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penpusherI'd like for you to say hello to the new Commander in Chief, to the new leader of the Free World, to the new President of the United States. His name is Donald J. Trump.
I know a lot of you are happy to meet the new boss, and I know that some of you are wondering just how he got the position. Let's review.
We had a black man as president for the previous eight years. This did not sit well with certain members of the opposition party.
I know that there will be a call stating that the fact that Barack Obama was black has nothing to do with it; that it was his policies that were disliked and dismissed. But there really was a movement to discredit him for who he was, and one of the biggest mouthpieces of that movement was Donald Trump.
See, Trump constantly stated that he didn't believe that President Obama was a "natural born American," a requirement for anyone seeking the office of President, and he continued to make the claim that not only was POTUS not born in the US, but that he was Muslim as well. Clearly, a kind of wedge was being driven into the collective consciousness about who this man was. This point cannot be underestimated. If you readily claim the person who is leading the country has a massive stake in it failing, that suggests a content of character issue, not a failed policy maker.
Eventually, it was time to see who was willing to run for the office and Trump was one of the people who chose to enter the field on the Republican side, this though he was a registered Democrat. It was a very crowded group with people from various parts of the country, some old familiar names, some up and coming politicians, even a brain surgeon, if you can believe it.
Meanwhile, on the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton was the most likely candidate. She had run and lost to Obama in 2008, then became his Secretary of State in 2012. Her problem was she had no competition and that made her both the prohibitive choice almost before she announced, but it meant that the GOP could start to prepare their approach for how they planned to attack and dismantle her.
Enter Bernie Sanders.
Sanders was a surprise and a force that, like Trump, came from outside of the typical political channels. He was an independent who joined the Democrats and started to travel to get his message out there, one of inclusion, of thought, of caring.
Sanders made a point not to attack Clinton through the bulk of the primary season. But he got a movement going, a groundswell for the Democratic "outsider" view, similarly as the GOP started to support Trump with his campaign. But everyone on the Republican side attacked the policies of Obama and Clinton, presenting at least that common thought for all of the baker's dozen of candidates. They united to pound Hillary for anything and everything they could think of, whether it was accurate or not.
The problem is in politics as usual and in the concept that politicians are, for the most part, corrupt. Both Sanders and Trump carried that message along with them as their popularity grew. This did no favors for Hillary Clinton, who was still dealing with the question of how she used her private server for what were potentially classified emails, possibly putting the country at risk for allowing secrets to fall into the hands of our enemies.
Never mind that Trump continually said and did things that would have taken down any other candidate. Never mind that Trump constantly made statements that contradicted himself. Never mind that Trump never actually stated anything he would do as President. Yes, he said he would build a wall on the Mexican border and have Mexico pay for it. But 1) there already is a wall on the Mexican/US border. And 2) that isn't a policy that the president can actually enact. And that was typical of everything Trump said during the run up to the Republican National Convention. He literally gave no one any information about what a Trump presidency would look like, what it would focus on, how it would function, and what it would be about.
"It'll be great" or "Watch and see" were typical phrases he would shout at reporters when they asked about these points. Why no one focused on the fact that Trump said nothing real or realistic about his concept of what the office was about is clearly an issue that was overlooked by the media. I don't recall hearing anyone say that they didn't feel Trump understood what the Executive branch was actually about. Instead, focus was on the fistfights and the anger at his rallies, the constant mantra of "Let's Make America Great Again," and zoomed in close on the next outrageous comment from the candidate's mouth, be it against a physically challenged journalist, a female opponent's face, or some media outlet or business he felt slighted him. It truly was the definition of the term "political circus."
Come election night, with the polls showing Hillary having a 3 point lead, the voting did not go that way, with Trump winning pretty much the entirety of the center of the country and the south, Hillary winning the West Coast and the Northeast with a few other states included. Too close to call was the official term, but everything seemed to tilt toward The Donald.
What does this mean? There is a new shift in how America sees itself and how it plans to move forward on the world stage. Diplomacy will become a meaningless word. Women's rights, both in the bedroom and in the military, will likely be stripped away, as Trump stated he is pro-life and anti-women in military positions. The Affordable Health Care act will likely be destroyed, with nothing to replace it for more than 20 million Americans. And with the help of the Republican Congress and the Republican leaning Supreme Court, we could see a repeal of the equality of marriage laws, permitting gay people their basic human rights to love and wed who they choose.
Clearly this was a "take back the country" message being sent from people who felt minorities, women, the LGBTQ community, and anyone with little or no power to do anything in this land, were getting a little bit out of control, a little bit too cozy and comfortable. Time to put you all back in your place. There will be no more images of the White House bathed in a rainbow. There will be no more entertaining the thought that climate change might be a thing. This is the end of tolerance. This is the rise of political incorrectness.
Meet the new boss... nothing like the old boss.
This thinkpost was written for LJ Idol X, using the prompt "Introduction"
I know a lot of you are happy to meet the new boss, and I know that some of you are wondering just how he got the position. Let's review.
We had a black man as president for the previous eight years. This did not sit well with certain members of the opposition party.
I know that there will be a call stating that the fact that Barack Obama was black has nothing to do with it; that it was his policies that were disliked and dismissed. But there really was a movement to discredit him for who he was, and one of the biggest mouthpieces of that movement was Donald Trump.
See, Trump constantly stated that he didn't believe that President Obama was a "natural born American," a requirement for anyone seeking the office of President, and he continued to make the claim that not only was POTUS not born in the US, but that he was Muslim as well. Clearly, a kind of wedge was being driven into the collective consciousness about who this man was. This point cannot be underestimated. If you readily claim the person who is leading the country has a massive stake in it failing, that suggests a content of character issue, not a failed policy maker.
Eventually, it was time to see who was willing to run for the office and Trump was one of the people who chose to enter the field on the Republican side, this though he was a registered Democrat. It was a very crowded group with people from various parts of the country, some old familiar names, some up and coming politicians, even a brain surgeon, if you can believe it.
Meanwhile, on the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton was the most likely candidate. She had run and lost to Obama in 2008, then became his Secretary of State in 2012. Her problem was she had no competition and that made her both the prohibitive choice almost before she announced, but it meant that the GOP could start to prepare their approach for how they planned to attack and dismantle her.
Enter Bernie Sanders.
Sanders was a surprise and a force that, like Trump, came from outside of the typical political channels. He was an independent who joined the Democrats and started to travel to get his message out there, one of inclusion, of thought, of caring.
Sanders made a point not to attack Clinton through the bulk of the primary season. But he got a movement going, a groundswell for the Democratic "outsider" view, similarly as the GOP started to support Trump with his campaign. But everyone on the Republican side attacked the policies of Obama and Clinton, presenting at least that common thought for all of the baker's dozen of candidates. They united to pound Hillary for anything and everything they could think of, whether it was accurate or not.
The problem is in politics as usual and in the concept that politicians are, for the most part, corrupt. Both Sanders and Trump carried that message along with them as their popularity grew. This did no favors for Hillary Clinton, who was still dealing with the question of how she used her private server for what were potentially classified emails, possibly putting the country at risk for allowing secrets to fall into the hands of our enemies.
Never mind that Trump continually said and did things that would have taken down any other candidate. Never mind that Trump constantly made statements that contradicted himself. Never mind that Trump never actually stated anything he would do as President. Yes, he said he would build a wall on the Mexican border and have Mexico pay for it. But 1) there already is a wall on the Mexican/US border. And 2) that isn't a policy that the president can actually enact. And that was typical of everything Trump said during the run up to the Republican National Convention. He literally gave no one any information about what a Trump presidency would look like, what it would focus on, how it would function, and what it would be about.
"It'll be great" or "Watch and see" were typical phrases he would shout at reporters when they asked about these points. Why no one focused on the fact that Trump said nothing real or realistic about his concept of what the office was about is clearly an issue that was overlooked by the media. I don't recall hearing anyone say that they didn't feel Trump understood what the Executive branch was actually about. Instead, focus was on the fistfights and the anger at his rallies, the constant mantra of "Let's Make America Great Again," and zoomed in close on the next outrageous comment from the candidate's mouth, be it against a physically challenged journalist, a female opponent's face, or some media outlet or business he felt slighted him. It truly was the definition of the term "political circus."
Come election night, with the polls showing Hillary having a 3 point lead, the voting did not go that way, with Trump winning pretty much the entirety of the center of the country and the south, Hillary winning the West Coast and the Northeast with a few other states included. Too close to call was the official term, but everything seemed to tilt toward The Donald.
What does this mean? There is a new shift in how America sees itself and how it plans to move forward on the world stage. Diplomacy will become a meaningless word. Women's rights, both in the bedroom and in the military, will likely be stripped away, as Trump stated he is pro-life and anti-women in military positions. The Affordable Health Care act will likely be destroyed, with nothing to replace it for more than 20 million Americans. And with the help of the Republican Congress and the Republican leaning Supreme Court, we could see a repeal of the equality of marriage laws, permitting gay people their basic human rights to love and wed who they choose.
Clearly this was a "take back the country" message being sent from people who felt minorities, women, the LGBTQ community, and anyone with little or no power to do anything in this land, were getting a little bit out of control, a little bit too cozy and comfortable. Time to put you all back in your place. There will be no more images of the White House bathed in a rainbow. There will be no more entertaining the thought that climate change might be a thing. This is the end of tolerance. This is the rise of political incorrectness.
Meet the new boss... nothing like the old boss.
This thinkpost was written for LJ Idol X, using the prompt "Introduction"
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 09:47 am (UTC)I'm very frightened. Thanks for your well thought out entry.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 05:24 pm (UTC)I didn't forget the disabled... I mentioned the physically challenged journalist he aped in the thirteenth paragraph.
I really don't know where this is going, but I guess, in ten weeks, we're going to start finding out.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 06:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 06:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 06:44 pm (UTC)I'm definitely not whining... I'm mourning.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 07:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 08:08 pm (UTC)I can't speak for Michigan, considering President Obama bailed out the Auto Industry. The long term memory is clearly failing there. But having spent some quality time in Pennsylvania at college, the adage is true. You have Philadelphia at one end, Pittsburgh at the other and Alabama in the middle. It really is a lower middle class area for the most part, and, of course, Trump promised that he was going to bring Coal back. PA is coal country.
Trump is a classic Narcissist, I mean like textbook case. So as long as everyone is fawning over him and praising him, everything will go smoothly. But, as we all know, that is not the life of a US President, so that'll devolve pretty quickly.
I wish I were sure that it wouldn't be that dramatic, but all signs that I see point to it being something we wish were a reality show.
P.S. Watch the new version of "The Apprentice" starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, coming soon to NBC.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 06:31 pm (UTC)Potentially?
>He literally gave no one any information about what a Trump presidency would look like, what it would focus on, how it would function, and what it would be about.
donaldjtrump.com/policies
>Clearly this was a "take back the country" message being sent from people who felt minorities, women, the LGBTQ community, and anyone with little or no power to do anything in this land, were getting a little bit out of control, a little bit too cozy and comfortable. Time to put you all back in your place.
Give me a break, Dean. Really? The man got an arena of Republicans at the convention to cheer and applaud the protection of our LGBTQ community.
You don't get to claim to be the underdog "with little to no power" when the White House, the DNC, and nearly every major media outlet is on your side - a media that, apparently, actively works to manipulate the message in favor for said underdogs. This was Hillary's election to lose. She had it in the bag.
Calling everyone liberals don't agree with Hitler, Russian, stupid, evil, -ist, intolerant, whatever, is not cruise control to winning anymore.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 06:51 pm (UTC)Editor's note: The day after we published this fact-check, Comey testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on July 7. Comey said he believes three emails on Clinton's server contained information labeled classified at the time they were sent. This information was not properly marked in that the emails did not have a classification header, even though a "(c)" immediately preceded text in the body of the emails, designating confidential information. Without the clear classification header, it's reasonable to infer that Clinton did not realize these three emails contained classified information, he said.
That sorta kinda countermands your point, doesn't it?
As for what Trump says? Who knows what Trump says and what he means and who he is pandering to and what his personality is going to be like and how he's going to handle the business of running this government. I have absolutely no clue, which is the most terrifying part of all of this.
Enjoy your victory. Just know that millions of us are afraid our rights are going to evaporate like water on a Texas prairie in July, and that people will feel free to be as intolerant of our differences as they were back before Jim Crow ended.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 06:56 pm (UTC)Fair enough.
But also, "There is evidence to support a conclusion that any reasonable person in Secretary Clinton's position or in the position of those with whom she was corresponding about the matters should have known that an unclassified system was no place for that conversation," Comey said of some of the top secret chains.
>Just know that millions of us are afraid our rights are going to evaporate...
Which rights are you afraid of going away?
no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 07:22 pm (UTC)Well, I guess I was hoping that we would actually have a national discussion about racism and sexism in this country, so the majority can start to understand just what they are. It's obvious that people have no idea what those issues are about or that they even still exist. I was hoping for a conversation to finally permit people to understand that being gay is a normal part of human experience and maybe we could get beyond the stigma of it. This is still a concept that is foreign to many. I was counting on a more open society able to make life easier for people with disabilities. I thought that maybe we would have some steps forward in those areas...
I think I'm a pretty imaginative person, but I can't foresee any positive movement in any of those areas for at least four years, and maybe eight if we get into a new war with some country.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 07:56 pm (UTC)Which rights are you afraid of going away?
no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 09:00 pm (UTC)You're right. These really weren't our rights to lose, as not all of us have had them.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 09:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 09:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 09:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 09:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 06:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 07:09 pm (UTC)Eight years of Barack Obama and the racists, misogynists and homophobes only stepped up their game.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 07:39 pm (UTC)I really hoped Americans as a whole were not THIS hateful and this stupid, and that an unqualified, bigoted blowhard with no actual planning or substance would ever be elected president.
And then he was. And this is the face we now present to the rest of the world, whose opinion of us has plummeted to the absolute bottom. G.W. Bush took us low, but at least he was an amiable idiot. Stupid, callous, hair-brained, and hateful... clearly, Americans as a group have no sense, given that they actually elected this guy.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-09 09:49 pm (UTC)But also this was a call from the rural areas that stated they didn't believe in a Clinton presidency and that Trump was going to be better for them because he is going to root out illegals, protect the Second Amendment and it'll be great.
I remember when GWB was appointed president by SCOTUS. I felt more than a little trepidation, but I accepted it... This feels the same way, only to the Nth power.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-10 07:28 pm (UTC)Great summary.
Good luck
no subject
Date: 2016-11-13 04:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-11-10 11:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-11-13 04:28 am (UTC)If anything, perhaps this will force people who have been complacent about life to get up and get involved.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-14 04:08 pm (UTC)I hope so!
no subject
Date: 2016-11-11 01:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-11-13 04:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-11-15 03:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-11-15 07:08 am (UTC)Anyhow, I also hope the worst doesn't happen...
Thanks for reading and commenting!
no subject
Date: 2016-11-15 07:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-11-16 08:49 pm (UTC)Part of me is terrified and part of me is eager to see what happens. That latter part of me is thinking "Y'all deserve everything that happens!" but the horrible things that could potentially happen are just too horrible for me to hope for that outcome. I guess I'm hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.
Brave take on the introduction post. :)
no subject
Date: 2016-11-17 02:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-11-17 10:12 pm (UTC)I have had moments of coherency about the election. Moments where it still feels like a slap in the face.
My husband and his mother had a huge fight (this never happens because he rarely says anything against her) but she has been all over the book of face with the "put on your big girl britches" and the "just quit whining." Between myself, our daughter and our chosen family and friends we hit every tick box of people threatened by this outcome of this election. The environment that she is cultivating is not a place I feel comfortable being in or exposing our (teenage) daughter to.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-17 10:48 pm (UTC)