Around nine o’clock on the evening of November 8, a friend from college days at Kent State University called me to say that the election results were not going well. He was offering a gentle warning. As we talked, Trump built up his lead in the Electoral College, and the US map grew red and then redder. I told my friend that support for Hillary Clinton in the West – in Colorado – but especially California plus Oregon and Washington – would save the day. Before election day, I had assumed that Clinton would win in a very close vote. I was worried that Trump might win the popular vote with Clinton winning the Electoral College – thus giving Trump “evidence” that the system was rigged against him.
I stayed up much too late that night. I even took my radio to bed with me to continue to listen to the results. Trump’s victory in the Electoral College left me stunned – a bit punch drunk – and on the edge of nausea for several days. I have been trying to figure out what happened and why. What does this election mean? What do we do now?
Donald Trump (with Rudy Giuliani) visited the University of Akron during the Fall Semester. He spoke at the JAR (the arena named for the late Ohio Governor, James A. Rhodes). That day excitement was building. University police were evident – standing next to their cars in the area around the JAR. Just west of the arena, TV trucks with satellite dishes stood ready to beam the rally to the world.
Many tables and small “Trump Stores” were being set up on campus and on the sidewalks bordering the campus. Plenty of wares were laid out – buttons, bumper stickers, baseball caps. The messages on the merchandise were not filtered. One button with Hillary Clinton’s face said, “Life’s a Bitch, So Why Vote for One?”
People planning to attend the rally were walking on campus. They were happy and excited – looking forward to the rally. They looked like working people. They looked like people from smaller towns. They didn’t appear to be students or members of the faculty. Their numbers grew. The line formed near the entrance. The line started to stretch.
Later that afternoon, I watched the rally inside the JAR via a video feed from my laptop in my apartment. It was scheduled to begin at 7 PM. Around 6:10, Rudy Giuliani was warming up the crowd. His energy level hit a peak. His adrenaline was pumping. Every seat and every space was taken. “We planned to start at 7. But the arena is full. It’s packed. The line to get in is not getting any shorter. It keeps growing. So we’ve decided to start. Why wait?” And he proceeded to introduce Donald Trump.
Under spotlights, Trump walked into the arena from a side door to loud, on-going applause. During some of his rallies, Trump had happily encouraged security people or police to throw out protestors – not this time. No protestors appeared in the arena. He went smoothly through his speech. At the end of his speech, he walked down a long line of bleachers. People leaned forward and reached out to shake his hand or to ask him to autograph a T-shirt or Make American Great Again baseball cap. Women came up to him. One woman with her teenaged daughter. Black men. Younger and middle aged white men. He slowly made his way to the side door he had entered earlier. He had many conversations with people along the way.
Trump carried Ohio. No doubt about it. Clinton carried the urban areas; however, Trump cut into her lead in those traditionally Democratic areas. He swept non-urban counties. Most of the state map ended up “red”.
Trump won a majority in the Electoral College. But Clinton won the national popular vote by around 2,000,000 – the second time in sixteen years that the outcome of the Electoral College vote did not square with the national popular vote.
What Now?
To understand what’s going on, we need to look not so much at Trump but at the people. Their faces showed enthusiasm and affection and a willingness to hope. Their faces showed a confidence in Trump that he was someone who heard their stories and felt their concerns on a gut level. To understand what’s going on, we need to listen not so much to Trump’s words but to the stories the people are speaking about their own lives.
Trump carried Ohio. No doubt about it. Clinton carried the urban areas; however, Trump cut into her lead in those traditionally Democratic areas. He swept non-urban counties. Most of the state map ended up “red”.
Trump won a majority in the Electoral College. But Clinton won the national popular vote by around 2,000,000 – the second time in sixteen years that the outcome of the Electoral College vote did not square with the national popular vote.
We have to hear each other. We have to hear the stories. We have to hear the stories about each other’s lives and the work we do.
The Democratic Party must become the party of working people again – working people of all races, ethnic backgrounds, religions, and geographic locations. As working people, we have overlapping and shared identities.
To make democracy work, we must vote in elections. But between elections we must be like Argus, as James Madison explained. We have to watch the individuals elected and appointed. We have to watch each branch of the government. We must stay awake and aware.
But – so important – we must watch out for each other – especially the most vulnerable, the most exposed to political and economic winds, the people with the least amount of power and the least amount of money in their own hands.
References and Photo Credits
1. Entertainment Fort Smith2. Election Results, Ohio, The New York Times
3. Mother Kindness, DownriverUSA
4. Everyday Hero is Next to You , DownriverUSA
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