World War III has not yet begun? Say it ain’t so!
It’s the day after Election Day in the United States. Roughly half of voters are elated because their guy won. The other half seems to be in a depressed and near manic state because their woman lost. When it comes to politics, the non-politician class almost always loses, so it’s hard to be excited about any of it. However, just like nearly every other election in history, the masses once again are getting a little too excited or a little too hopeless.
Today, there are hands being thrown into the air. Hair is being torn out. Teeth are being gnashed. Tears of sadness and utter frustration are likely being shed.
On the other hand, there is also some grinning, gloating, and dancing in the streets. Tears of joy are probably accompanied by a peppier step for many individuals.
Why do so many people look to the political class for a savior? Why is so much hope put into a single person or a small group of people who have proven – year after year – that they are mostly incapable of solving problems? Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are no different than pretty much every candidate that preceded them.
The fact of the matter is, neither of the candidates represented the best of society. They weren’t even close.
The Clinton Calamity
Hillary Clinton represents everything that’s wrong with politics. She and her husband are the epitome of political “royalty,” yet she was barely likeable within her own political party. She carried plenty of baggage with her from decades of shady dealings from her husband’s tenure as president and even well before that. From Whitewater, cattle futures, and rape and harassment allegations directed toward her husband, to Travelgate, campaign donations, the Clinton Foundation and pay-to-play, Benghazi, and her e-mails. That’s not an exhaustive list, but it does highlight decades of question marks about her judgment and outright lies.
We witnessed how the Clinton machine operates through various “leaks” of DNC e-mails. Those demonstrated just how corrupted the Democrat Party had become during the Clinton era, even with Barack Obama – an alleged “outsider” – in the White House. How quickly everyone forgot about Bernie Sanders getting screwed over by the Democrat establishment under the Clinton thumb. Or did they?
The truth is that Hillary Clinton was corrupt. She is in fact a criminal, according to the law, whether or not any of the various faux investigations over the years resulted in her prosecution. If any regular Joe was in her shoes, they would have been indicted many times over. The Clintons lied, cheated, and stole their way into politics and they excelled at it once in power. To not know this or to not understand their multi-decade history that bears this out is to remain completely oblivious. To deny this is just plain stupid.
Many people like to reminisce about Bill Clinton’s time in office – about how great he was and about all of the great things he did for the United States. But what did he really do? Balance the federal budget? No. That credit goes to the Republican Congress, but mostly to a thriving economy – and no, Bill Clinton did not create that economy, either. The highly-touted feat that most people credit to Bill Clinton was not his doing, yet this is what had mostly carried him and his wife into the upper echelons of political hierarchy.
How did Hillary become Senator in New York? Her husband was the president, a Democrat, and New York is an extremely blue state. What were her great accomplishments as a senator? If you’re looking for an answer from me, then you’ll need to look elsewhere.
What did Hillary Clinton do as Secretary of State? Well, she botched a lot of things. We’re still seeing the consequences of her actions today – namely, the fact that she just lost an election to someone who, justifiably, should have had no chance of winning. Hillary’s resume was long, but it was simply lacking any substance. She is the textbook definition of an empty suit. An empty pantsuit, that is.
Despite all of the flowing tears today, it’s not at all surprising to see that Hillary was denied the opportunity to become the first female president of the United States. That may have been her best selling point. Sometimes, that’s just not enough. Besides – many voters already made that mistake once before when they elected a guy simply because of the color of his skin.
Eight years later, plenty of people are still waiting for hope and change. What they have received instead is another several trillion dollars in debt, higher health care and insurance prices, more drone wars, a near-stagnant economy, and a truckload of partisan politics and demagoguery. Perhaps the election yesterday is an indication that voters are learning.
Perhaps not.
The Trump Card
It’s almost unbelievable to see Donald Trump as the president-elect. A year and a half ago, his campaign was thought to be a farce. Trump – the guy with the ridiculous “reality” television show – was running for the Republican presidential nominee. Well, he won that one pretty easily.
Democrats wanted Trump to win the nomination. The media wanted Trump to win the nomination. Democrats and the media got Trump for the general election.
Democrats and the media were beaten by Trump. Be careful what you wish for.
Let’s acknowledge this right now: Donald Trump is not a politically correct person. He talks first and thinks second. It may look bad to those who carefully measure every word they utter, so as not to offend anyone, but to those of us who care not about the perpetually offended, we don’t care about the political correctness of Donald Trump.
Does he say a lot of stupid things? Yes. Does he say things that offend the thin-skinned and the darling little snowflakes? Absolutely. Does this make him a bad person or a bad political candidate? The prevailing wisdom was a resounding, “YES!” That prevailing wisdom was neither wise, nor did it prevail.
For all of Trump’s faults as a political candidate – according to those who are stuck in their political bubble of altered reality – he mostly comes across as a straight-shooter. This is not something that should have been disregarded by his opponents. Wishing that away was never going to convince his supporters that he wasn’t a good person. It was likewise not going to convince undecided voters that Hillary was the better choice.
The constant attacks on Trump’s words never elevated Clinton above her actual abuses and scandals. There is a big difference between saying the wrong things and actually doing the wrong thing. Disadvantage: Hillary.
The media had it wrong. Hillary’s campaign had it wrong. Hillary’s lack of substance and her shady track record was never going to subdue the populism of Trump, even with the media in her pocket heading into the general election. Relentless attack ads against Trump – sometimes over a few words that he uttered decades ago – weren’t going to convince anyone to “rock the vote” for Clinton.
Hillary did not lose to Trump because of a great turnout from Republicans. In fact, the Republican candidate has received almost exactly the same number of popular votes the last three presidential election cycles: approximately 60 million votes. Hillary lost because 10 million fewer voters came out to support her in 2016 than they did for Obama in 2008. Five million fewer voted for her than for Obama in 2012.
Trump did not win because he won over more Americans than the Republican candidates did in previous elections. He won because Hillary Clinton could not win over Americans. She simply wasn’t a good Democrat candidate.
Donald Trump didn’t need to do much to win. There was no excitement for his opponent. The main reason to vote for Hillary seemed to be, “Trump is scary,” “Trump is a racist,” “Trump is xenophobic,” or “Trump is a misogynist!” This wasn’t a new strategy. This is the typical, mundane Democrat playing card. Its edges are rounded and worn. It’s starting to get creases and tears. People are becoming numb to the constant rhetoric. Calling everyone a racist, sexist, homophobe, misogynist, and/or xenophobe is old hat.
Where were the brilliant ideas from Camp Clinton? Where was the substance that voters continually demanded from her? Can anyone even remember her campaign slogan – just one day after the election? This was yet another blunder by the Democrat-Clinton machine. One thing you can be sure of is that a businessman knows how to market their product, even if it’s a bad product. Advantage: Trump.
Rather than Hillary calling and congratulating Trump on his win, Trump should have called Hillary and thanked her and her campaign for giving him that win. The presidency was hers for the taking, but here we are.
Where do we go from here?
If we listen to Clinton supporters, the world is basically on borrowed time now. They need to fear for their lives. The hateful and dangerous Donald Trump will track them down and persecute them. They won’t be able to speak out against him. They won’t be able to leave their homes. Gun-toting Americans will make us all unsafe. The Ku Klux Klan will rise again. Mexicans will be rounded up and sent back to Mexico. Muslims will be rounded up and sent to Guantanamo. Women will be rounded up and sent back to the kitchen.
All is lost. The world is doomed. Let’s all move to Canada!
If we listen to Trump supporters, Trump will be the panacea for all of our problems. They don’t need to fear anything anymore. The magnificent Trump will punish the liars and manipulators. They’ll be able to freely speak their minds again. They’ll be able to safely leave their homes again. Amazing jobs will quickly reappear. Everyone will be rich. The government will shrink. The budgets will be balanced. Deficits and the national debt will be reduced. Terrorists will fear the United States. Russia will bow down to American superiority. Mexico will pay for a shiny new wall. China and the rest of the world will buy all of their products from U.S. manufacturers.
All has been restored. The world has been fixed. Let’s colonize Mars!
It’s the same crap – different day. We all heard identical nonsense in 2008, 2000, 1992, and on and on. This is partisan politics. This is what “we” have rightfully earned from “our” voting habits. It’s a dysfunctional system with dysfunctional actors and dysfunctional supporters. So, it’s not surprising to see the absurd extremes of promise and ecstasy, and hopelessness and fear. What other feelings could one have after participating in such a ridiculous and broken system?
Bill Clinton was not a savior. George Bush was not a savior. Barack Obama was not a savior. Donald Trump will not be a savior. You heard it here first.
On the flipside – Clinton, Bush, and Obama were not absolute devils. Did they propose and sign terrible laws? Yes, they did. Did they make really stupid decisions? Yes, they did. Were those laws and other decisions generally harmful? Yes, they were. Did people on both sides of the political aisle complain? Of course.
What’s different about Trump, then? The sometimes scary words he uses? The offensive language? His track record of blowing up children with drone missiles, signing budgets with trillion-dollar deficits, imprisoning people for possessing a plant, and forcing people to purchase services that they don’t want? Oh, wait – that’s what the current class of politicians have done. What could Trump possibly do that existing politicians currently cannot do?
Please spare me the rhetoric, hyperbole, and the general fearmongering. If you’re voting for politicians, you’re already making bad decisions. You’re legitimizing the false “authority” that politicians claim to have over you. Your fear of them is only justified because you have granted them that power. As a voter and supporter of the system, anything that you believe Trump can do can already be done by those currently in office – and some of those things are being done to your political “opponents” by the people you support.
If you’re black or Muslim, you don’t need to fear Trump. You need to fear the people in office right now that have allowed black people to be continually murdered and imprisoned by “law enforcement” and have allowed or approved of the bombing of plenty of innocent Muslim men, women, and children in other countries. So don’t tell me that you’ve suddenly become aware of possible atrocities and that you’re fearful of that when actual atrocities are currently happening.
If you’re Mexican, you don’t need to fear Trump. You need to fear the people in office right now that have made your home country a breeding ground for violent drug cartels and that have tried – unsuccessfully – to regulate immigration, hiring practices, and wages, which has made traveling and finding work more dangerous and more complicated. Besides – Trump hires immigrant laborers.
I’m not going to go down the list and try to assuage the fears of every voter who didn’t vote for Trump last night. Just know that your fears of him are not justified. If you have consistently ignored the actions of your own violent, coercive government, and insist that a single man should be feared only because of his politically incorrect word choices, then you should probably be mocked – and rightly so. Your priorities are out of order and your fears are mostly unwarranted.
That being said, I do not support Trump. I do not support any politician. I do not support violent sociopaths who believe they have a right to tell others what to do, how to do it, or when and where they can do it. Your government sucks. It does not act on behalf of your best interests. It’s about time that you learned that lesson.
So, if you were a Hillary supporter, then stop crying. Crawl out from under your bed. Wipe the snot off of your nose and lip. Go outside and enjoy the crisp fall air. Donald Trump is not going to murder you.
If you were a Trump supporter, then stop gloating. You didn’t win anything. You just elected another guy that will pretend to do great things for a bunch of people who did not ask for his help. Just remember – over 80% of the human beings living in the United States did not vote for Trump.
Now, where do we go from here?
We go to work.
We go to school.
We go to the store.
We go to the beach.
We go to the movies.
Nothing has changed. Do what you want to do. Stop believing in bogeymen and fairy tales. Grow up and live your own life. Stop pretending that politicians are gods and devils.
Furthermore, I'm certainly not going to apologize on behalf of "white people." I don't even vote, so there's that. I'm also not a racist, so there's that too.
One last thing...
I sure can’t wait until Obamacare is repealed!*
*This probably isn’t going to happen.
Images are from Pixabay – no attribution required.
