As the world descends into the final hours of election hysteria, something is becoming more apparent — Donald Trump may win. I know, all of our trusted liberal pundits believe a Trump victory to be impossible. However, are we forgetting that these same pundits got the candidacies of both Trump and Bernie Sanders embarrassingly wrong?
If these corporate-backed propagandists were always correct in their predications, I would be writing about how Jeb Bush could become our next president. Turn on CNN and MSNBC. You can begin to see the unrelenting fear on their faces. It’s as if Rachel Maddow and Wolf Blitzer are walking up amidst a bad acid trip they had no idea they were on 400 days ago. In contrast, Fox News has the air of the Mongol siege of Baghdad.
Mathematically, Trump’s chances are better than ever. He can easily win Ohio, Florida and North Carolina, and he’s within striking distance in Nevada, New Hampshire and Michigan.
If Trump takes Michigan tomorrow night, I suggest making a strong cocktail and taking a sleeping pill for optimum sedation because no one is making it through the next four years sober.
Recall Sanders’ surprise victory in the Michigan primary back in March. All the polls had Hillary Clinton well ahead, but Sanders ended up dominating. His anti-NAFTA, populist message played well in the state, which has been ravaged by de-industrialization over the past 20 years. Trump could pull off the same upset. Furthermore, Michigan does not have early voting, which means Trump could easily ride his current momentum to a crucial victory there.
How we reached this point is quite simple: Trump played the game of presidential politics far better than Clinton. Throughout history, the winner of the presidential election has been so called “reformers,” candidates with strong rhetoric and an insurgent flavor to their campaign. Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were all “political outsiders” who could inspire a crowd against the Washington establishment. Does this sound familiar? Teddy Roosevelt referred to this as the “bully pulpit.” This is not even an attack on Clinton. It is simply fact that she does not fit this mold that has won presidential elections time and again.
Another reason Trump may win is that he has harnessed the power of fear far more effectively than Clinton has in the final weeks. Yet, this is not the kind of fear typically used by Trump. It is the fear of partisan gridlock. Per the Trump campaign, the Clintons are so corrupt that their tenure in the White House would be nothing but scandal and federal investigation.
Congress would become so obsessed with battling the Clintons that the government will become totally stagnated, making it impossible to move forward. Even if you disagree with this representation, is it not a compelling argument? I can almost assure you many Americans would rather roll the dice with Trump than suffer through another corrupt and dysfunctional Clinton administration.
If I’m wrong, and Clinton wins tomorrow, then I can rest easy knowing I was wrong in the final dead sprint of the election season. But, if I’m right ... I don’t think I’ve ever wanted more to be wrong.
If Trump wins, then we must nationally reckon with why we thought the Clintons could save us from our own darkness, our own dimwitted obsession with celebrity, wealth and power that could put a Neanderthal like Donald Trump in the White House.
luwrobin@umail.iu.edu
