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Re:election. Saw this on FB. Sums it up well.

purplesparklies

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By Colin Moriarty.

I wanted to wait to write what I’m about to say until I felt like I had all of the information I needed to say it. As many of you know, I’m a political junky, and have been since a comically young age (my first “politically cognizant” moment was during Desert Storm; I was 7), so I’ve slept very little the last few days, reading, listening, and absorbing everything I could about what just happened. I must admit that, as a lover of politics and history, this entire cycle has been fascinating to bear witness to, even though it has profound real life implications, good or bad, active or indifferent.

I, like pretty much everyone else, thought that Clinton would win. But, I also cautioned over many Tweets, some episodes of one of the podcasts I’m on, and via other avenues that there is a massive, under-represented, silent, and forceful group of Donald Trump supporters who would make this one a nail-biter. And I was dead right. Clinton’s coup-de-grace never came. She lost, and when it comes to the electoral college, it wasn’t even very close.

I warned people of the “Shy Trump” voter, studying the 2015 UK election and this year's Brexit vote, not to mention the 2014 midterms. I discussed with people the Bradley Effect and the Spiral of Silence, notions of political science that happened to be very true this cycle. I told people not to take anything for granted, to not take their foot off of the gas, to understand that the polling was wrong and that this race was way tighter than it seemed. I tried to tell folks to empathize with the other side and understand exactly where they were coming from. This loss was, in a way, totally predictable, even if none of us actually thought it would materialize.

Now, here are some hard truths.

First of all, Hillary Clinton was a profoundly terrible candidate, and everyone -- and that means all of us -- knows it. Few people genuinely like Clinton and few people would authentically mark her down as their first choice. In a party brimming with some inspirational, likable figures -- Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden -- THIS is the person Democrats felt was “the one.” Someone with a lower voter trustworthiness than her blatantly lying opponent. A person who clearly broke the law with her e-mail server and distribution of e-mails and somehow got away with it. A person married to a notorious philanderer who nullified her single best string of attacks on her adversary. A person who carpetbagged to a state only to take advantage of it for her own political gain. A person with so much personal and political baggage that it boggles the mind, enriching herself on Wall Street and with her State Department-derived connections and remaining uniformly detached from those she claimed to be the champion of. A person who is clearly treated differently than the rest of us because of who she is.

Donald Trump won, but let it also be said that Hillary Clinton lost, and in about as dramatic a fashion as you could possibly imagine. Clinton started with 226 electoral votes right off the bat, no questions asked. All she needed to do was cobble together another 44 to win. That’s it. 44. Donald Trump started with 161 electoral votes right off the bat, and somehow cobbled together the requisite 270, and then some. From a political science standpoint, what happened was utterly seismic. There’s no other way to put it. And a lot of that stems not from Trump’s strength, but just a profound sense of weakness from Clinton. That’s a fact. Clinton was a weak Democratic candidate, and that really says something for a party that nominated Michael Dukakis, Walter Mondale, and Hubert Humphrey.

You simply cannot understate how insane it is that Clinton managed to lose to Trump. Donald Trump was, bar none, the most beatable candidate in modern American history. He did everything he possibly could to alienate people, embarrass his supporters, friends, and family, and outright offend. His own political party didn’t even like him, not to mention the Washington power brokers, many members of the House and Senate, and on and on and on. Trump shouldn’t have had a prayer. He didn’t have a prayer, it seems.

So, stop and think for a second, and ask yourself this: What the hell does that say about Hillary Clinton?

The fact is, Hillary Clinton, her campaign, her surrogates, and her donors should be embarrassed beyond belief. Clinton had every single possible advantage working for her. Every. Single. One. She had a significant demographic advantage. She had a ridiculous money and PAC advantage. She had virtually the entire media on her side. She had virtually the entire entertainment industry on her side. She had the establishment in her pocket. There is no way, on paper, she should have lost. She should have won by 10 points, and then some.

But she DID lose, and the question is why. And this is when things are going to get hard to swallow for some. The reason she lost, my friends, is arrogance and elitism, a distrust of the power structure and a weariness of the status quo, and, above all else, I’d say, absolute economic desperation. It’s that simple. And it doesn’t start and stop with her. The arrogance of coastal, big city elites thumbing their noses at people in “fly-over country,” calling the hicks and rednecks, telling them they’re racists, bigots, sexists, homophobes, xenophobes, telling them they didn’t know what was best for them, their families, their communities. If you don’t understand how that grates on people, on families, on friends, well, start understanding, because that’s why Hillary Clinton lost and Donald Trump won. Period.

And it’s not like that pre-election sentiment isn’t raging on post-election. People talk about Trump voters like they’re literal shit. The media “others” them, liberal echochambers castigate them, and Democrats -- instead of understanding the reality of their loss and taking a long, hard look at their epic shortcomings -- look to cast blame elsewhere. Anywhere and everywhere but with themselves, as is usually the case with sore losers.

I mean, let’s be truly honest with each other for a minute. You -- and you know who I’m talking about -- you think you’re better than these people. You think you’re superior to them. That you’re smarter than them. That you understand their reality better than they understand it. You look down on them and think they’re inferior. You think that because they come from a rural place, or work a blue collar job, or believe in God, or in the sanctity of life, that you’re simply better than them. You know better, you think better, you live better.

Well, they sure told you to go **** yourself, didn’t they?

In reality, they told many people to go **** themselves, because it’s here, in these enclaves, that folks have been struggling for decades with no one listening. As was so eloquently put by many before me, it’s mind-boggling that some folks really think that the bajillion districts that voted for Obama and then voted for Trump have somehow turned racist, which is why there are more than just a handful of people that really need to just stop and actually use their brains. Of course racism, sexism, xenophobia, and all of the rest exist, and of course there’s an element of that running through Trump-style populism. But to blame all, or even most, of Clinton’s loss on that is absurd, and anyone who is doing that should be embarrassed at how apparently low-functioning their ability to critically think about politics is.

I understand the fear, dislike, and distrust of Donald Trump. I put my money where my mouth is and left the Republican party over him. That wasn’t an easy (or even all that intuitive) step for me to take. I refused to be a party to what he did to the GOP, to the way he speaks about others, to his callous disregard for decency and decorum. I pulled the trigger for John Kasich, I left, and then I voted for Gary Johnson, who I felt was the only actually honest person running for the office. But never for a second did I lose sight of what’s so appealing about Trump, how his charisma, his brashness, and his antics would win him lots and lots of votes, even as I turned my back on him, and my party in the process. I have no regrets. I did the right thing. I don’t like Donald Trump as a person, even as I agree with some of his policies, and I don’t think he’s fit to be president. That’s why I didn’t vote for him, and that’s why I never even remotely suggested anyone should.

But Donald Trump won. He and his apparatus, his tens of millions of diehard supporters, they proved everyone wrong. They held traditionally GOP states, they won almost every swing state, and they even turned three or four deep blue states red. He won all over the country, not just in the south or in states with small populations. You can call his supporters stupid, but he won a significant share of college educated voters, as Republican always do, although liberal elitism has conveniently pushed that factoid to the side. You can call his supporters racist, but he won a bigger portion of the Latino vote than Mitt Romney (which, for me, was the most stunning surprise of all) and carried a massive shit ton of districts that voted loud and proud for Barack Obama, many of them twice. You can call his supporters sexist, but women voted for him in droves; fewer women voted for Clinton than even Obama, even with the possibility of the first woman president on the other side. Hell, you could even call his supporters backwater redneck hicks, as he carried massive shares of the vote in affluent, northern, in-the-shadow-of-major-city locales like Long Island, the Philly suburbs, and Orange County, people far more focused on their singular hatred of established politics than dire economic straits.

I have no doubt whatsoever that in the midst of Donald Trump’s supporters are the very people many of you thought were there all along, the threatened white man or woman with racist tendencies, the old-schoolers who look down on women, the socially stagnant who think gay marriage and abortion are crimes worthy of ridicule. But that’s a small, small minority of the people who voted for Donald Trump. Some folks voted for him because of economic desperation; others because he dared to talk about American borders; still others yet because they wanted to break up the power broker monopoly in a distant capital city that doesn’t give two ****s about them. Again, just facts.

Yet, people’s reaction to losing is to continue to blame these people, to label them as "other," to ridicule them, to label them as the worst possible people imaginable, not understanding that this is why Donald Trump won and Hillary Clinton lost to begin with. You’re calling all of these people racists, you’re calling all of these people sexists, afraid of immigrants, of change, of progress, of whatever other ideas cooked up in comfortable Washington D.C. bars where the median household income is five times higher than it is in the rural midwest. Hell, I have family and friends that voted for Donald Trump. I straight-up know they’re not racists, or bigots, or sexists. And I think you calling them those things is deplorable, and makes me want to side with them far more than it makes me want to side with you. And trust me, that’s going to be a common theme moving forward, all over the country, as we enjoy our post-election sobering.

Did you ever consider that many of these people are good, hard-working, industrious, kind people desperate for a job and security, with a desire to provide for their families and better their situations? That many of them likely couldn’t give two ****s less who you married or put into your bodies? Who have been totally left behind by globalist economies that have enriched everyone but them? That would probably wave to you with a smile as you drove by them mowing their lawn with a mower they purchased the last time they had a secure job two decades ago?

“No!” you exclaim. “They’re all terrible people, and I’m unfriending them from Facebook!”

That’s certainly your prerogative. Just understand that your elitist, nose-snubbing, arrogant attitude is what banded many of these people together, as you assailed them with unjust monikers instead of listening to what they were actually trying to say. Just understand that people like you are the reason that Donald Trump won. And if you want to continue to split the country in two, then these people will continue to act in desperation, no matter how the biased mainstream media, big city know-better-than-yous, and corrupt bureaucrats resist. Future electoral losses will also be your fault, just like this one sits squarely and entirely on your shoulders. Not Bernie fans. Not Johnson voters. Not the people on the sidelines. And certainly not Trump supporters. Just you, and your seething contempt for people who don’t agree with you, and your singular instinct to put them down and leave them out.

Look in the mirror, take the L, and make tomorrow better than today. Or don't, and instead look forward to future losses in 2018, when the map gets a whole lot worse for coastal elite liberalism than it is today. You better start learning, and quick.

With Love, -Colin


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

siv1

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Re: Re:election. Saw this on FB. Sums it up well.

Thank you. This pretty much sums it up.
 

OreoRosies86

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Re: Re:election. Saw this on FB. Sums it up well.

This essay Gypsy posted sums it up for me.

"John Pavlovitz

I don’t think you understand us right now.
I think you think this is about politics.
I think you believe this is all just sour grapes; the crocodile tears of the losing locker room with the scoreboard going against us at the buzzer.
I can only tell you that you’re wrong. This is not about losing an election. This isn’t about not winning a contest. This is about two very different ways of seeing the world.
Hillary supporters believe in a diverse America; one where religion or skin color or sexual orientation or place of birth aren’t liabilities or deficiencies or moral defects. Her campaign was one of inclusion and connection and interdependency. It was about building bridges and breaking ceilings. It was about going high.
Trump supporters believe in a very selective America; one that is largely white and straight and Christian, and the voting verified this. Donald Trump has never made any assertions otherwise. He ran a campaign of fear and exclusion and isolation—and that’s the vision of the world those who voted for him have endorsed.
They have aligned with the wall-builder and the professed p*ssy-grabber, and they have co-signed his body of work, regardless of the reasons they give for their vote:
Every horrible thing Donald Trump ever said about women or Muslims or people of color has now been validated.
Every profanity-laced press conference and every call to bully protestors and every ignorant diatribe has been endorsed.
Every piece of anti-LGBTQ legislation Mike Pence has championed has been signed-off on.
Half of our country has declared these things acceptable, noble, American.
This is the disconnect and the source of our grief today. It isn’t a political defeat that we’re lamenting, it’s a defeat for Humanity.
We’re not angry that our candidate lost. We’re angry because our candidate’s losing means this country will be less safe, less kind, and less available to a huge segment of its population, and that’s just the truth.
Those who have always felt vulnerable are now left more so. Those whose voices have been silenced will be further quieted. Those who always felt marginalized will be pushed further to the periphery. Those who feared they were seen as inferior now have confirmation in actual percentages.
Those things have essentially been campaign promises of Donald Trump, and so many of our fellow citizens have said this is what they want too.
This has never been about politics.
This is not about one candidate over the other.
It’s not about one’s ideas over another’s.
It is not blue vs. red.
It’s not her emails vs. his bad language.
It’s not her dishonesty vs. his indecency.
It’s about overt racism and hostility toward minorities.
It’s about religion being weaponized.
It’s about crassness and vulgarity and disregard for women.
It’s about a barricaded, militarized, bully nation.
It’s about an unapologetic, open-faced ugliness.
And it is not only that these things have been ratified by our nation that grieve us; all this hatred, fear, racism, bigotry, and intolerance—it’s knowing that these things have been amen-ed by our neighbors, our families, our friends, those we work with and worship alongside. That is the most horrific thing of all. We now know how close this is.
It feels like living in enemy territory being here now, and there’s no way around that. We wake up today in a home we no longer recognize. We are grieving the loss of a place we used to love but no longer do. This may be America today but it is not the America we believe in or recognize or want.
This is not about a difference of political opinion, as that’s far too small to mourn over. It’s about a fundamental difference in how we view the worth of all people—not just those who look or talk or think or vote the way we do.
Grief always laments what might have been, the future we were robbed of, the tomorrow that we won’t get to see, and that is what we walk through today. As a nation we had an opportunity to affirm the beauty of our diversity this day, to choose ideas over sound bytes, to let everyone know they had a place at the table, to be the beacon of goodness and decency we imagine that we are—and we said no.
The Scriptures say that weeping endures for a night but joy comes in the morning. We can’t see that dawn coming any time soon.
And this is why we grieve."
 

Bonfire

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Re: Re:election. Saw this on FB. Sums it up well.

Interesting read purplesparklies. Thanks for posting.
 

AnnaH

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Re: Re:election. Saw this on FB. Sums it up well.

Thanks for posting, Purple.
Probably won't be well received, but good try. :D
 

redwood66

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Re: Re:election. Saw this on FB. Sums it up well.

Thank you for posting. It is similar to the Cracked article that Gypsy posted on another thread and I enjoyed that one also.
 

Matata

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Re: Re:election. Saw this on FB. Sums it up well.

He made a lot of good points. Between this essay and the one I posted by Pavlovitz, the entire truth is exposed.
 

redwood66

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Re: Re:election. Saw this on FB. Sums it up well.

This is an interesting admission of sorts on CBS:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/commentary-the-unbearable-smugness-of-the-press-presidential-election-2016/



The mood in the Washington press corps is bleak, and deservedly so.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that, with a few exceptions, we were all tacitly or explicitly #WithHer, which has led to a certain anguish in the face of Donald Trump’s victory. More than that and more importantly, we also missed the story, after having spent months mocking the people who had a better sense of what was going on.

This is all symptomatic of modern journalism’s great moral and intellectual failing: its unbearable smugness. Had Hillary Clinton won, there’s be a winking “we did it” feeling in the press, a sense that we were brave and called Trump a liar and saved the republic.


So much for that. The audience for our glib analysis and contempt for much of the electorate, it turned out, was rather limited. This was particularly true when it came to voters, the ones who turned out by the millions to deliver not only a rebuke to the political system but also the people who cover it. Trump knew what he was doing when he invited his crowds to jeer and hiss the reporters covering him. They hate us, and have for some time.

And can you blame them? Journalists love mocking Trump supporters. We insult their appearances. We dismiss them as racists and sexists. We emote on Twitter about how this or that comment or policy makes us feel one way or the other, and yet we reject their feelings as invalid.

It’s a profound failure of empathy in the service of endless posturing. There’s been some sympathy from the press, sure: the dispatches from “heroin country” that read like reports from colonial administrators checking in on the natives. But much of that starts from the assumption that Trump voters are backward, and that it’s our duty to catalogue and ultimately reverse that backwardness. What can we do to get these people to stop worshiping their false god and accept our gospel?

We diagnose them as racists in the way Dark Age clerics confused medical problems with demonic possession. Journalists, at our worst, see ourselves as a priestly caste. We believe we not only have access to the indisputable facts, but also a greater truth, a system of beliefs divined from an advanced understanding of justice.

You’d think that Trump’s victory – the one we all discounted too far in advance – would lead to a certain newfound humility in the political press. But of course that’s not how it works. To us, speaking broadly, our diagnosis was still basically correct. The demons were just stronger than we realized.

This is all a “whitelash,” you see. Trump voters are racist and sexist, so there must be more racists and sexists than we realized. Tuesday night’s outcome was not a logic-driven rejection of a deeply flawed candidate named Clinton; no, it was a primal scream against fairness, equality, and progress. Let the new tantrums commence!


That’s the fantasy, the idea that if we mock them enough, call them racist enough, they’ll eventually shut up and get in line. It’s similar to how media Twitter works, a system where people who dissent from the proper framing of a story are attacked by mobs of smugly incredulous pundits. Journalists exist primarily in a world where people can get shouted down and disappear, which informs our attitudes toward all disagreement.

Journalists increasingly don’t even believe in the possibility of reasoned disagreement, and as such ascribe cynical motives to those who think about things a different way. We see this in the ongoing veneration of “facts,” the ones peddled by explainer websites and data journalists who believe themselves to be curiously post-ideological.

That the explainers and data journalists so frequently get things hilariously wrong never invites the soul-searching you’d think it would. Instead, it all just somehow leads us to more smugness, more meanness, more certainty from the reporters and pundits. Faced with defeat, we retreat further into our bubble, assumptions left unchecked. No, it’s the voters who are wrong.

As a direct result, we get it wrong with greater frequency. Out on the road, we forget to ask the right questions. We can’t even imagine the right question. We go into assignments too certain that what we find will serve to justify our biases. The public’s estimation of the press declines even further -- fewer than one-in-three Americans trust the press, per Gallup -- which starts the cycle anew.


There’s a place for opinionated journalism; in fact, it’s vital. But our causal, profession-wide smugness and protestations of superiority are making us unable to do it well.

Our theme now should be humility. We must become more impartial, not less so. We have to abandon our easy culture of tantrums and recrimination. We have to stop writing these know-it-all, 140-character sermons on social media and admit that, as a class, journalists have a shamefully limited understanding of the country we cover.

What’s worse, we don’t make much of an effort to really understand, and with too few exceptions, treat the economic grievances of Middle America like they’re some sort of punchline. Sometimes quite literally so, such as when reporters tweet out a photo of racist-looking Trump supporters and jokingly suggest that they must be upset about free trade or low wages.

We have to fix this, and the broken reasoning behind it. There’s a fleeting fun to gang-ups and groupthink. But it’s not worth what we are losing in the process.
 

AnnaH

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Re: Re:election. Saw this on FB. Sums it up well.

Great post, Red.
 

luckystar112

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Re: Re:election. Saw this on FB. Sums it up well.

"The arrogance of coastal, big city elites thumbing their noses at people in “fly-over country,” calling the hicks and rednecks, telling them they’re racists, bigots, sexists, homophobes, xenophobes...well, start understanding, because that’s why Hillary Clinton lost and Donald Trump won. Period."

I don't believe that everyone who voted for Trump is a racist, sexist, homophobe. I just want to put that out there before I continue.

With that being said, this "rural America was just sick of being called racist rednecks by big city elites" argument makes zero sense considering they elected the most racist, sexist, and homophobic candidate on the ballot. No one can deny that Trump made an effort to tap into that demographic during his campaign, so to me that means that if his voters weren't all of those things already then they were willing to overlook that fact that he is. That's what makes me so angry/hurt/disappointed. Why was his bigotry not a bigger factor in people's decisions? What does that say about our country? How did we end up back here? It's crazy to me.
 

the_mother_thing

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Re: Re:election. Saw this on FB. Sums it up well.

Purplesparklies & Redwood - Thank you for posting those commentaries. I read every word of that and kept saying to myself - BINGO! I even had a long post not quite as tactfully worded draft and almost ready to hit 'submit', but wanted to stew before I did. This is exactly how myself and those who I know who were supporting Trump from Day 1 felt, and tried telling people (including a few on here), but they refused to listen, or dismissed those feelings in lieu of hastily labeling what they refused to hear & understand. If that had not been the case these last few years (people feeling THAT backed into a corner to resort to such an extreme choice) I firmly believe that this same election of "the lesser of two very pathetic evils" would have resulted in a "Pres. Elect Clinton" today.

luckystar112|1478852514|4096843 said:
"The arrogance of coastal, big city elites thumbing their noses at people in “fly-over country,” calling the hicks and rednecks, telling them they’re racists, bigots, sexists, homophobes, xenophobes...well, start understanding, because that’s why Hillary Clinton lost and Donald Trump won. Period."

I don't believe that everyone who voted for Trump is a racist, sexist, homophobe. I just want to put that out there before I continue.

With that being said, this "rural America was just sick of being called racist rednecks by big city elites" argument makes zero sense considering they elected the most racist, sexist, and homophobic candidate on the ballot. No one can deny that Trump made an effort to tap into that demographic during his campaign, so to me that means that if his voters weren't all of those things already then they were willing to overlook that fact that he is. That's what makes me so angry/hurt/disappointed. Why was his bigotry not a bigger factor in people's decisions? What does that say about our country? How did we end up back here? It's crazy to me.

As you said - they were tired of half the country thumbing their nose at them. And the same 'half of the country' (thumbing its nose) was supporting a candidate who thumbed her nose at the Right as well - for years. The folks who voted for Trump (both boastfully as well as - like me - rather bitterly) wondered the same thing: how could so many people support an obvious lying, deceitful, corrupt, manipulative, two-faced opportunist who already showed us and Dems (with the DNC rigging) just how she'd run the government, White House and this country? A tenth of what she did would have landed any one of us in jail. So why was her 'behavior' not a bigger factor in those people's decisions, to overlook her actions just to either 'win' or 'get their woman her due'? What exactly does that say about that half of the country? And that's rhetorical.

The unspoken question for those on the left from those on the right is: "Can you hear me now?"
 

AnnaH

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Re: Re:election. Saw this on FB. Sums it up well.

I vote policy, not personality, so didn't vote for our current President. Would loved to have been part of voting in the first minority President but couldn't support his policies. I thought I would miss out on voting in the first woman, but there's a good chance now that I get that privilege. There are some strong conservative women, and I wish one of them were our President-elect.
That said, there were many people who voted for President Obama and then voted for Trump. That just doesn't fit the liberal narrative that Trump voters are racist.
Had I voted on personality rather than policy, I would not have voted for either candidate.
 

redwood66

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Re: Re:election. Saw this on FB. Sums it up well.

Here is a comment from Mike Rowe on the election. I just love Mike Rowe because he is an every man.

http://www.theblaze.com/news/2016/11/10/mike-rowe-weighs-in-on-the-results-of-the-election-and-offers-a-bit-of-sanity/


Former host of the hit television show Dirty Jobs, and witty purveyor of blue collar common sense, Mike Rowe, has been relatively quiet since the election. It’s a silence that did not go unnoticed by one of Rowe’s fans, who wrote to him to make sure everything was alright, to inform him that she wrote him in, and asked Rowe to help her make sense of the results from the election.

“Hey Mike. You’ve been very quiet. Everything OK? I just wanted you to know that I voted for you. I was also hoping you might explain what the hell happened on Tuesday, and say something to make me feel better about my fellow man. Thanks,
Carol Savoy”
Rowe decided to answer Savoy on his public Facebook page, and as usual, did so with the humorous wisdom he’s known for. The post itself, as with all of Rowe’s works, is worthy to be read in its entirety.

“Hi Carol

Last Friday, my dog posted a video that featured a man licking a cat with the aid of a device that’s designed for the specific purpose of making it easier for people to lick their cats.I’ve been silent ever since, because frankly, I couldn’t think of a better way – metaphorical or otherwise – to express my feelings about this election cycle. The entire country it seems, has been preoccupied with finding a way to lick a cat without actually putting their tongue on it.

Too oblique? Too weird? Ok, how about this analysis:

Back in 2003, a very unusual TV pilot called Dirty Jobs, Forrest-Gumped its way onto The Discovery Channel and found an audience – a big one. For Discovery, this was a problem. You see, Dirty Jobs didn’t look like anything else on their channel. It wasn’t pretty or careful. It took place in sewers and septic tanks, and featured a subversive host in close contact with his 8-year old inner child who refused to do second takes. Everyone agreed that Dirty Jobs was totally “off-brand” and completely inappropriate for Discovery. Everyone but the viewers. The ratings were just too big to ignore, so the pilot got a green-light, and yours truly finally got a steady gig.

But here’s the thing – Dirty Jobs didn’t resonate because the host was incredibly charming. It wasn’t a hit because it was gross, or irreverent, or funny, or silly, or smart, or terribly clever. Dirty Jobs succeeded because it was authentic. It spoke directly and candidly to a big chunk of the country that non-fiction networks had been completely ignoring. In a very simple way, Dirty Jobs said “Hey – we can see you,” to millions of regular people who had started to feel invisible. Ultimately, that’s why Dirty Jobs ran for eight seasons. And today, that’s also why Donald Trump is the President of the United States.

I know people are freaked out, Carol. I get it. I’m worried too. But not because of who we elected. We’ve survived 44 Presidents, and we’ll survive this one too. I’m worried because millions of people now seem to believe that Trump supporters are racist, xenophobic, and uneducated misogynists. I’m worried because despising our candidates publicly is very different than despising the people who vote for them.

Last week, three old friends – people I’ve known for years – each requested to be “unfriended” by anyone who planned on voting for Trump. Honestly, that was disheartening. Who tosses away a friendship over an election? Are my friends turning into those mind-numbingly arrogant celebrities who threaten to move to another country if their candidate doesn’t win? Are my friends now convinced that people they’ve known for years who happen to disagree with them politically are not merely mistaken – but evil, and no longer worthy of their friendship?

For what it’s worth, Carol, I don’t think Donald Trump won by tapping into America’s “racist underbelly,” and I don’t think Hillary lost because she’s a woman. I think a majority of people who voted in this election did so in spite of their many misgivings about the character of both candidates. That’s why it’s very dangerous to argue that Clinton supporters condone lying under oath and obstructing justice. Just as it’s equally dangerous to suggest a Trump supporter condones gross generalizations about foreigners and women.

These two candidates were the choices we gave ourselves, and each came with a heaping helping of vulgarity and impropriety. Yeah, it was dirty job for sure, but the winner was NOT decided by a racist and craven nation – it was decided by millions of disgusted Americans desperate for real change. The people did not want a politician. The people wanted to be seen. Donald Trump convinced those people that he could see them. Hillary Clinton did not.

As for me, I’m flattered by your support, but grateful that your vote was not enough to push me over the top. However, when the dust settles, and The White House gets a new tenant, I’ll make the same offer to President Trump that I did to President Obama – to assist as best I can in any attempt to reinvigorate the skilled trades, and shine a light on millions of good jobs that no one seems excited about pursuing. http://bit.ly/2fG1SxI

Like those 3 million “shovel ready” jobs we heard so much about eight years ago, the kind of recovery that Donald Trump is promising will require a workforce that’s properly trained and sufficiently enthused about the opportunities at hand. At the moment, we do not have that work force in place. What we do have, are tens of millions of capable people who have simply stopped looking for work, and millions of available jobs that no one aspires to do. That’s the skills gap, and it’s gotta close. If mikeroweWORKS can help, we’re standing by.

If not, I suppose we’ll just have to find another way to lick the cat.

Mike”
 

distracts

Ideal_Rock
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Re: Re:election. Saw this on FB. Sums it up well.

JoCoJenn|1478877578|4096969 said:
The folks who voted for Trump (both boastfully as well as - like me - rather bitterly) wondered the same thing: how could so many people support an obvious lying, deceitful, corrupt, manipulative, two-faced opportunist who already showed us and Dems (with the DNC rigging) just how she'd run the government, White House and this country? A tenth of what she did would have landed any one of us in jail. So why was her 'behavior' not a bigger factor in those people's decisions, to overlook her actions just to either 'win' or 'get their woman her due'? What exactly does that say about that half of the country? And that's rhetorical.

The unspoken question for those on the left from those on the right is: "Can you hear me now?"

Laughing. Laughing so hard. You just doomed America to "Russian-style democracy" and you think you saved us from it. What a joke.
 

distracts

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Re: Re:election. Saw this on FB. Sums it up well.

Nah. It's about racism, sexism, xenophobia. Not about policy. Because if it WAS about policy - they wouldn't have voted Republican. A world of hurt is coming for everyone, but it's going to hit the rural areas that voted for Trump a hell of a lot harder than it's going to hit the cities.

Paul Ryan has already announced that as part of repealing Obamacare they are going to move Medicare to private insurance for seniors. Trump's appointees want to privatize Social Security as well. You voted change? You're going to get it.
 

AnnaH

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Re: Re:election. Saw this on FB. Sums it up well.

D, your calling me a liar doesn't make me one. Calling me those other names doesn't fly either.
 

Calliecake

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Re: Re:election. Saw this on FB. Sums it up well.

Great posts Distracts. What truly amazes me are the many people who didn't save properly for retirement and are struggling now who voted for Trump. I can't wait to hear how much they love the changes that are coming. I've already told one family member not to come to me for money. Go ask Trump!
 

distracts

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Re: Re:election. Saw this on FB. Sums it up well.

It's simple. If you vote for a racist and xenophobe, you also are a racist and xenophobe. If you weren't, you wouldn't have voted for one. Racism isn't about how you feel inside but about your actions, and by doing racist things - yes, like voting for Trump! - that makes you racist. It's not that hard to figure out.
 

redwood66

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Re: Re:election. Saw this on FB. Sums it up well.

distracts|1478881763|4097015 said:
It's simple. If you vote for a racist and xenophobe, you also are a racist and xenophobe. If you weren't, you wouldn't have voted for one. Racism isn't about how you feel inside but about your actions, and by doing racist things - yes, like voting for Trump! - that makes you racist. It's not that hard to figure out.

By that thinking you are a corrupt congenital liar who has a public and private position.
 

AnnaH

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Re: Re:election. Saw this on FB. Sums it up well.

And that's not the worst of it, Red.
 

chrono

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Re: Re:election. Saw this on FB. Sums it up well.

distracts|1478881763|4097015 said:
It's simple. If you vote for a racist and xenophobe, you also are a racist and xenophobe. If you weren't, you wouldn't have voted for one. Racism isn't about how you feel inside but about your actions, and by doing racist things - yes, like voting for Trump! - that makes you racist. It's not that hard to figure out.
My sister and her DH voted for Trump but they are not racists in their hearts. They voted for him for other reasons such as illegal immigration, tax cuts for small businesses, and a private and a fully open health care market. They believe that under HRC, it will be more of the same aka no change for the better. Worst case scenario, if it gets worse, we can elect someone else in another 4 years.
 

NewEnglandLady

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Re: Re:election. Saw this on FB. Sums it up well.

As a person who grew up in rural Missouri, went to college in Washington, DC and now lives in liberal MA, I completely agree with the quote "rural America was just sick of being called racist rednecks by big city elites". I have many family and friends I love and respect who voted for Hillary. I have many friends and family members I love and respect who voted for Trump. None of them are racist. They all want what they think is best for this nation and their families. Everybody can see that the tone of Hillary supporters is that they are morally and intellectually superior to Trump voters. The mentality is that Trump supporters must be flawed to vote for him. It's insulting--why is nobody questioning that if Trump is THAT BAD, how is Hillary possibly considered worse? Instead of pointing to the losing candidate, they point to the "idiotic" voters who thought he was the better option.

I didn't vote for Trump, but the superior attitude of those who are insulting his voters is disgusting to me.
 

Calliecake

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Re: Re:election. Saw this on FB. Sums it up well.

NewEnglandLady|1478883324|4097033 said:
As a person who grew up in rural Missouri, went to college in Washington, DC and now lives in liberal MA, I completely agree with the quote "rural America was just sick of being called racist rednecks by big city elites". I have many family and friends I love and respect who voted for Hillary. I have many friends and family members I love and respect who voted for Trump. None of them are racist. They all want what they think is best for this nation and their families. Everybody can see that the tone of Hillary supporters is that they are morally and intellectually superior to Trump voters. The mentality is that Trump supporters must be flawed to vote for him. It's insulting--why is nobody questioning that if Trump is THAT BAD, how is Hillary possibly considered worse? Instead of pointing to the losing candidate, they point to the "idiotic" voters who thought he was the better option.

I didn't vote for Trump, but the superior attitude of those who are insulting his voters is disgusting to me.


You do realize Hillary received more votes.
 

NewEnglandLady

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Re: Re:election. Saw this on FB. Sums it up well.

Yes, I get that. When I say that she's the losing candidate, I am speaking in regard to how our president is elected.
 

smitcompton

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Re: Re:election. Saw this on FB. Sums it up well.

Hi,

I'm sure many of the points Purple Sparkles article speaks to are true. But, I don't think it gets to my concerns. Donald Trump is off. He is already tweeting lies about the protesters; they are paid protesters he says. He is assembling his team. mostly, so far, from the elite establishment that he campaigned against. It is not the people who voted for him,(with some exceptions) that worries me, it is the man himself. What you saw is what you get. Is it because I'm an elitist who thinks I know more than those who voted for Trump? I am not, but experience has shown me that when people expose who they are, believe them. I can not let down my guard for we have the possibility of a real danger sitting in the White House.

Now, I just made a bunch of money from Trumps win in the stock market. Yes, I understand that he might be able to make changes quickly. If it helps people I'm for it. DF will be so happy that Obomacare will be nullified or changed. Regulation on banks will also be eliminated. Immigration reform will be tackled. We will see. My hope, as many here do as well, is that he have a successful presidency.

Annette
 

the_mother_thing

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Re: Re:election. Saw this on FB. Sums it up well.

distracts|1478880708|4097000 said:
Laughing. Laughing so hard. You just doomed America to "Russian-style democracy" and you think you saved us from it. What a joke.

distracts|1478880829|4097003 said:
Nah. It's about racism, sexism, xenophobia. Not about policy. Because if it WAS about policy - they wouldn't have voted Republican. A world of hurt is coming for everyone, but it's going to hit the rural areas that voted for Trump a hell of a lot harder than it's going to hit the cities.

Paul Ryan has already announced that as part of repealing Obamacare they are going to move Medicare to private insurance for seniors. Trump's appointees want to privatize Social Security as well. You voted change? You're going to get it.

Distracts - you (and others here) just do not get it, and that's evidenced by the continued judgmental assumptions, use of labels, and accusations instead of respectfully reading, asking questions and trying to understand the other side. For me and a lot of people on the right, it WAS about policies that I did not agree with. And Democrats themselves have said HRC was a poor candidate who should have been able to beat Trump on her worst day, if not for her self-made sh!tstorm. So quit blaming everyone & everything BUT those who propped her up when they should have locked her up and given Bernie the nom.

My vote (and a lot of others who voted Republican) - despite your insistence - was NOT about racism, sexism, and whatever label your party wants to admonish me & everyone else with out of ignorance; you make it about those things because you refuse to consider people just *might* not agree with liberal policies for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with the color of your skin, the religion you practice, your choice in life partner, or your gender. You rush to judge, you rush to label, you rush to demonstrate the very hypocrisy that ultimately landed Democrats the loser in this election. So you got what you asked for by being the intolerant, disrespectful, judgmental bunch that label others; Congrats on meeting Karma! :clap:

Instead of reading the perspectives shared in the articles posted and giving people the benefit, you & others just keep driving that wedge a little deeper and the divide a little wider; it proved sooo successful leading up to this election.
 

Matata

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Re: Re:election. Saw this on FB. Sums it up well.

distracts|1478881763|4097015 said:
It's simple. If you vote for a racist and xenophobe, you also are a racist and xenophobe. If you weren't, you wouldn't have voted for one. Racism isn't about how you feel inside but about your actions, and by doing racist things - yes, like voting for Trump! - that makes you racist. It's not that hard to figure out.

I don't subscribe to this way of thinking, tempting though it may be. I remember lengthy discussion here last year I think it was, about abortion and how some people are against abortion and still support a woman's right to choose. There are people here who were labeled as murderers and moral degenerates because of that. It was difficult for those who abhor abortion to understand the perspective of those who feel that way too and yet still support choice. This mindset parallels what's happening in these Trump discussions.

Where did you stand on that issue distracts? Did you participate in that discussion? Do you support choice and if so do you think you're a murderer and moral degenerate?
 

distracts

Ideal_Rock
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Re: Re:election. Saw this on FB. Sums it up well.

Chrono|1478882960|4097030 said:
Worst case scenario, if it gets worse, we can elect someone else in another 4 years.

I take it you're one of the people who doesn't think that Trump actually MEANT his fascist remarks. I'm not even remotely confident there will be real elections in another four years. If he didn't mean them - great. But I think he did, and I saw Republican leadership cave to him too many times to think they'll draw the line there, especially when they could retain power instead.

redwood66|1478882100|4097020 said:
distracts|1478881763|4097015 said:
It's simple. If you vote for a racist and xenophobe, you also are a racist and xenophobe. If you weren't, you wouldn't have voted for one. Racism isn't about how you feel inside but about your actions, and by doing racist things - yes, like voting for Trump! - that makes you racist. It's not that hard to figure out.

By that thinking you are a corrupt congenital liar who has a public and private position.

That's a logical fallacy because that is not how being corrupt or being a liar works, but it IS how racism works.
 

chrono

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Re: Re:election. Saw this on FB. Sums it up well.

distracts|1478888885|4097080 said:
Chrono|1478882960|4097030 said:
Worst case scenario, if it gets worse, we can elect someone else in another 4 years.
I take it you're one of the people who doesn't think that Trump actually MEANT his fascist remarks. I'm not even remotely confident there will be real elections in another four years. If he didn't mean them - great. But I think he did, and I saw Republican leadership cave to him too many times to think they'll draw the line there, especially when they could retain power instead.

Not my thoughts, but my sister's thoughts. You have, in effect, called my sister a racist because she voted for Trump but she is not white.
 

the_mother_thing

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Re: Re:election. Saw this on FB. Sums it up well.

Matata|1478887408|4097068 said:
I don't subscribe to this way of thinking, tempting though it may be. I remember lengthy discussion here last year I think it was, about abortion and how some people are against abortion and still support a woman's right to choose. There are people here who were labeled as murderers and moral degenerates because of that. It was difficult for those who abhor abortion to understand the perspective of those who feel that way too and yet still support choice. This mindset parallels what's happening in these Trump discussions.

Where did you stand on that issue distracts? Did you participate in that discussion? Do you support choice and if so do you think you're a murderer and moral degenerate?

:clap: :clap: I think I remember that discussion, because even as I am mostly conservative, there are some areas that I lean 'middle ground' on, and that was one (I don't 'support' it from an advocacy perspective, but I don't feel it's my place to force my beliefs on someone else). Marriage equality is another - GASP! :o
 
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