Donald Trump is on a path to re-election and all indications are that he has a good shot at a second term. The economy is better than it’s been in years and unemployment is at a record low of 4.3% - the best in 16 years. Trump already has $17 million earmarked for the next campaign because in politics, the only thing that matters is getting re-elected. Forget Nazis, pussy-grabbing, and Russia. All indications are that Trump can and may have another four years.
“It’s the economy, stupid,” – the mantra of the Democratic party in the 90s – still holds true and we fail to see this, tearing our hair out over bigotry and trans-gender prejudice when voters ultimately only care about how they and their families are doing. Trump was elected by the marginalized working class and they forgave a multitude of horrors to elect someone who would get them to work. And he has. This is all that matters I assure you.
While we fixate on and twitter about his ghastly amorality, working folks in the Rust Belt are likely pretty okay with where we’re headed. Social issues do not matter in the long run to people who can’t pay the mortgage. It’s the economy, stupid, and politics is based on emotion not fact, although the greatest driver of voter support is not hate, love, or anything in between. It’s jobs. We haven’t even begun to address the unheard popular majority who elected Trump in the first place.
Who’s going to elect Trump the second time? Well, you are. When was the last time you voted in a primary election? The fact is that only 20% of registered voters bother to show up for primary elections and of course this is where we make the most important choices. Eighty-percent of us stay home during the primaries, lazy and disengaged (as we remain, despite our self-aggrandizing high minded moralistic FB rhetoric). Democrats and Republicans trot out a panoply of mostly spineless politicians, we ignore the primary process and then rail at the lousy choice we have. The plurality of registered voters (42%) in the US are “independent” or unaffiliated voters, like me. In most states, independents can’t vote in a primary election. Here’s what you don’t know: to vote in a primary all you have to do is affiliate with a party “x” number of days (check your state law. Stop being “outraged” and lazy.) before the primary. So, if there’s an excellent candidate in either party, I will simply become a member of that party before the primary, vote for that person, and then switch back to being unaffiliated because frankly, both parties make my skin crawl.
The “meat” of a party’s base support are those rabid fundamentalists on both sides. They always show up. They are blindly devoted and will pull that lever for (R) or (D) no matter what. The rest of us stay home and we end up with chumps like Trump. In a perfect world, everyone would be registered as an Independent and then politicians would have to scramble to figure out how to get re-elected. Right now, all our representatives have to do is appeal to those who always show up, the devout twenty percent.
This is why Trump will probably get re-elected. Very few people understand the civics of voting in this country and most would rather watch SNL mock our “leaders” than get involved in electing decent people. I don’t see the Democrats making any headway in repairing the colossal screw up of pushing Bernie Sanders off the podium so their inflated ego-driven party could score the next “first.” Hubris writ huge, the Dems got what they deserved and we got the president we deserve. We are a lazy and self-indulgent electorate. You post some righteous anger on FB and think you’re all that, but where are you on primary day? Where are you 30 or 60 days before primary day when you should register with either party that you want to support? Oh wait, you’re on Facebook screaming about the haters. Nicely done.
I’m personally outraged because I’ve seen this coming since 2010 when I ran a congressional tea party campaign in the third district of Colorado. While deeply disagreeing with 90% of what my candidate stood for (it was a family thing), I saw first- hand how the masses and the media mocked the Tea Party. Disdain, scorn, cartoons, SNL, laughter abounded but nobody really listened to them. I met thousands of “tea party” folks and guess what? They were mostly terrified grandparents. They felt lost, forgotten and unheard. They were worried about their future and their grandkids’ future. So, while you were busy laughing at Sarah Palin they were busy getting to the primaries. It’s exactly as Mahatma Ghandi told us: First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
And they’ll win again if we don’t listen to what’s important: jobs and family security. Period. I’m a kid of the 60s and 70s so of course I know there’s nothing more crucial than civil rights and social justice but these high minded and deeply important principals do not get people elected. Jobs get people into the Oval and onto Capitol Hill where everyone hangs pictures and then immediately starts planning for reelection.
Your moral outrage is useless unless you know how to register for and vote in a primary. Please stop tweeting your high-minded bullshit and figure out how to educate people about this fact: eighty percent of us do nothing and don’t care enough to figure out what we learned in fourth grade.
I’ll give you a total pass if you can answer these questions: (1) when do you have to register as a party-affiliate in your state in order to vote in a primary; and (2) when was the last time you voted in a primary? If you don’t know the answer to #1 and #2 is “never,” then it’s Donald Trump in 2020. Take it to the bank. That’s where people vote.