The 2016 elections are over, and, as the dust settles so we can look across the horizon, the country looks nothing like the troubled land depicted by Donald Trump during his campaign to capture the presidency.
For the past year, Trump denounced foreign trade as the death of American manufacturing that led to, as Trump but it, the theft of domestic jobs.
On immigration, Trump declared that illegal immigrants were roaming the streets committing crimes and killing Americans.
And, of course, we heard of Syrian refugees that would be invited here by the thousands, without background checks, presenting a clear and present danger to us all.
At rallies throughout the country, Trump railed against NAFTA, the TPP, and other international trade agreements that have facilitated the freer movement of goods between the US and Mexico, Canada, China, and the rest of the world. Trump demonized foreign countries as having taken advantage of us through these agreements that, as Trump said, did nothing but shift jobs away from American workers.
And we all know the attacks Trump made on Mexican immigrants, calling them rapists, murderers, drug dealers, and some, he added, “I assume, are good people”. He talked of murders committed by foreigners as a scourge on our society.
But in small rural towns and big cities alike, the signs of the dire world Trump described are hard to find.
Journalist James Fallows tracked the Trump campaign all year and visited cities across the country to see for himself the effects of Syrian refugees, globalization, and immigration. What Fallows found was not at all what he heard on the campaign trail.
In Dodge City, Kansas, as an example, Fallows saw that although a majority of the voters in the conservative-leaning city said they would vote for Trump, the city also is very tolerant of Latinos, voted to raise taxes to pay for new local infrastructure, and approved a school bond measure to help its local schools. No cries to deport their Latino workers or reduce taxes.
And there’s Erie, Pennsylvania, another example of the disconnect between campaigning and reality. Fallows was there the day after Trump held a large rally and again bemoaned the loss of American manufacturing jobs overseas, and the dangers of Syrian refugees relocating to the US.
What Fallows found, however, was that Erie had already accepted thousands of Syrian refugees and they had melded very well into the local community. And the biggest loss of jobs in Erie was from the closing of a GE manufacturing plant that lost its jobs, not to China, but to Texas. No NAFTA to blame. No TPP. Trump should blame Governor Rick Perry more than he should Bill Clinton.
Trump convinced millions of Americans that things are really bad everywhere else, except where they themselves can see it.
That’s what happened in this election. Political hyperbole and fear-mongering replaced data and reality. It was enough to make baseless claims of danger on the horizon to convince voters to accept a businessman/reality star as their one great hope.
Voters turned against the media, against politicians, and against their own sense of acceptable behavior in exchange for someone that has never held public office, has a checkered business track-record, and openly insulted women, minorities, and countless others as he clawed his way up.
In the end, our society seems to be more impressed with celebrity than substance. In a world where Kim Kardashian is famous just for being famous and millions of little girls want to be like her, we have now elected someone who was opposed by every living former president, many military leaders, most economists, and all Fortune 100 CEO.
But that didn’t matter.
Donald Trump pulled off the unthinkable.
A first-time candidate with no political experience sold the country on change that was desperately needed, even though his alarms don’t seem to reflect the economic and social realities.
Democracy is strong enough to withstand the drastic swings between administrations of opposing parties. For 240 years, we have endured wars, depressions, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and political shifts.
Regardless of who we each supported, the decision has been made.
Donald Trump will be the next President of the United States.
We must now all come together, as Americans, and hope Trump can lead as well as he can sell.
God bless America.
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