Gather ‘round friends. Yes, all of you. No matter who you voted for, be it Trump, Clinton, Johnson, whether you wrote in Harambe, or Kasich, or Stone Cold Steve Austin- take some time to read this article. Let me tell you what I’m going to write about. This article can be broken down into three parts: First, what happened and why (don’t worry, my ego isn’t so inflated that I actually think I can answer this comprehensively in the hour I’m writing this in between class and work but I’ll try my darndest), second, what must be done by all of us in face of the implication this election has, and third, I will try to give you some hope in this time of darkness.
First, let’s talk about what happened. Seriously though, who saw that coming right? (N.B. If you actually predicted it a while ago spare me your gloating and allow me my rhetoric) People were surprised, I was alternating between CNN and Fox News the entire time and both were clearly surprised. Facebook friends were despairing before Florida had even been won. The point is, Trump won it, and no one saw it coming. One Fox commentator had an insight that I find pretty credible. The gist of it is that there were Trump supporters, moderates, who had been Trump supporters prior to election day, but were too afraid of backlash and criticism from their political friends to come out and say who they actually supported. So, when November 8th came about, and it was just them and their ballots, they voted their conscience. As a result, this closeted group of supporters hadn’t been taken into account in polling and saw a huge upset.
Now, it's only been a few days after the election so it is hard to tell what happened or even if the above statement is even remotely true, but even if it isn’t true, it is true that opposition supporters were never once met with a calm level-headed approach attempting to see things from their point of view. People would find out someone was a Trump supporter and instantly alienate them, hurling profanities at them, and doing everything apart from making a strong effort to have a meaningful conversation with the other person. Bridges were immediately burned and minds were closed. I’m guilty of it if you look at any of the past articles I’ve written. So, if you don’t think there was always a closeted group of Trump supporters to scared to come out for fear of liberal backlash, you have to admit, the liberal backlash was there. It was strong and it was alienating. The party of acceptance and tolerance became the party of acceptance and tolerance only if you shared their views. Whether they knew it or not, the Democrats had essentially flipped off everyone who was remotely right of center and closed the door behind them.
Ok, put a pin in that, we’ll come back to that later. Now provided you don’t think that explanation is enough, acknowledge the fact that it would be impossible for this to come about as a result of a single factor. Another factor I can propose is that the FBI Director’s (James Comey) handling of the second round of email investigations and the announcement of the investigations came at a very peril time, and the fact she was cleared was only announced a few days before the election. While we live in a time where news travels very quickly, if you look at the Wall Street Journals “Blue Feed, Red Feed” you will see that the information that travels is pretty partisan, and so it is very plausible that the second round of investigations would have made it to everyone’s feed, but those leaning Republican, would not have seen that Clinton was cleared the second time around. Even if they did, being investigated twice by the FBI will still have its impact on public opinion. So, let’s just say that the investigations were opened up at an irresponsible time, and things could have been handled better.
The second factor in the result, the corrupt DNC. Yes, it is corrupt there is no other way around it. They rigged the election against Bernie Sanders, and then the woman responsible for it all, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, fought against being forced to resign, but after that was appointed honorary chair in the Clinton campaign. For a campaign fighting hard against a corruption narrative, not the best move. Anyway, suffice it to say that the corruption scandal put the DNC in a poor, poor light. Now, on top of this, Bernie Sanders may have been able to win the Democratic Party nomination without the aforementioned interference. OK, this may be a controversial claim (but given my past articles that certainly isn’t new) but had Bernie beaten Clinton, he may very well could have been able to beat Trump. For one, Sanders is virtually scandal free, as opposed to Trump, so an assassination of character would have been far easier. Second, it would have come down to a comparison of policies. Throughout his campaign Trump constantly changed positions on policies and was constantly vague about the details of his policies. Take the wall for instance, his statements on the height of the wall range from 35ft to 90ft. He wasn’t even solid on the cornerstone of his campaign, the rallying cry at his rallies (I apologize for the repetition there). Sanders had some concrete details for his policies. Now I do acknowledge that Bernie had some very controversial policies as well, but they could hardly be put in the same light as Trump’s, he would have for sure lost hardcore conservatives terrified by narratives of Marxism and Leninism, but I do think he could have swayed the moderates. At this point Sanders is 1:0 up on character and scandals, and possibly 2:0 up when it comes to policies. Now the Bernie winning thing apart, it is clear to see the DNC done goofed, and that combined with a nominee combating a corruption narrative is not going to do anyone any favors.
Ok, so to sum up why; first, Liberals were no longer tolerant and instead refused to engage in open minded discussions with opposition supporters, immediately viewing them as bigots or stupid, or both (again I did this); second, Comey decided to tell everyone that he was investigating Clinton at a seriously inconvenient time; third, a corrupt and scandal riddled DNC failed to deal with the scandal appropriately, and blocked a man who possibly could have won.
Now, what needs to be done next. The very first thing you should do, do not unfriend a single person. If you do that you are perpetuating the problem that got us here. If you see someone posting on Facebook in a manner that makes you want to delete them, don’t. Instead, please, reach out to them and find out why they think that way, try and see things from their point of view. Don’t swear at them. Don’t belittle them. Take the time to listen to where they are coming from, and in reply, very calmly explain why this Presidency scares you, or why you disagree. Don’t just say “you’re wrong” try very tactfully to put things in perspective for them. Start a dialogue, don’t end one. When people shout at you about something, it doesn’t really fix the issue does it? Think back to when your parents were shouting at you, it didn’t really make a positive difference, it just compounded the issue. No one likes being told that they are wrong or what to do. Especially if it is coming in the form of a really heated verbal assault. So please stop unfriending people, stop ignoring those posts, don’t write in all caps, and don’t congregate in your closed groups, go and mix, try to change opinions. Make sure you are grounded in compassion, empathy and respect. Try and see if there isn’t just one little thing that you can both agree that you want to change about America for the better. You may be pleasantly surprised.
Now you may not agree with me on that last part, but you know what? That doesn’t matter, typing angrily in all caps at them isn’t going to change anything, unfriending them isn’t going to change anything. If anything, it would just make America more divided. You can’t just bury your head in the sand and wait for it to go away, because it won’t.
You know what else? The President isn’t a dictator. There are several layers to government. Right now, google when your next election is, comptroller, CPA, Judges (if applicable), Congressman, Senator, Governor, any elected position, find out when the next election for you is and mark it down, and make sure you show up for it. Opportunity for change is everywhere not just every four years. Care about women’s rights? Volunteer at a battered women’s shelter. Care about gay rights? Volunteer at an LGBTQ center. Care about planned parenthood being defunded? Donate. Care about minority rights? See if you can help with the ACLU. There is a lot you can do.
The take away here should be start a dialogue. Build bridges not walls.
Ok so now for the good stuff to come out of the election. First, sure Trump has an across the board Republican government right now, but you’re forgetting that Trump’s campaign basically gutted the Republican party. There are a lot of incumbent Congressmen who denounced Trump. That doesn’t bode well for his more extreme policies. There is going to be some friction in the legislature.
As for the Judiciary, he’s going to appoint a conservative Justice, that much is clear. This combined with the man’s contempt for Roe V. Wade has a lot of people worried, but let this comfort you at least a little bit: One, Justices tend to get more liberal with age, two, it would revert abortion to a state’s rights issue not make it outright illegal, three, Roe V. Wade was passed by a conservative dominated Supreme Court (and one of the Justices to vote against it was a Democrat).
Now as to what power Trump has. Really, domestically he has little. He pretty much is the figurehead of the government, appoints officials, signs treaties, commissions officers of the armed services, take care laws be faithfully executed, and approve legislation. (Yes I am aware I am trivializing his powers a little bit, but I’m on a tight schedule I have 10 minutes until I have to leave for work) A lot of his powers will reside in Foreign Affairs. In my ever so humble opinion, if you have anything to be scared about, be scared about getting drafted and dying face down in the dirt in Syria.
Also, don’t be scared of a total Republican government. This is certainly not the same GOP it used to be. I mean three red states voted to legalize medical marijuana, and four more states voted to legalize recreational marijuana. So, there is some good to come out of this election. People as a whole are becoming more progressive. And no, not half the nation are Neo-Nazi, White Supremacists who don’t give a damn about women’s rights or LGBTQ rights, they were swayed by the crooked Hillary narrative and were alienated by an abrasive and condescending left. But yes, there are a core group of people who love his far-right rhetoric, and we should be slightly concerned about that. But those people are not representative of the republicans in Congress. In fact, I think Donald Trump said most of what he said simply to get elected. His proposed ban on Muslims has completely disappeared from his website, here you go here's the link to his website, click on it, look around, nowhere to be found. The man is a manipulator and he manipulated the right. He is a deal maker, and can be extremely outspoken but he is not as extreme right as you would believe. On two occasions (maybe more, I really don’t have that much time left) Trump has expressed support for Transgender people using the bathroom of their choice, you can read about that here, and here. What you should be concerned about is Mike Pence, he is the new Dick Cheney. Now, hopefully he doesn’t have as much control over Trump as Cheney did Bush, but given Trump doesn’t really do what he’s told, I don’t think that should be an issue…fingers crossed.
Overall, don’t unfriend anyone, talk to them, build bridges, get involved in democracy every single way you can to make a difference, Trump’s powers aren’t as great as he thinks they are, the Republican dominated government isn’t as untied as everyone thinks it is, and the Supreme Court is pretty safe. It’s not the end of the world, but it certainly isn’t go to be an easy time. It’s not time to shut off, it is time to open up and offer support in any way you can (and if you live in a state with legal weed, go enjoy that dankness).
