No matter how much centrist and left-wing American citizens lament the fact that Donald Trump is America’s new president, that’s the way it is. And it ain’t gonna change. Demonstrations may release some pent-up anger at the results of the election, but they are not going to accomplish anything.
The people who are in the streets demonstrating would have had a much more profound effect on the governing of America if they had been more active prior to Election Day, working to get voters to support Hillary. Amazingly, a majority of white women, 53 percent, voted for Donald Trump, dismissing all evidence of his misogyny and sexual predation. Or perhaps they were simply ignorant of his comments and unaware of what he had previously done. Or maybe they just didn’t care.
In addition large numbers of Hispanics voted for Trump, the latest figures suggesting it was as high as nearly 30 percent. Though many more voted for Hillary, it was not enough to carry her over the finish line. Again, one must ask what were the Hispanic voters thinking. Weren’t they aware of Trump’s racist comments against Hispanics and his threats to build a wall at the Mexican border and deport all undocumented immigrants? Or maybe they just weren’t paying attention to what Trump was saying or didn’t believe him. How could so many Hispanics have supported Trump?
And the African-Americans did not come out and vote in the numbers that were necessary to provide Hillary with the backing she needed, in spite of the exhortations from Obama. Were they just being lazy, didn’t care enough, or didn’t really like Hillary. Trump’s racist comments and his support from white supremacists and the KKK should have been enough to motivate them, but obviously it was not enough get them to go out and vote for Hillary.
The polls showed that young people favored Hillary by significant margins but they too didn’t vote in large enough numbers to make a difference. Now, many of the Millennials are demonstrating because they’re unhappy that Trump was elected. But if they had moved their asses earlier and pushed their friends and associates to vote, perhaps Hillary would be in the White House now and others would be out demonstrating. They still should be organizing if they want to win future elections.
Hillary won the popular vote but in America’s arcane system of presidential elections, she did not carry the Electoral College and that was what really counted. In fact, the total percentage of voters who participated in this presidential election was lower than the previous two, with an estimated 57 percent of registered voters going to the polls compared to 58.6 percent in 2012 and 61.6 percent in 2008. It is amazing to realize that less than one third of American citizens who were eligible to vote picked the leader who will guide the nation over the next four years. And they have also chosen a Republican Senate and House and a majority of GOP governors and legislatures. The Supreme Court will also wind up controlled by Republican conservatives.
This means that every branch of government at a federal and state level in the United States will be dominated by Republicans who did not even attain a majority of the popular vote and have the support of less than a third of the total registered voters in the nation. Somehow, this does not ring true as democracy in action.
It is unclear how much of Trump’s victory came about because of political ignorance and people not understanding what they were voting for, how much was simply anti-Hillary, and how much was because American believed in the promises that Trump was making even though they seemed to be unattainable to analysts. The anger at the establishment and the elites by poor and middle-class whites was real enough and that may have been the decisive factor that gave Trump his victory.
Resurrecting Democracy
www.robertlevinebooks.com
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Political junkie, Vietnam vet, neurologist- three books on aging and dementia. Book on health care reform in 2009- Shock Therapy for the American Health Care System. Book on the need for a centrist third party- Resurrecting Democracy- A Citizen’s Call for a Centrist Third Party published in 2011. Aging Wisely, published in August 2014 by Rowman and Littlefield. Latest book- The Uninformed Voter published May 2020