Historians will write about this election phenomenon of 2016, for many years to come. The questions they will ask are; what did the media do? What did other political party members say? How did foreign entities get involved? Why is President of Russia Vladimir Putin interested in our country's election? Why did women turn their backs on other women? How is media totally irresponsible? When did Donald J. Trump's rise to power begin? Why did both political parties allow this to happen?
Democrats and Republicans have always been at odds in politics. Since the election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt; Americans reached a tipping point even back then. After World War II, America wanted to help as many people as they could and that theme has carried over into the 21st Century of politics. Since the New Deal was devised, it was a revolutionary boon for the Democratic Party. Forever thankful would the people be for helping them survive after the war that devastated families who lost so much.
Moving ahead to now, the political cu de ta' began after the election of Ronald Reagan, who is praised for being one of the best Presidents there ever was. He was a quiet, stern, actor that decided to follow a passion inside of politics. But not too far in his first year as President came the Iran-Contra Affair. When the head of National Security Lt. Oliver North was caught selling arms to Iran in spite of the embargo against it. As a result, we lost respect around the world. Ronald Reagan's efforts were to eradicate Communism around the globe, which was a failed attempt to improve relations with Lebanon and increase influence in the troubled Middle East. Furthermore, seven American hostages were being held by Iranian terrorist. This was the start of our negotiations with terrorists. Reagan was admired for his honesty, but his shipping arms to Iran and his promise to never deal with terrorist divided the country. Eventually, Lt. Oliver North was fired, but the country never totally forgave the Republicans for their deceit.
By the time the millennial came, George H. Bush had been President and started Desert Storm in the Middle East, soon after his challenger was known as Governor Bill Clinton of Little Rock Arkansas sought to unseat the elder Bush-based on the failures of the war in Afghanistan. In his second term as President of the United States, President Bill Clinton became caught-up in the biggest consensual sex scandal in America. He was accused and found guilty of perjury while serving in the White House in 1988; for lying about having a sexual tryst with a WH intern, Monica Lewinsky. A special prosecutor was assigned by, Janet Reno to the Clinton scandal, and the end result was articles of impeachment being brought against President Bill Clinton. He served his eight years but left in embarrassment and shame for what he did. The Republicans rejoiced at the outcome and people forgot about the Iran-Contra misdeeds.
Not in my lifetime; have I ever saw a political party being 'bum-rushed,' by a civilian without background, experience, or ties to any particular political party. Donald J. Trump was known in the 1970's as a rich New York playboy, who was thought of as a Democrat. But it seems today he is nothing more than an interloper politician, who has pulled off the biggest political cu de ta' on the American political system while being an American onlooker himself. He said he gave money to all the politicians who asked-most of the time.
At the beginning of the political season 2016; which begins typically 16-months prior to the actual election, Donald J. Trump announced his desire to run for president of the United States in June 2015. Because of his socialite status and businessman persona-no one took him seriously. And further to that point, he was a reality television star of a show called, The Apprentice on NBC, which successfully ran for 8 consecutive years. Well, that's an understatement if there ever was one for the position he has just won.
Donald J. Trump took the escalator downward inside Trump Towers, with his wife in front of him Melania, and headed for the microphones. He spoke firmly about the reasons he wanted to run. He said, "America doesn't win anymore. Mexican's have taken our jobs, and they are sending rapist, and killers." The media laughed and joked while Trump was setting his sights on the White House. Once the media had become hyper-critical of how he presented certain races and ethnic groups-he stopped calling in for his daily fix of media updates.
The time came for debates with other presidential hopefuls and one by one like dominos he hit them on basic themes like; low energy, ugly faces, 'little Marco' became a favorite phrase, he told Rick Perry that when he wore his black glasses, and he was trying to look smarter this time as he had run 4-years before. It was funny to most. It was unconventional and unheard of for a candidate to be so down-to-earth. They had never seen Donald J. Trump be so aloof from the kind of politicians we'd become used to seeing; stiff, robotic, clones. The media played it down like; CBS, MSNBC, CNN, yet FOX News basically became the place Trump would come for comfort and shelter. The pundits and talking heads were so captivated by Trump-they forgot to ask him the questions that needed to be asked.
Because whenever Trump would use his wittiness on the campaign trail, the audience would lose their minds with applause and laughter. They wanted to see and hear more and more. Trump got better at his shtick and mocked disabled people and gained a lot of attention as he coined his political opponents with cute funny insulting verbs. Like Little Marco Rubio, Lying Ted Cruz, Low Energy Jeb. The media laughed all the way to the bank. Every time Trump was on television the channel was being turned by millions and millions of households around the nation. As his shtick turned more insults; he turned to darker themes like deport 11-million Mexicans, build and wall and make Mexico pay for it. It was a regular chant from Trump, and voters loved him even more. Trumps low tolerance for rally interrupters gave him a chance to show toughness by telling the crowds, "knock the hell out him would cha?" They did at one of his rallies-actually at several.
We were looking at the wild-wild west show, people chanting, then someone swinging a fist, then someone being kicked on the floor, next the crowds grew bigger and bigger. Next, in Chicago people were fighting one another hand-to-hand at a rally that Trump never attended. Some were as large as 20,000 people. At the same time, Democratic challenger Senator Bernie Sanders (VT) grew larger crowds like 30,000 and 35,000 and he was not putting on a comedy show. Yet he was barely on any television talk shows. The same was true for Hillary Clinton her crowds were never that large and they weren't inviting her on their talk shows either. Nor did you see much of any surrogates speaking on her behalf. The viewing public waited and waited Bernie and Hillary never really materialized on the popular cable networks. The pundits analyzed and dichotomized the two Democratic candidates for us.
By that time, Trump had coined the phrase, "Crooked Hillary," and it stuck, with another title "Crazy Bernie." She never disputed his claim, and nor did anyone else for that matter. By the end of it all, she was one of the most bullied candidates running for office from the Democratic Party, with the media's daily help. One by ignoring that she was running and second by not giving a more well-rounded opportunity to show all three candidates on a routine basis. Truly, it was the most unjust, undeserved media bias we ever experienced. Not including-sexist, misogyny, and racist media bias; in the interest of space; I cannot discuss.
As a result, President-elect Trump is the conqueror. The major television stations made billions of advertising dollars, as they stood by and allowed a man to run for president that has not been properly vetted by anyone. We still don't know who is behind him and for what purpose did he run, or whose money supported this "self-funded" monstrosity. We have the cable digital television broadcast/social media bilkers to thank. That's why I say; it's the most exceptional cu de ta' in American political history.
Tracy has over 30 years of experience writing and organizing
communications. She is working on a book and new website that will
appear in the upcoming days. She is a commentariat; who forges feedback
and insight about our election processes and where women see themselves
under a Trump Presidency going forward. You can contact her tbwriter2016@gmail.com. Feel free to follow up with the writer/author.
