How Clinton lost Michigan - and blew the election

[Thunderbird is the word]

These people, like people everyone, vote in their self interest. They vote for guys who speak their language. Trump did that, Hillary didn't, as simple as that. Hillary's poll-tested politician speak mumbo jumbo was so condescending.

You know what the most pathetic thing about all this is? These working class whites in MI, and PA, and WI were the last ones who stayed loyal to you. When the working class whites in the South and the West and in Appalachia left, the ones in the Upper Midwest stayed. They were your firewall, or tried to be, in the last 4 cycles. They faithfully pulled the party lever, even when you guys were doing nothing for them, for 20 years. And now they get to be the deplorables for not being dutiful little soldiers, ha ha.

The idea that the Democrats haven't done anything for the white working class is preposterous. I agree that there was a massive marketing failure on the part of the Democratic party in this election (with plenty of other blame to go around, but the party and its candidates deserve a healthy share), but Democratic policies have clearly been much better for the economic well being of these voters for 80 years now as compared to Republican policies.

We were doing things on the margins sure, a little health care here, a little overtime pay there, but the core of good paying jobs in a lot of these communities were getting devastated. Marginal benefits don't matter when your livelihood has been downgraded.



^^^

These people sensed, not without reason, that voting for a conventional president would be more of the same. Really, they know the jobs aren't coming back though. They know sh**t is broken that can't be fixed.

But what was worse then that, they sensed that the coastal elites don't care... this attitude Adam T has. They sensed Democrats talking about demographic-driven majorities of Hispanics and other minorities... think about it from their perspective. It's sort of like you're getting replaced, right? Your town built this country, won WWII, there would be nothing without the sacrifices of your community. But now, not only is all that gone, but you're getting replaced by someone whose parents came here illegally. Not just your job, but as a voter. The Democrats were saying "We don't want you any more, we've got our Texas, we've got our Florida, we've got our new coalition. We've got our new America. You're a racist, you're a sexist, you're a xenophobe. Our enlightenment is over here in Arizona..." Oh, and by the way, think about your white privilege. Black Lives Matter, but if you say Blue Live Matter or All Lives Matter you're a racist. Think about your whiteness, think about it hard. But don't be proud of it, because then you're playing identity politics.

It doesn't take someone who hates Mexicans or anyone else to feel put off by that. And then on the other side you have this guy Trump, he's a jerk, he's an asshole, and you don't like him. Heck, he's almost certainly lying. But boy, does he piss those people off! Boy, does he know at least how to blow up the system. And he at least sees things from your viewpoint. With him, someone is finally, finally paying attention to you. Saying you're important. Acknowledging your role in this country. Acknowledging that you didn't come here illegally, that you work hard and play by the rules. Trump is the one who got it. No one else from either party got it, but Trump did. And heck, maybe he's just crazy enough to change something, no?

I don't like the dismissal of Black Lives Matter. If you look at policing in this country it's absolutely a necessary movement. I do think that Hillary ran a horrible out of touch campaign and I really can't stand the smug style in liberalism but I don't think we have to abandon racial justice. That's the kind of binary thinking that allowed Clintonites to cynically portray anyone slightly to the left as insensitive to race or non-intersectional when they're the ones that race baited their entire career up to 2008. No, what you really need is a candidate that empathized with people, that didn't run on the horribly out of touch slogan of "America is already great" and one that countered Trump's racist populism with a more inclusive one that called out him for what a fraud he was.

[Thunderbird is the word]

I didn't dismiss black lives matter. A guy whose salary is paid by taxpayers was caught on tape shooting a fleeing unarmed man in the back, and still couldn't get convicted. Clearly, there's a problem. And I applaud Clinton for recognizing that and putting BLM front and center of the campaign and talking systemic racism even though it probably cost her votes.

But then you have the fact that when Jennifer Lopez put AllLivesMatter on her Instagram it generated so much outrage that HuffPo wrote an article on it. I mean if J Lo is some vicious racist, what chance do the rest of us have? And you're blind of you didn't notice that BLM had a radical element to it, either. One that is okay with indiscriminate cop killing. Which is not dismissing it but if the tables were turned, libs would be acting like the most radical element defined the movement.

I'm sure the movement has fringe elements and the left has some knee-jerk elements in general that I don't like but honestly I can understand and empathize with what drives even the more fringe elements of BLM because I see examples of how racist the cops are in person on a regular basis. Bottom line though is I really don't think that was the deciding factor in the election.