When we look deeply enough into the reasons for Trump's success, it should be very embarrassing to realize the truly damaging reasons for Trump's success. I know it is deeply embarrassing for me.
There are but three painfully obvious reasons for these results; reasons that should be abundantly clear to us all, as should be, the ever so simple solution.
Amid all the clutter of post-campaign whining and bitching; the claims of stolen elections; of unfair and illegal electors; of foreign interference, one very important issue stands out, far above, to me.
But; sadly, I've not heard even a minuscule piece of reporting on the true cause of this absurdly foul election; hell, not even a whimper.
Why? Because facts no longer make news. Rather; showboaters such as Trump; the violence across the world, or the ever-so important happenings of the True Housewives of Dim-wit City.
As incredible as it is, these are the money makers.
Sure, Russia can and most certainly did influence the simple-minded souls who voted with their emotions, along with their irrational, unfounded fears of the unseen/unknown; accepting without a moment's analysis, the continuous lies and deceit which Trump and even Clinton promulgated throughout their campaigns.
In fact; the method used by Russia and Trump was not direct intervention, rather the use of a very effective method perfected by a man named Joseph Goebbels - deceitful propaganda; creating the horrifyingly effective means to instill fear, hate, and distrust out of nothing but the sick imagination of despots.
And; I firmly believe we have the very same disgusting propaganda method being utilized by two people of equally disgusting character as Goebbels, namely; Donald Trump and Steve Bannon. Two people who shouldn't be allowed to tread upon on Capitol Hill's lawn, much less in the operations rooms of the white House.
Understand this! I am not a Democrat, nor am I a Republican. In fact; I firmly believe that partisan politics are the scourge of the voting nation.
However; I do maintain a liberal political perspective, unless voting conservative provides a better choice. And we liberals, and I'm hoping at least some of the more level-headed conservatives, are dismayed at what we see as completely unacceptable results of electing a president who's credentials amount to nothing more than those of a child running for captain of the elementary schoolyard monitor, or perhaps, a teeny-bopper on steroids using an extraordinarily silly and immature campaign method; a campaign almost entirely operated via Twitter.
Silly, juvenile comments that show us the true mental state of the person we've just elected as president; a person who can and WILL do everything in his conniving, cheating ability to further his personal wealth, using the White House to accomplish that.
And, while the liberals, and again, many of the responsible conservatives are dismaying, the conservatives who fall into the category of blind partisanship voting are gleefully relishing in the fact that "their team won".
Well, hell; let's all climb up to the tops of our rooftops and shout "Hurrahhh! (or perhaps more appropriately "Heil")
Then we should all take big, smelly dump and sit our asses in the pile, for that's precisely where we are now.
That win places those who voted for Trump in the annals of history that will illuminate sheer ignorance and pettiness; "my side is the winning side" for the future to read.
Despite the fact that the win will most assuredly send civil rights to the back pages of a history book and dismantle the Constitution, from the first amendment through each and every one of the remaining twenty-six, (even, their precious second amendment will be attacked by Trump and his team, for they are surely not going to want an armed insurrection) as he turns himself into an oligarch the likes of which we haven't seen for almost one hundred years.
Those who blindly voted for the mentally ill Trump will have taken part in the greatest faux pas in adult decision-making since Germany followed their own despot directly to Hell.
We ALL should be horrified at the fact that we've fallen for the propaganda of a person whose entire life has been completely absorbed by NOTHING, but himself; a person who has helped no one; whose entire life has been focused on one person and one person only - himself, while ripping off thousands and destroying their lives and businesses with scam after scam.
Perhaps he would have fit better as a replacement for Kim Jong Il rather than the President of the U.S.
He's a person who not only doesn't understand the requirements of the office for which he ran and won; nor has he even a remote understanding of the selflessness required for life as a public servant, he actually believes the job itself is a part time job.
Of course, we know full well his thinking surrounding this "philosophy" - he's seeking a means with which to run his businesses while performing the job of President of the United States in his spare time.
We all know this and if you're refusing to believe it, you're so deep into the rabbit hole, you'll likely never find a way out.
But, while all this is accurate, none of these are the reasons Trump was elected.
The real reason is the shear laziness and apathy of we Americans; those eligible to vote who did so with little, to no effort in making their choices and those who just didn't even bother to get involved in one of the most important aspects of this nation's existence.
This past election has presented us with some of the most dismal voting participation numbers the U.S. has seen, with most voters participating in the most careless and dangerous manner possible - using their emotions to guide their decisions; emotions clearly manipulated by Donald Trump and those who wish to instill fear via propaganda.
Sure, we had two despicable candidates from which to vote, but voting, begins at the primaries/caucuses. In fact; the primaries and caucuses are the first and most important step in deciding the future of our nation. It is here that we should be most informed and involved, for this is the point at which the real selections are made.
It's the cold, hard facts of todays elections that clearly show us what our true problem is.
Example: Many politicians are elected through apathy and non-participation, leaving the decision for the extremists on the fringes of partisan politics. This is precisely how Ted Cruz won his first Senatorial seat.
"Cruz didn’t place first in the 2012 Republican primary; he placed second behind then-Lt. Governor David Dewhurst. However, Dewhurst, who received roughly 45 percent of the primary vote, was not able to garner enough votes to avoid a runoff. Cruz placed second with approximately 34 percent of the vote.
The 2012 summer runoff election produced an even worse turnout — 8.5 percent — the lower the turnout, the more ideologically extreme the voters tend to be.
And in that runoff, Cruz garnered 57 percent of the vote, while Dewhurst received a little over 43 percent. Cruz then advanced to the general election, where voters got to choose between him and Democrat Paul Sadler. In a Republican-dominated state, this ‘election’ wasn’t a real competition.
In short, Ted Cruz got 631,812 votes in the primary to effectively win a seat that represents 26.97 million people."
Shawn Griffiths IVN
Most people who read the numbers from election results interpret them erroneously.
However, looking closely at the numbers above, one can see Cruz won by a number which, in reality, represents a minute percentage of the eligible electorate in his district, leaving only the extreme of the extremes to determine who was to fill the Senate's seat, with just 57 percent of the 8.5 percent of the electorate who bothered themselves to vote.
One can readily see that the results should be an embarrassment for Texas to feel for decades.
And ours as a nation to feel the shame we've just perpetrated upon our democracy.
Or, in using Trumps superior intellect and his special Trump vernacular: I won with very, very ,very small numbers; really, really small numbers; numbers that were very little. Numbers. Small numbers, but numbers with very complicated lives.
It's far too early to define precisely the percentages Donald Trump won the election by, but even Trump himself is being fooled by the numbers that exist today (which, given his proclivity for megalomania, shouldn't be surprising), absolutely certain he won by massive margins when in fact, his winning numbers are likely to be more like those of Cruz's numbers above.
The chart below, from "Fivethirtyeight" shows the growing, or perhaps more accurately stated, the shrinking trend of voter participation wherein about 57 percent of eligible voters cast ballots this year.
57 percent is a shameful number.
The United States Election Project also shows the dismal turnouts for the general elections of 2012, with the two lowest "Voter Eligible Population"(VEP), those who have registered to vote - Hawaii with a miserable 41.7% VEP and Texas with a 51.2% VEP.
It's entirely likely the numbers of 2016 will reflect the same, given the declining trend since the 1930s and 1940s.
The same data shows the Voter Age Population (VAP), the total number of citizens who have reached the age and should vote. Again Hawaii with 37.8% VAP and Texas 43.1% VAP (seems Hawaiians and Texans don't care much about bothering to vote for their leadership).
Now, here's the really troubling issue:
2012 "Blue" states alphabetically with respective VEP and VAP numbers.
California 56.1% and 46.5% - Colorado 69.9% and 64.4% - Connecticut 63.9% and 58.0% Delaware 63.7% and 58.5% - Hawaii 41.7% and 37.8% - Illinois 61.6% and 55.8% -Iowa 68.2% and 64.9% - Florida 64.5% and 56.7% -Maine 70.7% and 69.5% - Maryland 66.2% and 59.2% - Michigan 64.6%% and 61.9% - Minnesota 74.1% and 69.4% Nevada 57.1% and 49.3% - New Hampshire 71.5% and 69.2% - New Jersey 63.6% and 55.3% New Mexico 54.7% and 50.1% - New York 55.7% and 48.6% - Ohio 62.8% and 60.9% -Oregon 66.6% and 61.8% - Pennsylvania 62.8% and 60.3% -Rhode Island 59.0% and 54.7%Vermont 63.5% and 62.1% - Virginia 65.7% and 60.5% - Washington 64.7%% and 58.3% - Washington DC 60.2% and 54.8% - Wisconsin 69.3% and 66.1%.
The averages of 63.2% Voter Eligible Population and 58.3% Voter Age Population in the "blue states above is shameful. But the trend across all party lines shows us the same very disturbing facts. A trend definitely heading in the wrong direction.
As we piss and moan about the results, regardless of our chosen method of complaint(s) - cheating, foreign government involvement, illegal Elector votes, etc.. I see that we have but three truly valid complaints and the numbers above tell us precisely what those issues are.
Had the 37.8% VAP and he 42.7% VEP folks who didn't bother, gotten off their asses and, not only voted, but properly researched the candidates, we would have had a President Elect that at least has a vague idea of what being President of the United States means.
Instead; we had people who aren't interested enough in theirs, or the futures of their children to bother voting; we have people who don't want to be bothered to perform due diligence before casting their ballots; and we have people voting with their fear-based emotions rather than their brains, such as they may be.
And. there you have the real reasons we're in the terrifying fix we're in.
So the next time we seek blame for placing a thoroughly ignorant, narcissistic, imbalanced human being in the most important and powerful seat on the planet, perhaps we need to perform a bit of introspection upon ourselves as a nation.
Females preferred Clinton over Trump by a 12% margin.
The educated preferred Clinton over Trump by a 9% margin.
And the very disheartening demographic - Democratic edge among young voters declined by a 6 point margin.
