In all honesty I wasn’t sure what to expect. I truly thought that VP Harris was going to pull off the win just a few days ago. Ever since the one debate where Trump sucked it up I thought Harris had pulled ahead and would keep that momentum going to Election Day. I didn’t think that Trump had done enough to make people change their minds and support him.
Boy was I wrong.
Trump somehow convinced enough people (mostly straight, white, men) to vote for him in what appears to be record numbers. Now it is also true that Harris seems to have lost a number of people (some women, Latinos, and African-Americans) that traditionally would have voted Democratic to either not vote or vote for someone else. I was really surprised Trump won some of the states he did by the margins he did. IN some of the swing states there was over a 1% difference, and that was a surprise to me. I really thought it would have been closer in many of those states (my former home of AZ wasn’t even close, but it didn’t matter since Trump had already won so many other states by the time AZ figured out who won it).
I didn’t vote for either of them. Trump doesn’t stand for anything other than himself. He says a lot of things that the “Christian” right likes to hear, but he certainly doesn’t live his life as a Christian at all. And Harris never convinced me that she knew what she was going to do while in office. The economy is kind of sucky and that is something she never really addressed. Trump at least knows how economy works (to a degree). I am not sure about his latest statement of 25” tariffs on imports from Mexico if they don’t stop the immigration issue. That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense (let’s jack prices up more).
What does 4 more years of Trump mean to me? I will admit that I am slightly happy he won, because it means that we only have to deal with him for 4 more years as a president. He can’t run again. We don’t have to put up with his nonsense once he is out of office (well, we might, but he won’t hold the same power). I am concerned that this will embolden the far right and that more people will think that the Trump way is the best way, and that isn’t right. He has created SO much hatred toward the right, and he feeds on it. I am not sure that is what anyone that is moderate right wants any more of.
I am really hopeful that 4 years of Trump will come and go and be forgettable this time. I am sure it won’t, because that isn’t the way Trump works. He wants to be the center of attention, and will do what he can to be the center of attention. I do think the economy will get better over the 4 years. I also think that people’s lives may not get better overall unless you agree with the far right. I think women’s rights may take a step backwards. I think immigrant rights may take a step backwards. I think people’s rights overall may take a step backwards. Republicans are about small government, but I can see the federal government dictating things that should be small government things with regard to human rights.
(Side note – do you think Trump will try and propose ending term limits just so he can run again? There is another political person that did something similar many years ago in another country so that he could continue to “govern” his country, and Trump at times seems a bit like that person. I could see him trying it. I can’t believe it would ever pass through the government to be allowed, but that may not stop him from trying. He certainly has tried other things that were constitutionally questionable.)
Another thing is that the House and the Senate are also now Republican controlled and that is cause for concern as well because then it means that Trump (and other far right Republicans) may have the ability to ram legislation through that will not be beneficial long term for our country. So that is a bit worrisome. I am hopeful that enough Republicans will see Trump as a “one and done” president this time around that they will hold to their convictions and look for the good of the nation as a whole rather than their personal political career (ok, maybe that is a long shot for any politician).
What do the Democrats do now? I hope they don’t double down and go farther left. I am afraid they might, because that is what Trump did and look what it got him. I hope that the Democrats might take a moment and realize that what they have been doing isn’t working. They lost votes due to the far left agenda being pushed by VP Harris. They clearly drove some people to feel they had to vote for Trump since they really didn’t want to see the far left in office, and there clearly weren’t enough people that felt the far right was that bad to vote for VP Harris to keep Trump from office.
I hope that there will be a push to the center. I would love to see a 40-50 year old person (I don’t care if they are male or female) that wants to work with people on both sides. Someone that cares about the nation as a whole and the world we live in. I want someone that cares about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I want someone that understands that while our nation was founded on a Christian base, that we live in a nation of choice. That is what the founding fathers wanted. They wanted freedom of choice. So, I want someone that allows freedom of choice. I would love someone that supports and sees value in public education that is federally (and state and city) funded, but also supports those that want to use their own money (not federal, state or city funds) to educate their kids the way they want them to be educated. I’d like to see fair taxes for all. I would like to see fair medical care for all.
The most important thing of all is that I know that this was allowed by God. He is the one that allows “rulers” to be placed where they are for a time. For now we get Trump. I made it through the last time and I really don’t expect it can be any better or worse this time (I really hope it isn’t worse). I could be wrong. I keep my trust in God, not in the person that is the president of the USA, and as a result I know everything will be ok, and that God’s glory will be brought forth. It won’t be done by Trump, but it may be done because of Trump.
If I am still blogging in 4 years then I may reflect upon what this time was like.