Congress, Constitutional Law, Media, Politics, Society

DONALD TRUMP WINS THE PRESIDENCY IN HISTORIC VICTORY

donald_trump_august_19_2015_croppedIt appears that that “basket of deplorables” was a bit larger than Hillary Clinton expected. I was up to 4 am at Fox participating in the coverage of the election from New York. This was my fourth such presidential election as part a media team and it was fascinating to watch unfold at the campaign headquarters at Fox. History will judge the decisions of Democrats leaders in this election.  As I have previously written, many in the Democratic National Committee and establishment (including allies in the media) did everything they could to engineer the election of Hillary Clinton. While they had an extremely popular candidate in Bernie Sanders as well as Vice President Joe Biden, they insisted on advancing Clinton despite her being deeply disliked and the ultimate symbol of the establishment that the public was rallying against. As the close race indicated, the selection of a Sanders or Biden might have produced a sweep of both the White House and the Senate for the Democrats. We will never know of course but what is clear is that Clinton was the least likely candidate to prevail in this environment. Democratic leaders lost possible control of both the Senate and the White House by forcing voters to vote for someone with record negatives. Voters were clear that they did not want Clinton, but the Democrats assumed that the “lesser of two evils” approach would again prevail. They were wrong. Many people voted for third party candidates and many people on the fence refused to pick the candidate most associated with the establishment and the status quo. I expect that history will judge the work of figures like Debbie Wasserman-Shultz and Donna Brazile harshly in the roles that they played and more generally in the failure of Democratic leaders to heed the clear demand from voters for a change in leadership.  Hillary Clinton was a talented and historic nominee. However, she was also the very symbol of the establishment and heavily laden with the type of associations that the public was clearly reacting against.

The wins in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania shows precisely how reckless and cynical the DNC strategy proved to be. Clinton won only 18 states and the District of Columbia, though it did earn her 242 electoral votes. Now for the first time in decades, the Democrats have handed a Republican president both houses of Congress. They solved gridlock but not in the way that they had hoped.

I was astonished to see Clinton decline to speak to her supporters who had wait so loyally at their campaign headquarters. While she did concede over the telephone to Trump, I thought it was bad form not to come down to the headquarters and address the nation and her supporters. They worked incredibly hard and the loss was a terrible blow for them. They deserved better in my view and I felt truly sorry for both their disappointment and effective abandonment at that moment. Looking at the results coming into the headquarters, it was clear that no further “counting” would change the result as Clinton’s telephone call affirmed a short while later. It is the final obligation of a candidate in a presidential campaign to be with your supporters and show the nation that the transition of power would proceed, as it always has, in an orderly fashion. It was highly ironic given the well-founded criticism of the statement of Trump that he might not accept the results of the election — a view driven home by Chris Wallace (who was the gold standard for moderators in these election debates).

The greatest loser in this election was the mainstream media. As I previously discussed, I believe that Trump did bring much of the negative coverage on himself. However, I saw many journalists discard any semblance of neutrality in their coverage, as vividly shown in Wikileaks emails of coordination with the Clinton campaign. The priority for the media should be a serious reexamination of its coverage in this election.

In the end, the public wanted change and they got it. The fact is that many of the public has long felt that they no longer controlled their government and they were right. That is what makes this so revolutionary and transformative for American politics. Whatever a Trump Administration may hold, it will be shock to the system and that is precisely what tens of millions of Americans wanted.

567 thoughts on “DONALD TRUMP WINS THE PRESIDENCY IN HISTORIC VICTORY”

  2. To President Trump:
    Without a wall on the Arizona-California border, it’s only a matter of time before Arizona goes blue.

  3. Trumpsters having fun!

    Twas the Night Before the Election

    An election’s eve poem for Trump and for Clinton

    by Eddie Zipperer | 07 Nov 2016 at 5:13 AM

    ‘Twas the night before the election, when all through the nation,
    Not a citizen felt safe — from globalization.
    The courts overturned, every ID law of note,
    In hopes that illegals would show up to vote.

    John Kasich was nestled all snug in his mansion,
    Not a fear in the world ’bout government expansion.
    His vote for McCain already locked in;
    His pledge to Republicans like dust in the wind.

    Then suddenly on Twitter there arose such a clatter,
    I sprang to the web to see what was the matter.
    Grabbed I my iPhone from the pocket of my trousers,
    Entered my pass code and pulled up the browser.

    Searching the page for the latest news pings,
    ‘Bout WikiLeaks and Comey and spirit cooking,
    When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
    But a slew of new polls, showing 10 states unclear.

    And a video of a woman, so screechy and scary,
    I knew in a moment it must be the secretary.
    Pushed I the triangle and the video played,
    Clinton whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

    “Now, Blitzer! now, Raddatz ! now, Mika and Joe!
    On, Harwood! on Halperin! on, Thrush! All you go!”
    She screamed like a banshee, “To Penn Avenue!”
    I knew in an instant what she’d need them to do.

    “There’s scandal and corruption that must disappear,
    ‘Till the ninth of November when I’m in the clear,
    With my cloth and my Bleachbit, I’ll take that server and clean her
    Just don’t report on the laptop of Anthony Weiner!”

    Then, Bill Clinton’s voice wrought wholly with strife
    Said “the FBI is coming for me and my wife.
    Only one lady can save us from political stain,
    I’ll sort this all out in the cab of her plane.”

    There was only one man who could stop the corruption;
    He’d fought and he’d spewed like a volcanic eruption.
    He’d beat down John Kasich, Lil’ Marco, and Ted
    And Carly and Christie, and low-energy Jeb!

    His eyes — how they squinted! His stare was aggressive!
    His cheeks were like oranges, his stature impressive!
    His mad little mouth was pursed to its limit,
    His hair so majestic, no scissors dared trim it.

    He’d straight to his plan, no grandeur or pomp,
    To bring back the jobs and drain out the swamp!
    And if Florida, N.C., and Ohio turn red,
    To save us from the woman America dreads,

    He’ll spring to his podium, among cheers that he’s stomped her,
    He’ll speak from his heart and tear down the prompter!
    And we’ll hear him exclaim, above globalist neighing:
    “I’M BUILDING A WALL — AND MEXICO’S PAYING!”

    Eddie Zipperer is an assistant professor of political science at Georgia Military College and a regular LifeZette contributor.

    1. Fantastic Poem!

      Oh, and Larry Elder had the funniest tweet last night when he said:

      “Trump phoned Alicia Machado and offered her a position in his administration–if she dropped a few pounds.”

      Squeeky Fromm
      Girl Reporter

    1. Man if only I could bottle those tears. Id make a mint off reselling them to Trump supporters

    1. you mean the ‘sheeple’….

      you know, the ‘compliant and unaware citizenry’ they were hoping would elect her….

    1. When one looks at the statistics the Trump supporters are higher income people. i don’t view the people on the Florida golf courses as poor. They voted for lower tax rates on the wealthy and they won big time.

        1. Do you mean the Clinton’s when you refer to the Clampett’s?

          Sorry, but that’s the first thing I think of. A redneck hillbilly lawyer from Arkansas and his wife who moved into the White House, then dragged the country through 8 years of scandals and investigations of the worst sort – most of which directly involved the first lady Hillary. Then as they moved out of the White House, their team trashed computer keyboards by removing the “W” keys and so much more that simply showed utter disrespect — and as they moved out, they actually loaded up moving vans full of china and furnishings they eventually had to return instead of using it all to furnish one of their new million dollar homes. Oh and then when she stepped down as SoS, Mrs. C was caught taking lamps and furnishings from the State Department to furnish her other million dollar home in DC.

          It’s quite remarkable that the media forgets to tell this part of their story which speaks to their lack of character and is telling in so many ways. Remind me, again, what is it about the Clintons that we should all admire and respect? Because I keep missing it. I commend Mr. Trump for taking down the Clinton crime family so this country can indeed move forward again under fresh, new inspired leadership.

          1. Lee, re: ” I commend Mr. Trump for taking down the Clinton crime family so this country can indeed move forward again under fresh, new inspired leadership.”

            Me too! And unlike HRC if the Donald messes up he is impeachable. Now, can we lock HER up? =)

            1. It’s also good to put the end of this era in perspective…..the Clintons have spent nearly their entire adult lives in public service – which means living in public housing (Governors mansion, White House) with taxpayers still paying for the oodles of benefits, pensions, perks they will continue to receive….and this is on top of the $200 million net worth they raked in from selling books and speeches. Unbelievable. Why wouldn’t anyone want to get into public service?

              People need to stop reversing the roles of our elected officials in Washington. They work for us. We do not report to them.

          2. Lee – the Clintons are common villains and should be treated as such. My fear is that Obama is going to pardon her on his way out the door.

              1. Gary T, – supposedly NY is investigating the Clintons and their foundation. A pardon from Obama would be no good in a state court.

      2. All the poorer counties in Maryland voted for Trump, counties around DC carried the state–the wealthiest people in the world as a group.

        1. No. The most affluent metropolitan commuter belt of any size is the Stamford-New Haven corridor (172% of the national metropolitan mean), followed by the Bay Area complex (148% of the national metropolitan mean), greater Washington (137% of the mean), greater Boston (135%), and the New York / New Jersey combine (129%). Among small cities, the Midland – Odessa complex in Texas is 140% of the mean (I’m guessing because of oil rents). And, of course, there are some countries with higher per capita incomes than the US (e.g. Switzerland and Singapore).

    2. Great post, Squeeky. Funny!
      The early years of The Beverly Hillbillies were really great. Those episodes hold up well in reruns over 50 years after they were originally broadcast.

    1. It’s all on Trump and his republican party. Even Chris Christie caught a lifeline.The dems are out of power at every level. We did elect four new women to the senate in a very bad year though.

  9. For all you losers & cry babies….Maybe a little shock therapy will fix you. Nurse Ratched charges plenty under ACA premium increases.

  10. Wow! Kudos to the Deplorables and the Progressives who banded together to elect Trump! This is truly an amazing day. We Progressives can breathe a deep sigh of relief knowing that the TPP is not going through and the Hildebeest has been slain.

    Now we will focus on Tulsi Gabbard and the Green Party as well.

    1. Sounds good Autumn. We’ll hope now, with what appears to be a real 3rd party, that these groups will compete for votes based on their political arguments. At least for a while. Hopefully the big lesson of maintaining some kind of integrity will be held onto as well. Being slimy from start to finish couldn’t deliver the big prize for Clinton.

    2. Autumn,
      I’m curious to know what your definition of “Progressive” actually is. The bureaucratic, administrative state that currently exists IS the product of the Progressive Era and a vote for Clinton would have cemented that ideology for another generation. The vote yesterday clearly was a statement against the establishment and a rejection of that worldview that government’s purpose is to centrally plan our lives. Perhaps there is a contingent of “progressives” that voted for a new “central planner” but to believe that’s what the results of this election are about would be tone-deaf.

      1. Olly, my definition of a Progressive was exemplified by Bernie Sanders’ platform. Healthcare for all, stopping corporate control and holding all criminals accountable no matter how powerful, eliminating subsidies for Big Pharma, the MIC, Wall St, etc. In short creating a fair playing field for all citizens.

        Growing up in Germany shaped my perspective on the role of government. That it can actually work for the people. But that was then – now Germany is being ruined by neo con / neo lib policy and the influx of refugees.

    3. Autumn – I would not get too excited yet. Obama thinks he has enough votes to pass it. He is going to try to pass it going out the door.

        1. I wonder about that. I think the forces that be can find their savior in Pence. Hope he has a good secret service detail, the ones that aren’t out at the strip clubs.

          1. slohrss29 – he might be able to stop it by failing to put it into effect.

        2. Autumn – evidently besides crashing the immigration web at Canada, the biggest question asked on Google last night was “How do you impeach the President?” I know for a while things looked decent for Hillary so maybe it was Republicans checking their options. 😉

    1. She should also have given her concession speech early this morning when all her supporters were gathered at the Javits Center.

  12. Billy Bush Was Fired After ‘Access Hollywood’ Assault Talk, But Trump Gets To Become President
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/billy-bush-donald-trump_us_5822dbbbe4b0aac624885360

    It happened. Trump just became the president-elect of the United States, despite the damning audio 2005 recording of him bragging to TV host Billy Bush about sexually assaulting women with impunity.

    Bush, meanwhile, was fired from his job.

    Trump bragged to Bush that “when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything … Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.”

    “You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful [women],” Trump also said. “I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait.”

    2. Give it up.

      Google “Libya rubble” and ask who did that? HRC’s foreign policy at work.

      Watch the YT video when HRC did not know the camera was on, and her aide showed HRC an iPad w/the video of Hillary’s handiwork (CIA financed and armed Islamo-terrorists to cause regime change in Libya…our CIA operative Islamic terrorists anal raped and slaughtered Ghaddafi because, well because they could and because it made HRC obviously very happy. HRC watched the video of Ghadaffi’s death, chuckled out loud, and said, “We came, we saw, he died.”

      BC used the WH for his whore house of barely legal federal employee (or employees), and you feign concern for what Trump said (about which I strongly disapprove BTW)?

      Give it up, it’s over, Trump won. Own it.

  13. What happened to Hilly last night? She sends that guy who looks like an anteater to tell everyone to go home. Poor Buba the lamps must have flown through the air last night. After shafting Trump, Mitt wishes Trump Well, Karl Rove claims Trump should thank Ryan for his victory and keep him as Speaker. You would think the media would have learned their lesson but not so. Their new gig is “everyone is very fearful” will these people ever learn?

    1. I agree. Similarly, Republican elites have been using and abusing so-called Evangelical fools, lining them up like the naive idiots they were, every four years getting them to vote R, then delivering SCOTUS like Reagan’s Souter (almost always liberal voting) and even Roberts who could have but did not put the nail in Obama’s ACA coffin, a law written by someone who admits he openly lied about it to trick Americans into supporting it, because we’re too stupid to vote the right way.

      Hey, Obongo, thanks for ending the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, exactly as you promised!!!!!!!!! NOT!

      And rather for turning Libya into rubble, making it an ISIS wonderland, killing hundreds of thousands more innocents, converting their surviving family members into terrorists, for more race hatred than the US has seen for a half C, for 50M collecting food stamps, the lowest employment participation rate in 50 years, people working three part time jobs where before they needed only one job, and the worst recovery in a half C.

      Sorry, I forgot, it’s all Bush’s fault! LOL………..

        1. Sorry, but everything will be, always and everywhere, George W. Bush’s fault. This is considered revealed truth. BTW, Souter was appointed by the elder Bush, not Reagan.

  16. Agreed with respect to Clinton failing to reach out to the crowd last night but rather leaving it to Podesta. As the moderator on RT said last night at 2:00AM, that’s the “epitome of arrogance.” Clinton has thought of herself as entitled to impunity since she was first elected to office in NY.

    Agreed with respect to Chris Wallace being the gold standard of the MSM, although I don’t like his politics and although Abby Martin far and away is my overwhelming choice for the journalist with balls where there aren’t any.

    Three Supreme Court seats may open up in the next four years to conservative nominees, so there goes progress, but that’s the price one pays to cauterize a Mafia-like machine that should have been weeded out by an independent DOJ.

    I hope Trump takes a step back before his impetuosity places us in a war with Syria and Russia.

    Congratulations, Republicans, and please be kind to the Greens, who are sincere in their pursuit of a peaceful society.

    1. According to trump, he will only appoint justices that are opposed to gay marriage and abortion.

      1. Clinton swore only to appoint anti 2nd Amendment judges.

        Allowing abortions up to one day before birth is murder. Selling fetus baby parts is evil.

        The majority was awakened and we came, we saw and we defeated.

      2. There is no constitutional right to an abortion. Nor does a pair of dudes have a right to a marriage license. No one with an ounce of intellectual integrity claims otherwise. Our appellate bench and the legal academy are filled with men of no integrity, natch.

        1. Bravo!

          Find a pro-abortionist, and open in front of them the definition of a human being. Ask them calmly and clearly: “Please explain, exactly and specifically, how and why a zygote (a one-celled human being) fails the definition in front of us.”

          I apologize for not having access now to the detail, but Justice Brennan, in his Roe v. Wade majority opinion, directly contradicts himself. If “privacy” laws support genocide, then words can mean anything SCOTUS says, including Negroes are 3/5ths human, and whites can own and trade Negroes.

          Since Roe v. Wade the US committed genocide of approximately 60 million unborn human beings. Per current Judicial policy, unborn human beings are defined by their physical location in space, either being physically invisible (non-human, within the vagina) or some part being physically visible outside the vagina (human). In the three trimesters, women need either no reason (first), any reason (second), or a specific reason (third). Unfortunately, the specific reason can be anything related to the woman’s health/well being, even mental health, e.g. something as mundane as “pregnancy makes me depressed.”

          It’s ironic that this insane liberal interpretation/implementation of Roe v. Wade may be it’s eventual undoing. Anything other than abortion being “high sacrament of the woman’s movement” would have less extreme/more reasonable interpretation, and not tossing it in the face of such huge portion of the electorate.

          Turley is obviously a good bloke, but his infatuation w/homosexual lifestyles over fetal mass murder depicts wrong priorities, a lack of understanding, or combination thereof.

          For about thirty years now the homosexual lobby has searched high and low for an alleged homosexual gene, and still no light at the end of the tunnel.

        2. Toads: Is there a constitutional right protecting you from a local police officer’s search of your person and personal property without a warrant? If so, let me know where you find that in the federal Constitution.

          Enquiring minds . . .

          1. I’m happy to answer your ridiculous post: This is Wiki’s summary of the 4th A: “Prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures and sets out requirements for search warrants based on probable cause as determined by a neutral judge or magistrate.” Amendments carry weight equal to the Constitution.

            Are you actually comparing the 4th A. authored by Congress and signed by the President, to SCOTUS summarily declaring the word “privacy” equals a woman’s right to end the life of an unborn human being?

            1. Joseph Jones: Regarding my “ridiculous” question, the federal Constitution was created to authorize and limit powers of the federal government, not state and local government. The Fourth Amendment never applied to state and local government until recently and it certainly isn’t expressed in the Fourth Amendment.

              The fact that SCOTUS has held it is an implied right limiting state and local government may or may not be a fiction – I’ve never researched it – although it’s now the case law. I wish Scalia the textualist were around to give us the real scoop on why he supported that interpretation.

              So, back to the question: Is there a constitutional right protecting you from a local police officer’s search of your person and personal property without a warrant? If so, let me know where you find that in the federal Constitution.

  17. I actually wrote this yesterday, but couldn’t find a place to post it:

    ABC, NBC, CBS, a triumvirate of controlled speech, are talking positively about Trump today, praising him now for a 500-day marathon that has landed him on the brink of the White House steps. Of course, it’s too late to do any good trashing Trump anymore, so now they’re trying to get clean from all the mud they have been slinging for 18 months. They’re even trying to make it look credible by slinging a little mud on Hillary, knowing it is also too late to help her anymore. But the press will be forever mired in filth, the public never forgiving the media’s dishonesty, character assassinations, selective reporting, collusion with the DNC and government, piling on Trump while passing debate questions to Clinton, nodding and winking, and treason for aiding and abetting a criminal establishment that has sold out the middle class and America to foreigners and enemies.

  18. beakie, You have wisdom and a kind soul. Comment more often.

    Isaac, Please keep ranting. You are a smart man w/o a lick of wisdom or introspection, and w/ a good dose of sanctimony.

    Darren, You are consistently intellectually honest and eloquent.

    MikeA, You assured w/ me, great confidence, Hillary would be the first woman president. I said Bernie would have gotten the white, blue collar vote and should have gotten the nod. I think he might have beaten Trump. I was back in Bristol, CT. in September, where I grew up, visiting family and friends. It is the consummate, blue collar, town and a Dem stronghold. I saw 10 Trump signs for every Hillary sign. The Dem party abandoned and ridiculed the family in which I was raised..a factory working, Catholic, patriotic, clan. Hillary looked down her nose @ the family in which I was raised. My parents made sure all 4 of their kids got college degrees and moved up in the world. But, I will ALWAYS be ethnic, blue collar, patriotic.

    PaulS, You have much more insight into politics than the Canadian who ridicules you. Kudos, my friend. As I watched the shock and depression of virtually all the media last night, I saw they were in the denial phase of their grief. I saw pundits and announcers, on several channels, blaming Comey and 3rd party candidates for the dethroning of their queen.

    When Kellyane Conway was named campaign manager JT did a post expressing pride that his former student got the position. JT and Kellyanne are different politically, but she, like JT, is intellectually honest, civil, and gracious. I’m sure her demeanor is in large part genetic and upbringing. But, I’m certain as well JT helped nurture those fine qualities.

    Mespo, Good to see you back.

    1. Nick – you have to see Rachel Maddow’s MELTDOWN. It is either on Drudge or Breitbart. Worth the look. She will never be able to say she was not a Hillary supporter.

      Mespo – good to see you back.

      2. PS, meltdown indeed
        Her scolding of Gary Johnson/ Jill Stein voters along with Joy Reid’s “chic” comment was very revealing

  19. It was truly a drain the swamp sentiment that caused this election win.
    Trump trule ran an underdog campaign, had half the resources, had essentially only his family surogatting, with a few maverick and laughed-at political pundits backing him. His Family had never run a political campaign before, and was up against seasoned political professionals, and a harsh, antipathetic mainstream media absolutely predicting a landslide victory for Clinton.
    The smug was heavy in the air, all against Trump.
    Yet, almost mirroring Brexit to a tee, the peoples will was diametrically opposed to the mainstream pundits, and against all odds he won as well.
    The hysteria surrounding Citizens United was also proven to be defective, the fear that money and resources alone would force an election win despite the people’s will, as here clearly the Clinton machine out spent and out celebritied Trump by a factor of ten to one if you include the bias of the media.
    Overall, a very surprising and poetic justice type win, with layers of egg smeared over all the faces of those who smugly, self congratulatorily predicted and elaborated upon Hillary Clinton’s win, a win that didn’t happen.

  20. It would appear the Russian people all came over during the night and managed to vote for Trump and then left silently. I’m deeply surprised the media hasn’t caught on to this since they are proposing every other possible self exculpatory fantasy except the truth for why the public did not choose who they were told to choose.

    I couldn’t agree more with professor Turley’s assessment except for putting Biden in the same category as Sanders (or at least of the image people have of Sanders). But I would go further. The DNC lives and breaths corruption; they are spiritual Vichy Liberals who live in their bubble of lavish comfort but are fine with others being thrown out of their homes which is why Hillary was not only the obvious choice for them but the only choice. Sanders was as frightening to them as Trump is to many corporate Republicans.

    The public has been lied to and confused in every possible manner but those who lost half the value of their only major asset, thier homes, know damned well that Clinton was at the head of the line as far as bankers getting bailed out while the public was left to drift. Others sense something is fundamentally wrong when there is such an obvious discrepancy between the haves and the have nots so the establishment (of which Joe Biden is a card carrying member, and Sanders who is perceived to NOT be a member) or any one associated with it got weak support at best.

    Few indeed will ever hear any of this from the media. Before reporting THAT truth, I’m sure they would be more than happy – and capable – of putting on a straight face and telling us the Russians are yet again at the root of it all.

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