How did we get Donald Trump, the Big Bad Orange Man?
Well, when a mommy and a daddy love each other a lot…
Oh, that's not what you're asking?
You must be wondering how Trump was elected president then, huh? Okay, I can do that.
To start with the obvious, take a look at the 2016 electoral map:
2016 Electoral Map by CountyWikipedia
Notice anything peculiar in the Midwest? Specifically in Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania?
Those states were projected to lean slightly blue, though if we're being very generous we can list them as toss-ups, I suppose. Why then did every one of those states go for Trump in 2016? The answer to that is simple. Trump's economic policy appealed to white working-class voters in the industrial Midwest (aka Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania).
From protecting America's steel industry (Pennsylvania) to opening up new markets for America's dairy farmers (Wisconsin), to bringing back America's auto industry (Michigan), Trump offered white working class voters a deviation from the status quo that had been negatively impacting them for quite some time.
At the end of the day, we've got to ask what these key voters had to lose by voting for Trump? They'd been getting screwed over left and right by establishment politicians for years anyway.
Make America Great Again Rally https://www.flickr.com/photos/142588507@N05/31004267218
This brings me to my second point. Trump promised to disrupt the status quo, and people loved it.
"Drain the swamp" wasn't just some nifty rallying cry Trump supporters shouted in support of their candidate. They really believed, and continue to believe, that Washington is a corrupt place, and therefore something must be done. No establishment politician (i.e. Hillary Clinton) was EVER going to address the people's concerns about the elitist trend descending upon Washington. Thus we can see why Trump, the ultimate outsider, appealed to so many disenfranchised voters. His bold and brash style was exactly what D.C. needed as a wake-up-call after eight years of disappointment. The middle class didn't want a 3rd term of Obama, and so they rejected Hillary.
Drain the Swamphttps://www.flickr.com/photos/142588507@N05/43417667430
Lastly, the working-class voters I mentioned in my first point didn't feel like they were being heard by the current establishment politicians. To them, the Democrats in power were too elitist and too out of touch to represent their middle-class interests. This problem was only exacerbated by the fact that Hillary Clinton neglected to campaign as vigorously as Trump did in the industrial Midwest. Ultimately her lack of effort came back to haunt her, especially when we consider the margins by which Trump won in the industrial Midwest.
Trump campaign visits in crucial states the last 100 days of the Campaignhttps://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/tru...
Perhaps she assumed that she had the election in the bag? But you know what they say about those who assume… "it makes an ass out of you and me."
I think part of this phenomena can be blamed on Hillary's sense of entitlement. It almost seemed that she assumed (incorrectly) that she was entitled to the traditionally Democratic vote of the white working class. After all, why shouldn't she feel some sense of entitlement? Her nomination was handed to her on a silver platter by the DNC; she had nearly every Mainstream Media outlet, political analyst, and Hollywood celebrity in her back pocket; and, she was projected to cruise to the White House riding a victory so large it would rival Ronald Reagan's 1984 electoral map. Or at least that's what they said. Look how that worked out for her.
Maybe Democrats simply think these people voted against their own self-interest and that they'll learn their lesson come 2020. I wouldn't be so sure of it. That kind of thinking burned Democrats in 2016, and if they're not careful it will burn them again in 2020. Democrats need to EARN those votes back if they are to have any realistic shot at the White House in 2020. If not, say hello to four more years of the Big Bad Orange Man.
