How Did We Get Here? What Lies Ahead?

http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/11/11/88237/
Date Written:  2016-11-11
Publisher:  CounterPunch
Year Published:  2016
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX20105

We need to understand the reasons why Trump won the 2016 U.S. election. This requires recognizing the uniqueness of this election on multiple fronts. Trump’s victory was just as much about the Democratic Party's implosion as it was about the triumph of Trump's "outsider" political campaign. The Republican victory was not driven by the party's ascendance among the public at large. If anything, the party is in big trouble looking ahead.

Abstract: 
Excerpt:

First, the Democratic loss. There's no two ways about it – this was a huge, and embarrassing loss for a party that's clearly fallen out of favor with the mass public. Hillary Clinton and the Democratic establishment were badly exposed in this loss, and the party is in the middle of a full-on meltdown. The country was told that Trump had little to no chance of winning, and that Hillary was a shoe-in to be our first female president. Obviously, that was a fiction that few challenged considering all the polls that consistently predicted Clinton would prevail on November 8th.

...

Second, we need to understand the reasons why Trump won. This requires recognizing the uniqueness of this election on multiple fronts. Trump’s victory was just as much about the Democratic Party's implosion as it was about the triumph of Trump's "outsider" political campaign. The Republican victory was not driven by the party's ascendance among the public at large. If anything, the party is in big trouble looking ahead.

...

The voting public's embrace of Trump is a dangerous gamble, however. On the one hand, it's informed by a legitimate anger at the political-economic status quo and a system that has horribly failed the masses. On the other hand, those who claim Trump will "Make America Great Again" are projecting their hopes onto a candidate who is as maverick as they come, and who has no experience in working toward effective policy change in Washington. It's impossible to predict with certainty just what he'll do when he gets in office.