I take little joy in this election result. I do not trust Trump one bit. However, I completely understand why he won. I don’t think it’s entirely (or even mostly) because of racism, sexism, or xenophobia, or any other ism or phobia.
Part of it is urban vs. rural. Obama seemed to do well in the city, and Hillary probably would have done decently. But in the country, they did roughly nothing. The rate of businesses being established is all in the cities. For a long time, the rural areas were in desperate need for help, and they’ve been ignored in favor of the cities.
Obama never seemed to care (or that was the perception, and the perception is what is important) Clinton also didn’t give the impression she cared either. Trump gave the impression he cared. Whether he does or not we will find out, but at least he pretended like he cared. To those rural people, the “elites” who “lorded” over them are now enraged and downcast while the “champion of the everyday worker” is the winner. I can understand why they’d hope for a Trump presidency.
And, speaking as a white middle-class male, I can understand the appeal of some of Trump’s rhetoric. Government power and bureaucracy is increasing, lobbying groups gained tons of influence, power is becoming more concentrated. Trump’s promise to smash it is tempting. Clinton’s campaign (whether she’s a good person or not) reeked of the exact same corruption Trump was promising to destroy. Clinton has a record of a war hawk in many places such as Libya, and recently Russia. Meanwhile Trump has promised more to focus on America itself, and be a bit more isolationist. Some of his statements on nukes and torture are terrifying, but there is no denying Clinton’s track record of dealing with foreign nations is dismal. And people are especially getting antsy at how she is handling the Russian problem.
It’s probably going to suck for minorities. Maybe not because of Trump, but because the culture of some of the more obnoxious Trump supporters will be more free to reign now. But if you think about it, it’s not hard to understand where the resentment of minorities has come from. (whether or not it’s condonable) A lot of people have had the shit kicked out of them by the system. Towns got shattered, they’re stuck working 8$ an hour to support their families. And every time they reach out for help, the “liberal elites” came out of clubs marked “MINORITIES” and beat them back down saying, “Stop complaining. Black people/ gay people/ etc. have it much worse. Check your privilege shitlord.”
It turns out, this doesn’t convince people to put their heads down and deal with it. It just builds up resentment. There are blue collar folks who work for a living and have very little, if anything, leftover after all the bills are paid. And when a truck driver or construction worker from north east Pennsylvania hears some bratty, self-righteous college kid inform him of his “privilege,” he tends to roll his eyes and ignore everything else they say.
I have no faith in Trump’s character, or his ability to run a country. But I understand why people would rally behind him. I completely understand why people wouldn’t support Clinton. And I hope Trump keeps some of the promises he made. If he follows through with his victory speech saying he intends to help every single American, things might not be terrible in the long run. I hope he makes Washington D.C. more transparent and trustworthy. I hope the GOP and DNC gets their shit together. I hope women and minorities get through without any of their rights or protections being gutted.
I say all this as a white middle-class university student in Canada, so take that into account. I've got a pretty comfortable seat still to analyze things. It's possible that I'm completely full of shit. But frankly, a lot of the problems that lead to Trump getting such support were not going to get solved by Clinton, and they'd just get worse if they'd been left to fester.
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The reputation of the USA in the world (cont)
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