He middle fingered the establishment and acted as though they didn’t matter.
A
friend posted in Facebook something along the lines of “if only the
blacks voted for Hillary as much they did Obama…”. Essentially he is
saying the blacks care more about the race and shifted the blame.
Ironically, he was supporting “race equality”. Then a guy blaming Jill
for taking Green votes. As though it is a crime to support green. Leave
alone the fact that the green party took away no Hillary votes in the
key states.
I’m surprised that even after the
results staring so much in the face, some are in denial - blaming the
third parties, blaming the “fence sitters”, blaming the people who
didn’t turn up, blaming the blacks for turning out enough, blaming the
white females and so on. My Facebook friends have blamed each one of
these groups in the past few hours.
In fact,
there is no proof that the third party candidates took votes from
Clinton. It is more likely for them to have taken from Trump, where even
many traditional republicans openly stood against. Even George Bush
didn’t vote for his party candidate [Trump thinks 'it's sad' George W Bush voted 'None of the Above']. That means Trump was able to find a voice far bigger than even the Republican party.
The
white women vote was nearly split even. That after all the revelations
about Trump’s uncharitable comments. Surely, not all those of the women
were misogynists. Something must have troubled them far more to go to
the polls & vote for Trump, keeping down their disgust.
Same
with the Hispanics who voted more with the Republicans than in the
recent times. That after his statements about the wall. Surely,
something bigger must have been there to keep down their inhibitions on
racism.
This is part of
the common people’s revolution against the establishment. They don’t
trust their politicians. Their media. Their diplomats. Their
administrators. They felt let down by their economists. They fear about
their jobs and culture. They fear something existential issue about
their way of life. And when people have existential fears, they suppress
all other inhibitions.
The more the media
talked about Trump’s failures, the more it looked like the establishment
colluding. It was as though everyone was conspiring against Trump. To
defeat that establishment was more important for many than their own
inhibitions on gender and race issues. And it completely didn’t matter
that Trump was unrefined, uninformed and politically wrong. In fact,
those are the precise things that made him anti-establishment.
His
blathering about nuclear triad and other topics, rather than harming
him actually helped him. People saw him as an ordinary Joe and the Joes
don’t go well prepared in public talking. People saw that as honest and
down to earth in the same way as they saw GW Bush. In contrast HRC was
super well rehearsed - almost to the level of a robot. People didn’t
care about what she said, but just noted the way she said it. That
reminded them of the establishment - a scheming individual.
And
more the media talked about HRC’s virtues and Trump’s uncouthness, more
the people saw a need to back Trump. It was their fight against the
elite. And my liberal friends had no idea that they were in an echo
chamber. They completely tuned out anything they find deplorable.
This
revolution is hardly limited to the US. It is happening across the
world. In Arab Spring, many of the established governments were toppled
in the Middle East. In Brexit, the British voters middle fingered all
the mainstream parties. In Philippines, the new President is completely
fingering US and going straight with his executions of drug addicts. In
India and Indonesia, the voters elevated promising provincial chiefs to
premiers in 2014, both of whom coming from poor backgrounds.
And
it is just the beginning. Across Europe and elsewhere in the world
changes are happening to the post-WW2 coalitions and political
arrangements.
Everywhere, there is an anger
against the establishment. Anger against the status quo. Like in the
late 18th century, this is the worst time to be a part of the elite.
People
around the world have gotten existential worries about their culture,
economic status and the ability to continue their way of life. For them
it looks like the liberals are pushing the reforms way too fast and
without paying heed to their opinions.
As the
liberals tar them as being outdated, racists and uneducated [and as
Hillary mentioned deplorables], the angry commoners often mask their
anger and don’t reveal enough of their preferences in public [not a
single person on my FB feed supported Trump even though I know many
secretly support him]. This is why the opinion polls don’t reveal the
complete picture. Also, many liberals measure public opinion through
media and completely miss the fire building up underneath.
As
the liberals brush aside these concerns and don’t try to address them,
these voters stop trusting anything to do with the former. Historically,
people have fought the hardest when their way of life is threatened.
Liberals for all their alleged grasp of history, failed to go beyond
endlessly quoting the 1932 elections in the Weimar republic, and failed
to see the history of revolutions and civil wars.
As
the words Fascism and Nazism got thrown too easily, the shock value
completely evaporated. If every right wing leader was Hitler, then there
was nothing special or shocking about getting branded as Hitler. If the
previous Hitlers around the world didn’t end the world, why would this
new Hitler?
Ultimately, it
is an anger that existed for a long time and in hindsight it is not
hard to see a Trump victory. He won way many states that were thought to
be solidly democrat. He won far more Hispanic votes than Mitt Romney.
And he won a sizable chunk of the immigrants and more surprisingly a
sizable chunk of the females. So much for all the buzzfeed worthy charts
posted by Nate Silver. Trump won despite his embarrassing revelations
about women and despite the Republican leadership quitting on him. That
should show the level of anger underneath. This anger is not all from
racists, white supremacists and misogynists, KKK supporters, etc.
Revolutions
often turn up leaders who are far worse than the establishment they
toppled. But, they also help heal things over the long run.
In
a way this is good for the US. Like a pressure cooker releasing
pressure, this is an election to let out that built-up pressure &
anger in a less violent way. Hopefully this is an election that will let
both sides see the other’s point. The “us vs them” attitude and the
uncharitable attitudes of the other side has to end.
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