Mike James FACEBOOK
Yes, we knew the anger and frustration out in the country, that Hillary Clinton was personally unpopular, but we couldn’t imagine America choosing as its president a candidate so obviously unprepared to walk into the Oval Office.
We missed, as the pundits on the screen keep telling us they also missed, what was really happening in state after state – that millions of folks really didn’t care about his ignorance, his misogynistic impulses, his campaign of near epic negativity. They wanted, as one pundit offered, to send a message, to blow up media and political establishments – and chose, another offers, to roll the dice rather than buy more of the same (read no Hillary).
So stunned, yes, but as an older American I feel more a great sadness that with Supreme Court appointments looming, with Republican control of Congress, with an unpredictable cannon in the White House, so much that I care about, from health care, to environmental care, to humane immigration policy, to gender and reproductive rights, is likely lost or significantly weakened – perhaps not to recover in my remaining time. That will weigh inside a long while.
Democrats too will ask themselves “what happened?” The other party, portrayed as faltering and divided, now controls a majority of legislatures, governors’ mansions, the Supreme Court soon, both houses of Congress, and the Oval Office.
So we respect the votes of the millions who gave Donald Trump this moment, wish him a more sober and informed vision once he walks into that great office knowing he represents a profoundly divided country, but we keep our own principles, carrying on the long struggle for the America we want. The day will turn, as it always does, again.
But it’s a stunning and upsetting night, one to linger a long time…