Anyone who has had a conversation with me about Donald Trump’s bid to become the 45th President of the United States of America will know that I have been saying that the result would be what it was from the moment I saw him come down the escalator last year to announce his intention to run. As you can imagine, I was ridiculed. The prospect of that happening was impossible according to anyone who supposedly knew anything. Even the polls said it couldn’t happen.
As the media reluctantly called Pennsylvania for Donald J Trump, ultimately declaring him President Elect, the unbelief by those on social media was deafening. My Facebook and Twitter feed were full of people who simply couldn’t understand how this could happen.
This morning, the media and political commentators continue to whinge about the result rather than try and understand how this happened. It only goes shows how completely out of touch they are with reality and the electorate. Rather than try and understand why this happened and learn from it, keyboards are smashing out unrealistic end of the world commentary by completely clueless, and horribly biased, so-called journalists.
One of the most telling comments that have been made in the last 24 hours came from Rand Paul who said that Donald Trump had heard a voice in the country that no one else had heard. In reality, no one wanted to hear the voice. The working middle class wanted their country back while the top 1%, and those reliant on the state wanted something else.
If the arguments were to be believed, on one side it was all those supposedly uneducated people who supposedly endorse racism, sexism, homophobia, and bigotry versus those who supposedly endorse a legacy of corruption. The vote came down to a what values the electorate was more comfortable living with, in what is viewed as the beacon of democracy in the world. As the votes were cast, women, Blacks and Latinos, along with members of the LGBT community completed ballots in favour of Donald Trump while evangelicals did the same for Hillary Clinton. To try and suggest that half of the population falls into a single category is lunacy. Many people complete their voting papers, casting their ballot against a particular candidate as much as they do for.
The media have been against Trump from the beginning, chastising him for anything and everything, misreporting, misquoting, and misrepresenting much of what he actually has said. Those supporting the Clinton ticket repeated the claims as fact. Meanwhile, they refused to deliver the same level of scrutiny toward the Democrat candidate. That the media are even less trusted than the politicians they’re trying to get elected, it should be no surprise to anyone that the candidate they so openly endorsed, failed to win.
The media should be completely and utterly embarrassed and ashamed of their conduct. There is a saying I regularly make that in an election, there are three groups trying to win an election. The Left, The Right, and The Media. The media have failed in their objectivity and when the t-shirt to the left gets worn at Trump rallies, the offended media call out in disgust rather than questioning why the shirt would be printed in the first place. Asking questions was what the media used to do. Now all we hear is their ill-informed opinion.
We were constantly told that the US election wouldn’t be a repeat of Brexit. When the Brexit result was announced, my belief that Donald Trump would win the Presidency was solidified. I love polls, the data, and the trends. But this time, they weren’t reliable.
Watching the 538 polls religiously over the last few months, when FBI Director Comey announced that the second email investigation wasn’t going to produce any change in decision from the first, suspiciously, the polls near immediately began to reflect positive change for the Clinton campaign. Florida swung nearly 8%. Additionally, the adjustments that were being made in the last few days dragged a projected Trump win to less than 30%.
Both Brexit and the US election were incredibly polarising. For the most part, anyone who was a Trump supporter remained quiet, in fear of the often brutal attacks delivered online and in social media. Anyone who dared to claim they supported Trump was labelled a racist, sexist, a homophobe, or a bigot. No one in their right mind would offer themselves up for harrassment and so the silent majority got on with their lives, their struggles, and their desire for change without the need of telling the world how they were going to vote. Today, those anti-trump activists continue to vilify those who supported him.
Ironically, the campaign that claimed to be all about love and that love trumps hate has acted in the exact opposite way. It is completely evident this morning just by reading the commentary online that there is very little love by those who condemn those who democratically elected someone they didn’t want.
I spend more than a month in the US every year and from the many American friends and family that I have, the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States is not necessarily an endorsement of him but rather a rejection of Hillary Clinton and her husband’s legacy and baggage.
When it comes down to it, it is my belief that it wasn’t what won the election for Donald Trump that put him in the White House but rather what lost the election for Hillary Clinton. The problem for the those who have tended to vocally support left leaning candidates and campaigns in recent years is that they fail to learn, or even want to, and instead resort to finding every excuse under the sun for the result they didn’t want. They look for blame everywhere but where it actually lies. For those who want to learn, here is where I believe the blame should be directed.
- The Media
The appalling bias and lack of objectivity is possibly the single biggest reason why the Clinton campaign lost. They are viewed as less trustworthy than politicians and despite their belief that they are influential, voters are immune to their propaganda and campaigns of misinformation. There is a deep-seated, and growing, resentment for these people who live in an echo chamber, especially when they appear to be working hand-in-glove with the political establishment that they are supposed to hold to account. - Social Media participants
Democracy isn’t something that is only good when your team wins. Everyone has a right to an opinion, even if it’s not the same as yours. I am, and always will be, a swing voter. Like many others, what puts people off voting for a particular candidate, party, or ticket is how those who support it act towards those who don’t. In this election, deplorable became a badge of honor and I’d suggest that the behaviour of many causes more evacuations from one side of the ledger than it does deliver any. - The Candidate
There is a long list of reasons why Hillary was her biggest liability during the campaign. Her email server. The Podesta emails. The Clinton Foundation. Benghazi. Her time as Secretary of State. Her husband. Her health. Even those who voted for her, many felt uncomfortable about her baggage.
There were plenty of warnings that a Trump win was on the cards but those who really didn’t want it to happen took no notice. Trump was written off from the day he declared and now, in utter bewilderment, people are in shock.
Until we all decide to learn and understand the perspective of those who walk in different shoes, we are bound to have history repeat. No amount of complaining will change that. But what would I know, right?