For the past couple of days I’ve been listening on the radio as I drive around to people calling talk radio shows to defend their vote for Donald Trump.  Most are in denial that they voted for a White Supremacist, a misogynist, a fascist, and someone who’s generally unstable and is going to have his hand on the nuclear codes.  I still vividly remember Trump claiming: “I love the uneducated voters” during the primary season.  (of course he loves them, they’re the perfect “victims” of the right wing propaganda machine that is extremely sophisticated)  Something in the neighborhood of 75% of white Americans with a high school education or less voted for Trump.  Unbelievably to me 53% of Women voted for Trump – despite the Fact he admitted to being a person who sexually assaults women – because he’s famous and can get away with it.  And, worst still (to me as a Christian) and similar to the fascists taking over Germany in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s, reportedly 90% of evangelical Christians voted for Trump.

I have a friend (who I’m having a difficult time processing his thinking) who told me he was voting for Trump for “moral reasons.”  Of course, my friend is a regular watcher of Fox “news” and, from my perspective, has been brainwashed.  He believes Sean Hannity tells the truth.  He’s also an evangelical Christian and it’s so hard for me to understand how he (and millions of others) could look past Trump admitting to attempting to f@#k a married woman (shortly after his own marriage to our first lady elect and while she was pregnant with his youngest son) and claiming he can just come up to women and grab them in the “pussy” because he’s famous.  Of course, I’m guessing my friend didn’t believe the plethora of women who then came forward and confirmed everything Trump boasted about – all of the sexual advances unwanted.  And, of course, I guess the my friend (and the other “Christians” who supported Trump) believed Trump when he claimed they were ALL liars – and, as any sexual predator with means would, he threatened to sue every last one of the women after the election.  Honestly, I look forward to him doing that, because I believe there will be no shortage of attorneys who will defend these women for free.  Honestly, I hope some of them sue Trump!

During the campaign Trump demonstrated a complete ignorance about how government functions – he seems to think he’ll snap his fingers and get what he wants – and more alarmingly an almost complete ignorance of all things foreign policy.  If you remember he claimed to be smarter than all our generals – which should lead to an interesting situation once he’s actually “commander in chief.”  How will these generals react to someone who claims they are stupid?  Will they all be replaced?  If so, who’s going to replace them?  In my mind, ultimately the people who will be proved to being stupid are the people who voted for Trump.  Trump is incompetent and I’m sure the various factions are lining up with plans to manipulate him – and, this would include Vladimir Putin.

I found it interesting all the republicans who detested Trump being willing to “fall in line” just in case he won because, to them, it’s all about the power.  I believe one reason people are so angry with our government has been the dysfunction of Congress which SHOULD be placed at the “feet” of the republican party – they’re the ones who’ve been OBSTRUCTING everything for the past 8 years in their attempt to make sure our first African American president FAILED.  They’re ALSO the ones who enabled Bush/Cheney to deregulate our government in the 8 years proceeding President Obama creating the “Great Recession.”  It’s really interesting to me that enough of America’s voters evidently forgot that.  Or was this just the backlash to “we the people” demonstrating that we would choose the best candidate – EVEN if he/she’s Black?  (It’s impossible to take the White Supremacist “factor” out of this election)

With the help of the so-called “liberal media” republicans managed to convince the voting public the BLAME for the OBSTRUCTION (that republicans have been doing for years – the “strategy” began with Newt Gingrich back during the Clinton administration) belongs with the democrats.  I found it ironic when I listened to one Trump voter after another saying they voted for him because he’s going to bring their jobs back.  Despite the FACT he was bloviating with all his claims about how he’s going to force America’s corporations to relocate back in America that’s NOT going to “bring their jobs back” – I guess all these people have such short attention spans – and lack of interest in educating themselves – that they have forgotten it was the republicans who created the “Great Recession” – it’s been the republicans from Reagan through the two Bush presidencies who pushed the national debt to extreme proportions and that jobs were “going away” at the rate of one MILLION per month as GW Bush/Dick Cheney left Washington (with their “tails between their legs”).  The two administrations in the past (almost) 40 years that have created the MOST jobs have been the Clinton and Obama administrations.

There have been numerous studies which have shown the least informed Americans are the ones who watch Fox “news.”  And, in many rural settings unless you want to do what I did and pay for satellite TV, the only “news” you can get comes from Fox.  And, if you’ve watched Fox and vetted what they’re spewing you quickly realize they are proponents of the “Big Lie Theory” of the Nazi’s propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels.  You repeat a LIE often enough and people will believe it’s true.  They’ve been doing this for 25 or more years – slowly manipulating the minds of the people watching them who believe they are obligated (they’re on TV aren’t they) to be “reporting” the truth.  If Fox had any intention of being “honest” they would re-brand themselves as GOP TV.  Over the years, I’ve discovered it’s hard to have a civil conversation with someone who gets their “information” on Fox because they are absolutely convinced their information is accurate and, as my friend who was voting for Trump for “moral reasons” said to me, “There’s no way you’re going to change my mind.

You have to give credit to Kelleyanne Conway and Steve Bannon for joining the Trump campaign (there’s a Wall Street Billionaire who financed it all) and keeping him on (a dishonest) script.  Kelleyanne Conway is one of the best LIARS I’ve ever seen.  I watched her spin one Trump blunder after another by ALWAYS switching the subject to “But, Hillary……”   She never would allow whoever was questioning her to get a real answer to any questions regarding the reality of Donald Trump – it was always about Hillary Clinton.  And, the media allowed her to get away with it.  In Bannon’s case – he quietly mobilized the SIZEABLE White Supremacist base of the “new republican party” (Including, to my and many others’ despair, the KKK) – the people Trump originally endeared himself to as he led the “Birther” movement after President Obama was elected.  Trump gave many white nationalists (racists) a reason to vote for the very first time.  Before this, neither party has ever chosen someone who was overtly racist to lead them – and, despite Trump’s “victory” (I continue to believe when the facts regarding the voter suppression tactics of the republicans become public Trump’s legitimacy will be undermined) I believe he will be the undoing of their party.  I think the backlash to Trump will stain every republican who goes along to “get along.”

The republicans are now in an interesting position.  Their “base” is solidly made up with what Hillary Clinton referred to (accurately in my view) as a “basket of deplorables.”  She was, of course, referring to the strong connection with Trump and the alt right – or White Supremacists movement that was energized by Obama’s election.  This group is made up of “hate groups” that are very likely to have an unrealistic expectation of what a Trump presidency means.  I can already hear people like Conway and Bannon – and the others who end up in his administration – the idea of Newt Gingrich as Secretary of State makes my skin crawl – YIKES! – blaming democrats for whatever goes wrong in his administration. What if “Obamacare” isn’t repealed? (I have one friend who voted for Trump who believes it won’t be), what if Hillary Clinton isn’t “jailed?” What if there’s no wall, or Mexico won’t pay for it?  Who are they going to blame the backlash on that is certain if they start rounding up Latino’s and begin deporting them?  Do you really believe republicans are going to focus on rebuilding our inner cities and creating opportunities for members of the African American community?  (Honestly, I would love it if they would – but, when it becomes obvious that Trump won the election via voter ID laws that excluded (possibly) MILLIONS of African Americans – in key “battleground” states – from voting do you think his supporters will be committed to “Black Lives Matter?”)

However and more importantly, keep in mind that Trump represents a group that wants nothing to do with the republican “establishment.”  You already see Paul Ryan showing his true colors by “kissing up” to Trump – evidently, the FACT Trump is an overt racist is no longer an issue for Ryan – but, I’m guessing Ryan as Speaker of the House is not a guarantee – there may be a few “Tea partiers” who have different ideas – I’m certain they feel empowered.

In the next four years we’re going to see the true colors of the republican party and my guess is that it will be the beginning of the end of their “conservative” movement.  People like Ryan and McConnell already, I’m sure, have their sights set on programs like Social Security and Medicare – finding ways to funnel as much of the money from those programs to their corporate benefactors.  I’m sure they have intentions of more “tax cuts for the wealthy” (again, their benefactors), and more “no bid” contracts for their friends in the WAR industries.  They will be propping up the fossil fuel industries (despite the critical stage we face in the “war on Climate Change” – which Trump and his supporters refuse to acknowledge) – in fact, I’ve heard that Trump has a MILLION dollar investment in the company building the pipeline that is generating controversy in North Dakota.  It’s almost certain he will grant the license for this pipeline that is violating Tribal lands given over in Treaties from the mid 1800’s and when people learn of his financials stake in the process – well, it’s not going to go over well with us “LIBERALS.”  The protests aimed at Donald Trump began shortly after the election.  My prediction: America, get used to them!

Well, the worst fears of many Americans were realized on November 8, 2016 with the election of Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States.  Today, the day after, I’ve listened to the commentators who got it so wrong trying to understand “what happened?”  So far, I haven’t heard one of them refer to the reality that has been hitting me in the face for the past couple of weeks.  Trump is an authoritarian personality, he’s had the Russian government working (kind of – due to the media I’ll likely be writing about tonight) behind the scenes attempting to interfere with an American election (successfully, I might add) and then, a couple weeks ago the director of the FBI, James Comey, did the unthinkable and injected more innuendo regarding Hillary Clinton’s so-called “email scandal” onto the headlines about two weeks prior to the election.  From that moment on, the polls began to tighten and I saw polling results that suggested something above 50% of independent and undecided republican voters were swayed to vote against Mrs. Clinton because of that FBI “letter to Congress.”

Of course, a couple days prior to the election Comey came out and confirmed that there was no scandal and that there was nothing to suggest Mrs. Clinton did anything illegal, but you had crowds at Trump rallies chanting “Lock her up” and you had media commentators acting as if this was almost a non-issue.  I can tell you, I’ve read much about the history of America’s FBI and the thought that they, along with the Russian government, turning this election to Trump makes me even more apprehensive about what the next 4 years will look like.

Since it became clear to me that Mrs. Clinton would lose, I’ve only heard one commentator who I believe “gets it” when trying to understand “what happened.”  If you’ve been on this site at all, you know that I’ve railed against, to name a couple “commentators” who are supposed to be on the non-Fox MSNBC (which supposedly is left leaning), Chris Matthews and Chuck Todd.  In a recent post, I suggested that Matthews is almost as full of himself as Trump. Matthews and Todd seemed determined to legitimize Trump’s candidacy every step of the way (except maybe the day the Access Hollywood video was publicized – I don’t remember either one spending more than a passing thought on the FACT Trump’s campaign CEO is a White nationalist).

The commentator on MSNBC who seemed to “get it,” was a lady named (I believe) Joy Reid.  She is African American and, from my perspective, one of the brightest members of MSNBC’s staff (which has become hard to watch – as they CONSTANTLY propped up Trump during the campaign – presumably for better ratings – I pointed out at the time, the potential downside of them giving Trump BILLIONS in free advertising).  Reid pointed out that throughout the campaign the media, including MSNBC, portrayed Trump and Clinton as equally flawed.  I could tell, after she pointed this out, that Matthews didn’t like hearing this from one of his peers.

The reality is that they actually did just that.  Trump “got away” with unbelievable flaws that SHOULD have disqualified him from this election for all intents and purposes.  However, with the help of the 24/7 cable “news” outlets and commentators that you have to wonder what their motivation was, Trump came across – to many – as less flawed than Mrs. Clinton.  He was allowed to make one absurd accusation after another – with NO ONE pointing out the absurdity of most of them.  These people were more concerned with their ratings than the welfare of the American nation.  Because of that, the next four years of American history could go down as among the worst – if Trump achieves anywhere close to what he claimed he was “for” in the campaign.  And, I can guarantee you, there’s a large segment of his supporters that are expecting a wall and expecting “Mexico will pay for it.”  Yikes!

I can also guarantee you there is a larger percentage of the American population who are aghast that Trump managed to win and are wondering the same thing as the “pundits.”  There’s another factor here that could bring into question Trump’s “victory” in a way that would make the two “wins” by George W Bush look like child’s play.  So far, I’ve heard no one referencing the voter suppression efforts of the GOP that hit “high speed” once the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  (Trump’s “victory” virtually guarantees the Voting Rights Act will not be fixed anytime soon)  I really have to wonder about the votes in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin for starters.  I wonder if we’ll ever know how many members of minority communities or universities or elderly people were denied the right to vote based on the “voter ID” proposals that republicans predicted could keep as many as 5 to 10 MILLION democratic leaning voters from the polls.  I believe all the states I mentioned were close enough that the very reason the outcome didn’t reflect the polling may have been the number of African American, Hispanic, college students, and others who did not get their votes counted.  It certainly wouldn’t have taken anywhere close to the republican projections to make the difference in each state.  If this information is ever made public (if you recall, the TRUTH about Florida in 2000 was NEVER made public) Donald Trump’s legitimacy as president will be undermined.  I’ll be surprised if anyone in the “liberal media” ever reports on this, but until I’m convinced otherwise I will be thinking republican “dirty tricks” did us (we the people) in again!

I’ve written several times here about republican projection.  That is, if they’re complaining about something it’s usually to hide the FACT that they’re actually doing it.  Trump was constantly complaining about a rigged election.  I remember thinking (and I think I wrote about this prior to the election) that the only way he could win was if he was correct – if the republicans actually succeeded in blocking enough voters from voting to swing the election; ie – rigging the election.   So, between Russian interference, FBI intervention in the election, corporate media, and voter suppression we now have President Donald Trump.  If people ever put all this “together” “we the people” are in for a “rocky ride.”  (I suppose with Trump as president, that is inevitable)  I guess the one thing we can be happy with is that Vladimir Putin got the result he wanted.

I have no idea how long it will take for me to finish this post.  What I’ve come to realize over the past week or two is, no matter how the election of 2016 turns out, it is clear to me that America is on a downward spiral that could go from bad to worse on Tuesday, November 8th.  I’ve been watching American politics since the days Dwight Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson were running against each other back in the 1950’s.  From that time until the day Ronald Reagan won the White House, the health of working class people (the middle class) was what was driving American politics.  Amazing things happened in America (and, still are) during those times, but the huge difference, to me, was the attitude of the general public regarding our middle class.  Essentially, in an attempt to explain my thought in a short phrase, our nation operated on a “bottom up” philosophy.

As a Christian, I’m always reminded of Jesus’ words “What you do for the least of these, you do for me” AND “What you do TO the least of these you do to me.”  He often reminds me of those words when I drive past a homeless veteran on the side of the road and I don’t give him/her anything.  He reminds me that if my neighbor is hungry and I have an abundance of food I should feed him/her.  And, I believe, back in the 50’s, 60’s, and early 70’s America’s government came much closer to being in line with those words of Jesus than we are today.  In fact, I believe that with the inauguration of Ronald Reagan (ironically, supported by the so-called “religious right”), America began to change from what I call a “we” society to a “me” society.

I still remember, in the 1960’s, as a young impressionable American, feeling the obligation to help in the FIGHT for Civil Rights and Voting Rights that so many in the African American community (and their supporters) sacrificed so much in order to achieve monumental legislative victories.  I’ve also been aware that, since the victories of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 there has been a concerted effort by many Americans to “turn back the clock.”  And, unfortunately, the events of the past 10 or so years, demonstrate they are succeeding – really, no matter who wins on November 8th.

The Supreme Court passed the so-called “Citizens United” decision (along with the “McCutcheon” decision) in the first decade of the 21st century that essentially wiped away all attempts at controlling the flood of money into the election process and we’re seeing the results of that in 2016.  Additionally, (and, almost unbelievably) the Court GUTTED the Voting Rights Act so that, as the 2016 election unfolds we’re seeing the effects of that decision as well while republicans all across America are scheming for ways to prevent minority populations from making it to the polls.  All of this, in itself, is a bit depressing for someone like me who grew up believing in, benefiting from, and supporting the tenets of the New Deal which was the “generator” of the great expansion of America’s middle class from the 30’s through the late 70’s,

In reality, since the day Franklin Roosevelt shared that the moneyed elite in America hated his policies (guts? :o) and went on to say, “I welcome their hate” there has been an undercurrent of right wing, racist, wealthy Americans fighting to reverse the gains middle class Americans made during the New Deal and the years that followed.  In fact, this group (which included, for example, the John Birch Society and a group referred to by Jeff Sharlett in a great book as the “Family”) has been working to undermine the basic philosophy today’s democratic party  rests on (or should I say, it should rest on) since FDR’s time.  Let me be clear, what we’re talking about here is a faction of Americans who believe in “white privilege” and, obviously, will do whatever it takes to preserve this “privilege” which they appear to view as a birth right.

I believe many of the people I’m talking about were “under the rocks” until Barack Obama was elected president.  While there were many like myself who were excited that an African American could win the presidency, this obviously sent this group I’m referring to “off the edge.”  Their initial response to Obama’s presidency was to claim their NUMBER ONE priority was that the president would FAIL.  It’s becoming apparent that President Obama is going to leave the office of the president as the most popular second term president in many years, so apparently their work to make sure he fails has been a FAILURE.  However, what they’ve achieved is creating unprecedented GRIDLOCK in Washington DC and, through the ability to spend unlimited amounts and a willingness to disregard FACTS, they’ve succeeded in deflecting the blame for the results of their “strategy.”

Americans are fed up with the gridlock and the division in Washington DC, but now that the democrats have gone one more over the edge for some of these people on the right – they’ve nominated a WOMAN to be president – we’re getting a close-up view of what America is really made of.  Out of their contempt for our first Black president and the unthinkable thought of a woman as “commander in chief” the republicans have come up with Donald Trump as a candidate for the office of president.  I really thought that after Sarah Palin they couldn’t out do themselves, but they’ve managed to do so.  And, the sad reality, 3 days prior to the election is that Trump conceivably could win the White House.  It makes me sick to my stomach to even write those words.  To me, this is an indictment on our system and a wake up call as to how many Americans are either “on board” with a man who is demonstrably a fascist, is clearly a racist and misogynist, and hasn’t given one piece of rhetoric, that I’ve heard, which would indicate even a rudimentary understanding of the workings of our government.  Just that thought brings me back to Reagan who started the attacks on government – our government that these right wing people have been working hard to undermine since – well, as I said above, since FDR led a middle class revolution in the 30’s and 40’s.  Republicans have bought into their own lies – and, many are voting for Trump (conceivably) knowing in their hearts how incredibly dangerous he will be should he make the White House.

If Clinton wins, and Congress remains in republican control, the obstruction and vitriol will continue – in fact, it will probably increase.  Republicans have already promised to BLOCK any and all appointments to the Supreme Court should Clinton win the White House.  And, that will simply be the tip of the “iceberg.”  They will continue to push America toward financial default and continue to manipulate our “liberal media” into making sure “we the people” don’t give “credit where credit is due.”  America’s cable “news” outlets have been falling all over themselves trying to be like “fox” and the end result is that we have a voting public that is as ill-informed as probably any in the world.  People want change – and mostly they agree on the change – like health care reform, stop the wars, affordable education, alternative energy (acknowledge the problem of Climate Change), raise the minimum wage, etc. etc. – they just don’t seem to understand that in EVERY instance, the “roadblock” to the “change we can believe in” is the republican party and the corporate interests who have bought them.  Americans are sick of the gridlock, they just don’t understand where it’s coming from.

I’m apprehensive about this election one way or the other.  If Trump (God help us) should manage to win, my biggest fears will have been realized.  I can’t imagine “we the people” would vote him into office – but, the reality is that over 40% of Americans are supporting him.  If Clinton wins, well, the obstruction will very possibly be put on steroids.  This group who believes their “white privilege” is a birthright, will not go away on their own.  Until the American people fully understand what is happening and they vote these people (like McConnell, Ryan, etc.  the republicans who were unable to repudiate Trump) OUT OF OFFICE, the obstruction and vitriol will continue.