I know that, but, you know, we were saying this morning that some people believe that issues like the economy and immigration seem to transcend class and race. Is it that simple?

DICKERSON: Well, his appeal, Donald Trump's appeal transcended class and race, and that appeal was built around the economy. It was also built around, you know, disliking elites and experts and fancy pants people who tell you what to do with your life when you want more freedom, which is about the backlash against what happened with COVID which isn't directly necessarily directly related to the economy.

It’s also, I mean, we are still unpacking what exactly happened. It's also an incumbent president, Joe Biden, who people felt didn't hear their concerns about the economy. It's also nostalgia for a past that didn't exist. Donald Trump's favorability rating and approval rating now is better than it ever was when he was in office. 

And on the question of January 6th, which is important because it is a historic event where the leaders of the Republican Party said Donald Trump was responsible for this attack on The Capitol, you need two things: you need the people who are part of the institution to care enough about the institution and the Republicans who said Donald Trump was to blame for it, they changed their mind. So, they didn't care enough about the institution to worry about harming the institution. 

And the voters think you and your institutions, they're not giving me lower prices, they're not creating a better pathway to opportunity in America. They're not fixing these challenges that I see in my life, the high cost of health care, the high cost of education. So, you and your institutions, that has nothing to do with me.

…

DICKERSON: I'm really hesitant to make snap judgments about exactly what happened at this moment.

NATE BURLESON: Yeah.

DICKERSON: But the question of whether America is ready for a woman and how people process a woman in a position of leadership and power, that is absolutely a part of the mix.

ROBERT COSTA: As a reporter, I believe you should always take into consideration questions about gender, identity, race, and how these issues and others, background, factor into people's decision when it comes to political decisions and votes. But we should remember that Vice President Kamala Harris was elected vice president of the United States in 2020. 

The country has shown an openness to having a woman serve as vice president of the United States. The Democratic Party nominated a woman in 2017 in Secretary Clinton, nominated a woman in 2024--

BURLESON: Yeah.

COSTA: -- with Kamala Harris. So, there's certainly an openness in America to female leadership. They have not broken through that glass ceiling. But they have shown an openness.