The genie isn’t going back in the bottle
The one constant inside the Washington Beltway and in five states that I have hopscotched across during the past three weeks is that a substantial majority of American voters are so openly contemptuous of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump they will almost literally hold their noses when they vote for the next president.
That was the lament of a small-town newspaper editor in West Virginia, a computer expert in Maryland, a Marine colonel in Virginia and a vivacious 90-year-old black woman who came out of mass on Sunday in Dallas waving her arms in disgust and reflecting in a soft Louisiana drawl about how seriously the candidacies of Clinton and Trump were flawed and wondering what fresh indignities and intrigues were in store for Americans after Nov. 8.
Whether deserved or not, Clinton is so despised by Americans of every political stripe — including many Democrats — the Republicans could have easily beaten her by running any candidate except Trump. But the GOP hierarchy long ago lost control over its nomination process, allowing him to run amok. Unable to get a word in edgewise, less controversial and, in a few cases, vastly superior candidates fell away, leaving a survivor who is totally unsuited by temperament, education and experience to unite the United States or, to use his own turn of phrase, “make America great again.”
On the other hand, Trump is so reviled by Democrats and many Republicans, the Democrats could have easily beaten him by running almost any candidate except Clinton. However, the Democratic machine decided long ago that whatever her problems with the truth and however spotty her record as secretary of state, she had to be the nominee.
Now, the insiders who have dominated political life for several centuries in Washington are stuck with two candidates who much of the electorate are uncomfortable with. Republicans are sure to be at each other’s throats after the election because the pro- and antiTrump factions are already at each other’s throats.
But Democrats are trapped, too. A Clinton triumph would elicit none of the sense of wonder that followed Barack Obama’s historic victory in 2008.
She has been defiant, evasive and, ultimately, insufficiently contrite when pressed about her cavalier handling of classified state secrets. Equally damning, she remains ethics-free regarding such hot potatoes as the Clinton Foundation.
Barring a major misreading of the polls, Clinton will win because she has the most votes in the electoral college, rather than according to the popular vote, which is likely to be far closer.
It is highly likely she will enter office in January as the most mistrusted president in the country’s 240-year history. If Trump wins, he is certain to further inflame racial and ethnic passions at home and deepen anxiety about him almost everywhere else except in Beijing, Moscow, Pyongyang and Tehran.
Most unusually for so late in the campaign, up to 15 states were thought to still be in play on the eve of the election.
Could a surge in Hispanic voters, who will overwhelmingly vote for Clinton, be enough to secure narrow victories in Florida, North Carolina or Colorado? Could Hispanic voters there and elsewhere compensate for the relatively tepid response of black voters to Clinton when compared with their embrace of Obama?
The bigger problem for the U.S., and countries such as Canada who depend on it for trade and defence, is that Trump’s candidacy has revealed drastically different views about the U.S.’s future. It is sheer stupidity for
MANY TRUMP SUPPORTERS ARE FAR FROM BEING DERANGED.
elites and the media to be so censorious of his bull-in-the-china-shop approach or dismiss all those who will vote for him as lunatics. They ignore at their peril the reality that he has tapped a sense of rage and exclusion. Many Trump supporters are far from being deranged. They are sensible, hard-working folks who are fed up with Clinton and her ilk, and genuinely feel their country has lost its way.
Righteous progressives should look past Trump’s farcical maunderings and not dismiss his followers as rabble. Far better to ponder how to try to reach an accommodation with them, while remaining true to their own principles, because there is no putting this genie back in the bottle.
Clinton will start her likely presidency in a difficult spot. Can she be magnanimous in victory? Will Trump go quietly into the night?
Talk of an insurrection if he loses is far-fetched. But there may be isolated moments of fury and agitation. Many elected Republicans will probably make good on their vow to attempt to unseat her through impeachment.
The vein that Trump has tapped into is now wide open. Without goodwill that is not evident anywhere today, the American political system is likely to bleed for a generation.