Why Trump Happened - Mark Blekherman
The Republican Party has never been an advocate for racism, bigotry or violence. It has never been an organization for low-paying white workers to express their xenophobia and hatred with impunity. It has never been a supporter of protectionism or a flatterer of corrupt regimes like Russia’s. Yet Trump has changed all of that. While his outsider view of politics attracted many voters during the primaries, it has alienated core Republican leaders—Paul Ryan, Michael Bloomberg—and has provoked many educated Independents to vote Democrat. More importantly, Trump has devastated the reputation of the Republican Party in the eyes of most millennials, who grew up in a world that mandated political correctness.
Donald Trump has committed himself to being the voice of those left behind in the past eight years.
I am not a Donald Trump supporter and nor am I a solid Republican. I nevertheless have faith that there must be logical reasons to explain the decision of more than half of America’s population. In the end, citizens vote not on candidates’ personalities, but rather on the effect their plans will have on their lives. The vote of a corn farmer in Iowa does not hinge on the gender of the candidate, but on that candidate’s opinion on trade with developing agricultural nations. The vote of a Cuban Floridian hinges not on the political correctness of the candidate, but on that candidate’s opinion on Obama’s diplomatic relations with Cuba. Unfortunately, many millennials have blamed the outcome of the election on the appeal of Trump’s misogynistic and racist comments to many working class white voters instead of delving deep into the reasoning of Trump supporters.
For eight years, Obama has worked with liberal media to harass any beliefs that do not coincide with his administration. No longer can you say “radical Islam” in public. No longer can you honor a police officer without being called “racist.” No longer can you praise Israel’s economic growth without being considered a fervent anti-Muslim extremist… at least in California. Many of these tacit restrictions on free speech have aggravated Americans. Donald Trump has committed himself to being the voice of those left behind in the past eight years.
It is easy to applaud President Obama for steady job growth, but it is much harder to sympathize with workers in Detroit car companies, Pennsylvania steel factories and Kentucky coal mines. It is easy to glorify the idea of free college—doesn’t everybody want it?—but it is much harder to realize the financial burden such a plan imposes on middle-class voters. It is easy to admire the notion of universal health care, but it is much harder to admit to the rising insurance premium costs and to empathize with patients who wait weeks and sometimes months for vital doctor appointments. It is easy to make frivolous concessions to Iran, but it is much harder to recognize the aggressive hostility of most Iranians towards the United States and confess to the failure of the International Atomic Energy Agency in the past to execute reliable inspections. Many Americans are tired of initiatives that sound lyrical out loud but that quickly decay in practice.
As Exonians, we often lose track of the real world: the ghost towns of the Rust Belt, the long lines at healthcare clinics and the high income taxes. The election serves as a wake-up call to those Democrats who were certain about a Clinton presidency on Tuesday morning, to those Democrats who smiled at Clinton’s proposals but overlooked her ties with the Saudi government and her disregard for the rule of law. These Democrats only see half of the picture.