Trump won the Rust Belt, huh?
Big Red Car here on a day in which I am still feeling the glow of our new President-elect Donald J Trump. I voted for him though I admit it was by the process of elimination in that the other candidate was not a possibility.
I was not amazed that he won. For months, I have been saying that everybody has missed the anger which was demonstrated by the Republican sweep of the 2014 mid-term elections. It did not go away but it did fester.
America, in 2014, was so angry they gave the Republicans the Senate, a larger majority in the House, many Governors’ mansions, and many statehouses. It was the largest repudiation of a sitting President and his party since the 1920s.
President Obama chose to ignore it, instead whipping out his pen and cell phone resulting in a great number of Executive Orders which are slowly being dismantled by the courts and which will be put in their grave by the Trump administration (first time I have used those words together).
So, how, Big Red Car, did President-elect Trump pull this surprise off?
Trump and the Anger
President-elect Trump tapped into the working man’s anger at the declining quality and safety of his life. It was out there and other candidates saw it but they were not effective in pursuing it. It took a blue collar billionaire to get the message.
After the 2014 mid-terms, President Obama threw fuel on the fire by trying to simply ignore it, by engaging in a series of Executive Orders that exacerbated the anger, and by his imperious manner. Then, of course, there was the anger generated by the incredible Obamacare premium increases. That was a cruel blow to folks who were already hurting.
HRC never tried to make a connection. She couldn’t figure out how to do it.
Trump and the Rust Belt
Nobody thought Trump had a chance in the Rust Belt. But, he was more inciteful and smarter than all the navel gazing political strategists.
He saw the Rust Belt as the place where the disaffected, the angry, the deplorables lived and he went into Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania and came out a winner. Nobody ever conceived of this but not a lot of people thought DJT would get the nomination either.
Trump won West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin. The only place he didn’t win was Illinois.
The Great Lakes states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana all ended up in the Trump sack with, again, only Illinois going to the Dems.
Organize your states by the Rust Belt or the Great Lakes but these are states that have not been in the Republican column for forty years.
Who got beat, Big Red Car?
The Trump victory was a blow to the elites, the illuminati, the cognoscenti, the GOPe, the DEMe, the Dems, the HRC campaign, the pundits, the pollsters, and liberals. Mitt Romney and the Bushes look pretty stupid today, no?
This was a big league performance and Trump knew it all the way. His curious campaign stops during the last two weeks of the campaign are now brought into clear focus. This was a triumph of energy and focus.
Well played.
But, hey, what the Hell do I really know anyway? I’m just a Big Red Car.
