In the 2016 presidential election, many Americans who voted for Donald Trump did not really vote for Trump. They picked the lesser of two evils and voted against Hillary Clinton. Clinton had engendered tremendous animosity among working people who perceived her as arrogant and attempting to be above the fray. When her speeches to the Wall Street banks were revealed with their huge paychecks and the differences in how she addressed the 1 percent and the masses on the campaign trail, many voters began to despise her. This was reinforced when she described 49 percent of Trump supporters as a basket of deplorables. Then she refused to spend time or resources on the rust belt states, believing they were already in her pocket in the election.
But Hillary’s image had been stamped in the mind of voters even before that. There were her attacks on the women that Bill had sexually abused, questioning their veracity. There was also Whitewater and her work at the Rose Law Firm in Arkansas where her protestations against her wrongdoing did not add up. Questions were also raised about her work for the Clinton Foundation while she was Secretary of State and whether she had pushed ‘pay for play’- contributions to the Clinton Foundation for face time with her or top state department officials. So there was plenty to question about Hillary’s past and the campaign itself.
On the other hand, Trump’s words underscored his racism, his sexual predation, his constant lies and exaggerations, his refusal to release his taxes showing that there must be some financial transgressions, his lack of knowledge about the workings of the government and foreign affairs, his meanness in his attacks on disabled people, a Gold Star Muslim family whose son had been killed fighting for America, the way he demeaned his Republican opponents in debates, his draft dodging during Vietnam, and so forth. But Trump did go out of his way to connect with working people even though he had stiffed many of those who had worked for him in the past. And he was a great entertainer, working his crowds like a revivalist preacher.
So even though Hillary won the popular vote, enough people voted for Trump in the right places for him to win the Electoral College and become president. A number of those who voted for Trump saw him as the lesser of two evils and thought that he would do more for them than Hillary.
Now in 2020, the Democrats have two candidates battling it out, neither of whom is completely appealing. Sanders is way out to the left with programs that are unaffordable and Medicare for All that millions of people do not want. Biden is thought of as a nice guy but Democrats wonder about his cognitive abilities and his ability to confront Trump. Biden will likely win the Democratic nomination as the lesser of two evils, but more Democrats would probably like to see Andrew Cuomo who isn’t even in the running.
Hopefully, Biden will be able to beat Trump whose four years as president have been disastrous, topped by his handling of the Corona virus. But again, it will be choosing among two candidates who is the least bad. Why can’t the two political parties come up with candidates who will be able to excite the entire country?
Resurrecting Democracy
www.robertlevinebooks.com
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