Just a few weeks ago I was convinced that the Republican party was in its death throes. I believed that for the foreseeable future, it would be the Democrats that would win all elections, including the Senate and House. Eventually, after the effects of Republican gerrymandering would wear off, they’d lose the governorships. I really thought that the party of Lincoln and Reagan no longer existed, and that it would go the way of the Whigs. I predicted a liberal landslide for the election.
But I was so very wrong. I don’t believe Trump won this election, I believe Clinton lost it, together with Obama.
Somehow, inexplicably to me, Obama and Clinton did not deliver to the country what it needed at a difficult time. The Democrats left rural America to its own devices, and Trump swept up.
Sanders is now the grand old man of the Democratic party which is in tatters. Leadership vacuum permeates all levels. Bernie Sanders had a powerful message, but the rigged system – yes, the system is rigged – did not let his message come out. Sanders is now the leader, the adult in the room.
I am not sure how healthy the Republican Party is. It remains to be seen how they will govern, after doing not much but obstructing for eight years. There are no more excuses now. They own all branches of our government, at least for the next two years.
And Trump will be president. Unbelievably. Inconceivably. 61,864,015 Americans voted for him. I was not one of them.
How could I have been so very wrong?
I need a good talking to.
I was right there with you. So many Republicans were not endorsing Trump and even publicly criticizing him. I thought it was the end of the Republican party. Geez. I was way off. Michael Moore had it right, he knew. Others warned us as well, but I didn’t hear them.