The rumor mill was churning mildly that Donald Trump was never meant to be here. He was rather created to ensure that Hillary gets to the top without any serious Republican opposition … and like the Taliban … it backfired. Many actually believed it … thanks to her obsession with the Presidency. It seems it was the opposite. It was Hillary who delivered Trump to us. She has been nurturing this dream for quite some time and over the years it intensified and gradually gave way to a sense of entitlement. It got some shape when she successfully convinced her husband to aim for the White House, who was then happy to be under the radar as the Governor of a small southern state. What followed Bill’s tenure as President was years of careful planning; backroom deals with Republicans and Democrats alike; arrangements with both labor unions and Wall Street … to ensure that she has the necessary resources when the time is right. And when she did take the plunge in 2008, a modest first-time junior senator from Illinois left her defeated and shocked. Despite her getting bitter and personal with a relatively rookie politician, despite playing the gender card, her efforts to be accepted by the Democrats were in vain. As opposed to slipping into introspection, this debacle instilled in her a deep-rooted sense of insecurity and desperation for the next time. So, this time she got proactive in eliminating any serious challenge from within her party, resorting to unethical practices and scare tactics. Unlike other open primary years, where there were 8 – 10 candidates in the contention, this year had just 1 … her! Martin O’Malley doesn’t even remember he contested and Bernie Sanders was this rogue socialist who suddenly decided to join the party few months before and threw his hat in the ring. Panicked, she huddled all super delegates and converted the Democratic National Committee (DNC) into her close-knit living room book-reading club. What followed were visible instances of manipulating the primary electoral system since merit alone did nto work last time. Bernie Sanders complained about the favoritism shown towards her by the DNC on multiple occasions, which was later confirmed thanks to WikiLeaks. The DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz (DWS) was forced to resign at the height of the election cycle, booed off the stage at the convention … only to be appointed as one of the chief think-tanks of Clinton campaign (surprise!). There were clear signs that among the Democratic grass-roots worker, like last time, Clinton was NOT sold as a candidate. Candidates from either party go through the process of a free, fair and open primary process to pressure test their candidacy on a smaller yet diverse enough scale. Because Hillary and the DNC manipulated this process by not offering Democrats enough choices, the party did not energize and coalesce around the only candidate offered. Democrats came to power in 1992 through a broad coalition of union workers, women, Blacks and Hispanics which was formed by Bill and later on solidified by Obama, who added urban young voters to the mix. Clinton and the DNC destroyed it in 2016 and lost all of them. As an example, the Michigan Democratic Party, having seen early warning signs of waning support and enthusiasm among likely voters, urged the campaign to make more trips, which fell into deaf ears as the campaign was over-confident about the state and the entire rust-belt (even though she lost the primary to Bernie). There are dozens of such examples of her campaign ignoring the local party establishment. And yet social media is buzzing with how she didn’t make it coz she is not “likable”. Richard Nixon was hated by his party (they called him Tricky Dick) and yet went on to win the election. It is also not because America “isn’t ready for a woman”. America was ready for a Black President … just not Rev. Al Sharpton in 2004 but for Barack Obama in 2008. America is ready for a woman president … just not any woman.
The second stork in delivering Trump to us was Reince Priebus, the chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC), who can easily be hailed as a bigger architect of this victory than the candidate himself. This was an incredibly robust performance by the RNC energizing grassroots workers with 315 field offices staffed by 7,600 paid employees and fellows who knocked on 24 million doors and logged 26 million phone calls. Unlike his DNC counterpart DWS, he was rarely seen on television or big fundraisers for the rich. He took over a dilapidated directionless party suffering from an identity crisis, losing its core support base, twice defeated in the general election and left largely bankrupt by his predecessor Michael Steele and turned the tides. Going for a fundamental grassroots campaign … county by county … state by state … connecting to rural/ small town folks … he was able to mobilize and army and put the necessary boots on the ground. As an example, in September, Trump’s campaign had only one field office in the pivotal state of Florida versus Clinton’s 51. The RNC, by contrast, by Election Day had 62 offices and 1,173 paid staff and organizers in the Sunshine State, which Trump narrowly carried. When Trump’s campaign was spiraling out of control after debate debacles and outrageous comments from the candidate, there were calls from Republican insiders to redirect funding away from Trump to tight Congressional races. Not only did Reince reject the call but stood beside his party’s candidate to engage in coaching and guiding him towards a better candidature. When one after the other rank and file Republicans were withdrawing support for Trump, he often mediated an amiable arrangement if not friendship or reconciliation. His smartness was in getting the job done in a minimalist way when it meant connecting Trump to the Republican establishment ... and it paid … and that’s what makes him a rock star of this election and his party.
And lastly it was Ronald Reagan who delivered Donald Trump to us. He was the first person to show America that a President need not be the best … he can be mediocre, unaccomplished, unqualified … as long as he can charm the population. But that’s not how he did his damage. In 1981, President Reagan, with the support of congressional Republicans (and yes … conservative Democrats) successfully legislated a combination of tax- and budget-cutting measures. As part of this, higher education spending was slashed by ~ 25 percent. In raw dollar figures, cuts totaled $594 million in student assistance and $338 million in Pell grants. For middle-class families, eligibility was decreased to household incomes of less than $32,000, regardless of family size. Effectively, the Government changed from being a caring parent to Shylock. This had intense long-lasting financial and social implications, which over a period of time completely changed the basic fabric of middle-class America. Up until that point, for the ‘white’ blue-collar worker, American dream was still very much a real destination. Having a stable job in a factory or small business, being able to own a home and an automobile and being able to support his/her family and send their children to college hoping to give them a better life. These cuts essentially meant that college was out of reach for almost all of America, unless you are willing to saddle yourself with a life-long debt looming over your shoulder. This also meant that parents took up multiple jobs and had less time and energy for each other and other family members and the basic glue that held American families in love was starting to erode. It had short term boosts … deficits shrunk … overworked parents paid more income taxes (even though rates were slashed). For several years the white middle-class population could work jobs that did not require a college degree (insurance agent, automobile salesman … to name a few). However, with the changing global scenario America gradually felt it had to be innovative. Jobs needed to shift from production to high-tech and the white middle-class America suddenly found itself redundant. For decades, they waited for their Government to step in, provided them the necessary tools and resources to train and migrate to the high-tech jobs, which never came. The Democrats who could use this opportunity to really empower and educate that demographic, decided to focus elsewhere … on feeding the tantrums of large labor unions, increasing the size of Government programs to employ African-Americans, opening the border to bring in Latinos and providing a safe haven … and gobble up all of them as easy voting blocks. Democracy is a numbers game and doing so had a 3-1 advantage over the arduous task of rescuing the white middle class America. For decades, the latter was culturally marginalized and ostracized. Their fears termed as xenophobia, their financial needs ignored by the Government … simply left to ‘rust’ and wither away. I personally had the opportunity to visit these towns in rural America and see their sharp decline first-hand. Trump simply capitalized on it and made them feel that they are being heard and understood. It didn’t matter what he said … true or false … probable or impossible … they finally felt heard and not neglected and threw all of their weight overwhelmingly behind him.
The truth remains that Donald Trump has been elected to be the 45th POTUS. He has done so fair and square … with no known voter fraud, rigging or other illegal activity and this decision must be accepted. Along the lines of every politician (including Hillary, President Obama and those on the Republican party who denounced him) he should be congratulated and with an open mind given a chance to do his job. We do need to be hopeful … not because Trump will magically change overnight but because the American government has checks and balances on misuse of power, with the legislators and the judiciary overlooking the executive. The President sets broader goals and direction and exerts influence through his popular image and widespread support. It is after all the House and Senate that enacts legislation and the judiciary that ensures that any law or executive order is within the ambit of the US constitution. And let’s remember that we will be much more bothered with local rather than regional, national and global problems. Morning commute will sour our mood much more than POTUS. Fear will not be enduring 4 years of Trump presidency but having to go near the microwave during lunch hours (if you work in a multi-ethnic company you know what I’m talking about :) ).
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