It's not news that America just had its midterm elections. For several months we have been bombarded with infinite advertisements, political rallies, and news stories concerning midterm elections. In a way, the 2018 midterm elections were incredibly successful. This year's record-breaking numbers of both voter registration and voter turnouts are without a doubt a good thing. But now that we've voted, it's time for the people whom we voted into office to begin their work.
The results of the midterm elections have come in, and victory and concession speeches of candidates have been released. This is especially true of the elected state Representatives. The House of Representatives switched from Republican control to Democratic control on Tuesday night. This change of power is sure to have a lasting impact on the country, but what is concerning to me are the promises newly-elected Democrats have been making to their constituents. Most of the Democratic candidates we just put into office have promised to makes moves towards impeaching Donald Trump.
I am not here to evaluate whether calls for impeachment are valid, only to request of the new Democratic officials not to waste their time with this. Our country doesn't need any more investigations of tax returns or calls for the removal of the president. We need real and tangible change, policies that will solve the problems plaguing our nation right now rather than create new ones.
Trump's campaign and presidency have thrived simply because politicians and the media have bought into his scheme: distract by being outrageous. People become so up in arms about the offensiveness or brutishness of what he has said, that they are not organized enough to stop what he wants to do. Donald Trump knows that if Democrats focus entirely on trying to take him down, he can push his policies and executive orders through nearly unopposed.
His famously ridiculous Tweets, offensive attitudes, and abrasive speech all factor into one over-arching idea Democratic politicians don't seem to understand: the more they protest and hate Trump, and by extension Trump supporters, the more hateful they appear to their own supporters and opponents. You cannot win people over by yelling at them and accusing them of being bigoted.
This is one of the biggest reasons Hillary Clinton failed in the 2016 presidential election. She demonized both Donald Trump and the people that agreed with even one aspect of Trump's stance. Her "basket of deplorable" comment showed just how much hatred she had for the other side, and her unwillingness to work across the aisle. Nobody is going to vote or support someone they perceive to hate them.
Regardless of anything else about him, Donald Trump has latched on to this fact. He knows just how to make people angry, and how to keep them angry long enough to stop them from doing anything substantial. Democrat's calls for impeachment and investigation into his tax returns are just buying into his strategy. Don't buy into his strategy. His immature Tweets and prejudiced remarks are not worth the time we waste talking about it. What is worth the time? The changes that Democratic candidates have claimed to try and make.
People still support Trump because they believe he cares about them and that Democratic officials don't. And they have a good point: for the longest time, Democrats have been acting as though they don't care about the Republican base. So my call to action for our newly elected Democrats is to care. Make policies that show you have every American's interest at heart as you claimed to in your campaign.
Make the changes you desire to, solve the issues you are passionate about. Make America the place you want it to be. Don't let the current administration's cloak-and-dagger strategy win. Do what the people of this country elected you to do, which was to put their interests first and fulfill your promises. Don't focus so much on taking someone down that you do nothing to lift up what you believe.