Trump's America: This Is Who We Are

It is hard to swallow. It seemed like a bad joke. It became a terrible nightmare. This Country just elected Donald J. Trump as the next President of the United States. Yes, Secretary Clinton won the popular vote, but Mr. Trump won more states and under the rules of the Constitution he is rightfully and legally the next President. Let that sink in. Donald J. Trump will be President of the United States in just a few short months. It seems unfathomable. But, when you sit back and think about it, Mr. Trump exemplifies what a large portion of this Country looks like and how they think. This is who we are as a nation.

Donald Trump began his campaign by calling all Mexicans rapists. He claimed that the Southern Border needed to build a giant wall to keep Mexicans out. He then called for a complete ban on all Muslims. There is no dispute. Mr. Trump said these things. Over and over again he said these things. Yet, somehow, a small percentage of Hispanics and Muslims voted for Mr. Trump.

Mr. Trump has a history of being sued for racial discrimination. He boasts about never settling cases yet settled two cases where he was accused of refusing to rent apartments to African Americans. He was openly and proudly endorsed by the KKK and other white supremist groups. Yet, African Americans voted in lower numbers and in a lower percentage.

Overall, Donald Trump performed stronger among black and Hispanic voters than Mitt Romney did. He got a higher percentage of women as well. It seems inexplicable. But it is not. This is who we are.

The "experts" got this one wrong. Everyone predicted that Mr. Trump would lose the election. The question was by how much? How many seats in the Senate would democrats take? Could they possibly take over the house? Even Fox News was discussing everything but a Trump winning option.

How could everyone be so wrong? Easy. The experts, the pundits, and most democrats simply under estimated how angry many people were. Reading post election analysis there are theories about how small towns showed up to vote, white people showed up to vote, African Americans did not show up, college age voters did not show up. Everyone talks about how terrible a candidate Secretary Clinton was. And certainly the unprecedented Wikileaks influence coupled with a FBI attempted coup did not help her cause. All of these theories tell part of the story. There is some truth to all of them. But this does not explain why Mr. Trump is now the President Elect. These theories do not explain how a bigoted, sexist, uninformed, instigator became President of the United States.

The truth is Mr. Trump appealed to the dark side of America. Mr. Trump pandered to the evils that exist in our culture. And many people condoned and enabled it. Because many people believe in this evil. This is who we are.

To be clear: Not every person who voted for Mr. Trump is a racist or a sexist. However, Mr. Trump's campaign specifically targeted and spoke to white supremists and now has given them a seat at the table. It has now become acceptable to be a racist in America again. Since election day, story after story of racists harassing African Americans, Hispanics, women, Muslims. and homosexuals have come out. Kids are now chanting "build that wall" in schools when Hispanic students walk buy. The KKK is openly walking about in North Carolina. The "Alt Right" has now been welcomed in the Republican Party.

What makes this terrifying isn't the fact that racists exist. The scary part is that they now feel comfortable. The scary part is so many who claim not be racists have openly and proudly aligned with them. The scary part is that there are more than originally thought. America has not come nearly as far as everyone thought. With all due respect to Chief Justice Roberts, racism not only still exists in America, it has become fashionable again.

Just as scary is the fact that a man who openly and brazenly has no issue disrespecting women on every level imaginable has been forgiven. Apparently people believe that bragging about committing sexual assault is just locker room talk. Apparently many people condone judging women solely on their looks. Apparently man people can forgive sexual assault, sexual battery, and the berating of any women who dares stand strong against the powerful Trump. After all, boys will be boys and women should know their place. That is one of the strongest take aways from the election. A large portion of this Country is willing to condone the utter lack of respect for women. And many of that portion are women themselves. No wonder the NFL can get away with not caring about domestic violence.

And that is the takeaway from this election. This Country has not evolved nearly as much as everyone had hoped. Racism not only still exists in this Country, it now has a voice inside the White House. The rape culture in America is not only still strong, it just got nearly 60 million votes. We now live in a Country where the people voted against science, for guns, and to openly and brazenly abandon our principles and treat immigrants as rapists and murderers for simply wanting to make a living doing jobs nobody else wants. We now live in a Country where everyone will have a gun, where police can shoot without thinking and without consequence, and where the Supreme Court will strip away rights for all except corporations. We now live in a Country where people will go bankrupt if they get sick, will go broke trying to get an education, and will have no protections of a fair wage and benefits. We now live in a Country where healthcare is a privilege and clean air and clean water must give way for corporate profit.

The really sad realization, however, is that so many people are celebrating these achievements. Donald Trump didn't commit fraud. He revealed who he was time and time again. What is terrifying: on election night America showed the world who we are. Trump's America is who we are. Mr. Trump didn't create it. He simply smacked his name on it and called it his.