“You can’t play sports without losing sometimes and, in losing, you learn something about grace and how to act under pressure.” John F. Kerry
The silent majority has made its choice. Working class white males bonded with the billionaire from New York City and, as a result, we have a new president who is not a Democrat (though he was), not a woman and, thankfully, not politically correct.
Donald Trump, though labeled as a racist by Democrats, also drew more votes from blacks, Latinos and Asians than previous Republican nominee Mitt Romney.
Supporters of Hillary Clinton did not take her surprise defeat well. In fact, they may have reacted with more constraint if bubonic plague had been introduced to their water supply. Clinton supporters swooned. I’m still not sure what the vapors are, but Hillary fans had cases of them in droves. It was like a scene from “Contagion” or “The Day the Earth Stood Still.” Panic was widespread.
Consider this quote from the Telegram & Gazette’s Dianne Williamson: “Yes, it hurts. It’s spirit-crushing. I’ve heard from many people who expressed surprise at the visceral emotional pain they felt upon learning that a slick, opportunistic demagogue has been chosen over a smart, capable and accomplished woman who has devoted her life to public service.”
There’s journalistic objectivity for you. The woman who brought us emailgate, filegate, pardongate, travelgate and about a dozen other scandals has “devoted her life to public service” and it was her opponent who was the “slick, opportunistic demagogue.” Maybe I missed it, but I have not heard anything about the Clintons donating the millions they made from pay-for-play schemes to the poor people in Haiti that they ripped off.
There wasn’t just tears and whining. A Trump supporter was caught on video being beaten in Chicago, there was rioting in Oregon and about 40 fires were set in one city in California. Tens of thousands of protesters filled the streets in at least 25 U.S. cities overnight, demonstrating outside of Trump’s properties.
Imagine what media would say if Hillary bested The Donald and Republicans were rioting in the streets (not that they would).
Such drama hasn’t been seen since Ronald Reagan was voted in as president. And how did that turn out?
Granted Donald Trump is no Ronald Reagan, but he chose a better vice presidential candidate than Hillary did. He finally settled on a highly qualified campaign manager, compared with Hillary’s ethically challenged campaign posse. And while Hillary’s campaign could be summarized as “I’m not Donald Trump,” President-elect Trump’s final campaign ads focused on a positive message.
It’s as if he thinks he really can “Make America great again,” which is something this country needs after eight years of capitulation to the likes of the Castro brothers, the Iranian mullahs and practically every other dictator on the planet. If our lame duck president worked with Republicans the way he worked with the world’s dictators, imagine what could have been accomplished.
Yes, Donald Trump said some truly stupid, inappropriate things, but President Obama did some truly stupid, inappropriate things and his party paid the price.
No Media Credibility
As painful as it was, this election taught us some important lessons that should guide us in the years to come. Among them:
Don’t believe the mainstream media. Like many other media, The New York Times gave Hillary Clinton an 85% chance of winning, making it seem as though her victory was a sure thing. Media were generally wrong about almost everything in this election cycle. Come to think of it, they’re wrong about almost everything even when we’re not in an election cycle.
Don’t believe pollsters, economists or media pundits, either. They’re usually wrong.
The Democratic Party is now extinct. I don’t really believe that, of course, but thought it would be a good idea to even the score a bit.
Media pundits and other political know-it-alls predicted that the Republican Party was weak, divided and about to collapse. Yet this given-up-for dead party now has majorities in both the House and the Senate, as well as the White House. And don’t expect The Donald to nominate a Ruth Bader Ginsberg clone to the Supreme Court.
An even bigger story … of 99 legislative bodies in the U.S., Republicans now control 69. There are 33 Republican governors and 29 Republican attorneys general. President Obama has done more for the Republican party than anyone since Ronald Reagan.
And this shellacking came with the Republicans running a candidate that had the highest negative approval rating in history. Imagine if the Republican Party had run a candidate for president that people actually liked!
President Trump has leverage. President Trump will have plenty of leverage over the Democratic Party. He can threaten to repeal Obamacare, Dodd-Frank and the hundreds of other poorly conceived regulations that have stifled business growth for the past eight years. He can threaten to have a real—not rigged—investigation of Hillary Clinton over Benghazi and her private email server. He can threaten a real investigation into the IRS abuse of conservative groups.
Here’s his chance to demonstrate that his “art of the deal” is authentic.
Recession, Then Growth
Now that the election is over, what can we expect? Here are a few predictions.
Unfortunately, no American celebrities will move to other countries. Among the celebrities who vowed to move to Canada and other countries if Trump won were Bryan Cranston, Samuel L. Jackson, Lena Dunham, Neve Campbell, Natasha Lyonne, Miley Cyrus, Barbara Streisand, Ne-Yo, Amy Schumer, Chelsea Handler, Jon Stewart, Whoopi Goldberg, Keegan-Michael Key and George Lopez. Cher said she would move to Jupiter; we thought she already lived there.
Aren’t these the people who are in an income bracket that Hillary wanted to tax the bejesus out of? (Not that she would. There would, of course, be tax exemptions for celebrities on the grounds that they contribute so much to society. After all, what’s more entertaining than listening to Sean Penn or George Clooney share their deep knowledge of politics.)
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said she would move, but later apologized for her comment, and Al Sharpton said he would move. Would America be better or worse off if Al Sharpton, Barbara Streisand, et al. moved to another country? If it were in the budget, we might buy their airline tickets for them.
Our relationship with Russia will improve. President Trump can’t do any worse than the Russian “reset” that Hillary managed. Russian leader Vladimir Putin is a dictator, for sure, but he’s as macho as they come. He respects Trump for his bravado. He did not respect President Obama. You don’t appeal to macho dictators by leading from behind.
The media will continue to have a hard-left bias. This is a no-brainer. The media will also continue to lose readership and viewership.
The wall between the U.S. and Mexico will not be built. This bonehead idea helped launch the Trump campaign, but now that he’s president elect, it’s time to let it go.
The economy will go into a recession. President Obama entrusted the country’s economy to its central bank, which kept interest rates close to zero for eight years. It’s time to normalize rates, gradually, for the long-term sake of the economy.
Doing so, though, will cause a recession and President Trump will be blamed for it—even though all President Obama has done is delay a recession, while the economy limped along for years.
The economy will return to normal growth. During the Obama administration, the economy was run by the Federal Reserve Board. Two percent growth became the new normal, millions of people dropped out of the workforce and American companies relocated to other countries to avoid the U.S. tax burden and the uber-regulatory U.S. business environment.
Now, with a Republican majority in Congress intact, much can be accomplished. The tax code can be reformed, burdensome regulations can be lifted and pro-growth initiatives can be approved by Congress.
Donald Trump has been criticized for being short on real policy initiatives, but the Republican Party has created a plan for moving forward, called, “A Better Way.” You wouldn’t know it from the lack of media coverage it’s received, but it really is a better way. Hopefully, President Trump will work with Congress to make it happen.
America will survive. In spite of the whining on the left, our country will be better off than if Hillary were elected president. In his acceptance speech, Donald Trump talked about bringing the country together. That would be a refreshing change from the past eight years of obstruction that President Obama and Harry Reid have brought us.