Still Reeling

Lost

I am traditionally very used to the ups and downs of elections.  Some we win and some we lose.  That is a given. 

However, I am having a REALLY hard time with the election result today.  I truly feel physically ill.  I have no focus, and I have no sense of hope or joy.  To me, it very much feels similar to the way I have felt after a relative or friend has died.  This is a very unexpected type of feeling for me.

I think that my gut reaction is reflective in part of how the election of Donald Trump was so very, very unanticipated by me that I cannot believe this has happened.  In my wildest nightmares, I never thought that he would have been able to be elected. 

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In thinking this through, I think that unfortunately, what caused Hillary Clinton to lose was not really her actions or her opinions, or even her scandals.  What I believe caused her to lose was one very specific lack of action on her part:

1.  Hillary did a good job of showing support and care for many of her traditional Democratic supportive groups (the college educated, various minority groups, etc).

2.  However, Hillary in many ways virtually ignored one of her traditional Democratic supportive groups.  This group is the blue collar worker and the unionized blue collar worker.    I believe that had she shown care and support for the blue collar worker plight, she would have been able to win.

The one clear, real message Donald Trump made was one that expressed support and care for the blue collar worker.... the problems with NAFTA, GATT, and other such free trade agreements that has decimated the previously stable, blue collar sector.  The blue color worker and their family's standar of living has been in decline since Reagan's union busting policies of the 1980s and was further painful through Bill Clinton's work on NAFTA and GATT in the 1990s.  I know many blue collar folks who have felt hurt and ostracized for the last 35 years.  It has been very, very rough for a helluva lot of folks, but is a group most politicians are usually unwilling to talk about.  

Donald Trump will likely not do a damn thing to help the blue collar worker.  He will likely be a puppet for some more traditional Republicans working behind the scenes.  But, the blue collar workers elected him because he was able to make them believe he cared about them. 

Hillary never focused on the blue collar worker.  She, IMO, felt they were locked in to vote for her and so did not warrant any care or attention.  This was her downfall, IMO.

I feel rudderless.  I feel hurt.  I actually feel very worried and frightened, mostly because Donald Trump is a wild card and I cannot anticipate what he may do.  I fear the next four years will be frightening chaos.   I am angry at Hillary for not trying harder.  I think she should have worked to speak to the blue collar worker.  I think she should have formed a Clinton/Sanders partnership.  If those two things had happened, the results, I believe, would be now very different.  She would have gotten blue collar support if she showed she cared, and she would have gotten more of the millennial's support if Bernie would have been on the ticket.  

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