Trump Clinton, the Aftermath

 

Well, it actually is all over except the shouting, and there sure seems to be a whole lot of shouting. If you do not believe us, go visit Facebook and if your page is not filled with screaming heebie jeebies, well, then your friends either do not speak English or other major languages or your friends have never heard of this place called the United States of America. Just for your edification, right now they do not appear all that united. The winner of the election rightfully depends on how you figure the winner. By the rules set forth in the United States Constitution, Donald Trump won receiving the majority of the Electoral College Delegates and it was not even close. If, on the other hand, you play by whatever rules best support your argument, in this case the popular vote, then Hillary Clinton should be the President. But if you really want to be picky, then the Democrat candidate should have been the disenfranchised Bernie Sanders and everybody knows that he would have won, just ask his supporters, they’ll tell you all about how he was cheated and how he would have creamed Trump in the General election. Just in case you have not caught on, it’s complicated. To make matters even more bizarre, Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate for President, did not win a single Electoral College Delegate but still demanded recounts in the three states which Hillary Clinton was closest to beating Donald Trump and would have, any two of the three, given Hillary Clinton the victory making her President. Just for clarity, Jill Stein had nothing to gain in any recount even if done by a blind supporter of her candidacy. For reasons that escaped those on the left, that includes most Hillary Clinton supporters and all of Jill Stein supporters, the courts refused the recount efforts and decreed that the recount request by Jill Stein was ridiculous because it could never have gained her any advantage. They were very polite not to dress her down for acting for Hillary Clinton and at the Clinton Campaign’s request that she be her agent so that Hillary could remain above the dirty down under shenanigans. So, the end result is Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, which is like saying she received over 60% of California and New York plus, for the record, over 90% of Washington D.C., which way outnumbered anything Texas could produce as it was almost close in Texas, 55% Trump, but Donald Trump received the most Electoral College Delegates, that is more states which were close such as Wisconsin, Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Florida and you get the idea, thus winning the Presidential race. For those having difficulty, if one were to be running for school president and each of the twelve levels of classes received one delegate and candidate A won three of the classes by fifty votes each but Candidate B won the remaining nine classes by three votes on average then Candidate B wins the election nine to three but loses the vote count by one-hundred-twenty-three votes.

 

Now let us give you the particulars. You will hear the claim that each person’s vote in Wyoming, the least populous state, was equal to a thousand votes in California, the most populous state, which explains why Hillary Clinton killing Donald Trump in California but losing Wyoming was important, that actually is how it is supposed to work. If the vote were straight popular vote would anybody ever campaign in Wyoming or Alaska or anywhere other than California, New York, Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Florida and Texas? Winning California, New York, Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Florida would easily win you the popular vote but what about the remaining forty-three states, what are they, chopped liver? That was exactly what the Founding Fathers wished to avoid except in their day it was Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. The Electoral College is made up of five-hundred-thirty-five delegates. Each state receives two delegates to equal their number of Senators and then they get a delegate for each member of the House of Representatives. Every state is guaranteed a minimum of one Representative thus in the Electoral College Wyoming gets three delegates and California gets fifty-five delegates. The population of California is many times greater than the population of Wyoming, sufficient that seventy-five delegates might be a closer representation of the difference, but that is not the rule and the rules for the election were clear, crystal clear, at the beginning of the campaign. Despite knowing that she would win in California and New York, Hillary Clinton still campaigned in both states as if they were in question and crucial to her winning yet she spent little if any time in Wisconsin, Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Michigan believing they too were guaranteed. They were not. Still, the screaming will continue as if a great miscarriage of justice has been committed because Hillary Clinton was owed the Presidency and Donald Trump is a poser.

 

So, what is the truth behind this election? Well, first off is Donald Trump is not worthy of the office of President, but then again neither was Hillary Clinton. Probably there might have been a third party or independent candidate worthy but the actual reality is the only ones with any hope of winning were the two major party candidates. So, what are the American people to do when both parties put up such candidates? They chose, it is that simple. Truth of the matter is that there are likely a fair number of people who voted for Donald Trump who now wish they had not but had Hillary Clinton won there would have likely been a near equal number of people upset with having voted for her. When the vast majority of the people are voting against one candidate rather than supporting the candidate receiving their vote, there can be no validated winner. That aside, the fact is Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton by three-hundred-six delegates to two-hundred-thirty-two delegates. That is an electoral landslide despite losing the popular vote. That leaves a vast number of disgruntled Americans facing a President who feels he has an electoral mandate. The media will do what it is able to deprive Donald Trump of any feelings of great victory be constantly questioning his victory and claiming he stole the Presidential election. Even the more conservative and Republican friendly media will not be all that favorable to Donald Trump thus he is unlikely to have many friends anywhere along the political landscape. But there are those who claim, us included, that if you are making everybody angry then you are probably being extremely fair as nobody likes a fair decision, they want their side to obviously win.

 

Still, the question is what choice was there when both candidates were so obviously flawed? The honest truth was the election was more about which candidate was going to lose, not who would win. Hillary lost the election far more than Trump won the election. Each candidate received more of their votes from people scared to death of the other candidate in the White House. As it turned out, more voters in more states were terrified of the Clinton Foundation and the pay to play politics than they were of a complete clown and poser playing at President for the next four years. More people over a wider geographic area felt that Trump could and would do less damage to the nation than Clinton. There were no great expectations or value voters but had there been such, they voted Trump over Clinton. The reality was once Hillary Clinton campaigned in a single speech that she would be President Obama’s third term she lost. Her repeating that mantra cost her the election as the states between the great mountain ranges, the Appalachians and the Rockies, voted all but unanimously for Trump. Hillary won the megalopolises and Trump the smaller cities, towns and countryside. This election was very much similar to the Truman defeat of Dewey by taking rural America over the cities. That election was initially called for Dewey famously by the Chicago Daily Tribune leading to the famous picture of Truman holding up that paper with the headline of “Dewey Defeats Truman” at his victory party. There was one news magazine which had reported a Clinton victory in the election thus history repeated itself except we had to fake the picture. This election will be exciting demonstrations and questions about what will be and might have been. No matter which side of the argument you sit, you cannot win on Facebook. To be honest, Facebook has gotten borderline toxic no matter who you supported as the extremes are ruling the posting wars. If you can survive more than fifteen minutes either you are ignoring the vast majority of posts or you have apolitical friends. All we can request is please bring back the kitten and puppy pictures and funny videos, please.

 

Dewey Defeats Truman and
Clinton Defeats Trump
Headlines Then and Now

 

The future will debate on into infinity what would have been and what was. There will be predictions of how different things would be and debates over if Trump or Clinton really is the anti-Christ. Trump is the President and the best thing we all can do is pray that he makes at least mostly good choices. We also need remember that many of the things Trump will do, that can be reversed in the future just as things President Obama did are now being altered or nixed all together. That is how the American system functions, or malfunctions, all depending on whether your side is in power or not. After four years the American people will be given the opportunity to decide if Donald Trump was a worthy President or not. First the Republicans will get to decide whether to run Trump again or not and then the people will get a chance if the Republicans have not replaced him. Then there is the chance that Trump will decide four years of the bearing the responsibilities is a bit much for him and not run for reelection. It is possible as it has probably happened before like when Lyndon Baines Johnson decided not to run for another term seeing he would definitely have lost and did not want that on his resume. Whatever the case will be, in two years the entire House of Representatives is up for election and one third of the Senate, which leaves a large amount of potential change if people decide that the nation is going in the wrong direction still. This election was somewhat about the direction of the nation with Hillary Clinton claiming to retain the status quo and Donald Trump being the agent for change, radical change. What was interesting is that radical change won as that is uncharacteristic of the American voters and has seldom been the case. The last time such was chosen was Ronald Reagan, not to draw even the slightest of comparisons though if Donald Trump does half as much good he will have been a success. That will likely get some reactions claiming we are insane if we believe Reagan was a good President and that it was Carter’s policies of freedom that broke the Soviet empire down. That is the belief in some circles; fortunately we travel largely in equilateral triangles so as not to get dizzy. All that can be said in honesty now is may Donald Trump be guided by the better angels and produce good for the largest numbers of peoples as he is able with the limited amount of power he legally wields and may he only wield those defined powers.

 

Beyond the Cusp 

 

Election Leaves Need for Safe Spaces

 

This election of Donald Trump to be the next President of the United States has really stressed me out. I am reeling and in dire need of a series of safe spaces in near every place which I visit. I go get coffee at my usual place and there it is in my face, Donald Trump will be President come January 20, 2017. Dinner out, more Trump is pushed in my face. Where are my safe spaces like all those lucky college children have access to while their professors cancel exams and hold weep-ins instead of lectures. Even going to the grocery store and you pass the newsstand where you are reminded about President elect Trump and all that entails and there will always be somebody who just has to discuss the election and if unlucky the checkout person who might just decide to want to speak about the election knowing I blog on politics. There is absolutely no way to run to a safe place when at the checkout counters. One cannot escape waiters, especially those who know you blog politics, from their asking your take on Donald Trump. Where are my safe spaces from these people who insist on knowing what my advice is to survive the coming apocalypse known as the Trump Presidency? Where do I go to escape these hurt feeling leftists who automatically believe because I appear intelligent (and who knows, I might actually be intelligent, but that is not for me to claim) I must be appalled by Trump winning the election. Honestly, we who actually are glad that Trump won need safe places from these leftists who believe that Trump won without anybody actually supporting his candidacy. They even believe that there cannot be anybody in their lives who might support Trump. Then, lastly, why am I being so silly as everybody knows that supporters of Trump are not allowed in safe places. Trump supporters are evil and must be shrieked at in a fashion eerily resembling the pod people from Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

 

Then there are the ongoing horrors on the faces when these mind-numbed people finally figure out the bored and fed up look on your face is not your traumatized look due to Trump being elected but your growing impatience with people assuming you could never have supported such a person. Funny, that is how I feel about people who voted for Hillary Clinton. These infantile people think that if they continually bombard you with question on how you can explain how each appointee can be explained or even pretend to have any experience which would qualify them for each position. Really? Like how can a retired general who commanded military intelligence could ever be considered qualified to be security advisor since he did not take the right elective courses, attend Columbia, Harvard or Yale, and obviously does not possess the sensitivity to feel the right direction and how to softly apply American presence in such a manner as to not upset any snowflakes who are currently coloring books, playing with play-dough, cuddling puppies and sipping herbal teas hoping to continue at these projects until somebody sensitive is elected to the Presidency.

 

There has to be a way to permit those so taken out-of-sorts by a simple election not agreeing with their perceived correct choice, to opt out of any future election. As their ability to understand any differing opinion than their own is to opt out of any activity within the real world and allow them to continue with their puppy cuddling, coloring-book coloring, tea sipping and joint primal screaming sessions insulated from the real world so it does not hurt them and their influence does not harm the rest of us. There are those who chose Hillary Clinton for actual reasoning and who can actually explain why they did so and also explain why the idea of a President Trump is troubling to them rather than simply repeating the accusations of Trump is a racist, hater, idiot, fascist, not nice, evil, the devil, scary or any of any number of one to three word slogans which can be seen on the vast majority of protest signs. Mind you, the signs with the big red hearts followed by Trumps Hate or Love Trumps Hate are so intelligent except how do they apply to the election of Donald Trump? Are they implying that Love is Trump or that Trump Hates or are they simply using a phrase they saw and thought was like way kewl and just so smart that it had to be the thing. Bad news for these brilliant minds, it is absolutely meaningless as we all wish that Love Trumps Hate and do not see where that implies anything about the President elect except that the word Trumps contains the letters T-R-U-M-P in the sign and thus might imply something about the President elect, but sorry, it doesn’t really mean anything obvious and definitely that Trump Hates as the chant which has accompanied these signs implies. Signs are supposed to be intuitively obvious and not confusing or vague as you are conveying a message and not a trite saying which everybody would love to actually describe an actual truth in life. We all hope that Love (or big heart) Trumps Hate but we do not automatically equate that with Trump Hates as we do not just take the last words from the sign and move the ‘s’ from Trump to hate and feel so smug and smart.

 

Safe Space with Puppy Cuddle

 

Now here is some advice for these people who are all bent and forlorn. Start looking for a candidate who can garner the support of more people than Hillary Clinton was capable of snaring. Hint, Elizabeth Warren might be a better candidate as would Bernie but they are both very extreme in their beliefs and many Americans do not share their beliefs. Many Americans do not agree with everything Trump has said but many believed that the one thing Donald Trump would be capable of doing is choosing solid and qualified people to advise him and be responsible for the different areas and Cabinet posts. Work to find candidates for position less lofty than President and see if during the next elections you can win back the House of Representatives or the Senate and then work with a President Trump to assist in the recovery necessary in both the economy and in the United States international standing. Democrats should be seen as desiring a better America rather than striving for an extremist agenda which does not function, and candidates who believe the United States is a necessary force for good and what is right in the world and forges a greater peace. The exit from the world over the past eight years or so has brought disaster down on many parts of the world including many allies in Europe, Asia, Africa and elsewhere. Work toward a constructive presence and not simply choose to find reasons to tear the nation apart and complain that things are not going just as you desire because you need to take effort and compromise in order to make friends and win elections. Ideologues usually find their way difficult and opposition strong while those willing to listen to others and work together accomplish far more. The last though, let us all work to make a President Trump as successful taking America forward and improving all our lives and making the United States important again as when America acts with means which prove important, the world usually wins. America has been one of the greatest forces for good and it would be horrific if America ever became a force for evil, and Donald Trump does not desire an evil future for America no matter what you may have heard. At least wait and see what he does and judge him on his actions and policies and not on hearsay from people who refuse to even grant the man any chance to prove he is not the bringer of the Apocalypse.

 

Beyond the Cusp 

 

American Election, Self-Absorbed, Ignoring World Crises

 

Spend time reading the distressing news coverage of the upcoming American elections and the subjects vary from the superfluous to the mundane all the while ignoring anything more serious than illegal immigrations from Mexico or the American economy. Most of the coverage zeroes in on misspeaks and gaffs while attempting to gloss over Hillary Clinton’s e-mails and ignoring all things concerning foreign policy, especially her time as Secretary of State, Benghazi and the loss of four American lives including an Ambassador, the Clinton Foundation contributions for favors potential scandal and any other foreign policy problems facing the United States, Europe or the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). This is nothing new as American elections are almost always about the economy, jobs and the manufactured crisis which usually activates in October and has been even given a name, the October surprise. Not all elections require the emergency October surprise which is usually targeted at one of the candidates to make them appear weak or unprepared while the other will receive a last minute bounce just in time for election Day. Even the political considerations are usually a secondary affect in the election and in recent elections it has become a popularity contest. One would easily believe that the elections are actually the American public voting en-masse for class president and not the presumed most powerful man or woman in the world. As long as the candidate is perceived as the most personable and least threatening, then they need only motivate their base and make a final push with slick advertising campaign using all forms of media including radio, television and internet, especially social media. The social media campaign is largely handled by younger voters and volunteers so whichever candidate has the greatest number of youthful volunteers has an advantage in the final push on social media. There is one final area of effect which comes from organized media including talk radio, television news and commentary, radio news and entertainment shows on both radio and television such as the Tonight Show, South Park, Saturday Night Live, Howard Stern and any and every entertainer imaginable. It has been the contest of personalities since President Bill Clinton played saxophone to prove his suitability and his being in with ‘it,’ and it all depends on what the meaning of it is, that may have pushed him to victory despite some negatives which had been hounding him. Some present that President George W. Bush was elected due to scare campaigns pushed on conservative talk radio which resulted in his election. President Obama has been all about the cult of personality.

 

All of this about an election between two people with the highest negatives ever coming into the election campaign and their final push. Many have pointed out that the choice is between a self-absorbed lunatic clown and a crooked untrustworthy liar. Talk about between a rock and a hard place; this election is truthfully exactly that. The choice is also described as total unpredictability against predictable deceit. Obviously the choices in the upcoming Presidential Elections in the United States could easily be said to leave a little to be expected better than the available choices. The problems were legion in the primaries of both parties. One party used power politics and back room dealings to force the choice to the promised one while the other permitted in numerous places anybody to vote and as they had over fifteen choices at the start. This permitted one to take an early lead due to name recognition and being the sole personality who received media coverage beyond any advertising the rest could manage combined. This led to both parties having regrets and second guessing as to whether the candidate they ended up with on their ballot was necessarily their best choice. With the candidates they ended up presenting, Hillary Clinton on the Democrat Party side and throwing out Donald Trump on the Republican side, both parties are limping with the choice they became stuck with. The Democrat difficulties were evident outside and within the convention in Philadelphia while the Republican problems have been far more evident as one group of party elites coming forward demanding some way be found to disrupt and intervene to block Trump all the way up to a vote taken in the convention rules committee where the elites were silenced by an overwhelming rejection of their attempt to release delegates from their obligations in order to get the selection past the first ballot and hope to then introduce a candidate the elites found more presentable and aligned to the party elites. The difference is on one side the elites cherry picked the candidate they desired to present while the other part the elites were shocked and dismayed by the choice which came from the primary votes cast across the nation. In either case there are going to be elites sore about the choice no matter which party wins.

 

Of all the items about this election, the hardest of things will be predicting who will win. We can count on one fact which will be soothing, polling will not be anywhere near as accurate as in the past as many of the voters only own cell phones so they may not be polled by robo-calls. Further, many younger voters are very difficult to poll and older voters are already telling pollsters that they will likely not be sure which candidate they will support until Election Day morning, some not until the levers are before them and still others have mentioned closing their eyes and never looking at the paper record as they prefer not to know. There has already been a perfect example of how horridly polling has proven. Donald Trump won primary after primary while polling kept claiming he was about to crash and burn and pull out of the primary elections disgraced and head hanging low. On the other side the polls initially claimed that Bernie Sanders would be a laughing stock and have little if any effect on the primaries which was to be a contest between Clinton, Chafee, Webb and O’Malley and if needed Biden could come in late and save the party. Bernie was not supposed to create the Bern yet had the primary system in the Democrat Party had been weighted more towards the voters in the primaries; he might have stolen the candidacy from Hillary just as President Obama had done. So, Trump was supposed to burn out while Sanders was never supposed to Bern. Go figure.

 

Presidential Rivals Not So Different
on Far Too Many Positions

 

So the election drive is lining up at the start line and the red lights at the top of the tree just blinked off and the first yellow bar is lighted and about to continue down soon to hit green in now in the middle of August and then the candidates are heading down the quarter year sprint with election Day as the finish line. Just as in a drag race, the start is more smoke than flashing down the track as they try to get initial traction and pull out first ahead of the field. We have a number of third party candidates with Gary Johnson representing the Libertarian Party, Jill Stein representing the Green Party, Darrell Castle representing the Constitution Party and a number of what can only be called lesser party and completely independent candidates. Yes, most, if not all, of these third party candidates and independents have no possible path to the Presidency for no other reason other than lack of credibility, lack of money and complete lack of media coverage unless they say something so ridiculous that it all but disqualifies them from the human race, then they would get one day coverage. So, the reality is by early November the world will know who to fear and what kind of fear they will have by the end of the third week of the new year. So, until then we get to fantasize and guess what will be coming in the next year when President Obama retires to write his memoirs and, if you believe rumor, work on his resume so he can be the next Secretary General of the United Nations. One thing for sure, Obama is still thinking big and the problems with him heading the United Nations are beyond imagination. What causes me to wake at night in a cold sweat is the thought of Obama as head of the United Nations and Bernie Sanders as President of the United States, at least I can put that nightmare to bed.

 

The talk shows and media have been having a field day with Donald Trump but after his last appearance he appears to have been forced by whatever means were necessary to follow a script to the teleprompter letter to the letter to the letter. This will provide the media with a very boring Trump for as long as his discipline holds out. Hillary Clinton, on the other side, appeared to have some very sticky legal predicaments until she officially became the Democrat candidate for President. Now the FBI, CIA, State Department and Attorney General’s Office are all in her corner and have been instructed to make everything disappear. Well, not so much disappear but more to pass along as not really all the prosecutable as technically things are not as clear as they may have appeared to the public and things are far more complicated than we the stupid old public could ever understand. There are finessing situations which demand delicate treatment and assessments so complicated with oblique and acute angles which are not actually complementary leaving room between legal and illegal and Hillary and Bill Clinton were playing in that grey area between the lines. Meanwhile, Donald Trump has said some wild claims and some were contradictory to earlier statements, as the media has made sure we heard about, and thus who knows where Trump stands on anything. That will be as close to honest reporting on either candidate as they will lie one into public menace number one and lie the other one into the White House if at all able. It is a sad day America has reached when the mainstream media takes sides on elections becoming almost a spokesperson repeating every accusation against one side while pampering the other. I would love to say the American Presidential race will be exciting but I cannot do so. I can promise that we will try and find things worthy of reporting or commenting upon but really this election looks like we will be facing more of the same for the entire campaign which will eventually become overly tedious. Imagine how our friends in the United States will feel as they will receive little if any real news between now and Election Day. For the average American the entire world just went black and nothing exists outside Hillary and the Donald. The world will continue on and things both good and horrific will continue to happen around the world but little will occur making the evening news as the election blanks out everything even if World War III were to begin, assuming it has not already.

 

Beyond the Cusp