The Recent Presidential Election……………………………Agnes Herman

Published in Seacrest Happenings

     I was disappointed when candidate, Hillary Clinton lost the Presidential election to Donald Trump.  I was inconsolable.  I believed (still do) that Clinton had the experience, the smarts and the ability to handle the job.  I believe, also, that many American men would not trust the future of this country in the hands of a woman.  I do not give them full responsibility for Clinton’s loss, but they contributed to it.

     On the other hand, I fear Donald Trump.  He is a man quite used to having his own way in business, on television and in his family circle.  He does not hesitate to denigrate anyone or any group who might cross his path going the other way.

     Through my academic life I was in love with the story of the United States.  The saga of the founding of this country seduced me when I was young and I never lost my fascination with American history.  The “chutzpah” of the founders, the risks taken, the battles fought are confounding.  To this day I seek books that tell me more of the story of this country. 

     When I learned that Donald Trump was going to run for President, I became frightened for the first time since World War II.  His denigration of minorities is scary and destructive; his disrespect challenges everything that I was taught by my parents and my teachers.  Doesn’t he understand that the variety of faces that make up America is what makes America strong?

     Stephen K. Bannon Trump’s chief political strategist has been accused of being a racist and an anti-Semite.  True or false, my friends, the simple accusations remind me of the recent past.  We have no room in our political structure for anyone accused of racism or anti-Semitism. Now as Mr. Obama prepares to re-enter private life, I know that I should begin to respect my new President.

     That will prove difficult; I believe that Mr. Trump won over working class America when in October he told a Florida audience, “It is our corrupt political establishment that is the greatest power behind the efforts at radical globalization and the disenfranchisement of working people…the depths of their immorality is unlimited. Our political establishment has no soul.” (LA Times 11-23-16)

     Yes, it is sheer politics when Steve Bannon also states, ”It is everything related to jobs.  The conservatives are going to go crazy.  I’m the guy pushing a trillion dollar infrastructure plan….It is the greatest opportunity to rebuild everything….we will get 60% of the white vote and 40% of the black and  Hispanic vote and we will govern for fifty years…”  (Same LA Times article) I do not know where that puts the Republican Party, or where it leaves the Democratic Party.  According to Doyle McManus (columnist for the LA Times), “Trump already has helped white working class voters feel less forgotten…”  That is the good news, but is that all there is to being President?