As the Election of 2012 was beginning to ramp up, Donald J. Trump, a man who had no political experience was beginning to explore the idea of running for the presidency. At that time, I wrote that he would divide the Republican party. That turned out to be true in 2016. Yes, in spite of that party division, and all other odds, Donald Trump succeeded to become the first person to became elected president who had neither served before in public office nor rose to the rank of Major General in the United States military. If Trump is successful, he opens the doors for many with a background like his to run for this office in the future. Perhaps the change the country needs.
I saw data in my office before I finished work for the day. Exit polling in the evening was showing an interesting trend. In my house were expecting a Clinton landslide, even though none of us voted for her. However, leaked evening exit polls that I saw began to show that Trump had a chance in Ohio, Florida, North Carolina and even Pennsylvania. It was beginning to look like Trump had a chance as returns began to come in. If Trump could get two of those states, he may have a chance to win. It turns out that about 3:00 ET, 1:00 MT, that Trump was declared the winner in Pennsylvania and the winner of the election after getting all of these states.
Trump did not win the traditional republican way...family values, points of light, etc. He built a new coalition. He gathered together people that both parties forgot and left behind. Those whom the Democrats called deplorable and those whom Republicans simply ignored. He knew something that others forgot, or didn't understand, and took advantage.
I won't go into all of the reasons why Trump won. It will take academics years to understand what happened. I do believe we just witnessed a counter-revolution. I hope it remains peaceful. It seems that his election has brought some unity to the Republican party, at least for now.
I will say that there is one thing I have learned. I have to change my thinking. It seems that too many of us think that there are only two kinds of people, those who think like I do and those who should think like I do. That kind of thinking needs to change. Not all problems are simple and mathematical and can be resolved with logic. Some problems take a coalition of people who think very differently to solve.
Clinton may still win the popular vote. However, keep in mind that as of now, instead of having one big election, we have 50 small ones. This is only the 5th time in history that this will happen. If Utah and Idaho had gone to McMullin, we would still be fighting this battle. Instead, we get a quick and peaceful transition. In a future election, it may be the Republicans that win the popular vote, with the Democrats winning the electoral college. Remember, our government is a coalition, not a pure democracy. Our founders wanted it that way.
Good luck with the new coalition, President Trump.
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