Let the Candidate Take the Blame
Nov. 9th, 2016 09:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mallorys_cameraPutin was the first person to call the President presumptive.
Canada’s immigration website crashed. Mexico has declared a national emergency. Dow futures were down 600 points when I finally fell asleep last night. Gold prices have shot back up.
They’re calling it “whitelash.”
Will President Trump’s first official act be to offer Assange political asylum? “Yo, Jules! Come on down! Grab all the pussy you want!”
The good new is that the biggest cottage industry in the Berkshires is about to become baking red velvet cupcakes with hashish frosting. And that I live a mere 40 miles away from the Massachusetts border.
###
I stayed awake till the bitter end. Woke up three hours later. B – who’d popped a Xanax at midnight and gone to sleep – was already up and checking the news feeds. His phone was tinkling off the hook – his network of buddies from around the nation and the world checking in, in shock, in horror. When did B develop a network of buddies around the nation and the world?
“Never underestimate the racism, sexism, and stupidity of the American electorate,” he said, handing me a cup of coffee.
“See, I don’t believe that’s why Trump won,” I said. “I think this is on the Democratic Party. They served up an extremely weak candidate and the media blitz that tried to convince us otherwise was like a marketing campaign for the Emperor’s new clothes –"
“Well, you’re just wrong,” B snapped.
And we proceeded to have a brief fight. Just as if we were still married!
###
President Trump is horrifying: One does not want someone with undiagnosed ADHD knowing nuclear codes. President Pence – whom I firmly believe is a mere six months away – is even more horrifying though in a different way.
There will be much post-game analysis. There will be much finger pointing:
Black voters stayed home..
Millennials voted third party.
Nationalism trumped globalism.
Sexist pigs refused to vote for a woman.
Trump channeled anger over political correctness and identity politics games.
Trump catalyzed those voters who are generally too apathetic to vote – Why bother? Nothing will change ¬– and gave them the opportunity to flip a giant middle finger at the political establishment.
There were too many voters like me who lean left politically but who, when it got right down to it, were unwilling to bite the bullet. (Although, had I lived in a swing state, I would have voted for her. And I definitely did not vote for him.)
###
I can see that in real life, I’m going to have to keep my mouth tightly shut in the weeks to come.
But this being my journal, I am free to write what I think.
And what I think is that HRC was a lousy candidate. Just as many people on the left were telling themselves, “Suck it up! Hold your nose and vote for her ‘cause Trump is worst;” so, many people on the right were thinking, “He’s horrible – but at least, he’s not Hillary.”
Many, many, many votes for Trump were protest votes against her. They were not necessarily votes for him – although, of course, since their votes elected him, that’s an academic distinction.
A Tammany Hall-like political process essentially intimidated any contender who might have wanted to challenge her except for one old firebrand, Bernie Sanders. His strong showing in the primaries really ought to have been a clue. No, I’m not saying that Bernie Sanders would have been a better candidate in the actual Presidential race – there’s no way a self-described “socialist” wins the Midwest in this country. But I think there were probably other candidates who could have won but who kept their heads down because they didn’t want to get flattened by the DNP political machinery.
The DNP shoved Hillary down the electorate’s throat as the inevitable candidate, the inevitable winner. They made a big fuss over her very dubious legacy when it's been pretty clear voters are thirsty for change.
Honestly? If progressives want to move on from here, it’s important to uncouple the blame for HRC’s loss from finger-pointing about racism and sexism. From pay-to-play to the Benghazi fuckup, we were looking at a candidate who was deeply flawed and who dragged the fault lines of the Clinton 90s like Jacob Marley’s chains. Let the candidate take the blame.
Focus on winning the 2018 midterm elections and the 2020 Presidential election. Keep calm and carry on.
Canada’s immigration website crashed. Mexico has declared a national emergency. Dow futures were down 600 points when I finally fell asleep last night. Gold prices have shot back up.
They’re calling it “whitelash.”
Will President Trump’s first official act be to offer Assange political asylum? “Yo, Jules! Come on down! Grab all the pussy you want!”
The good new is that the biggest cottage industry in the Berkshires is about to become baking red velvet cupcakes with hashish frosting. And that I live a mere 40 miles away from the Massachusetts border.
###
I stayed awake till the bitter end. Woke up three hours later. B – who’d popped a Xanax at midnight and gone to sleep – was already up and checking the news feeds. His phone was tinkling off the hook – his network of buddies from around the nation and the world checking in, in shock, in horror. When did B develop a network of buddies around the nation and the world?
“Never underestimate the racism, sexism, and stupidity of the American electorate,” he said, handing me a cup of coffee.
“See, I don’t believe that’s why Trump won,” I said. “I think this is on the Democratic Party. They served up an extremely weak candidate and the media blitz that tried to convince us otherwise was like a marketing campaign for the Emperor’s new clothes –"
“Well, you’re just wrong,” B snapped.
And we proceeded to have a brief fight. Just as if we were still married!
###
President Trump is horrifying: One does not want someone with undiagnosed ADHD knowing nuclear codes. President Pence – whom I firmly believe is a mere six months away – is even more horrifying though in a different way.
There will be much post-game analysis. There will be much finger pointing:
Black voters stayed home..
Millennials voted third party.
Nationalism trumped globalism.
Sexist pigs refused to vote for a woman.
Trump channeled anger over political correctness and identity politics games.
Trump catalyzed those voters who are generally too apathetic to vote – Why bother? Nothing will change ¬– and gave them the opportunity to flip a giant middle finger at the political establishment.
There were too many voters like me who lean left politically but who, when it got right down to it, were unwilling to bite the bullet. (Although, had I lived in a swing state, I would have voted for her. And I definitely did not vote for him.)
###
I can see that in real life, I’m going to have to keep my mouth tightly shut in the weeks to come.
But this being my journal, I am free to write what I think.
And what I think is that HRC was a lousy candidate. Just as many people on the left were telling themselves, “Suck it up! Hold your nose and vote for her ‘cause Trump is worst;” so, many people on the right were thinking, “He’s horrible – but at least, he’s not Hillary.”
Many, many, many votes for Trump were protest votes against her. They were not necessarily votes for him – although, of course, since their votes elected him, that’s an academic distinction.
A Tammany Hall-like political process essentially intimidated any contender who might have wanted to challenge her except for one old firebrand, Bernie Sanders. His strong showing in the primaries really ought to have been a clue. No, I’m not saying that Bernie Sanders would have been a better candidate in the actual Presidential race – there’s no way a self-described “socialist” wins the Midwest in this country. But I think there were probably other candidates who could have won but who kept their heads down because they didn’t want to get flattened by the DNP political machinery.
The DNP shoved Hillary down the electorate’s throat as the inevitable candidate, the inevitable winner. They made a big fuss over her very dubious legacy when it's been pretty clear voters are thirsty for change.
Honestly? If progressives want to move on from here, it’s important to uncouple the blame for HRC’s loss from finger-pointing about racism and sexism. From pay-to-play to the Benghazi fuckup, we were looking at a candidate who was deeply flawed and who dragged the fault lines of the Clinton 90s like Jacob Marley’s chains. Let the candidate take the blame.
Focus on winning the 2018 midterm elections and the 2020 Presidential election. Keep calm and carry on.
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no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 04:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 04:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 07:00 pm (UTC)+1
The sad thing is that Hillary apparently won the popular vote.
If the US didn't have this stupid undemocratic voting system in place she might be president now.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 07:07 pm (UTC)Voter turnout was down this election, too. Both HRC and Trump got a million votes less than Romney, the loser, got in 2012. And six million less than Obama, the winner, got.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 05:31 pm (UTC)Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in FAQ (https://www.dreamwidth.org/support/faqbrowse?faqid=303).
comments
Date: 2016-11-09 07:02 pm (UTC)Re: comments
Date: 2016-11-09 07:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 07:51 pm (UTC)Love him or hate him, the Donald's candidacy was a process of natural selection. That's who the majority of the republican's wanted. Hillary was the chosen candidate. It was almost doomed from the start.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 08:06 pm (UTC)My guess is that in 2020, they'll want a political insider because Trump will prove to be such an awful administrator. That pendulum tends to swing.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 09:58 pm (UTC)She is an insider, but she doesn't come across as a natural politician. I mean, she doesn't have innate political charisma. She is the Professor whose classes you mostly took if you needed a particular credit, rather than for the sake of enjoying a motivating lecture.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 10:34 pm (UTC)https://mobile.twitter.com/EByard/status/796317753749729280
no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 10:52 pm (UTC)I'm inclined to disbelieve this infographic.
Of course, that could just be me being curmudgeonly. :-)
no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 10:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 10:58 pm (UTC)Bill seemed like an okay guy in the 90s, but the farther we are from his time in office, the more creepy and unwholesome he seems. Had HRC succeeded in her Presidential bid, her Presidency -- as the first female Presidency -- would have been the one to go down in the history books rather than Bill's. I can't imagine that anyone who's narcissistic and nuts enough to run for office likes ceding the spotlight in that fashion.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 10:48 pm (UTC)The elite have a lot of influence over how we see things.
I don't like Donald Trump. I used to. I once found him refreshing and honest. Now I think he's a mean bully. I think that partly because he mocked a disabled person. I saw it on TV. He waved his arms around to mimic a New York Times reporter with a disability -- but wait!
It turns out that Trump used the same gestures and tone of speech to mock Ted Cruz and a general he didn't' like. It's not nice, but it doesn't appear directed at a disability.
I only discovered this when researching the media elite. Even though I'm a media junkie, I hadn't seen the other side of the story. The elite spoon-fed me their version of events.
He is not mocking the reporter's disability -- he is just an ass who mocks everybody.
I personally found Kaine scary. Very very scary. Jim Webb would have been a lovely choice to grab those Trump voters, but hindsight is always 20/20.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 11:03 pm (UTC)Gotta disagree with you about that reporter with cerebral palsy. The way Trump responded to him was disgusting. Trump in general is disgusting. I don't think people who voted for him are "deplorables," but I kinda think he is.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-10 05:38 pm (UTC)I'm not finding this argument convincing.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-11 03:02 am (UTC)Hoorah!
Date: 2016-11-10 12:16 am (UTC)Re: Hoorah!
Date: 2016-11-10 12:29 am (UTC)