by Kyle K. Mann
Donald Trump will be the 45th President of the United States. The Associated Press called Wisconsin for Trump at about 2:30 AM Eastern time, 11:30 PM Pacific
It’s not an easy thing to eat crow, but here it is: I was dead wrong about Trump’s chances.
I’m sitting up here in Topanga, California, on a warm fall night, musing over the meaning of his being the president-elect. President Trump. Wow, it’s unbelievable. Make America Great Again… really?
For 18 months I predicted that Hillary Clinton would win, and indeed for some time that Trump was a shill for HRC. The fix was in, Hillary Clinton was a scripted lock for the presidency, and we would be looking at massive Clinton-led foreign wars within a year, that we would have to fight and protest against.
But the Great Magnet had other plans, it seems. Though it’s hardly a landslide, Trump is now Da Man. The Democrats got their butts kicked, and kicked hard. It’s a full-blown disaster. This is what comes of letting that corrupt wretch Debbie Wasserman-Schultz run the Democratic National Committee. The Republicans are now in command, with the House and Senate under their wing. It’s a numbing shock, feeling like a blast of ice water all over
John Podesta’s non-concession speech was puzzling. The over-exposed emailer sounded like a school teacher dismissing class. This was after Pennsylvania went for Trump, making Trump’s victory certain. “Every vote should count,” Podesta bleated. What does that even mean?
And so, Hillary Clinton won’t even address her supporters on the most important night of her life? That’s cowardly, and weak. The fact is, she felt entitled. Americans said, instead, they didn’t want her to be president. And very few media figures at any level saw this coming. The polls were universally disastrously wrong.
Indeed, if there’s any consolation, it’s that I’m not alone. Nationally, there were few if any political prognosticators willing to call it for the fuzzy-wigged (it is a wig, ain’t it?) billionaire. Trump has violated so many norms, starting with his stand on a Border Wall with Mexico, his hostility towards Muslims, his attacks on numerous figures — so to have this nutty dude win… it’s a big fat mind-job. I’m gobsmacked, flabbergasted and humbled.
Which leaves us where? Trump burned so many bridges, even in his own party, that this strange character, this clownish dork now owes very little to anyone.
Domestically, Trump’s victory indicates that a big percentage of Americans are deeply sick of the status quo, so much so that they are willing to elect a buffoon reality-show actor to the highest office in the land. The Obama legacy is already in tatters, and the Democratic failure to take a third consecutive presidential term bodes ill for racial harmony, not to mention gender equality.
As for Trump’s promise to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton, this is where current events get fascinating. Whether you believe she’s committed crimes or not, this is an absolutely astounding moment in American history. You want drama, you’re gonna love the coming months.
Yup, the speculation can go wild at this point. Will Obama pardon Clinton before leaving office in January, 2017? If not, what then? Will Trump change his mind and let her off the hook? Or will she flee the country, seeking asylum elsewhere? Those who are fans of Julian Assange and Edward Snowden may find that prospect amusing, considering her hostile comments regarding the whistleblowing duo.
U.S. foreign policy is less clear. Our alliances may shift, with a lot on the table. Trump has had friendly words for Russia’s Putin, which may be a good thing in the long run. Not much was said in the 2016 campaign about drone bombing, first used by Bush the Second, and vastly expanded by Obama. More was said about free trade, with Bernie Sanders leading the way on that topic in the primaries.
As the WikiLeaks emails show, the Clinton campaign scorned Sanders, who channeled the most vigorous and energized crowds of any candidate. The Clintonistas essentially threw Sanders and his supporters under the bus, instead of offering him a well-deserved VP slot.
This, perhaps more than any other single mistake, led to the Trump triumph. Sanders on the ticket, and on the campaign trail as a candidate, would have made a yuuge difference.
Shutting Sanders out and turning him into a marginalized, humiliated servant was an act of supreme arrogance, and Hillary Clinton, now presidential election loser, has only herself to blame.
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