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A Solution For the Trump Election Freakout

Melanie Sturm | @ThinkAgainUSA Read Comments - 10
Publish Date: 
Thu, 12/15/2016

 

You wouldn’t know it from the stock market’s record-breaking tear since Hillary Clinton snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, but the mood among Trump-averse Americans remains bleak.

 

Blinkered with rage and disbelief because Clinton won more votes than any other presidential candidate in US history (except Obama in 2008), the despondent blame her stunning upset on nefarious reasons such as “whitelash” bigotry, as CNN’s Van Jones fumed on election night, leading many to sever relations with friends and family.

 

For partisans inhabiting thought silos influenced by social media’s curated tribalism, the election was rigged, if not by hacked voting machines in rustbelt states or by hacked journalism’s “fake news,” then by Russian email hackers who exposed Democrat dirt, including revelations about how Democrat primaries were rigged against Bernie Sanders.

 

No credible intelligence source maintains Russia tipped the election in Trump’s favor, only that they meddled to sow chaos and discord regarding the election’s integrity and the winner’s legitimacy. With Clinton supporters clamoring to hack the 227-year old Electoral College, demanding its electors Think Again about making Trump president, you can almost hear Vladimir Putin’s evil-maniacal cackling.

 

The scheming of 2016’s losers negates Clinton’s laudable concession speech, politicizing and muddling serious matters like Russian malfeasance and cyber-security, and sullying the electoral process by which presidential power peacefully transfers under the world’s oldest constitution.

 

Unfortunately, political elites – including Trump, the master media manipulator – are being played by Putin whose long-term strategy is to discredit American-style democracy and the liberal order we lead. Considering the post-election freak-out, it’s as if the combatants are double agents working for Russia.

 

All Americans should agree that Russian covert influence in our democracy is an intolerable threat. It’s one reason why Mitt Romney considered Russia our top geopolitical foe, a claim famously mocked by President Obama who scolded, “The 1980’s are calling. They want their foreign policy back.”

 

That wisecrack followed the Obama-Clinton “reset” with Russia and Obama’s assurance to former-Russian President Medvedev (caught on an open-mic) that he’d have “more flexibility” after the 2012 election – such as disregarding Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian and Georgian territories. Meanwhile, foreign cyber-intruders have repeatedly hacked federal agencies, without much consequence.

 

Now, despite dismissing Clinton’s Espionage Act violations related to her unsecured email server and her foundation’s international solicitation fraud, and after denouncing as un-American Trump’s assertion that the election might be “rigged,” Dump-Trumpers insist Clinton would be President-elect, but for Russian cyber-rattling.

 

On his “The Messy Truth” program, CNN’s Jones heard otherwise from two-time Obama voters who switched to Trump, flipping six states. “If she’d spoken to the blue-collar worker, she’d have won,” explained Ohioan Scott Seitz about Clinton, who hardly campaigned behind her “blue wall.”

 

In the industrial heartland left behind in America’s asymmetric recovery, long-suffering voters believed Trump would address the issues affecting their livelihoods, preferring Trump’s message of “I’m with you,” to Hillary’s “I’m with Her,” as Seitz framed it. Clinton’s elitist sneer about Trump’s “basket of deplorables” didn’t help.

 

Rather than grapple with their staggering electoral losses since 2010 – Congress, governorships, state legislatures and now the presidency – or their aged and weak leadership bench, Democrats prefer to fundraise off claims that Russian saboteurs stole the election and Trump-voters are stupid or racist.

 

If the last 18-months have taught us anything, it’s that Trump shouldn’t be underestimated, nor should his outsider appeal. According to his “Art of the Deal” playbook, “controversy sells,” and he’ll manufacture it if necessary, as he showed en route to the White House.

 

Speaking bluntly and carrying a big Twitter stick, Trump outlasted 16 primary rivals, the well-funded Bush and Clinton dynasties, and an unprecedentedly hostile media, which he trolls to perfection.

 

Like all reality-TV stars, Trump is a survivor who’ll outlast the current freak-out too, assuming he revives blue-collar jobs. Hopefully his compulsion to trumpet cronyist deals like Carrier will fade as his economic growth plans make America ripe for private-sector deal making again, as the stock market expects, even amid rising interest rates.

 

Among history’s greatest dealmakers were America’s founders whose constitution was a heavily negotiated compromise designed to assure that unaccountable power couldn’t be centralized.  They believed the boundless potential of individuals operating free from government intrusion would make America great, and they were right.

 

Unfortunately, as ruling elites have circumvented constitutional guardrails, concentrating power in the ever-growing, unaccountable federal bureaucracy, presidential elections have become life-or-death slugfests. Now half the country quakes in fear that the other half will punish them if they gain power.

 

The solution is not to further erode constitutional guardrails by defacing the Electoral College; it’s to return the role of Congress, the Supreme Court and the president to their original proscribed limits.

 

Think Again – Wouldn’t it make America great again if we didn’t have to care so much about who won the White House?

 

 

 

 

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This is a great article!

This is a great article! From your lips to other people’s ears!

Each day some new crazy thing comes up. This morning Obama, in his sneering, smug way, says something about Russia messing in our electoral process and that We Will Do Something About It! really? You, a lame duck lousy president are saying this in your last month of office? How irresponsible is that – yet it is consistent behavior. And never mind he meddled in Israel’s election trying to oust Netanyahu, and Britain’s election on Brexit – that makes his position, which should be greeted with “way to go”, even more derisible.

I’m not sure Democrats will ever get over this – I remember many saying after 9/11 “if only Clinton had an opportunity to respond to something like this.” I have come to the conclusion that the leaders (from local all the way up) see the world through a different prism, and the rest simply follow without question, without curiosity, loathe to take the effort to do any kind of investigation or truth-seeking of their own. And I have a feeling that even with a turnaround in the economy, even with people finding jobs, full time with health insurance (instead of multiple part-time jobs), and their lives become better, they will find a way to justify it all and say it was Obama’s leadership that finally kicked in. Amazing, their ability to lie to themselves.

I am hopeful. Even though I look at Trump’s initial choices for his cabinet and cock my head and think, “well…that’s interesting, how is that going to work?” – he has chosen for Secretary of State a man who believes on some level that climate change exists and globalization and such, yet he’s picked a person for the EPA who is going to clean house and oust regulations. So he’s creating some imbalance in his advisors, on purpose it appears. I am pretty darned sure he really hates being bored.

So it shall be interesting, won’t it? I just want Monday to come and go and let’s get on to 2017 and ignore Obama if he’ll let us!

Thanks for your thoughtful writing!

Melanie, It would be

Melanie, It would be inaccurate to say I wasn't disappointed by you reluctance to support Trump, but I understand. There were lots of things to dislike ( take your pick). But in the end, Hillary was so flawed, and corrupt, and "flyover country" knew their fortunes would suffer further if she were to win.

I live about 40 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, in Westmoreland County. Roughly speaking, with a total of 150,000 votes, Trump won 2 - 1. I vote in a tiny coal patch hamlet called Marguerite, and the line snaked out of the building through the parking lot filled with pickups and strange faces I'd never seen before.

The polls aren't fact - finding, they are "opinion shapers', and totally missed the "unlikely voters' in Rust Belt America. Even if Hilary had followed Bill's advice and gone to Michigan and Wisconsin, I don't know if it would have mattered. And, it wasn't a rebuke to the last 8 years, it was a stunning response to the failed dreams of so many in the past 40. Only half of 30 year olds make what their fathers did back in the 70s, and Americans will elect the candidate who says "i'm with You", not the "I'm With Her."

Russian hacking is a smokescreen so Dems can avoid self examination. Trump's ascendance will be short lived if he can't deliver.

Hope someday to sit down with you in Aspen. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

As usual your recent column

As usual your recent column is insightful and intelligent, though I do differ a little with your view on Putin.
Not that I think he is anything but a thug in powe, but I try to look at it from the Russian point of view looking out from their windows in Moscow.

It's Nato and the US that are pressing on Russian borders with military and missile bases established. It was the US that covertly arranged the overthrow of the Russian friend and president of the Ukraine, associated with the attempt to move Ukraine into NATO, and eventually the EU. No one knowing the Russian paranoia, sometimes well founded, would think that this kind of enclosure from the west and from the south would be tolerable.

Having spent a very large amount of time in the 1970s in Russia, I realize that they are reminded daily that Napoleon, Bismark, Hitler invaded them from the west, and each time at an enormous loss of life and treasure. It was not Russia that moved westward.

Their paranoia is understandable, and squeezing the Russian on the borders is like waking a dangerous bear.
As for the middle east, ISIS is as much a worry of the Russians as it is for the "west". The underbelly of Russia is fraught with danger from radical Islamic groups. Had the US succeeded in having the so called rebels overthrow Assad, there was the chance that a radical state could pop up that would threaten the rest of the middle east and eventually the Muslim underbelly of Russia.

In my travel to Russia the major topic was always the wars from the west and the devastation they experienced. No one's family was exempt from the horror and the terror of those war years.

I do think that the attempt by the Hillary crowd, -- and I am sure Hillary and Bill are secretly behind the movement -- to disqualify the election through the Electoral College is shameful. The best for the country would be to accept defeat in oder to save the sanctity of the democratic system of a peaceful transition of power to the winner. By attempting to influence and turn the election results through the pressures on delegates to the College, they are threatening the democracy we depend on. We are a country of laws, but most important we are a country that has learned to accept majority rule, and in this case like it or not, he won, she lost. That should be the end of it. Even a bum like Nixon walked away in defeat with honor and grace. Not true for the dems and Hillary.

I am a life long dem and will make sure never to vote for a dem again as long as they behave the way they are behaving over the last few years and especially post election. If Hillary had any moral and ethical sense about he, she would make a statement to call off the wolves that are calling for an electoral college overthrow. That would be the most honorable thing to do. But we all know that honor is not one of her bywords. She may seem more sophisticated but underneath that skin she is more of a bum than Trump is.

...and I'm just getting started. Throw in Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi and Podesta and of course Bill and family, and the millions of sore losers who are out campaigning against a man who isn't even president yet. If they would give the guy a chance, he might just be on the right track on certain things. The dems railed against the repubs for being obstructionist when Obama was elected which was also shameful, but apparently what was good for the goose is good for the gander. Shame on them.

You have performed an

You have performed an excellent job of summing up the news of the past 20 months or so or whenever Trump got into the campaign. Thank you for your keen ability to point out all that was and is wrong with the Obama Administration including its corruptness, Hillary Clinton's crookedness and corruptness and the fact that she was a poor candidate, first woman candidate or not, and lastly the fact that the main street media and cable TV were in bed with Hillary's campaign the whole time.

Unfortunately Mr. Hope and Change did truly change this country in eight years. That is why I believe it is so difficult for the hard left and liberals including the mainstream media, entertainment (Hollywood) industry, acadamia, etc., to accept this election result. They have had their way with the rest of us for eight long, long years. We are a very divided nation racially thanks to Obama and company. We are a sexually deviant culture with all the emphasis on abortion, gay marriage, LBGT rights and issues being crammed down our throats and in our work and religious lives. Everyone screams about Trump's behavior which I did not approve of but as I told one of the radio stations no one seems to care that when we open up our computers in the morning all I immediately see are the tits and asses of Beyoncé and the Kardashians. Wow, some role modeling there. Kids are being taught that they can be of any gender, just take your pick. Kids are calling their folks bigots because of what they learn in school. The liberals in academia have convinced our children that their lives are going to be destroyed by global warming and it is their parents fault. The list goes on an on. And, what the government can't do to control us, the corporations through their ploys are doing the rest. Yes, it has all been coming on in the past 15-20 years but it catapulted by leaps and bounds in the last 8 years.

I don't have any idea how the Trump presidency will turn out. He was not my selection. But all this narcissism being demonstrated by all these people on the left is not a surprise but they cannot see how hypocritical they are. Unfortunately the Republicans never seem to muster and get the job done so it won't surprise me if the left is back in power in four years. Not much of an optimist when it comes to our establishment GOP. For me as a senior it is troublesome to read about academia and the behavior of our student population needing safety pins for assurance and safe rooms. They are the ones who will be making decisions when I reach the age of possibly needing to be taken care of. By then I guess they will just euthanize all of us oldies as a way of saving money. Can't say I wouldn't blame them in a way because of the huge deficit we will be leaving them. I can't see any of them going into the military. I truly believe that this country will have to bring back the draft. On the other hand I think it would be the best thing for our young population.

Once again thanks for a great newspaper article. You placed the blame in all the proper places but I can assure you that it probably won't make one iota of difference to the liberal left because their minds are closed.

I had the opportunity several years ago to attend one of your classes/seminars teaching us how to challenge liberals.

In answer to your final

In answer to your final question, Melanie, yes, it would be great, and I can remember when I didn't care that much about who won the election. Indeed, I remember voting for Democrats such as Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton. But now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether this nation, as we have known it, can long endure.

M. Stanton Evans remarked that there are two American parties -- the stupid party and the evil party -- and he was proud to have been a member of the stupid party, which to many Trump voters is the party of the Bushes, Lindsay Graham, John McCain, and Paul Ryan, although the latter is trying hard to smarten up.

I've had it with both parties, but especially the evil one. I hope Trump rolls over them like William Tecumseh Sherman on his way to Savannah, starting with the education establishment. If we don't reclaim our schools and universities from Marxist lunatics, we have yet to learn what real evil is.

"All Americans should agree

"All Americans should agree that Russian covert influence in our democracy is an intolerable threat."

Yes, and it has been since the Red Scare of the early 1920's. By the time Alger Hiss was going to trial, Russian covert influence in our democracy was already a done deal. Nobody was ready to throw out all the communists at State and the Treasury, so even McCarthyism didn't cleanse the body politic of that cancer.

It's still there today. Every time you see another Creamer-induced riot, you see the baleful influence of communists, originally from Russia, living on past the time of their progenitors in the Soviet Union, controlling the Ivies and hence government.

Until and unless we take the universities back and purge them from government, they'll be there until forever, rotting the structure from within.

I remember when I trusted my

I remember when I trusted my media and my gov't... That was my mistake. I won't be doing that again. I also won't be living the PC lie... Get ready because Grandma will be giving lessons in old fashioned respect, fairness, common sense and dignity. ( If that doesn't work, a 2x4 or cast iron frying pan will do.)

I predict hard work and decency are going to make a very big comeback if we demand it. Truth in media will too, if we demand it. Stop telling yourselves you're here to only pay bills and try paying attention to who is doing what they say they'll do.

It takes effort from everyone. No welfare unless deep means testing! Give our youth a chance with hiring them to train up in all the new start ups that are sure to come. Be very choosy about who you listen to and who you buy from. It all matters. Listen to your parents and grandparents. They have lived the dream and they can show you how.

Deduct the popular vote

Deduct the popular vote difference in California from the total difference and Trump won by over a million. And we all know that California had at least a million illegal or improper votes tallied this time around. In any case, Go Trump! Hillary for Prison!

We saw this type of media

We saw this type of media manipulation the last time Obama released 5 of the worst terrorists from Guantanamo. I'm wondering what the lunatic left is doing with the other hand now the all media is consumed with this topic.

Our oldest soon-to-be

Our oldest soon-to-be president was and is the most energetic one we have ever had. He ran circles around HerSelf and his primary opponents and is continuing with his frantic pace pre-inauguration. I don't know if he is worthy, but I do know he wanted it more earnestly than the others.

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