Not-so-random Thoughts a Week After the 'Tsunami'

Violent demonstrations follow Trump victory

It was a long campaign:  brutally long!  No, it wasn’t any longer than any other presidential election campaign in recent decades.  But it seemed longer.  And to be honest, one reason it seemed longer and more grueling this time was the anger and frustration of many voters.  The anger and frustration among a conservative constituency that propelled Donald Trump to the Republican nomination and ultimately the presidency.  And the anger and frustration among a liberal constituency that ‘almost’ denied the Democratic nomination to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.  It was a campaign that saw many voters on the Right backing Mr. Trump because they saw him as the Lesser of Two Evils, and many voters on the Left backing Secretary Clinton because they saw her as the Lesser of Two Evils.  Voting for the Lesser of Two Evils in an election is nothing new.  What seemed new this time was the passion with which voters backed the one whom they saw as the lesser of two evils.  That such a huge block of American voters passionately backed a Lesser-of-Two-Evils candidate, shows that they see their country as mortally damaged, and saw this election as being a pivotal event in their hopes to roll back the damage before it becomes irreparable.

I have to say that Donald Trump was my Lesser-of-Two-Evils.  Of the 17 Republicans seeking the nomination at the beginning, for me he was among the three least favorites of the field.  It wasn’t that I saw him as the toxic, misogyinist-racist-antisemite-islamophobe that the Left-leaning mainstream media have tried to make him.  That’s a lot of nonsense.  Rather, that I wondered if his brash style, his tendency to speak extemporaneously in terms certain to offend many, and his complete lack of the government experience that would, by conventional measure translate to success in the nation’s highest office.  Personally, I was routing for Marco Rubio.  But as Rubio and others fell by the wayside, it became apparent that the Republican voters wanted Trump to represent them in the race for the White House.  To me, Trump seemed far preferable to either Hillary Clinton, or Bernie Sanders – as if he ever had a chance.

But along the way, a couple of things happened that made me see Trump in a more favorable light.

First, it became clear that what he was saying, and what the Left and its media allies asserted that he was saying, were often two different things.  If one watched the actual footage of Trump with an open mind, it was easy to see that the criticisms of what he’d said usually didn’t ring true.

Second, members of the Republican ‘establishment’ began turning against him.  I don’t mean his opponents in what had turned into a long, soften-nasty campaign for the Republican nomination.  I mean other prominent Republicans such as Mitt Romney, George H.W. Bush, and some in the conservative media including the editors of the highly-respected National Review.  When they began vocally opposing Trump – even after he had won the nomination and was now, like it or not, the party’s standard-bearer – it lent more credence to something that Trump and many of his supporters had been saying from the start.  That the Republican establishment really had more in common, in terms of its power bases, with the Democratic Party’s own establishment, then either had in common with their respective constituencies.  And this was at the root of the upheavals that were happening in both parties; this sense that both parties' power centers had no particular concern for the individual voter. 

To most Americans – whether they be Democrats, Republicans or independents – last Tuesday’s election was seen as having been quite decisive.  Trump won 306 Electoral College votes as opposed to Clinton’s 232.  Additionally, although Clinton was initially seen as having won the popular vote by about 400,000, as late mail-in’s are counted it appears that Trump has also won the popular vote:  by over half a million.  Therefore, most Americans of various political persuasions have accepted the election’s results and now look forward to seeing what the 45^th President will be able to achieve.  And the bar is high, given that he will control both houses of Congress.

But the riots that have broken out in various US cities since the election, protesting that the vote went the way it did, do not bode well for the hope that the country will now unite and move forward.  On the other hand, there is ample evidence that these riots are not the spontaneous outbursts of political passion that the media paint them as.  In newspapers and online lists such as Craig’s List in cities all over the land, adverts for young people to join the riots – with pay! – are attracting those looking for an adventure and a bit of cash.  And those ads are being traced back to a for-profit auxiliary of Planned Parenthood, and the organization moveon.com.  And when you think of it, that’s no surprise given that the President-elect and the new Republican Congress have made on of their early goals…taking Planned Parenthood off the federal dole.  It is therefore in Planned Parenthood’s interest to destabilize the new administration before it even takes office.  But there is something far more powerful than Planned parenthood and moveon.com behind the whole thing.  Since I'm not a conspiracy-monger, I'll leave speculation to others, but it is easy to smell something large and sinister there.

The rioters aside, there are certainly many sincere Americans who are disappointed in the election’s results.  I would recommend that they quiet down, understand that the sky isn’t falling, and see what happens in the near future.  As I said, I’m optimistic even though Mr. Trump was far from my first choice.  I’m ready to give him time to put together an administration and begin the tough work of tackling America’s problems.  But please President-elect Trump, don’t take too much time!  And somehow, I don’t think he will.