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Trump Won the Election - Everyone Calm Down

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Introduction
I have never actually written anything political before. But my head is about ready to explode with all the stuff I have to say about this most recent election. I figured it was time... It's going to be really interesting watching me weave words together that aren't going to piss off everyone I know. Just keep in mind that I know exactly as much about politics as the rest of you people that have never run for office and are only involved when it comes time to vote. And of course, all of us are experts once we see nothing but political advertisements for every single commercial break - which gets progressively worse as we near elections.

Before I get into this, let me say this... No matter who you supported. No matter who you voted for... It's time to put all that crap aside and know that we have a new President. We, as a country, need to be supportive. The time for fighting about this is over. There is nothing to be gained if you insist on thinking otherwise.

Now... Social Media and the election
If there was one thing that was getting difficult to deal with, it was Facebook. I'll say right here and right now (right before I post this on Facebook), that site should be used for humorous pictures of your kids and stuff your cat does. It should be used to catch up with all the people you went to high school with. It should be used to promote your business. It should be used to tell amusing stories, and to show pictures of what you're about to have for dinner.
What it should NOT EVER be used for, is spouting out your uninformed twaddle about why you think this person or that person is a criminal or unqualified for political office. Especially when the basis for all that bullshit is a bunch of unverified clickbait that is literally generated to make people get pissed off and click the links - thereby earning unqualified "news sources" money from all that lovely traffic you just sent to their site.

Let me be clear about why this makes me so angry. VERIFY your sources, people. You look like an idiot when you post nonsense that everyone knows is untrue. Plus, you are making money for the bullshit news sources that host it, and you are proliferating ignorance. And let's face it. That's been a problem since time out of mind. We don't need even more ways to spread ignorance.

I have gone way beyond my introduction... The rest of what I have here is to help people understand what happened. How did the political pundits, news outlets, late night TV people, radio people, pollsters, and seemingly everyone else, get it wrong?! How did all of those respected individuals totally miss what really happened in this election? How was Hillary projected to win by 75% at 8:30PM, and lose the election over the ensuing 5 hours or so?

Trump won... Deal with it
Like many people, I was not a Trump supporter, and I wasn't a Hillary supporter either. I actually voted for Bernie in the primary. I don't think I'm very far off the mark by saying that these two candidates we were left with, were the absolute worst and most hated candidates in the history of politics. Everyone in the country had something to say about why they hated one slightly more than the other. The whole "lesser of two evils" thing played a really big role this time around. People voted for what they thought was best given the choices. And, wow, emotions were running high on this one. No matter who won the election, there was going to be grief.

Everyone was huddled around their TV sets on election night in the absolute hope that they were not the ones that were going to have to review the above chart in the morning. I'm not gonna lie... Because I was not a Trump supporter, I actually did go through this whole thing. By the time I got home from work that night, I was at the acceptance stage. And here I will detail how I've come to accept this.

Trump was not elected because he is a good dude. He's an asshole. Even his most ardent supporters know that. He's got personality flaws that would keep therapists busy for decades. But none of that matters. The people that voted for him overlooked all of that. Because despite those obvious flaws, he is still the person that (in their minds) will fix the problems in this country.

And there are a lot of problems with this country:

  • The government is corrupt
  • Politicians suck. All of them
  • Immigration is a real problem
  • We are spending money on all the wrong things. And too much of it.
  • Jobs are going away - out of the country
  • Healthcare, insurance, and costs are out of control and stupidly handled
  • Too many people are on welfare and have no intention of getting off and getting a job
  • The economy is stagnant. The GDP is low. The Deficit is HIGH
  • Taxes are out of control
  • Veterans are not taken care of
  • Our security is in jeopardy

I could go on and on. The point is, your average Trump supporter feels VERY strongly about at least a few things on this list. So much so that they are willing to overlook the fact that he's an asshole. In fact, if you were to ask a Trump supporter right now, they will tell you that none of his racism, misogyny, dishonesty, criminality or rambling incoherent speeches have anything to do with running the country. Go ahead. I'll wait...

All of that is true except the racism. You cannot be a racist and be President. That's just messed up. But many people simply don't believe that is true anyway. In addition to my previous point, people have literally said, "so what if he likes to grab women by the pussy and brag about it. That has nothing to do with how he conducts business."

So what happened to Hillary?
Yeah, I haven't mentioned Hillary yet. Here's that part... The Democratic party made a mistake in backing her from the get go. Her entire campaign was mired in scandal and controversy. They had a guy in Bernie Sanders that could have taken the run. He probably could have won. And his platform addressed every single thing I mentioned on that list. But for whatever reason, the Democrats thought people would go for Hillary, and overlook her problems. They actively worked to hose Bernie's campaign.

Boy, were they wrong on that one. And I think that this is where Trump had the edge. If he had been going up against someone who had the same basic agenda, and wasn't under constant scrutiny for past screw ups and current legal problems, he may not have done so well. The things Trump said he was going to do resonated with a huge population in this country regardless of his shortcomings. It didn't matter if what he said or promised was true or even possible. It was true enough that it made an impact. Even though Hillary said she would fix damn near everything that Trump said he would fix - no one trusted her. So there you have the reason so many people went against her.

It's worth mentioning the final part about how Trump got the edge. Even if I'm totally wrong about every single thing I said about why people voted for him, I know I'm right about this part. He's not a politician. People are sick of politics as usual. And they would rather have anyone, ANYONE who is not a politician in that spot right now. Many people see Trump as an independent who hijacked the Republican ticket because that's the only way he could win. Come to think of it, I think that...

The other parts that I left off my list were the civil rights issues. Things like gay marriage and abortion rights. People who side with Trump on those issues would have thought that way anyway, because those are conservative points of view. This, in fact, is the only place where I will actually and completely, express my opinion about why I did not support Trump. I'm concerned about the Supreme Court. The President is only around for 4 years. The court persists. So I'm very concerned about Trump and his Vice President undoing 60 years of progressive legislation and squashing the civil rights of many Americans.

In the end, my acceptance lies in hoping that Trump concentrates on the things for which the people voted for him. I hope he spends his time there - the places that REALLY ARE important - and doesn't waste time telling people who they can sleep with or what they can do with their own bodies. That would make him unpopular REALLY fast. Because, let's be clear, that has nothing to do with running the country.

 


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