Some Afterthoughts

Postmortems are inevitable after an election. The shocking result of this race brought out more should-haves than most: the Clinton campaign didn’t devote enough time and energy to the white working class, especially in the Midwest; the Comey letter was a killer; etc. I’d like to add my two cents — no, three cents.

One: Why did 43 percent of eligible voters stay home? The outcome was decided by only a little more than half of the electorate. Since voting in the U.S. is voluntary, there are always stay-at-homes. But 43 percent is staggering. Some eligible voters were probably turned off by a seemingly endless and brutal campaign. Others didn’t care for either candidate. Then there are the endless efforts by Republicans to reduce the turnout by fraudulently claiming that they’re trying to combat fraud at the ballot box. Not coincidentally, their targets were predominantly Democratic-leaning, mostly minority, areas.

The U.S. ranks 31^st of the 35 countries in the Organization for Cooperation and Development, most of whose members are developed democracies. Belgium ranks first, with 87.2 percent having voted in its 2014 election. It is one of several countries in which voting is mandatory. It wouldn’t be easy getting mandatory voting through Congress, but there’s no good reason we can’t change elections to the weekend, as is the case in many countries. This won’t get us up to Belgium’s standard, but making voting more convenient will certainly increase turnout.

Two: Why Trump? Whatever shortcomings there were in the Clinton campaign, they don’t compare with Donald Trump’s outrageous campaign. Not since George Wallace has there been a candidate more blatantly racist, sexist and xenophobic. He went from lie to lie, insult to insult, and outrageous promise to outrageous promise. Yet he garnered some 60 million votes.

Yes, there were a “basket of deplorables” supporting him: white nationalists, Nazis, anti-immigrationists. But the vast majority were expressing discontent with “the system.” The improving economy and decreasing unemployment somehow didn’t reach them. The brash “outsider,” Donald J. Trump, would turn it all around. They felt so strongly about it that they were willing to overlook his sickening bigoted behavior. So what if Hillary Clinton made more sense and had the qualifications to be president? She was part of the “establishment” — political jargon that has no meaning, but which has been hammered home to the populace as a pejorative — and consequently she is for the elites and not for “us.” And no doubt some men were simply not ready to vote for a woman to be president.

Three: Democracies are defined by the proud standard, one person, one vote. But the Electoral College undermines that standard; it should be laid to rest. Twice in 16 years, and five times since the 1830s, a candidate lost the election despite having a majority of the vote. It’s time we told our Founding Fathers that we have more faith in the people than they did when they conceived that elitist idea.

Would I still feel as I do if a Republican candidate got more votes than the Democrat but lost due to the Electoral College? Yes, I would. As long as the popular vote is fair I’m bound to accept the result. Would Donald Trump feel the same way? Hmmm.

The Shapes of Discontent

Discontent.

There’s a word for the ages. Who has never been discontented at one time or another? In fact, it’s what makes the world go ’round. If not for discontent there’d be inventions, no explorations, no revolutions — in short, no progress. And election time is a bellwether for discontent.

Throughout this campaign for president we’ve heard that word a thousand times: The Sanders supporters are discontented; the Trump supporters are discontented. True enough, but the reasons for discontent go from A to Z. There are laudable reasons to be discontented: unemployment, low wages, housing shortages, racist oppression, inadequate health care, etc. And there are bad reasons — which include hatred and fear: racism and xenophobia to name two.

Based upon Trump’s campaign — which was a mishmash of populist proposals as well as insults, bigotry, and obviously crazy ideas like building that wall on the Mexican border — I must conclude that those who voted for him either overlooked or agreed with his outrageous statements and behavior. That is very troubling.

It is one thing to be understandably discontented, but quite another to be indifferent to or in favor of hateful ideas that create division, not unity; that augur chaos, not progress.

We will be making a big mistake if we overlook the evil aspects of Trump’s drumbeats, which made hatred an integral part of his campaign. We must take seriously the embrace of Trump by David Duke and his racist ilk, by the so-called “alt-right,” a neo-fascist crop from which Trump appointed Steve Bannon, the head of Breitbart News, to be his campaign manager.

I could not agree more with the following excerpt from a post-election statement issued by Elizabeth Warren:

“The Democrats’ first job in this new era: We will stand up to bigotry. There is no compromise here. In all its forms, we will fight back against attacks on Latinos, African Americans, women, Muslims, immigrants, disabled Americans – on anyone. Whether Donald Trump sits in a glass tower or sits in the White House, we will not give an inch on this, not now, not ever.”

We are stuck with four years of Donald J. Trump as president. How those years play out must not be left to him. There's no question in my mind that there will be much disillusionment among many, if not most, of those who voted for him. It's up to all of us to channel that discontent and move the country forward, despite the man with the funny hair.  

A Deplorable Situation

A few weeks ago, in a letter to the New York Times, the writer was critical of those who support Donald Trump based on their economic circumstances. He wrote, “Hard times is no excuse for ignorance.” In a similar vein, the theme of Thomas Frank’s book “What’s the Matter With Kansas” was that election after election working- and middleclass Kansans vote against their self-interests, supporting Republicans who promise them the moon but deliver only Earthly hardship.

Millions of voters are supporting a candidate who is not only unqualified but is more blatantly evil than any we’ve ever seen. In the GOP primaries, Trump's playground epithets alone should have made him the first to bite the dust: “Little Marco,” “Lying Ted,” “Low Energy Jeb,” etc. And now, as the Republican nominee, he treats to “Crooked Hillary,” who should be “locked up.” None of the other Republican hopefuls was a bargain. But Trump's overt racism, misogyny, xenophobia and insults are in a class by themselves. Why did so many primary voters select him over so many less virulent rivals?  

As we enter the final weeks of this outrageously long and long-winded campaign, the polls indicate that Trump will be defeated. But we must be concerned about the state of the electorate, now and after the elections are thankfully over. The attitudes that motivated millions to support him must be addressed; they will not disappear upon his defeat. If not for her too generalized phrase that “half of Trump’s supporters” were a “basket of deplorables,” Hillary Clinton hit the nail on the head as she was actually referring to the white supremacists, xenophobes and Nazis who have enthusiastically jumped onto Trump’s grotesque bandwagon. (To get a frightening glimpse of those groups, hundreds of which are scattered throughout the country, I recommend the material issued by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Check out the SPLC Website.) 

While there's no way to know how many of Trump's supporters belong in that “basket,” we can assume that most of his supporters are simply feeling disgruntled with “Washington” — for whatever reason — and are voting for Trump less out of conviction than out of anger — or that many of them just hate Hillary Clinton, thanks to the 30-year hatchet job by Republicans and right-wing media. And as we near the finish line, we're treated to the spectacle of a presidential candidate whipping up that anger, accusing the elections of being “rigged,” the media of being biased against him, and encouraging actual insurrection if Clinton wins.

It's vital that Donald Trump not only be defeated but trounced in every state, and — equally important — take his down-ballot candidates to defeat with him. Only with a Democratic turnover in Congress will it be possible to move the Clinton administration forward, with Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren in the forefront of that movement. That's the only path toward assuaging whatever grievances are motivating masses of  Trump's supporters, and it's the best weapon to crush the actual deplorables.

Perception

It began with the televised debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. For the first time in history we were able to see the candidates up close, not just hear their voices. The arguments each one made were vital, of course, in helping the viewing public decide which candidate they preferred. But what historians speak of most when referring to that debate was the way the two looked: Kennedy, relaxed and handsome; Nixon, sweaty and nervous.

Perception played no small role in deciding which of the two came across as more likable, and, therefore, more “presidential.” So it has been ever since.

The first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump started out as a minor slugfest, dealing mostly with the issue of trade, but became a rout when Clinton began reciting Trump's many insults and refusal to release his tax returns, and he couldn't hold back his anger. His many interruptions — including his outrageous reaction that he was “smart” to avoid paying taxes — came across as childish and revelatory of the very unpresidential Donald J. Trump. He lost that debate handily not solely on the issues, but also on the perception of him as a playground bully.

Unfortunately, I felt that in the vice-presidential debate Tim Kaine did not do his solid presentation of the issues any service by his intemperate interruptions of Mike Pence, whose demeanor — like JFK's in that first TV debate — was relatively relaxed and respectful. Pence's transgressions — if we can them that — were lots of headshaking during the split screen coverage of Kaine's presentations.

Fair or not, in our days of expansive social media and extensive TV coverage, perception counts.

I remember a monologue by the comedian Don Adams before he became Maxwell Smart in the TV series “Get Smart.” He posed as a defense attorney addressing the jury during a murder case. His client was a beautiful woman. Thrusting his arm out in her direction, he urged the jury to look at her legs. “Are these the legs of a homicidal maniac?” he asked.

I don't know whether it worked, but don't sell perception short.       

Ghost on the Tower

(With apologies to Shakespeare)

Scene: The roof of Trump Tower. 3 a.m. The door opens and Donald Trump walks out.

Donald: Twas here upon their nightly watch my guards did see a form so like a man they drew their guns, at which the form did vanish as if swallowed by a breeze. Upon their strange report I bade them stay outside my rooms this night and I alone would venture here to test the air for such a thing.

(An apparition of Fred Trump appears and draws closer to Donald.)

O God, upon my soul it is in form and like my dear departed father!

Fred: Aye, my son, tis I, a wretched insubstantial shape who was your father, doomed to walk the nights till all my sins are burnt and purged away.

Donald: Sins, father, what sins?

Fred: Sins most foul as in the best they are.

Donald: What say you of sins? I know of no sins in your exemplary life.

Fred: In my time upon the Earth I learned as a child upon my father’s knee that one must be strong to survive the whips and scorns of competition. And so I persevered, gaining wealth and fame without regard to honor and civility. Too well I passed to you this creed of greed, which you ignobly advanced.

Donald: Not I, father, not I. Only sound business practices do I perform as you conveyed them.

Fred: Sound as to wealth, yes, but unsound to commonwealth. It pains my spectral form to hear you speak so. Even in death I grieve that you so callously disregard the plight of those you’ve cheated through the years, and in your quest for high office you hurl insults and ridicule to those in opposition .

Donald: I shudder at your pronouncements. My means and methods have followed the course you taught me, a course of success beyond your wildest dreams — success to the point where now I stand at the threshold of the greatest success the world has ever known: the presidency of the United States!

Fred: O my son, my faithful but misguided son. That is the reason I come to you now to urge that you repent before you make the greatest mistake for yourself, your family, your country and for the world. But hark, I sense the morning air, and I must depart. But ere my spectral form fades this night I beseech you to reflect and reform your ways. The hours of your greatest aspiration are winding down. So hear me, Donald, my beloved son. Hear me before it is too late. Reform, reform… (He starts to fade.) and remember me, remember meeee… (Disappears)

Donald: (alone in the dawn) Aye, remember you, dear father, I will, I will. And as I remember you and choose my path ahead, I will not shrink as chooser. I’ll remember you in life as a winner, but in death as a loser.

Confident is good, scared is better

When Donald Trump said, “I could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and I wouldn’t lose any votes,” the scariest thing about it was not his audacity but his accurate reading of his base. Every day there is a new revelation of Trump’s chicanery, bigotry, etc., but none of it seems to make a dent among his “Alt-Right” followers. After a boisterous Trump rally, a TV reporter pointed out to one of the attendees that most of what Trump said was untrue. She thought a moment then replied, “Yes, but he’ll get things done.”

You can’t make this stuff up.

One of the best and scariest publications I’ve ever come across is the magazine “Intelligence Report,” issued twice a year by the Southern Poverty Law Center. It details the activities of hundreds of Nazi and white supremacist groups across the country, hardly any of which gets into the mainstream press. Its summer issue featured an article titled “Hate in the Race,” about such groups rallying around Trump — sought or not.

Trump famously denied knowing anything about David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan leader, when informed that Duke was supporting him. Trump belatedly disowned Duke’s support, but Duke hasn’t withdrawn his support for Trump. The “Intelligence Report” article notes that Duke praised Trump’s immigration plan, and he said that Trump “has really said some incredibly great things recently.”

The article also cites a group called the White Genocide Project, “which promotes the myth that white people worldwide are being subjected to mass murder.” It states that members of this group have started a petition to honor Trump for “opposing white genocide.”

Another white-supremacist group, the American Freedom Party, has gone one better. Its leader, William Daniel Johnson, founded a political action committee, originally named the American National Trump Super PAC then renamed the American National Super PAC. It started rolling out robocalls for trump, and was joined in those calls by a racist named Jared Taylor, who said, “We don't need Muslims. We need smart, well-educated white people who will assimilate to our culture.”

Yes, confident is good — which is the essence of Hillary Clinton’s campaign speeches — but there is good reason to be scared enough by the gutter rats who have swarmed around Donald Trump to make sure that he never sets foot in the Oval Office.