Clinton’s Victory

I wrote this the weekend before Trump’s victory, on the assumption that Hillary Clinton would win the election.

Today is November 9, 2016, and it is a day most of us will remember for the rest of our lives. Consistently with the majority of the most recent polls, Hillary Clinton was elected the 45th President of the United States, our nation’s first woman President. After two terms of our first African-American President, I am quite happy to see history made again as America makes a bold new step in social and political progress. Best of all, we elected the most eminently qualified and proven politician that has come to the White House in recent years.

Before I comment on yesterday’s election and our incoming President, let me first comment on her opponent, Donald Trump. I speak for many Americans when I say how profoundly relieved I am that he lost this election. I am still, however, alarmed. Hillary Clinton’s election was decisive in the Electoral College, but was much less so in the popular vote. Donald Trump came to within five percent of Clinton in total votes, and this may even grow closer as the tallies are finalized. How could this be? Trump was glaringly the most dangerous candidate ever to win a major party’s nomination. He somehow came to the head of the Republican ticket despite his unapologetic lack of qualifications and his total lack of principle. He rose by espousing contempt and prejudice toward ethnic groups, making ad hominem attacks on private citizens, expressing admiration for foreign dictators, and inviting Russian espionage against his opponent. To place executive control of the American military and police establishment into this man’s hands would have been a drastic error. The nation’s electorate would have elevated an aspiring autocrat to become the chief protector of the world’s most impressive pluralistic and democratic society. How could this ever work? Our country would crack, beginning on the day of his election. Can we even imagine the reaction in the world this morning if he had won?

I cannot fully understand why or how Trump reached the heights he did. I do know that his rise required a vacuum in confidence for our current system, one that is at least partially caused by the failure of conventional politicians. A large demographic in this country has felt excluded, and the electoral map tells us so. Several Midwestern states came very close to voting with Trump, the same states that have lost well-compensated manufacturing jobs in recent decades that never returned. It was in these areas where Trump made the most specific promises and the voters clearly liked what they heard.

Yet, I’m not convinced at all the situation can be characterized so simply. The steady loss of manufacturing and farm jobs in the central and southern states has been happening since the 1980s. Why would we not have had a Trump before now?

There were actually many factors. The constant flow of propaganda from right-wing media sources was a powerful influence, with the Internet and social media circulating false rumor continuously. Rage has seemed to replace fact in an era of “fake news”.

We also live in a world where political collaboration is capitulation. The all but open revolt of the “Tea Party” against government regulation and international trade has made for some of the most biting rhetoric ever to be heard in Washington. With the loud, scathing voices of Limbaugh, Hannity, and O’Reilly fanning the partisan torrents of cynicism and suspicion, Donald Trump represented a chance for vengeance, in much the way “Brexit” was for the British.

In time, we will understand more, but for now, the full picture appears to be menacing and incomprehensible. The bottom line, of course, is that there is no “Blue Wall” that could be counted on to hand Democrats certain victory in large parts of the nation. A few thousand votes would have made a decisive difference. I believe this will still be so by the next election.

I must also express my painful disappointment in the Republican party. It is very telling that in the hours immediately after Trump’s defeat, major figures in Congress were already rebuking him. This implies opportunism and power-bent politics. What would they be saying now if he had won? Would they be claiming such indignation and outrage today? And where were these principles when we needed them?

This renouncement will be short-lived, though, given the already evident hostility toward the President-Elect. I am almost certain that Congress will reopen the investigation of the Benghazi tragedy or her use of a private E-mail server. Some have even promised to launch impeachment proceedings, before she takes her Oath of Office, which is a mockery of Constitutional principle. Obstructionist politics are now the norm, and what her husband once called “the politics of personal destruction” will now grip the new Clinton administration, with little or no regard to the facts and outrageous inattention to democratic principle. Donald Trump adopted a coarse and abusive voice for all this negativity, and now, much of what he promised — which was to attempt to ruin Hillary Clinton with needless prosecution — is going to go on without him, just stated with slightly more intelligent vocabulary. This is just not right for our country.

I dislike what is coming, but I still hope that there are enough decent players out there — perhaps now a tad less complacent after this near miss of an electoral catastrophe — will now work with their opposing party instead of treating them like a warring faction. The divisions within this country have no chance of reckoning unless this is done. Hillary Clinton has a known reputation for “crossing the aisle” but is somehow an unusually divisive figure. I urge the Congress to meet her now and drop the negative politics, even though it seems like such urging is futile.

Concerns over this election will go on, and questions will abound, but the prospect of immediate disaster is behind us, at least for now. We have good news today, or at least good enough to believe our nation and its founding principles have remained basically intact. To paraphrase John F. Kennedy, the torch has been passed — not just to a person, but to a people who anticipate a bright future in an America that is already great. Hillary Clinton now has the unbearably difficult job of reaching all constituencies amidst a mess made from bad politics and false rhetoric. She has a chance of achieving this, even in ways her popular and progressive predecessor could not. However, no one, even the most capable, will be able to do this easily.

Welcome back to the White House, Hillary Clinton — no longer as a supporting player but as the main player. Yesterday, America turned away from darkness and chose you. Now you hold this nation’s heart and its future in your hands. Even if not all of us are glad, and much painful politics is yet to come, we are your America now. Things will go wrong for you and for our country, but history always assumes the form of the truth. Take us forward now, and help make this bad memory fall away, once and for always. Leave America better than how you found it. If the result is that demagoguery is no longer so tempting an option for those wanting change, you will have accomplished a great deal. As of today, I am confident that you will.