Like many people, I suppose, since this month's election my thoughts have raced in many directions, too quickly to capture and too many to record. Now, less than two weeks out, I thought I would begin to publish them, so here goes.
The election is over, and it's time that both sides realized it. Donald Trump is our President-Elect, like it or not, for better or worse. I admire the passion of the protestors who oppose his presidency, and I am heartened to see millennials engage in peaceful protest the way some baby boomers did during the turbulent '60s. Still, I am concerned that some of their energies may be misdirected. With the election past, perhaps they should focus less on protesting the man and more on protesting his policies, his words and, after he takes office, his actions. Pre-inauguration protests against hate and prejudice and in support of women's and minority rights are worthwhile, and holding them before the new administration takes the reins of federal law enforcement agencies is probably smart. But ad hominem protests against "not my President" before he even takes office or signs his first executive order may be seen as premature and are less likely to be effective. He won, he will become President, and the focus for now should be on what he is expected to do, not who he is. And those who would oppose him should be spending at least as much time organizing as they are protesting. President Obama said: "Don't boo. Vote!" After the election, one might say: "Don't protest. Organize!"
Trump's opponents are not the only ones who need to recognize that the election is over and he has won. So should the President-Elect himself. It's time for Mr. Trump to transition from campaigning to preparing to govern. Whoever wrote his acceptance speech was wise enough to make it a call for healing and unity. Now it's time Trump put those words into action. He ran a nasty campaign, brutalizing all who opposed or criticized him. The campaign is over and he won. Now he needs to stop fighting and learn to lead. The first thing he should do is close his Twitter account. His angry tweet about the polite and respectful statement of the cast of "Hamilton" to VP-Elect Pence after last night's performance shows that he is not ready to govern. Whether the cast members were out of line, as some people have suggested, is beside the point and a distraction from the more important issue of how Trump reacted to it. A good leader listens to his people and tolerates dissent. Rather than lash out at the cast, who speak for important segments of society, the President-Elect should thank them for their heartfelt comments and take seriously their concerns. I would like to believe that Trump can grow into the role of President, but he will need to develop the quality of grace that has been a hallmark of his predecessor.
And that goes both ways too. We are a nation with deep and painful divisions. We have no hope of healing unless each side begins to listen to the other. The Democrats failed because they did not listen to the white working class, who used to be their core constituency. They will keep failing if they don't start listening to all of the diverse voices that deserve to be heard, including those to which Trump appealed. Bernie Sanders heard the cries of millennials, who came of age as the economy crashed, to find that the American Dream was a train that had left the station without them. President-Elect Trump heard a voice that his Republican primary opponents and Hillary Clinton did not - the voice of working class Americans in the South and in Rust Belt states who had lost their jobs or felt threatened by rapidly changing demographics. He played to that audience almost exclusively, awakening and exploiting their latent fears and prejudices. Trump didn't care whom he offended, because he knew he would not offend his core constituency of non-college-educated, white working class voters who were desperate for change, and who wanted to see their stature and their prospects restored to what they had been before the civil rights movement, before waves of immigration, and before 9/11. Ironically, this was by and large the same crowd that had elected Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996, but whose only wish for Hillary was to see her behind bars.
To win the White House, a candidate always must appeal to the middle. For all of her flaws, some real and many imagined, Hillary Clinton was something of a centrist who might have appealed to the middle had Bernie Sanders not pushed her to the left. Although Sanders tapped into an important vein of the American electorate, his brand of socialism is too far left to win a national election. Still, he gained enough success that Hillary had to veer leftward to ensure that large numbers of Bernie's supporters would rally behind her after she secured the nomination. That, as much as the improper and bizarre conduct of FBI Director Comey as the injured campaign limped towards the finish line, may have cost her the election.
For the Democrats to succeed in 2020, they need to find a candidate who will appeal to the traditional Democratic base without abandoning people at the margins. That candidate should not be Bernie Sanders (who will be too old anyway) or Elizabeth Warren (a fierce advocate against economic inequality but, because of her ferocity, a very polarizing figure). Their extremism would make them red meat for Trump or any other Republican opponent. The party is about to go through a serious identity crisis, and the choices it makes in the next two years will be critical in determining whether it can regain control of the executive branch. Its success will depend on having an open nomination process that allows a leader to rise up from the bottom rather than being installed from the top. It also will depend on whether the party listens to people like David Axelrod and Michael Moore, who have the wisdom to see where the party has gone astray and can guide the righting of the listing ship.
As for me, I'm very wary of the coming Trump/Pence regime, but am adopting a wait and see approach. I plan to watch the new administration closely, and will pray that it not let its imaginary mandate dictate its policy. I am opposed to many of the policies espoused by Trump and his surrogates, but we won't know with certainty which ones he actually will follow through on until he is in office. One of my primary concerns is that, during his campaign, Mr. Trump and those closest to him showed an extraordinary and utterly reckless disregard for truth. If that tendency continues, I fear we may be headed for an Orwellian, Soviet-style regime. The rights to free speech and a free press are the first things we must protect if we hope to protect all Americans' civil liberties.
The nation needs healing now, mostly because of the wounds that the President-Elect inflicted. A little humility and compassion from those who will soon be in power would go a long way towards beginning the healing process. So would a clear and strong condemnation of the disgusting racist, homophobic and Islamophobic animus that the campaign has unleashed. Much more is required than looking into a camera and saying "stop it," as if talking to an unruly child. Humility, compassion, acceptance and tolerance are traits that we did not see from Mr. Trump as a campaigner. I hope they will emerge as he prepares to govern.
The election is over, and it's time that both sides realized it. Donald Trump is our President-Elect, like it or not, for better or worse. I admire the passion of the protestors who oppose his presidency, and I am heartened to see millennials engage in peaceful protest the way some baby boomers did during the turbulent '60s. Still, I am concerned that some of their energies may be misdirected. With the election past, perhaps they should focus less on protesting the man and more on protesting his policies, his words and, after he takes office, his actions. Pre-inauguration protests against hate and prejudice and in support of women's and minority rights are worthwhile, and holding them before the new administration takes the reins of federal law enforcement agencies is probably smart. But ad hominem protests against "not my President" before he even takes office or signs his first executive order may be seen as premature and are less likely to be effective. He won, he will become President, and the focus for now should be on what he is expected to do, not who he is. And those who would oppose him should be spending at least as much time organizing as they are protesting. President Obama said: "Don't boo. Vote!" After the election, one might say: "Don't protest. Organize!"
Trump's opponents are not the only ones who need to recognize that the election is over and he has won. So should the President-Elect himself. It's time for Mr. Trump to transition from campaigning to preparing to govern. Whoever wrote his acceptance speech was wise enough to make it a call for healing and unity. Now it's time Trump put those words into action. He ran a nasty campaign, brutalizing all who opposed or criticized him. The campaign is over and he won. Now he needs to stop fighting and learn to lead. The first thing he should do is close his Twitter account. His angry tweet about the polite and respectful statement of the cast of "Hamilton" to VP-Elect Pence after last night's performance shows that he is not ready to govern. Whether the cast members were out of line, as some people have suggested, is beside the point and a distraction from the more important issue of how Trump reacted to it. A good leader listens to his people and tolerates dissent. Rather than lash out at the cast, who speak for important segments of society, the President-Elect should thank them for their heartfelt comments and take seriously their concerns. I would like to believe that Trump can grow into the role of President, but he will need to develop the quality of grace that has been a hallmark of his predecessor.
And that goes both ways too. We are a nation with deep and painful divisions. We have no hope of healing unless each side begins to listen to the other. The Democrats failed because they did not listen to the white working class, who used to be their core constituency. They will keep failing if they don't start listening to all of the diverse voices that deserve to be heard, including those to which Trump appealed. Bernie Sanders heard the cries of millennials, who came of age as the economy crashed, to find that the American Dream was a train that had left the station without them. President-Elect Trump heard a voice that his Republican primary opponents and Hillary Clinton did not - the voice of working class Americans in the South and in Rust Belt states who had lost their jobs or felt threatened by rapidly changing demographics. He played to that audience almost exclusively, awakening and exploiting their latent fears and prejudices. Trump didn't care whom he offended, because he knew he would not offend his core constituency of non-college-educated, white working class voters who were desperate for change, and who wanted to see their stature and their prospects restored to what they had been before the civil rights movement, before waves of immigration, and before 9/11. Ironically, this was by and large the same crowd that had elected Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996, but whose only wish for Hillary was to see her behind bars.
To win the White House, a candidate always must appeal to the middle. For all of her flaws, some real and many imagined, Hillary Clinton was something of a centrist who might have appealed to the middle had Bernie Sanders not pushed her to the left. Although Sanders tapped into an important vein of the American electorate, his brand of socialism is too far left to win a national election. Still, he gained enough success that Hillary had to veer leftward to ensure that large numbers of Bernie's supporters would rally behind her after she secured the nomination. That, as much as the improper and bizarre conduct of FBI Director Comey as the injured campaign limped towards the finish line, may have cost her the election.
For the Democrats to succeed in 2020, they need to find a candidate who will appeal to the traditional Democratic base without abandoning people at the margins. That candidate should not be Bernie Sanders (who will be too old anyway) or Elizabeth Warren (a fierce advocate against economic inequality but, because of her ferocity, a very polarizing figure). Their extremism would make them red meat for Trump or any other Republican opponent. The party is about to go through a serious identity crisis, and the choices it makes in the next two years will be critical in determining whether it can regain control of the executive branch. Its success will depend on having an open nomination process that allows a leader to rise up from the bottom rather than being installed from the top. It also will depend on whether the party listens to people like David Axelrod and Michael Moore, who have the wisdom to see where the party has gone astray and can guide the righting of the listing ship.
As for me, I'm very wary of the coming Trump/Pence regime, but am adopting a wait and see approach. I plan to watch the new administration closely, and will pray that it not let its imaginary mandate dictate its policy. I am opposed to many of the policies espoused by Trump and his surrogates, but we won't know with certainty which ones he actually will follow through on until he is in office. One of my primary concerns is that, during his campaign, Mr. Trump and those closest to him showed an extraordinary and utterly reckless disregard for truth. If that tendency continues, I fear we may be headed for an Orwellian, Soviet-style regime. The rights to free speech and a free press are the first things we must protect if we hope to protect all Americans' civil liberties.
The nation needs healing now, mostly because of the wounds that the President-Elect inflicted. A little humility and compassion from those who will soon be in power would go a long way towards beginning the healing process. So would a clear and strong condemnation of the disgusting racist, homophobic and Islamophobic animus that the campaign has unleashed. Much more is required than looking into a camera and saying "stop it," as if talking to an unruly child. Humility, compassion, acceptance and tolerance are traits that we did not see from Mr. Trump as a campaigner. I hope they will emerge as he prepares to govern.
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