Hermione Luck / Chief Columnist
November Post Election 2020
There are so many aspects of this election and of the last four years to discuss. So where do we begin – racism? The perversion of truth? The hypocrisy of politicians? This glass of lemonade limits itself to five issues that hopefully don’t get lost in the shuffle for America.
Who won?
… make no mistake this election was a draw.
The Democrats may have won the locomotive, but the Republicans did quite well with the rest of the train – they defended seats like Collins and Tillis, the Democrats didn’t get close to Graham or McConnell, and the great blue wave was more like a moving puddle.
All this makes Trump’s loss even greater – centrist voters were willing to elect Republicans and their policies, but a clear majority had enough of Trump.
Polls
Polls fell flat on their face becoming fake news. It can’t be as simple as ‘Trumpers just don’t answer their phones’. It’s obviously far deeper than that, and probably has something to do with the mistrust of pollsters by the American electorate in general … that, and the massive overkill the media employs in reporting the news
Latinos
I used to think that this Republican Last Stand of Trumpism which merges three basic Caucasian groups – entitled whites, one issue whites (abortion or guns), and racist whites – was just a last gasp by white people before the inevitable coloring of America.
Yet there are problems in establishing a political rainbow coalition for the progressives. Many Latinos think Blacks are pampered by the government. When you add Catholicism and anti-abortion sentiment to the equation, Latinos don’t seem to be the slam dunk that many anticipated. This is a serious issue and a vital bridge to cross for progressives in the coming years, especially the fragile elections of 2022 and 2024.
Misogyny
As I’ve said before, there are so many non-Covid problems awaiting us on the other side of Donald Trump – truth, racism, obesity, conspiracy theories, a huge national debt, school shootings, and the most formidable of all, climate change … there are no vaccines for any of these.
Yet, even though every one of these issues is long overdue for true change and resolution, there is one issue where we must not allow ourselves to drop the ball – misogyny. The fundamental relationship between men and women must continue to be front and center, and continue to evolve. That is one of the most alarming things about Trump attracting seventy million votes.
From his original comments about Carly Fiorina to the sixteen women who have accused him of assault, a huge amount of voters were willing to overlook his degradation of women as if life simply goes on. As much as Me-Too has transitioned America to acknowledge the necessary discussion, the movement hasn’t yet been transformational.
Next step please.
Television killed the Radio Star
Covid killed the Television Star
One of the scary things about Trump’s loss is that victory so easily could have been a slam dunk if in March he’d been pro-active with Covid rather than paranoid about the economy.
Even in October when he contracted Covid, had he pivoted and did a modest mea culpa, and humbly talked about learning a lesson, he would have kept most of his base and also attracted a huge number of moderates and independents.
But like the scorpion and the turtle, it was just his nature. Unfortunately, it is also just his nature to destroy as much as he can on his way out, because if you really want to get to this man, if you really want to get under his skin, all it takes is to remind him he’s a loser.
Hermione