"More Post-Election Thoughts"

 

Sydney M. Williams

30 Bokum Road – Apartment 314

Essex, CT 06426

www.swtotd.blogspot.com

 

Thought of the Day

“More Post-Election Thoughts”

November 10, 2020

 

“…in their considerable wisdom, the voters may have elected

Mr. Biden but they left his party and its radical ideas behind.”

                                                                                                                                Lead Editorial

                                                                                                                                Wall Street Journal

                                                                                                                                November 6, 2020

 

Mr. Trump, a non-politician, was elected President in 2016 against all odds. Cronyism and corruption had infested both parties. Washington’s swamp, which had become an Augean Stables, needed cleansing. Trump’s task was easier in one sense than that of Hercules – One man, Eurystheus, gave the latter a single day to accomplish his task, while sixty-three million voters gave Trump four years. But Mr. Trump’s task was more difficult in another sense – the creatures who inhabit Washington’s swamp are savvier and more cunning than the four-legged animals of King Augeas. As well, Washington’s swamp denizens are protected by mainstream and social media groups who long ago extinguished Diogenes’ lamp.  

 

Mr. Biden has been anointed the newly elected President by a media that has been trying to banish the hated Mr. Trump for four years. Certification of his election, however, is yet to come. Regardless, there will be no resistance to Mr. Biden like that which confronted Mr. Trump four years ago. Rioters, one should note, did not appear when Mr. Biden appeared victorious, as merchants feared had Mr. Trump prevailed. In truth, Republicans aren’t as nasty as Democrats and don’t carry grudges to the same extent. Nevertheless, what attracted so many to Mr. Trump is that he is a fighter. Mr. Obama once said he would bring a gun to a knife fight. Mr. Trump is also a fighter; it is why he is held in high regard by his admirers. He will not exit stage left without assurance that nobody emerged from the nation’s cemeteries to vote in the middle of the night. But he will exit graciously if he loses, once all legal votes have been counted.

 

While the media has been relentless in referring to Mr. Trump as a Hitler, an egoist, a racist, a misogynist, a xenophobe, a selfish materialist, it is worth remembering his wife is from Slovenia, his daughter is married to a Jew and that he was color-blind in selecting members of his cabinet and staff. Keep in mind, Mr. Trump does not fit the image of what purports to be a Republican. He was refused membership in Palm Beach’s exclusive Everglades and Bath & Tennis Clubs, which is why he formed the Mar-a-Lago Club, a club unrestricted by race, gender or religion. In cutting regulations, Mr. Trump reduced the power of the Executive branch of government, which he heads. Unlike ex-Presidents Clinton and Obama, he did not run for President to help his net worth. He gave his Presidential salary to charity ($1.6 million over four years) and, according to Forbes, saw his net worth decline by $1.2 billion, or 32%. Over the same four years, equity markets in the U.S. rose in value by about $10 trillion, or about 35%. Mr. Trump, a successful businessman, went to Washington to fight corruption and to aid “forgotten” Americans – millions of middle-income, unhyphenated American workers. 

 

Once again, as in 2016, the Polls were wrong. Real Clear Politics, according to Michael Barone, showed Mr. Trump getting 44% of the popular vote versus the 48.6% he actually received. Democrats were supposed to increase their number of House seats and garner a majority in the Senate. Republicans added to their House seats, picked up one governorship (Montana) and added to state legislatures. Even though he lost the Presidency, Mr. Trump’s coattails were longer than Mr. Biden’s.

 

While re-counts continue in a number of states – Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Arizona (and perhaps Michigan and Wisconsin) – it seems that Mr. Biden will emerge as our next President. Assuming Republicans keep their hold on the Senate, which depends on the outcome of two Georgia special elections to be held on January 5^th, Progressives should be kept at bay; so long as a President Biden governs as the moderate he claims to be…and as long as his early dementia does not noticeably worsen. That should allow Republicans to focus on the interim 2022 elections and the 2024 Presidential election. They have a strong bench, headed, in my opinion, by a new generation of leaders: Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott, Marco Rubio, Bobby Jindal, Elise Stefanik, Ben Sasse and Josh Hawley – all generation Xers. 

 

With so many races so close, Mr. Trump should not concede until all states certify the vote. After all, was not that the advice of Hillary Clinton to Mr. Biden had Mr. Trump won? But once it becomes clear he has lost (which I suspect he has), he should be as gracious in defeat as he was competitive in battle, something he was not accorded in 2016. Ms. Pelosi misspoke when she said: “We lost some battles, but we won the war.” In a democratic republic like ours there is no end to the political war. She lost some skirmishes and won a battle, but not convincingly. The war goes on, as it always has and always will. If anything, this race showed that the Country is center-right in its beliefs. It showed that Democrats are torn between moderates who have been ignored and Progressives to whom House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer genuflected during the past four years. Platform programs like Medicare-for-all, the 1619 Project and the Green New Deal are outliers and will likely lie fallow.

 

The American voter is intelligent and informed. In general, they liked Mr. Trump’s handling of the economy, the tax cuts and regulatory relief. They understood that COVID-19 was a novel virus and that the scientific evidence and recommendations were inconsistent. They know that Democrats turned the virus into a political football. They recognize that the President had to thread the needle between the Charybdis of a deadly disease and the Scylla of closed schools and a shut-down economy. Most Americans feel that Mr. Trump found a peaceful resolution in the Middle East, a process that eluded professional diplomats. Likewise, most Americans, apart from NBA players, Silicon Valley technocrats and Wall Streeters, do not like how China has taken advantage of American generosity and how it has imprisoned Uyghurs, destroyed democracy in Hong Kong, threatens Taiwan and potentially disrupts trade in the South China Sea. As well, most Americans could care less if Europeans, who have benefitted for seventy years from an American military presence, are upset because they are asked to pay more for their own defense.   

 

While those of us who supported President Trump mourn his loss in the election, we celebrate the fact that he received the second highest number of votes ever in a Presidential election. His was a consequential Presidency. A disruptor, Mr. Trump redefined the Republican Party away from its image of moneyed, country-club types to middle class, working Americans of all races who love their country, its Constitution, history and its traditions. Despite all four member of the “Squad” (Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts) winning re-election, the election was a defeat for Progressive policies. High turnout among women, youth and minorities did not create the “blue wave” of expectations. In fact, Mr. Trump increased his vote share from all categories except white men. Republican gains in the House were women and Hispanics. Mr. Trump’s vote totals among Blacks was the highest for a Republican since 1960. Interestingly, those who voted later, when more information was available, voted for Mr. Trump.

 

Mr. Trump can leave office with the knowledge he made a positive difference: The rampant corruption of trading influence for dollars; the arrogance of bureaucrats toward those they are supposed to serve, and a media that has become Pravda-like in their support for one Party. He reminded us of the fortune we have to live in this great land, under the rule of law – a mixture of people from all nations, religions and races. He taught us to be proud of our history, warts and all; for no other Country has done so much for so many.