On the evening of November 8, 2016, this columnist realized that Hillary Clinton had lost. She hadn’t yet conceded, the polls were still open on the west coast, but she lost Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin to Donald Trump. When he turned these formerly democratic states republican, he secured a victory in the electoral college and became the 45th president of the United States.
Late that night and in the early morning hours I wrote, “Dump the Democrats for Good” and pointed out what is still true eight years later. “Black people are now in fear and in shock when we ought to be spoiling for a fight. All is not lost. Even the victory of the openly bigoted Trump poses an opportunity to right our political ship. Not the electoral ship, the political one. For decades black Americans have been voting for people who have done them wrong.”
Trump is a political figure unlike any other in U.S. political history. He is a failed businessman who excelled only at self-promotion, who had never held public office, who differed only from masses of white people in that he was wealthier. It was often said that he “spoke his mind” but that really meant that his every racist and ignorant utterance was on the minds of white middle Americans who felt validated by him.
Trump defeated Hillary Clinton, the choice of the political establishment and corporate media. He seemingly went down to permanent defeat in 2020, although he never admitted he had lost, and on January 6, 2021 his followers vandalized the capitol while attempting to stop the electoral college certification.
Since that time he lost a civil trial that found him guilty of rape and he was assessed a judgement of $350 million for defaming his accuser. He was convicted of falsifying business records in New York, which is a felony. He has been indicted in Georgia for attempting to overturn election results in that state, and he may face more charges regarding the mishandling of classified documents.
Yet he is poised to become the 47th president of the United States. His own determination not to give up is largely responsible for this political comeback but the democrats share a large part of the blame in allowing their nemesis to once again occupy the white house.
In 2020 democrats rigged the primary process in favor of former vice president Joe Biden. Biden was not popular with voters but he was with his party’s oligarchs. The other candidates left the race when they were told to and Bernie Sanders took a dive instead of........