A Raging Orange Clown Named Donald Trump: A Shocking Win: An Election Post-Mortem

I have struggled to write this article. Long ago I decided not to incessantly cover the 2016 horse race. I did write a few articles here and there about one or more of the candidates, but from early on this election season drained the creative well.

I just couldn’t.

Then Tuesday happened.

I just can’t.

It was like a punch to the gut. On Wednesday morning it was like waking up to a strange and scary new world. I keep thinking Ashton Kutcher will show up any moment with camera crew in tow in the most elaborate ever episode of Punk’d. But as a straight middle-aged white guy, I can’t possible imagine the level of fear and anguish for gays, women, and people of color, who all were directly threatened by Donald Trump.

So I must write.

If there was anything I was looking more forward to than a historic election night where we elected our first woman president, it was an end to this election season, and more importantly an end to Donald Trump’s free media ride. Heading into election day, I thought I would no longer have to see the raging orange clown on my television.

But now we get four more years of misery.

So what happened?

Is it true America is more racist than we thought?

Is it true America is more homophobic than we thought?

Is it true America is more sexist than we thought?

On election night and early Wednesday morning, my answer to all these questions was a thunderous YES, and I’m not embarrassed to show the proof with a sampling of my cathartic Facebook rants:

November 9 at 12:08am:
For all the polls to be off in the same direction, it would have to mean that people are so anti-establishment they were lying to pollsters in sufficient numbers. Because hey, the pollsters are also the establishment and it’s fun to fuck with the system. It is an incredibly cynical electorate, more cynical than I’ve ever been, and that’s saying something!

I said this going into this election: I DO NOT trust the electorate, and you CANNOT underestimate hate and fear as motivating factors even when those so motivated are unaware or are unable to own up to it.

So here we stand on the precipice, looking at the strong possibility of a presidency for a person who makes George W. Bush look like a policy wonk. “Miss me yet?” Hell yeah!

The people who voted for Trump in large part did not believe he was fit for the job. Instead, they were voting to (a) tear the system down, and/or (b) against Hillary Clinton.

But I guess if we were unable to overcome this incredibly bleak and negative outcome, then we ultimately get the president and country we deserve.

November 9 at 12:36am:
There was high minority turnout in places like Philly and southern Florida and yet it wasn’t enough to overcome the white racist counterpunch. God Bless America

November 9 at 12:46am: I challenge Trump supporters to a lead pipe brawl to the death. 🙂

November 9 at 12:55am:
The results tonight, while not final, are not totally about Trump. It is also about a country that still has a problem with women in positions of power. I know this because all you have to do is look at governorships as well as congress. But because the woman in question is Hillary Clinton, people can hide behind whatever bullshit they choose to concoct, it gives them cover. And yet the truth of the matter remains the same.

November 9 at 1:14am:
I also said this a few days ago, although I don’t remember if it was on Facebook. The result we are likely seeing tonight is two-fold. Not only is the country showing it’s unwillingness to elect a woman to the presidency, we are also seeing the backlash from white America against the changing demographics in this country, especially after our first black president. The reality is this. Donald Trump wins the racist vote in 2016 and yet the demographics are still going to continue to change, becoming less white. If the Republic survives, the white nationalists can enjoy their last failed stand.

November 9 at 1:22am:
The thing that amazes me is that people listened to 17 months of anti-intellectual drivel released from the pursed lips and small-hand gestures of a 70-year-old orange buffoon and decided, “Yep, that sounds about right to me.”

November 9 at 1:45am:
So Republicans royaly fuck everything up in this election, and the civilized world is laughing and shaking their heads, and yet tonight Republicans manage to win pretty much everything. And the only thing the rest of prudent and sane civilization can grasp onto is that this is the last throws of a white nationalism soon to be examined in history textbooks by future American students.

November 9 at 1:58am:
Excuse me while I say Pennsylvania [my home state] can go fuck itself. 🙂

November 9 at 2:00am:
More specifically, Pennsatucky can go fuck itself. 🙂

November 9 at 2:06am:
Regardless of the outcome of this election, my values do not change, even if the majority of voters have chosen a racist, xenophobic, misogynistic candidate with zero experience for the job he seeks.

November 9 at 2:17am:
Way, way, way back in the early days of this election I said I don’t trust the electorate when it involves a celebrity, and that’s because the electorate is dumb and it likes shiny objects.

November 9 at 2:29am:
Fuck white nationalism.
Fuck the alt-right.
Fuck anti-intellectualism.
Fuck racism.
Fuck misogyny.
Fuck celebrity-worship.
Fuck Donald Trump.
And finally but most poignantly, fuck you and what you might think of me if you have a problem with anything I’ve said tonight because I find myself in the Obama “no fucks to give” zone tonight.

November 9 at 2:33am:
AP just announced that Donald Trump is the president-elect.

November 9 at 2:37am:
Every step of the way people said Donald Trump would not win, and now we have president-elect Donald Trump.

November 9 at 2:42am:
So with President Obama at 56% approval rating (as high as Ronald Reagan at a similar point in his presidency), the people who chose to vote today decided we’ve had enough of the blackening. It’s time to roll the clock back to a simpler, more white, more racist time when people who do not look like Donald Trump know their place.

November 9 at 2:57am:
Well, there’s always the states that voted to legalize recreational marijuana I guess.

November 9 at 2:59am:
Tonight America voted anti-establishment by voting for a populist elitist.

November 9 at 3:15am:
Tonight, America elected the man who led the racist fueled birther rhetoric against our first black president. Congratulations racists.

November 9 at 3:22am:
At the end of the day (and this has been a long day), I also put this election on the apathetic among us. If everyone eligible to vote had voted, we would have had a very different outcome tonight. The shame tonight should be shared both with the racist sympathizers along with the people who could not bring themselves to care enough to vote.

November 9 at 3:27am:
If there is a sentiment that should echo beyond this election it is this:

Never again shall we underestimate the vengeance of fear and hate.

November 9 at 3:34am:
Message to the world: Not all Americans are bat-shit crazy.

November 9 at 3:37am:
I’m shipping America back for repair. Here’s hoping it’s covered under warranty.

November 9 at 4:17am:
The electoral college is the law of the land, but by tomorrow it is very possible Hillary Clinton will have won the majority of the popular vote in our little experiment called American democracy. And if that happens, it will be the second time in less than two decades. I wonder if roles were reversed if Trump would have been so gracious in offering a concession considering he already thought the election he ultimately won was rigged.

November 9 at 11:05am:
Idiocracy

As you can see, I probably hit most of the stages of grief, although in no particular order. But I never got to Acceptance, and in fact I’m still not there, but I’m trying.

So America is a cesspool of racist, homophobic, misogynistic assholes, right? Well, not exactly. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of people in this country who are those things, and many of them did vote for Donald Trump, but they are not the reason he is president. The racist, homophobic, misogynistic vote was always going to turn out for Trump, but they did not show up in any greater numbers than they ever have in the past. We know this because turnout in this election was down from 2012, and especially down from 2008. Granted, votes are still being counted, but last time I checked a couple days ago, Donald Trump, the winner of the 2016 presidential election, had a vote count similar to the losers in the previous two elections (Mitt Romney and John McCain). And of course, Donald Trump has fewer votes than Hillary Clinton (likely to exceed a million). So, it’s clear turn out was down, particularly Democratic turnout. So, this is not exactly lending support to the idea white nationalists won this election for Trump.

The truth of this election is something Democrats and liberals have only started to come to terms with days after the election. The Left did not turn out for Hillary Clinton. Sure, there were a few people who voted for Barack Hussein Obama in 2008 and 2012 who flipped their vote, no matter how inexplicable, to Donald John Trump. And I’m sure a number of rural counties around the country saw higher than normal turnout for Trump. But I have to repeat the obvious, overall turnout in this election was way down. There was no alt-right movement that mobilized racists to the polls.

Yes, I’m aware of the elephant in the room, the Electoral College, and maybe I’ll write about that in due time.

Yes, I know all about voter suppression, and I have no doubt that played a role in the election.

Yes, I know this election was incredibly close, in three states, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, the combined difference was the equivalent of two football stadiums, and that was the difference between President-Elect Trump and President-Elect Clinton.

But the truth hurts.

Hillary Clinton received 6 million FEWER votes than Barack Obama in 2012, and 10 million FEWER votes than Barack Obama in 2008.

The inconvenient truth for liberals is Hillary Clinton lost this election because the America Left didn’t show up. The American Left was apathetic to the point of not caring who won the election, even when one of the candidates was wholly unqualified for the job.

The Left failed Hillary Clinton. The Left failed us. The Left failed America.

Election 2016NewsPolitics

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