I get the impression I disappointed many of you more than Hillary did – given the way you reacted yesterday to my brief commentary on the outcome of this election. I hope this updated version makes amends.
Donald John Trump was elected the 45th president of the United States on Tuesday in a stunning culmination of an explosive, populist and polarizing campaign that took relentless aim at the institutions and long-held ideals of American democracy.
The surprise outcome, defying late polls that showed Hillary Clinton with a modest but persistent edge, threatened convulsions throughout the country and the world, where skeptics had watched with alarm as Mr. Trump’s unvarnished overtures to disillusioned voters took hold…
The results amounted to a repudiation, not only of Mrs. Clinton, but of President Obama, whose legacy is suddenly imperiled.
(New York Times, November 9, 2016)
Alas, this represents the triumph of white nationalism over multiculturalism/globalism.
I wrote, “Ignore the Polls. Hillary Will Win in ‘Wave’ Election,” September 9, 2016. I was right about the polls. I was wrong about her win; and that’s the understatement of my life.
Of course, this has been a year of black-swan phenomena. Results of the Brexit and FARC referendums, as well as the Cubs winning the World Series, bear this out. But this one is so surreal, it’s as if America had just been overtaken by people from an alternative (alt-right?) universe … who finally came to “take [their] country back.”
No doubt you’ll see pundits and pollsters all over TV today, trying to explain why they were so wrong. After all, they were certain pigs would fly before Trump is elected president of the United States.
They would do well, however, to just shut up and pray. Not least because President-elect Trump instills as much fear as President-elect Obama inspired hope. Indeed, I fear he will execute his pledge to “black out” all of Obama’s signature accomplishments from the history books.
Never mind the misguided way Obama unwittingly invited this prospect by making his legacy a galvanizing issue during Hillary’s campaign. I admonished him against doing so in “WTF! Obama Says It Would Be a ‘Personal Insult’ If Blacks Don’t Vote for Hillary…?” September 20, 2016.
All the same, there’s no denying this … blacklash:
For far too many Republicans, it would seem a natural fate for the first black president to preside over what they claim are the worst years in U.S. history. Their ulterior motive or misguided hope being that this would ensure no black is elected president for at least another 100 years.
(“Obama Trumpets Obamacare Success…Despite Republican Sabotage,” The iPINIONS Journal, April 14, 2014)
This is why Trump’s victory says far more about white racism than white anger. Not to mention that the “angry whites of rural America” who voted to elect him also voted to re-elect nearly all of the do-nothing, dysfunctional members of the Washington establishment/elite who purportedly incited their anger.
Also, to be fair, pundits had a perfectly reasonable expectation that whites in places like Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan – who voted for Obama – would vote for Hillary. Especially because they based it on a juxtaposition of Obama’s salutary policies (e.g., saving the auto industry and championing healthcare reform) and Hillary’s pledge to build on them with Trump’s pie-in-the-sky slogans and pledge to either repeal or revoke those policies.
But the following – from “Racism Worse Under Obama? Yes, But…,” December 9, 2014 – explains why those whites defied that expectation, showing little regard for their own welfare and even less for Obama’s legacy.
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Many people are expressing shock, dismay, and disillusionment that racism in the United States has worsened since Obama’s purportedly post-racial election in 2008. [And reports by Bloomberg News and the Associated Press bear this out]…
Ironically, no black American has been the target of this racist awakening more than President Obama himself (as old viral memes like “You lie,” “show me your birth certificate,” and “he’s a Muslim socialist” duly attest).
Except that I’m not sure why people are so ‘shocked, shocked’ by this phenomenon (of Obama’s election giving white folks license to express ‘deeply rooted’ racism):
I’m on record stating my suspicion that many whites voted for Obama in 2008 more as a gesture of racial absolution than of political faith. These AP findings bear that out. And having thusly absolved themselves of their sins of racism (with this one, historic act), many of them now feel liberated to give way to their racial prejudices without fear of being called racists.
(“Romney vs. Obama: Race (Still) Matters,” The iPINIONS Journal, November 1, 2012)
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That said, I urge those of you who cannot even countenance a Trump presidency to resist mounting feckless street protests. Instead, I reprise the following – from “‘I Can’t Hear, or See, or Say that Name [TRUMP] Without Spitting,’” March 14, 2016 – as the best and only way to vent your anger.
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All Americans should appreciate the categorical imperative of treating anything branded ‘TRUMP’ — from hotels to neckties and vodka — as if it were branded ‘KKK.’ It only hints at his cynicism and hucksterism that he makes such a public show of touting his Made in China products to “Make America Great Again.”
But the legacy of his publicity stunt masquerading as a presidential campaign should be a Trump brand so tarnished that the only people willing to patronize his businesses are the fools who voted for him.
Given that the vast majority of them are poor and uneducated, by his own estimation, it would only be a matter of time before he’s forced into the mother of all his bankruptcies (i.e., for failing to make payments on the debt he brags about using to finance his businesses). And trust me, this Croesus-envying narcissist would rather go bankrupt than depend on the rabble-rousing suckers who attend his rallies to keep his real-estate empire afloat. Which is just as well given that most of them can barely afford a night at a budget hotel.
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Meanwhile, Trump spent much of his campaign damning Hillary for abusing her position as secretary of state to enrich her family. But he demonstrated throughout a congenital habit of projecting onto others his most brazen faults. Therefore, it would be entirely consistent for him to abuse his position as president to (further) enrich his family.
Accordingly, I reiterate that a vigilant and sustained campaign to shun and shame the TRUMP brand is the only effective way to protest his presidency.
Besides, Trump is constitutionally and institutionally precluded from fulfilling many of his outlandish campaign promises, like banning Muslims, building that wall, and locking Hillary up. I am willing to bet, for example, that his promise to reshape the Supreme Court in Scalia’s conservative image will be thwarted by every liberal justice outliving his presidency.
Hence, chances are very good that his presidency will prove a far greater disappointment to his rabid supporters than his enraged detractors.
Beyond this, the only consolation I can offer is that America has survived far worse than anything a Trump presidency portends.
God help America. But bear in mind that the entire world has a vested interest in what Trump does as president of the United States….
NOTE: Speaker Paul Ryan is leading a chorus of Republican leaders in singing Trump’s praises. But their resentment over his bull-in-a-China-shop run to the White House is palpable.
Therefore, don’t be surprised if they seize the first opportunity to impeach and replace him with Vice President-elect Mike Pence – who Republicans and Democrats alike consider far fitter to serve as president … for a litany of well-documented reasons. And, given Trump’s Nixonian inclination to punish his enemies, to say nothing of his Clintonian inclination to enrich himself, he is bound to provide all kinds of opportunities for them to do so.
Related commentaries:
Trump for Pres. Don’t be a sucker…
Hillary will win…
Brexit..
FARC…
Obamacare success…
Obama personal insult…
Racism worse…
* This commentary was originally published yesterday, November 9, at 6:37 a.m.