By Abigail Hauslohner and Mark Berman
They’re angry. (click here) They’re afraid. They’re upset that Donald Trump is going to be their next president.
They’re angry. (click here) They’re afraid. They’re upset that Donald Trump is going to be their next president.
But many of the protesters who took to the streets in cities across the country over the past week didn’t cast a ballot for the candidate who could have beaten him.
Instead of voting for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, dozens of protesters in cities from Philadelphia to Portland, Ore., said in interviews this week that they had cast ballots for Green Party candidate Jill Stein, wrote in Sen. Bernie Sanders or, in some cases, failed to vote at all....
Michigan was a surprise, especially considering the Flint water poisoning and the emergency manager referendum overturned by Snyder. I don't remember Trump being seen with Snyder either. But, oppressed people do give up after a time. I think that is what has occurred in Michigan for some time now. They thought Rick Snyder would fix Michigan. He hasn't. He has made it worse. It is not surprising Trump may have taken Michigan with a little more than 13 thousand votes. The counties have to reply by November 22nd.
When people are oppressed they seek out answers in unproductive ways. Rick Snyder has achieved his lowest approval rating as of August 2016 at 39.7 (click here). With such a low approval rating of a Republican governor, Donald Trump should not have done as well as he did.
But, to the demonstrators, they aren't to blame. They are the vicitms of an out of control election process. The deck is stacked against them and there is no one that knows it now more so than Hillary Clinton. One might ask what these demonstrators think and are feeling knowing the FBI Director threw the marginal election to Donald Trump.
There is a lot to worry about. The protesters are correct and to say they are too blame for the election that is not the case. Trump won because of the Electoral College. He didn't have the popular vote. There is a stark difference in voter involvement between the Blue States and Red States. The Blue States for Hillary had a surplus of voters for her. (click here) There were some squeakers, such as Arizona and Colorado, but, they were the exception.
There is a lack of involvement in the Red States with Democrats. The Democrats need a 50 state strategy and need to overturn oppressive government from mayor and council to US Senators. The Democrats are writing off the people of the Red States. Democrats could actually be ignoring voters that agree with them, but, just don't know it.
I have had conversations with people I thought agreed with me, until politics came into the discussion. We agreed on everything, until political personalities were introduced into the conversation and the differences were stark. They believed all the problems we talked about were important and agreed with the solution until the introduction of political names and the discussion swung away from agreement to complete disagreement. The people I spoke to agreed with me about the problems and best solution, but, they thought differently of the PERSONALITY who would solve the problems.
Don't blame the demonstrators for their feelings. They are correct. Even if they voted it probably would not have changed the outcome because of the Electoral College. It is safe to say, the Electoral College takes away the rights of the people. The Democrats need to begin at the grassroots in the Red States and should start with Colorado, Arizona, Florida and Michigan. They should start now and work on growing popularity of the Democratic candidates. Keep it real, too.
