For many, Trump's win in 2016 was earth-shattering. It was incomprehensible. How could a former TV show host have beaten Hillary Clinton, a career politician and Yale alum? She was going to break the glass ceiling! Topple the patriarchy! How could half of the country be so immoral?
For others-lower to middle-class Americans, residents of forgotten Democratic cities- we knew exactly how this happened.
Trump voters were sick and tired of Aristocratic elites exerting excessive control over their lives, passing laws that they themselves would never feel the effects of.
These same elites don't appear to have learned their lesson. Nancy Pelosi recently made headlines for getting a blowout at a salon that had been closed since March due to the COVID lockdown. Back in March, Bill De Blasio was caught driving across town to workout at his YMCA, ignoring local lockdown protocol. Governor Andrew Cuomo was caught maskless in Georgia hugging Savannah Mayor Van Johnson. Upon returning to New York, he ignored his own mandate requiring a 14-day quarantine after returning from a "high-risk" state.
The hypocrisy and arrogance of these Democratic elites is staggering. Their self-importance is disgustingly evident.
And it's the reason millions of Americans absolutely resent them.
Democrat politicians spend a significant portion of their campaigning efforts demonizing Trump supporters. Stupid, ignorant, rednecks, racists. This is how they address approximately fifty percent of the country, fifty percent of their voting bloc. They tell the poor white man living in a trailer park in Alabama that, despite their immense wealth differences, he still has more inherent privilege than Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama. They call Republican minorities and females traitors to their race and gender. They ignore the plights of millions of Middle Americans suffering in crumbling cities nationwide. When New Yorkers complained about not being able to make a living due to the lockdown, Cuomo told them to go get a job as an essential worker.
Do you think any of these demagogues have ever come home from a day of work physically exhausted, muscles throbbing from hard labor? Have they ever worked double shifts at a fast-food chain just to pay the bills, ever had to explain to their kids why dinner is plain spaghetti for the third night in a row?
I don't know about you, but I highly doubt it.
The rules don't touch these people. That's why they pass draconian laws without a second thought, why they won't hesitate to indefinitely lock you in your homes for the "common good."
Similarly, a bad President has essentially zero impact on them. The housing crisis of 2008, the recession, and the economic downturn left them unchanged. They didn't see the foreclosure signs popping up in cities across the country, the lines at soup kitchens, the growing unemployment claims.
They didn't care.
The disconnect between our ruling class and reality has steadily grown over the past few years. The chaos of the past six months widened this gap into a chasm. Democratic governors across the country have allowed riots and violence to take hold in their cities for months. They made no effort to stop it unless the rioters turned up on their doorsteps. Then suddenly it's law and order time. Ha.
When Trump promised to "drain the swamp," these were the people he was referring to. Corrupt, Aristocratic, career-politicians with nothing in mind but their own bank accounts. This is how Trump won in 2016. He spoke to the millions of ignored, shunted, struggling Americans who had been villainized by the Left and ignored by many on the Right. He promised change, real change, not just "opposing the Democrats." He gave hope to the hopeless. He promised to bring back the values that made America great at its Founding-ambition, guts, perseverance, and progress. He rendered an image of an America where hard work was valued, where anyone could succeed, and where every American was heard.
It's how he won in 2016, and how he plans to win again in 2020. His message is one of optimism and hope, a stark contrast to the Democrats' message of the inherent evil of America and simply "Not Trump."
Americans don't want more elites telling them what to do. They don't want more D.C. Aristocrats ignoring their real struggles and encouraging their victimhood. Americans are angry. They want their voices to be heard.
Trump hears us.
Maybe it's time for the rest of D.C. to start listening.
