The moderate Democrat wins
It appears that Donald Trump has won what I have been calling the November Democratic primary, and will take the office of President of the United States this coming January.
Will this make much difference? I am very guardedly optimistic. Trump remains at heart a moderate Democrat with mixed leanings. His experience during this campaign however has also clearly pushed him rightward, as he suddenly found himself the target of liberal hate. Moreover, the people he has been listing as possible cabinet and administration appointees during his term in office suggest a slightly right-of-center rule.
At the same time, the entrenched and corrupt culture that rules Washington and intellectual society will not accept a Trump administration meekly. They will fight any effort by him or his supporters to change that culture, or to wrest any power from it. This will be the ultimate test of Trump’s beliefs. If he truly has shifted rightward, he will fight back, and “drain the swamp” as he promised during the campaign. If however he allows his past moderate Democrat roots to take over he will back off and do what the Republican leadership has been doing for the past two decades: retreat in the face of the slightest opposition.
What makes me most hopeful that Trump will actually “drain the swamp” is that he will enter office with a solid Republican congress, made up of more true conservatives then we have ever seen. This more than anything will help keep him from wavering from his promises.
One other thought for the moment: The closeness of this election is still disturbing. Trump was not a great candidate, but Clinton was a truly corrupt one. That so many Americans were willing to look the other way even after almost three decades of documented dishonesty and lying and still give her their votes does not speak well of them. Until that basic fact changes, the American system of government remains very fragile and exposed to destruction from within.
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Great way to learn that Clinton lost. I had been avoiding coverage of the election returns…
The look of bewilderment and sadness on the faces of the ABC crew is Priceless, they are in abject shock!
Living in Wayne county Mi, our precinct in the western edge of the county had above average voting, Detroit underperformed for Clinton, I agree, the people who would vote for HRC either are on the dole or have no conscience.
I hope his people took serious notes when you advised them on space policy. Assuming that’s already happened, of course.
Exultation! Exultation! Exultation!
Trump’s victory – the chance for a better world: end of PC fascism, less socialism, less war and conflicts! Congratulations from Europe!
That so many Americans were willing to look the other way and vote for a lying racist bully does not speak well of them.
Des: The key word from my comments that you, in your paraphrase, were forced to leave out was “documented”. Your accusation that Trump is a “lying racist bully” is not documented. In fact, it is simply not true. While he has certainly made many contradictory promises and statements over the years, he is definitely not a racist, and to call him a bully seems a childish attack that means nothing.
Essentially, your argument is merely the name-calling that the left so routinely relies on in any discussion or debate of any kind.
If you have been reading my posts here at Behind the Black you know that I am not a big fan of Donald Trump. At the same time, I base my opinions (and dislike) of him on facts, not emotional name-calling. You should try it sometime.
Oh, I thought Des was referring to HRC, who appeared with a Confederate battle flag behind her in Arkansas.
I just read that Putin congratulated him through a telegraph and said that he hopes that the U.S. and Russia can work together to achieve their best interests. It will be very interesting to see the dynamic between arguably the two most powerful men on the planet commanding the largest militaries in history. What are your thoughts Bob? I have Polish parents so thenissue of Russia is an important one. My opinion is that Putin will try to test Trump immediately to see what he can get away with and how he will be supportng eastern europe. I also sense that contrary to the media that Trump would stand up for eastern europe if Putin invaded it. His wife is Slovenian, and his ex wife was from Czechia. I think Putin is more fearful of Trump than Hillary because he knows Trump will rebuild the military and is a strong willed person.
@Greg, Indeed, the timing of Russia sending its navy to the Mediterranean might have to do with the election. I bet that Russia and Iran (now together with former NATO member Turkey) will conquer The Arab peninsula (the Gulf states) any day now. Obama won’t react, as usual, and Trump is no ally of the Saudi islamists. Even Egypt seems to join Russia against Saudi, who broke its oil export deal with Egypt day before yesterday. Rumors say that Egypt will offer Russia a naval base at the Mediterranean.
Suddenly Russia controls both the Bosporus and the Suez canal. And soon all the oil in the Persian Gulf. Putin is an intelligent and efficient ruler who meets no kind of resistance at all in the Western world today. He will now quickly achieve a fait accompli before Trump takes office January 20th. And this is in no way in conflict with US interests. US will become self sufficient with oil already next year anyway and couldn’t care less for Russia/Iran dictating world oil prices.
Being a Swede, I think that Putin might occupy Sweden too, since Sweden has no military defense whatsoever and no kind of military alliance. Controlling Sweden means surrounding the former Soviet Baltic states and works like an unsinkable aircraft carrier with reach all over Western Europe and air bases to support operations in the North Atlantic. And it is for free to take Sweden, not even one single Russian soldier would be lost, so why not? It just has to be done within the next two months, because a Trump might feel obliged to somehow react if it happens during his term.
Bob: I have read your posts and I know that you are not a big fan of Trump. Ted Cruz was your pick from what I remember.
My argument falls because I omitted the word “documented”?
Lying:
Is it not well documented that Trump promised to release his tax returns but didn’t do it. He later came up with the excuse that he couldn’t do it because they were under audit. The IRS has stated that this is not an impediment to releasing tax returns, and Nixon released his returns while under audit.
Racism:
He said a judge of Mexican descent should not be allowed to rule in a case he was involved in because of the inflammatory things that Trump had said about Mexicans.
Bullying:
His repeated childish name calling of any opponent is classic school yard bullying.
I could go on with many more documented examples but we all see what we want to see so I would be just wasting your and my time.
On the good side, the establishment lost last night, both Democrat and Republican.
My son sent me a text, “This is a revolution!” and my response was, “All revolutions are messy; things will be chaotic for a while, and we’ll have to wait and see how things settle out.”
I’m mildly encouraged by Trump’s tone in his first speech as President elect.
I’m also hopeful that Republicans will learn from Trump’s example of doing something other than “go along to get along.” I didn’t get the sense that Trump was conciliatory out of a sense of fear, which has been the problem with the Republican approach.
I can picture the Department of Justice scrambling to destroy laptops, and Obama drafting pardons. I think it would send a great message to bring the Clintons and their co-conspirators to justice; a return to being a nation of laws rather than a nation of men, but I get the feeling Trump may balance this against the perception of trying to reunite the country.
I’m also watching Trump to see if he actually rescinds the overreaching executive orders. I’ll be watching even more closely to see if he issues any of his own; the orders are dangerous not just for their content, but for their precedent in seizing power.
To me, this election was not only Trump vs. Clinton, but an overthrow of the establishment, and hopefully we’ll look back at it as a restoration of balance between the executive branch and the legislative.
Interesting times indeed.
@Des. Isn’t that judge chairman for a nationalist organization which helps illegal Mexican immigrants? Since Trump insists that the law must be followed, tht is certainly a strong conflict of interests and the judge should not have accepted the case.
It is alot of fun to see how ALL the journalists and politicians in the Western world today pee their pants out of fear of Trump. They are all totally dependent on US cash payments, trade and defense. None of them have competence to take care of their own countries. They know that they will all lose power within a few years. France and Germany in elections already next year. Trump says he will negotiate one-on-one, and his opponents are all very scared, totally incompetent and totally dependent on the US. Trump will have a field day. The European peoples will regret that they have elected corruption and incompetence.
Des,
After I sent out my comment to you I thought about it, and realized that you did have ground to stand on. You are correct, Trump has done things that can justify calling him a “lying racist bully.” I myself have posted stories and essays documenting this. This history is one reason I dislike him.
Nonetheless, Trump’s foibles pale in comparison to Hillary Clinton. The voters were given a bad choice, and in the end the majority I think chose the better of the two. That even this choice was so ugly speaks badly for our culture, and the future of our democracy.
Des, you still don’t get it – you fail to realize that “bully” and “racist” is a shallow and hardly substantive issue. Trump beats Hillary in the personality category anyway, even if he is a “bully” and a “racist.” That’s why he won.
I think Hillary would have done a lot better if the entire election cycle was focused on Trump’s policies instead of brainwashing the constituents into believing he is a bad guy. She would have won. But instead the shallow personal attacks did not last and people grew tired of learning the TRUTH about Hillary and her terrible behavior. Just enough people opened up.
And democracy lives another day.
Not to mention – the end of toxic Obama-born policies. We should all so grateful for that, if nothing at all.
Moderate Democrat? Always saw him as a moderate Republican (even leaning a bit lib on some issues) who woke up one day “mad as hell ….”. He is a classic “New Yawker”, which accounts for his abrasive style. A style I actually like, and often share myself. Then again, I am old-school Brooklyn.
With the executive and legislative branches in the same party for the next two years, and with constitutionalists on the Supreme Court, I’m looking forward to the opportunity to quickly end Obamacare and to allow America’s strongest force–a free market (competitive) healthcare system–go to work for all of us.
Obama’s short term legacy is a total failure, but in the end, healthcare could finally be addressed and he should get some credit for changing the conversation.
Robert: it is good to be have a reasonable discussion on such a divisive issue. We both agree that it was a terrible choice, and come down on different sites on which is worse. Let us leave the matter there.
Localfluff: I am cheering and enjoying Trump’s victory. It is the beginning of Merkel’s end! US puppet state Germay’s “elite” will see turbulence!
“closeness of this election”
I’m not convinced the total number of legitimate votes was nearly that close. Unfortunately we don’t an accurate way to filter those votes cast by illegal aliens throughout this country. If the ballots of non-citizens (wrap your brain around that one) were tossed out, Trumps triumph would have been even more extraordinary.
Garry wrote: “To me, this election was not only Trump vs. Clinton, but an overthrow of the establishment, and hopefully we’ll look back at it as a restoration of balance between the executive branch and the legislative.”
(I chose this particular phrase over others that express similar sentiments, because this one sums it up nicely.)
A problem that can arise is that We the People could fail to support any attempt at this possible restoration of balance between the executive branch and the legislative as well as any other restorations to the fundamentals of America.
A decade an a half ago (sesquidecade), California had its own revolt against a governor who abused his power to mess up the system and add an onerous amount of benefits to retiring government employees. When that governor was recalled, the newly elected governor tried to correct the situation, but the California voters forsake his attempts and failed to support him. After that, he spent his remaining two terms taking up space, rather than fixing California.
If those who supported Trump fail to follow through — fail to offer support (moral support or political support) — then he may also fail to do whatever restoration that he now plans.
Trump will not have many friends in Washington, so he will need all the friends that he can get in the rest of the country. Keep your voice heard, especially when talking to local and national politicians. Support his efforts at conservativism, but oppose him whenever he reverts to his modern-liberal ways.
Trumps election is proof anyone can become President. Anyone. They no longer have to be life long politicians.
Now lets see if those life long politicians can find a way to work with him. If they do not then thats proof they have little if any regard for the peoples choice and really do view themselves as superior to the rest of us.
If they can not work with him then fire them.
Robert- I did not read any of the comments because I am responding to your last point. Hitleree should only have gotten the feminist, lesbian vote. There are people in America who are dumb masses, it’s sad to admit that they can vote. You have to put up with a lot if you choose Freedom over Tyranny. But there is a number of votes for Hillary cast by illegal aliens, other fraudulent means. It would have been less points to her side if vote fraud didn’t occur.
RE: Alex’s first comment.
I hope we have just enough war to make certain that any american can travel anywhere in the world without fear for their lives.
The only way is with reprisals. Wrap your head around making sure that they happen hours after american blood is spilled all you congressmen.
Whether that is more war or less war is not really important. American blood is more important than the blood of any other, if we are going to WIN wars. How many Vietnam-like engagements have there been after World War II? How much american blood has been spilled where we lost the war. We MUST win and we Will again. Enemy civilians and enemy soldiers are one and the same. Civilians have to be killed if if we want to win. It’s not black and white. Used to when the USA did war right we went in with only winning in mind.
Think back on all of the wars before and including World War II. Civilian casualties used to be included in the body count. Civilians were just as important as soldiers. And you don’t stop killing until the enemy UNCONDITIONALLY SURRENDERS!!!!!
Patton’s speech to the soldiers right before the Normandy invasion is a magnificent example of masculinity-at-war.