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In the opening week of November, the nation was stunned by the remarkable and unexpected victory of President-elect Donald Trump. On election night, my wife and I left what was to be a celebration for a Trump victory with the full expectation that Hillary Clinton was on the verge of becoming president. We should have stayed longer.
There is a video clip making the internet rounds of Hillary and Chelsea hugging in jubilation. Bill, standing behind and to Chelsea’s right, is jumping up and down, fists pumping. “We won! We won!” he appears to be saying.
The premature celebration is a moment of pure schadenfreude, as no one in the history of American politics deserved to be defeated more than this rider-of-coattails.
The victory of Donald Trump represents not only a victory for those who despise Hillary, but also for those who hold the Washington elite in contempt. Additionally, this was a win for those who stand for achievement over those who sit for dependence.
There is also a flip side: The Washington elite (Republicans and Democrats) have forgotten their purposes. Both are more fixated on their own self-interests than the interests of the American people. And that is their major failing, a fact Trump used to his advantage.
The death of the GOP had previously been proclaimed and not for the first time.
In England, The Guardian took a poll, just after Obama’s first victory, asking the question: “Is the Republican party dead?”
They also editorialized: “The Republican party must now contend with a hostile electoral map and many lost seats in Congress. Without a clear leader or direction, is this the end of the GOP?” 58 percent responded: Yes, start planning the funeral.
Though the declaration was premature, to say the least, the refrain was repeated earlier this year, when Robert Reich, former secretary of labor under Bill Clinton, posted on his blog: “I’m writing to you today to announce the death of the Republican Party. It is no longer a living, vital, animate organization. It died in 2016. RIP.”
The mindset represented by Reich and the respondents to the Guardian poll represents a complete failure to understand the needs of a significant number of Americans.
Those needs are basic; they are not dependent upon the color of your skin, your ethnic background, sexual preference or “gender identity.” They are: a safe home and neighborhood, good schooling for our kids, an opportunity to work and for the government to leave us alone by doing only that for which they are authorized.
How significant is this number of Americans? Well, significant enough to achieve 306 electoral votes.
For the Democrats, their loss represents a failure not just of Obama to live up to the expectations of 2008 but a failure of their modus operandi of victimization. The Democrats represent, not a cohesive organization united by a common cause, but rather a coalition of aggrieved groups looking for solace amongst each other.
The problem with the politics of victimizations is two-fold: First, one needs to constantly be on the lookout for more victims and second, sooner or later promises made and not kept catches up with you. With this election there was not enough of the former and too many of the latter.
Indeed, past “victims” have abandoned the Democrats, as reported by USA Today prior to the election of 2012:
“Analysis of state voter registration statistics shows registered Democrats declined in 25 of the 28 states that register voters by party. Republicans dipped in 21 states, while independents increased in 18 states.
“The trend is acute in states that are key to next year’s presidential race. In the eight swing states that register voters by party, Democrats’ registration is down by 800,000 and Republicans’ by 350,000. Independents have gained 325,000”
The Democrats failed to recognize that their “victims” were fleeing the party. Should they really have been surprised that many of their supporters either stayed home or jumped ship?
For the Republicans, the situation differs. Democrats continue to recruit new members to the coalition through various efforts: open border policies, a controlled education (indoctrination?) system, combined with the support of a helpful media. Indeed the victory of Trump, was an electoral victory and not a popular vote victory, as the “victims” will remind us ad nauseam. In the end, it doesn’t matter as the electoral vote is the one that counts.
The Republican Party failed, as well, to deliver on the promise of 2010 and 2014. They failed to overturn Obamacare and have been ineffective in their congressional investigations, while allowing the Obama Department of Justice to run roughshod over them. The investigations into several deeply troubling scandals (IRS, Clinton Foundation, emails, Benghazi and Fast and Furious) resulted in little benefit to the Republicans or the nation.
The defeat of Hillary Clinton stems to a large extent on the fact that she was a terrible candidate and campaigner.
Stating simply that Hillary was a ‘terrible candidate’ does not do justice to the extent of her ethical failings. Her issues with a complete disregard for integrity goes back to her days working on the impeachment committee and followed her to Arkansas, back to D.C. and lives with her today.
Additionally, many within the Republican Party worked against Trump, making his victory all the more astounding.
The Republicans must not begin to think that this was a victory based on their merits, but rather was a victory by default and the superior political acumen of Donald Trump.
Legend has it that during the Pyrrhic War, after his victories at Heraclea and Asculum, King Pyrrhus is said to have declared: “If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined.”
Republican leaders will need to change behavior by living up to expectations, or the Trump victory could indeed turn pyrrhic.
The key for the Republicans will be twofold:
President Trump will need to govern, rather than rule. And Congress must learn to do that which is right and not that which is deemed to be popular.
Trump won because he sensed what is right for the American people and he knew what we have seen for the past eight years was not what America needs for the future.
Dennis Lund is a mechanical engineer who lived in Benicia for more than 20 years.
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Outstanding article Dennis. I was predicting a Trump victory from the day he signed on. Everyone just laughed. Not now. The state of California will suffer because of all the state regulations. That alone may just wake up the California voters. Lets hope so.;
Thank you Bob. Glad you liked it.
My vote wasn’t for Trump, it was AGAINST that crook Hillary.
Jim, You and a lot of other people felt the same way, including me. Thanks for posting.
Dennis
I did not vote for either candidate, I wrote in “None of the Above”. That said, I wished the Republican Party had put forth a stronger candidate who would have defeated Hillary on the issues and not so much on popularity (or lack there of)..
I identify myself as a social moderate and fiscal conservative. I really liked John Kasich, but he was out of the race before we in California had a chance.
I for one am willing to give President Elect Trump a chance to govern. His post election rhetoric seems to have toned down and is appears he is gathering a good stable of advisors.
My high school government teacher used to say, “The job of a politician is to get elected. Then gather the best minds available to advise him/her”.
People who are fawning over the next four years need to take a look at the Constitution and understand how it works.. Everyone who claimed they were going to move to Canada if Trump won the election need to get moving. I’d appreciate the reduction in traffic.
“Make America Great Again” is a campaign slogan used in American politics that originated with the Ronald Reagan campaign of 1980.
Source: Wikipedia.
From the above post:
“President Trump will need to govern, rather than rule. And Congress must learn to do that which is right and not that which is deemed to be popular.
Trump won because he sensed what is right for the American people and he knew what we have seen for the past eight years was not what America needs for the future.”
Below a more sobering analysis of what has transpired over the past eight years under Obama and what a Trump administration may institute going forward— from my favorite political economist professor Jack Rasmus, at St. Mary’s College.
“Taming Trump”
From ‘Faux Left’ to ‘Faux Right’ Populism
“In 2008 Barack Obama ran for president based on a program that in some ways was clearly populism. Entering the president primary race late, in early 2008, Obama’s advisers vaulted him to the nomination six months later by employing a strategy that consistently was to the left of the other Democrat candidates, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards. Obama appeared the popular left candidate. Many voters were sufficiently misled. Immediately after elected, however, Obama proceeded to appoint advisers and cabinet members who were clearly representatives of the banking industry and business interests in general. Neoliberal policies were given a ‘left cover’, as Obama then ruled from the ‘center-right’ on key matters of economic policy of primary interest to the elite—i.e. bailing out the banks, rescuing big businesses from bankruptcy, ensuring the stock and bond markets boomed, pressing for free trade deals, going slow and minimalizing banking regulation, ensuring healthcare reform did not include the ‘public option’ or even consider Medicare expansion, and turning over US jobs and trade policy to figures like Jeff Immelt, CEO of General Electric. Mortgage companies were given preference over bailing out homeowners facing foreclosure and ‘negative equity’. Latinos were deported in record numbers, students allowed to accumulate more than $1 trillion in debt, job creation involved mostly low paid, contingent service work, pensions were allowed to collapse, senior citizens’ savings evaporate while investors enjoyed eight years of near zero interest rates, and progressive labor legislation was quickly shelved.”
“Like the Obama regime, the Trump regime will retreat to a neoliberal US elite regime. It will be a ‘Neoliberalism 2.0’. An evolved new form of Neoliberalism based on the continuation of pro-investor, pro-corporate, pro-wealthy elite economic policies—with an overlay of even more repressive social policies involving immigration, law and order, privatizations, cuts in social programs, more police repressions of ethnic communities, environmental retreat, limits on civil liberties, more insecurity and more fear. This is the new form of Neoliberalism, necessary to continue its economic dimensions by intensifying its forms of social repression and control.”
“We predict Trump will concede to elite neoliberal policies on Trade and Foreign Policy eventually, as he already is about to do with regard to elite policy preferences on taxation and deregulation. If he does not, elite interests are waiting in the wings, gathering the evidence and ammunition to attack Trump more directly if necessary, should he not comply. So long as he plays ball with them, they’ll just hold their ammunition at the ready. They will lock and load, and cock the hammer, taking aim and give a warning.”
“Trump will respond. He will come around to their demands. After all, he has more personally to even lose than did Obama. Faux left is replaced by faux right in American politics.”
Full article below, more truth telling for the community to consider…
https://jackrasmus.com/2016/12/01/taming-trump-print/