As I went to sleep on election night, even though the election had not yet been called by any media outlet, it seemed likely to me that Joe Biden had won. I was definitely bummed the next day. But upon awakening Thursday, I felt it was a new day. Yes, my guy lost. But being a natural optimist, and appreciating all that I have, I was not going to dwell on the defeat. However, it appeared that there were many "sore winners" among those celebrating the Biden/Harris victory.
Actress Janelle Monae, from the movie "Hidden Figures," was one of many who could not be a gracious winner. Monae: "Fuck Donald Tromp (sic) and every American citizen, celebrity, white woman, black man, ETC who supported him burnnnnnnn." There is so much hatred and racism in that one sentence, that I will let her comment speak for itself. Michelle Obama was not much better: "...let's remember that tens of millions of people voted for the status quo, even when it meant supporting lies, hate, chaos, and division." Michelle Obama could not conceive of any positive reason to vote for Trump. So allow me.
In just a single term, Trump was one of the most consequential presidents in my lifetime. With tax reform and deregulation, he was able to turn the economy around. We had the lowest unemployment rate in decades, until the pandemic hit. He allowed energy companies to increase production, making the US energy independent. Trump nominated 3 conservatives to the Supreme Court, and "about 30% of the federal appellate bench" with conservative judges. (Stat from the 11/1/20 Wall Street Journal.) He was far better for blacks and other racial minorities than was his predecessor. Trump signed prison reform legislation, created opportunity zones and supported school choice, allowing poor minorities to get the advantages other have.
He was certainly the best president in dealing with the Middle East. He backed out of the flawed Iran nuclear deal. He moved the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Israel's capital city - Jerusalem. He recognized Israeli sovereignty over the strategic Golan Heights. And he stopped the flow of cash to Palestinians until such time as they stop funding terrorists who kill Jews. And Trump understood that appeasement of the Palestinians is not the road to peace. In helping to cement peace deals between Israel and the U.A.E. and Bahrain and now Sudan, Trump has enhanced the stability of a region sorely in need of stability. While some critics say these are not peace deals as Israel was never at war with those countries, such criticism is not well stated. So call it normalization of relations. The significance is the same. And now, some Sunni Arab leaders even openly criticize the Palestinian leadership for their intransigence. Trump understood that there was a wider Arab world that wanted to move on, that did not constantly want to make their own interests subservient to the interests of an entrenched and intransigent Palestinian leadership.
Unfortunately, the Biden/Harris Administration is intent on taking us back to the failed Middle East policies of the Obama Administration. Obama not only believed in appeasement, but he naturally aligned himself with radical Muslims. Here is Kamala Harris, telling us that the Biden Administration will restore "humanitarian" aid to the Palestinians and Gaza. The fact that such aid will be used to kill Jews is of no consequence to the Democrats. She said the US would reopen the US consulate in so-called East Jerusalem, which means the US will treat the Palestinians as having a country with East Jerusalem as its capital. They will also reopen the PLO mission in Washington, D.C. The appeasement of the Palestinians under Obama did not bring the region one step closer to peace. Trump's approach has - significantly.
Trump may have lost the White House, but the Republicans won the election. Prior to the election, the Democrats held 232 seats in the House of Representatives, and Republicans held 197 seats. While the Democrats will maintain control of the House, and with 13 seats still not called, the Republicans have so far increased their numbers to 203 seats, with Democrats having 219. 218 is needed for control of the House. Republicans lead in the Senate by 50-48, with the Democrats having picked up one seat. The two seats from Georgia are still undecided and there will be a runoff election for each seat in early January. If the Republicans pick up one of those they will maintain control of the Senate. At the state level, Republicans held on to their majorities everywhere they already had them, and picked up the New Hampshire House and the New Hampshire Senate. Republicans will continue to hold the advantage in the governorships, having picked up one new seat in Montana. The final tally is 27 governor seats for Republicans and 23 for Democrats. Overall, Republicans will control 23 state governments (governor, House and Senate) with Democrats having full control in 15 states. 12 states will have divided government.
Clearly, all the pollsters predicting a big blue wave got it wrong. By ignoring what has come to be called the "shy Trump voter," they grossly underestimated the turnout for Trump. And this writer grossly overestimated the number of Californians who would vote for Trump. I did not think that Biden would win in California by the same 3+ million votes that Hillary got in 2016. I was way off. Biden won here by 5 million votes - 10.7 million to 5.7 million. My surprise at all the pro-Trump demonstrations throughout very liberal Southern California led me to miscalculate the extent of Trump's support. While Trump supporters were clearly more animated and enthusiastic than Biden supporters, that did not translate into greater numbers for Trump.
Here is one thing I feel confident in predicting. After barely asking Biden a single tough question during the entire campaign, the mainstream media can be counted on to eliminate their "fact checking," a constant practice during the Trump years. As Biden and the Dems never lie, there will be no need to fact check them. But the mainstream media does have influence. You may recall they told us that Trump was going to start wars with Iran and North Korea and everybody else. In speaking with a young person post-election day, he told me that he and his friends were very happy that Biden won. I asked what his biggest concern was with Trump. It was that Trump was going to get us into war(s), even a nuclear war. It did not matter that Trump ran in 2016 on a policy of avoiding foreign wars and bringing troops home. It did not matter that Trump was the first president in decades to not get the US involved in any new war or military conflict. He only knew what the mainstream media told him.
Speaking of which, the mainstream media, and their allies in the Democratic Party, have told us for 4 years that Trump is a dictator, that he is like Hitler or even worse than Hitler. That told us that he is immoral, evil, vile, unethical and on and on. Given that, just how surprising would it be if Democratic officials tried to tilt the election to Biden? I am not saying there was voter fraud, and certainly not to the extent sufficient to overturn a Biden victory. But the mainstream media told us that in the era of Trump they could not remain neutral. The Dems talked impeachment from the day Trump was inaugurated in January, 2017, and even before. When that failed, they talked up the 25th Amendment. If you believe a Hitler occupies the White House, then it would be rather easy to justify cheating to get him out. In fact, it would be the moral thing to do.
In left-wing California, again, where Biden won by 5 million votes, there was a well-financed measure on the ballot that would have reversed a state constitutional provision that prohibited state and local governments from giving preferential treatment based on race, national origin, ethnicity or sex. Essentially, the measure would have restored affirmative action. Yet, Prop 16 failed to pass, with 57% (9,300,733) voting "no" and only 43% (6,987,533) voting "yes." (Some votes are still outstanding, but the outcome will not change.) While the "woke" Americans tell us that to say society is or should be "color blind" is actually racist, even left-wing Californians seem to believe that people should be judged on their abilities and not on the color of their skin.
Recently, I was part of a group text in which someone sent a meme, with a picture of a bottle of wine. The label read "Trump Whines" and underneath was "Made From Sour Grapes." The hypocrisy is simply stunning. After Hillary's defeat in 2016, she continued to call Trump an "illegitimate" president. As did Rep. John Lewis. As did other Democrats. As did many in the mainstream media. But now President-elect Joe Biden has called for unity, and has asked that the harsh rhetoric be put aside. It is an appropriate request - as applied to his fellow Democrats. But after 5 years of being abused - no, not just Trump, but all of us who voted for him in 2016 - now they say we need to be nice? We have been called every nasty and insulting name imaginable. Many of us have been unfriended, not just on social media, but in real life, by Democrats who look down on us, who think we are all deplorables. Back on August 1, 2018 I wrote a post called "Trump Won. Time For The Left To Get Over It." But they hadn't gotten over it, as an Op-Ed writer for the LA Times was still calling Trump an "illegitimate" president. The Democrats never got over it to this day. Some want to see Trump, Jared and Ivanka go to prison, rot in hell or worse. Some are keeping lists of those who worked for Trump; to what end I do not know.
So, sure, I can drop the harsh rhetoric. It is not my style anyway. But I don't think the burden is on my fellow Republicans. The Democrats have a long way to go to prove that they accept Trump supporters as fellow Americans. And they need to stop thinking that they are better human beings than are Republicans - because their words and actions often reflect that they are worse.
