Well, it's done. I'm not real happy about it, but I do understand it...
Before I say anything else, I want to make something very clear. The following is not an endorsement of Donald Trump. It's not excusing anything he's done or said. It's not even me saying "well, the better candidate won." Frankly, I didn't vote at all this election because both candidates sickened me so badly that my conscience would not allow me to vote for either of them. No, what follows is me doing what I always do: making an attempt to objectively understand what's happened, even if I don't like it. That being said...
The truth is, America did not vote Trump into office. America voted the Democrats out of office. Trump’s behavior did not win him the election. The Democrat’s behavior won him the election. This wasn’t a victory for Republicans. It wasn’t a victory for anyone. This was a failure for the Democrats.
President Obama got elected on a platform of change. That was his whole campaign slogan “CHANGE!” “Yes we can!” etc. September 11th came early in Bush’s presidency, and the ramifications of that day dominated the rest of it. People were tired of feeling afraid and were tired of what was happening to the world. They were desperate for change. So when Obama came along, a man who was so very different from the past several presidents - different race (for the first time ever), different party, comparatively young etc.; and promised change, people got excited at their chance to be done with the disaster of the past 8 years.
Despite how little I think of Obama as president, I would be infinitely happier with another term for him than I would having Trump in the Whitehouse, but I can’t help but notice parallels. People are as tired of the culture that has arisen from Democrat leadership as they were of the one that arose from Republican leadership. They’re tired of being immediately cast as small-minded and hateful if they didn’t fall in line with liberal philosophy. They’re tired of being cast as racist hicks for showing any signs of patriotism. They’re tired of turning on their TV, seeing their leaders display a sense of analytical calm regarding ISIS videos of men being put in cages and burned alive, young girls being beaten to death and gang-raped, and women executed by their children, but then visibly shake with anger over their OWN people for using the term “Muslim extremism.” We were seeing literal atrocities committed against our own people, but they were angrier over Americans for un-politically correct phrases. Conservatives - and more than that, people who are just a little less liberal than we’ve come to expect from this country - have raised concerns and opinions and instead of addressing them, they’ve been shouted down and told to be ashamed of themselves, their faith, their upbringing, their national identity, and their culture.
Now, you can say “Well, now they how ‘group X’ has felt!” Or “well, maybe they should feel ashamed of themselves for being racist/sexist/prejudice/whatever.” And in some cases, sure; you’re right. In others, not so much; the Democrats spent a LOT of time focusing so heavily on how they think things should be that they overlooked how things ARE, and when you’re in charge of matters of logistics, with severe, far-reaching consequences, that’s a problem. But the fact that all these people “knew how group X felt” should also tell you something. If ‘group X’ didn’t like being made to feel ashamed of themselves and everything they’ve been raised to be, how long did you think you could get away with making everyone else feel the same way, without them acting on it? How long did you think you could say “your culture is bad, your faith is bad, your race (in regards to white people) is responsible for everything bad in the world) and you’re irredeemably evil and hateful if you’re uncomfortable with anything we do (and by the way, keep your damn religion to yourself, it makes us uncomfortable)” before people got sick of it and wanted a change? You can’t just pigeon-hole people like that. Human beings are never that simple.
So then Trump comes along with his member berries, and for the first time in 8 years, someone close to The Whitehouse is voicing all these frustrations. He promised to focus on our country. To put us and our nation first. You can say “he just told people what they wanted to hear” and in a lot of ways, you’re right; but at the same time, when the party in power has failed to tell them what they’ve wanted to hear for 8 straight years, I have to believe there’s some blame to be placed over that.
Meanwhile, the Democrats seemed absolutely bound and determined to continue with more of the same. DNC members even resigned after leaked emails made it clear that they had conspired to oust Bernie Sanders - who was also very different - in favor of Hillary, the practices, polished, quintessential politician. If they weren’t willing to shake things up with a member of their own party, someone their OWN members loved, it clearly wasn’t going to happen at all with them.
I don’t know anyone who didn’t have reasons to hate Trump. The man ran the worst campaign I’ve ever seen. I can’t imagine a candidate behaving less presidential during a campaign. It should have been easy to overcome him. So for those of you who identify as Democrats and are politically minded, I invite you to ponder something. As easy as it is to simply groan and talk about “what’s wrong with people in this country,” if you want things to go differently next time around, perhaps you should spend at least some time turning that criticism inward and asking yourself why couldn’t you beat him? How is it that you couldn’t produce a candidate and a campaign that was more appealing to your countrymen than Trump? What are you doing that has made your party so unappealing to the people that a man like Trump seemed preferable to what you offer.
To those of you who identify as dems: you can turn the light of criticism and inspection towards everyone ELSE, and continue feeling superior, or you can turn it INWARD and maybe take back power next time. The choice is yours, but you just lost the House, the Senate and the Whitehouse to an orange nightmare and a bunch of Republican congressman. Perhaps a bit of introspection is in order...
The truth is, America did not vote Trump into office. America voted the Democrats out of office. Trump’s behavior did not win him the election. The Democrat’s behavior won him the election. This wasn’t a victory for Republicans. It wasn’t a victory for anyone. This was a failure for the Democrats.
President Obama got elected on a platform of change. That was his whole campaign slogan “CHANGE!” “Yes we can!” etc. September 11th came early in Bush’s presidency, and the ramifications of that day dominated the rest of it. People were tired of feeling afraid and were tired of what was happening to the world. They were desperate for change. So when Obama came along, a man who was so very different from the past several presidents - different race (for the first time ever), different party, comparatively young etc.; and promised change, people got excited at their chance to be done with the disaster of the past 8 years.
Despite how little I think of Obama as president, I would be infinitely happier with another term for him than I would having Trump in the Whitehouse, but I can’t help but notice parallels. People are as tired of the culture that has arisen from Democrat leadership as they were of the one that arose from Republican leadership. They’re tired of being immediately cast as small-minded and hateful if they didn’t fall in line with liberal philosophy. They’re tired of being cast as racist hicks for showing any signs of patriotism. They’re tired of turning on their TV, seeing their leaders display a sense of analytical calm regarding ISIS videos of men being put in cages and burned alive, young girls being beaten to death and gang-raped, and women executed by their children, but then visibly shake with anger over their OWN people for using the term “Muslim extremism.” We were seeing literal atrocities committed against our own people, but they were angrier over Americans for un-politically correct phrases. Conservatives - and more than that, people who are just a little less liberal than we’ve come to expect from this country - have raised concerns and opinions and instead of addressing them, they’ve been shouted down and told to be ashamed of themselves, their faith, their upbringing, their national identity, and their culture.
Now, you can say “Well, now they how ‘group X’ has felt!” Or “well, maybe they should feel ashamed of themselves for being racist/sexist/prejudice/whatever.” And in some cases, sure; you’re right. In others, not so much; the Democrats spent a LOT of time focusing so heavily on how they think things should be that they overlooked how things ARE, and when you’re in charge of matters of logistics, with severe, far-reaching consequences, that’s a problem. But the fact that all these people “knew how group X felt” should also tell you something. If ‘group X’ didn’t like being made to feel ashamed of themselves and everything they’ve been raised to be, how long did you think you could get away with making everyone else feel the same way, without them acting on it? How long did you think you could say “your culture is bad, your faith is bad, your race (in regards to white people) is responsible for everything bad in the world) and you’re irredeemably evil and hateful if you’re uncomfortable with anything we do (and by the way, keep your damn religion to yourself, it makes us uncomfortable)” before people got sick of it and wanted a change? You can’t just pigeon-hole people like that. Human beings are never that simple.
So then Trump comes along with his member berries, and for the first time in 8 years, someone close to The Whitehouse is voicing all these frustrations. He promised to focus on our country. To put us and our nation first. You can say “he just told people what they wanted to hear” and in a lot of ways, you’re right; but at the same time, when the party in power has failed to tell them what they’ve wanted to hear for 8 straight years, I have to believe there’s some blame to be placed over that.
Meanwhile, the Democrats seemed absolutely bound and determined to continue with more of the same. DNC members even resigned after leaked emails made it clear that they had conspired to oust Bernie Sanders - who was also very different - in favor of Hillary, the practices, polished, quintessential politician. If they weren’t willing to shake things up with a member of their own party, someone their OWN members loved, it clearly wasn’t going to happen at all with them.
I don’t know anyone who didn’t have reasons to hate Trump. The man ran the worst campaign I’ve ever seen. I can’t imagine a candidate behaving less presidential during a campaign. It should have been easy to overcome him. So for those of you who identify as Democrats and are politically minded, I invite you to ponder something. As easy as it is to simply groan and talk about “what’s wrong with people in this country,” if you want things to go differently next time around, perhaps you should spend at least some time turning that criticism inward and asking yourself why couldn’t you beat him? How is it that you couldn’t produce a candidate and a campaign that was more appealing to your countrymen than Trump? What are you doing that has made your party so unappealing to the people that a man like Trump seemed preferable to what you offer.
To those of you who identify as dems: you can turn the light of criticism and inspection towards everyone ELSE, and continue feeling superior, or you can turn it INWARD and maybe take back power next time. The choice is yours, but you just lost the House, the Senate and the Whitehouse to an orange nightmare and a bunch of Republican congressman. Perhaps a bit of introspection is in order...