Cover Illustration: Dokey Hotey / Flickr
First off, congratulations to Donald J. Trump, who dominated the rigged system and (apparently) some rigged voting machines in Pennsylvania as well. He isn’t close to being the perfect candidate, but The Donald was ultimately the correct choice given how big of an evil monster his opponent is. I must say, it feels strangely good to see an idiot outsmarting a compulsive liar.
Secondly, if given the choice to vote, I’d vote Trump in a heartbeat. Hillary Clinton is the type of person that epitomises everything wrong with our governments, and to even remotely consider voting for her is truly an unfathomable thought. For me, a compromise between Bernie Sanders and Trump would have been my ultimate candidate. They both displayed immense passion, represented the ends of the political spectrum, and given their individual strengths and ability to cancel out each other’s weaknesses if they ‘buddy up’, a Bernie Trump or Donald Sanders would have been amazing in my view. Maybe throw in Gary Johnson’s carefree attitude and it’ll be perfect.
Thirdly, it’s both puzzling and hilarious at the same time to see the ignorant media painting Trump as the underdog. I believe most people who have monitored the race closely would agree that Trump didn’t come in as the underdog – Clinton did. The media tried to paint a rosy image of her crumbling left-wing empire but failed spectacularly in the end, drumming up support for the Republicans instead. The polls, which patterns I’ll discuss in greater depth later, are not only oversampled with Democrats, they also point towards a Donald Trump presidency as far back as May 2016.
Lastly, the following article is one that’s at least eleven months in the making, and after observing the trends, scandals and behavior of supporters over this period of time, I think it’s a fitting time to pen all this down as the season finale of “America” draws to a close. It’s a lengthy article, but I do hope it provides some insights into why Trump won from a media perspective because people are still somehow surprised Orange became the new Black. Factors like the Rust Belt and diminished support from Democrats have been covered extensively, so I’m going to focus more on human behavior instead. Whether you support Clinton, Trump, Johnson, Jill Stein, Evan Mcmullin or even Joe Exotic, it doesn’t matter – this post aims to break down the extremely straightforward reasons why Trump won and is not meant to be an endorsement of any candidate. I did make a similar prediction (that Trump will emerge victorious) back in February when Clinton was cruising. Unsurprisingly, I was swiftly labeled a looney and a psychopath for thinking so, but looking at the polls now, I think they’ll be eating their words for supper over the next four years.
FACTORS:
This article is around 4,000 words long, so feel free to jump to whichever section you’re more interested in:
- Regressive Liberals and Celebrities
- Trump’s Dominance of Marketing & Social Media
- Biased/Rigged Mainstream Media
- Hillary Clinton
- Gary Johnson, Jill Stein & Poll Trends (note: Poll Trends is not the name of a candidate.)
1. Regressive liberals and celebrities
Have you ever shared an article proclaiming how stupid Trump voters are, or one of those “listicles” listing down how messed up a Trump supporter is, or made a comment about how Trump supporters are racist, ignorant and misogynistic like their Führer, or even shared one of those cringeworthy videos showing Trump supporters refusing to hug strangers and failing to answer simple questions? Congratulations, you have successfully elected Trump into the Oval Office! Give yourself a pat on the back.
The word “liberal” has been thoroughly tainted during this election thanks to the nonsense from the regressive left. This is, in my opinion, the chief reason why Trump has won comfortably. Yes, Trump’s stunning victory was made much easier by people labeling others who don’t share the same viewpoint as them as “misogynistic, sexist, racist, retarded etc.” without addressing their concerns. It has little to do with policies, it has little to do with his behavior, it has little to do with his nonsense. The reason why he’s going to be sitting in the Oval Office is straight-up because of regressive liberals. People are going to vote for Trump not because he’s qualified, but because it’s a giant f*** you to regressive liberals and their laughable attempt at social justice.
I trawl the comments section of most anti-Trump article and I see numerous Clinton fanatics insulting Trump supporters and their “stupidity”. I look at my Facebook timeline and I see people sharing one-sided articles from media outlets (that just so happen to be in bed with Clinton), proudly exclaiming their moral superiority over Trump supporters. I check my RSS feeds and I see countless op-eds criticising the basket of deplorables for believing in a guy like Trump.
Wow.
Okay, so let me get this straight. If I am a factory worker royally screwed over by Bill’s NAFTA, found a new job after fighting an illegal immigrant for it, but got fired soon after as my factory is shifting its operations to Mexico, and I want to vote for a guy who claims he’s going to create some magical trade deal, kick out illegal immigrants, remove China from the equation and impose taxes on Mexico, I am stupid? Wow, I’m sorry, life must be hard for you. After you’ve finished your $20 cafe brunch, call for a $30 cab ride home with your $800 smartphone, turn on your $2,000 laptop, connect it to your $4,000 SMART TV, browse Buzzfeed videos while waiting for your $50,000 college course and if you’re still bored, take the keys to your $100,000 car and leave your $300,000 home for a quick drive.
What is sorely lacking in this election is empathy for Trump’s supporters. The first rule to prevent a conflict is really simple – never deny someone their feelings. When someone tells you they’re angry at their government, it’s stupid to tell them that they have no right to be mad. When someone tells you they’re frustrated at their jobs being stolen by the Chinese, it’s bonkers to tell them they’re stupid for thinking Trump will fix things. When someone tells you they’re fed up with the direction the country has been headed under Obama, it’s ridiculous to tell them they should be grateful to have such a “cool President” and have no reason to be pissed. You can argue with facts and logic, but the moment you deny someone their feelings, you have made it personal. That is how conflicts between their parents and children develop, when the former always deny the latter’s feelings – how they should feel grateful instead of frustrated, how they should feel happy instead of angry etc.
You see a Trump supporter ranting down his problems in poor English, and instead of a) helping him, b) disproving Trump’s logic, or c) using facts and figures to debate with them, you laugh at them. You make fun of their lack of education, you make fun of their appearance, you make fun of their states and stereotypes. Heck, most people even go as far as to suggest anyone who votes for Trump is “stupid, ignorant, racist etc.” Okay then, what do you expect these supporters to do then? Turn and run over to Mommy Clinton? Begin volunteering at the local Clinton campaign office? Start making calls and canvassing for votes? Hell no, they’re going to vote for Trump as a royal f*** you to your own bigotry you righteously claim to dispossess. I honestly don’t blame them.
While we’re speaking about regressive liberals, they seemingly love to channel their energy by laughing at Trump and his supporters for thinking the election is rigged. They claim his words and actions “insult the fabric of democracy” in America. Okay, let’s see what democracy looks like then:
Clinton got her debate questions in advance, rigged the primaries against a 74-year-old grandpa and tried to rig the Palestine elections in 2006.
Her staffers were caught tearing up Republican ballots on tape numerous times, the media asks her how she wants her investigation to be handled, the Democratic Party schemed to manufacture violence at Trump’s rallies, (so much for the “Trump’s rallies are violent!” rhetoric) and news outlets pay the Clinton Foundation money before directing voters towards pro-Clinton stories from left-leaning sources.
They have even infiltrated the millennial demographic – guess who CollegeHumor ‘reports to’? Chelsea Clinton.
So stop. Stop blaming Trump and his supporters for thinking the elections are rigged and look at the untreated corruption that allowed this mess to happen in the first place. The whole damn system is rigged, period. The Democrats do it, the Republicans do it. The establishment is only interested in their own powers and maintaining the status quo. If elections changed anything, they wouldn’t allow people to vote. This time round, however, things are different – the politicians are genuinely scared as the appointment of a complete outsider like Trump will radically change America and casts serious doubts over its two-party system.
And my god, everytime I see one of those videos featuring celebrities telling people how to vote, a part of me dies inside. Who the f*** do these privileged out-of-touch celebrities living in 20-bedroom ivory towers think they are to “teach” ordinary citizens how to vote? They don’t live the life the lower class do. They don’t pay the same bills the lower class do. They don’t share the same difficulties the lower class face. You want to move to Canada? Good for you, but no one cares! The whole rhetoric for Trump’s (and even Bernie Sanders’) campaign is built on privileged folks ignoring the concerns of the working class, and what do these know-it-all celebrities do? They make videos showing a bunch of privileged folks ignoring the concerns of the working class.
Well done you bunch of self-important pampered sellouts.
–
Gage Skidmore / Wikicommons
2. Trump’s mastery of marketing and social media
You got to admit, Trump is an absolute god when it comes to social media and selling himself.
The people who constantly rips on him for using fourth-grade vocabulary should really re-evaluate their condescending stance, for his simplistic grasp of the English language was a key contributing factor in his bid for the White House. Given his target audience, there is no need to use flowery language and risk appearing elitist, or to put on a linguistically-superior front to compensate for his lack of credentials. The way he phrases his words, the choice, strength, and intonation of said words, and even down to the minor details like the number of syllables being used, sacrificing conventional structural rules just to fit those carefully chosen words into his speech – it’s utterly spectacular. He repeats ‘heavy’ adjectives like “tremendous” and “disastrous” numerous times in a given speech and rarely uses words above three to four syllables. Trump happens to be a natural speaker with flair, charisma, and love for the camera, and as a result, he’s also incredibly consistent when it comes to his delivery. However, that should come as little wonder considering the time he’s spending on those hollow speeches rather than working on actual policies and implementing them.
His slogan, “(Let’s) Make America Great Again” was a masterstroke – it reminded people of happier times and made his supporters feel part of a team, part of a larger movement to make things right again. Hillary’s branding paled badly in comparison – her logo featured an arrow pointing to the right, her battle cry “#ImWithHer” seemed self-centered and lacked a common objective (Trump’s campaign simply countered it with “#HesWithYou”), and her slogan “Stronger Together” was the same exact one used by the Remain campaign during the recent Brexit referendum.
Now, moving on to social media. Trump had baited poor Hillary numerous times and whenever an opportunity to rebut her arises, he swiftly grabbed them by the pussy.
- Melania caught plagiarising? No problem, he calls out the media for spending all their time harping on the speech instead of Hillary’s emails, while attacking the FBI for not doing anything about the latter. Attack Clinton, prove his “the media is biased” rhetoric.
- Clinton tells Trump to delete his Twitter account? No problem, he simply asks her where are the 33,000 emails she deleted. Attack Clinton, prove his “Crooked Hillary” rhetoric.
- Elizabeth Warren criticises him? No problem, he calls her out for her incompetency in the Senate. Attack the Democratic party, prove his “the establishment is a joke” rhetoric.
And it just doesn’t just stop there. Besides his snarky comebacks, he attacks every major journalist and news outlets when they criticise him. And when he does, the media will be forced to cover it and give him even more airtime and sway even more voters his way. After Clinton made the error of replying to Trump with the infamous “Delete your account”, CNN was forced to air Trump’s subsequent reply about Clinton’s missing emails to an audience that’s predominantly pro-Clinton. It’s such a stupid strategy and I find it hard to understand – beyond TV ratings – why the liberal media keeps picking fights that they cannot win with The Donald.
Frankly, it’s quite embarrassing.
To be fair though, a lot of this is down to Hillary Clinton’s failure to navigate social media, illustrated perfectly by her asking students to describe their student debt with three emojis.
Wow, blimey.
–
3. Biased mainstream media
Funny how I went to media school to learn about impartiality and journalistic integrity and yet, the past year turned out to be the epitome of biased journalism at its ugliest. From oversampled polls (in favor of Democrats) and unreserved hit pieces on Clinton’s opponents (esp. Bernie Sanders), the media has been one yugeeeee joke this election. I’ve tracked the election extensively on a daily basis as part of my job and you know which source I feel is one of the most unbiased?
The Daily F***ing Mail. Not the New York Times (NYT), not the Washington Post (WP), certainly not the Clinton News Network (CNN), but the Daily Mail, a British tabloid who spins stories from outta nowhere and are more interested in the prices of people’s homes. But that’s just my extended observation and you are more than welcome to disagree with me.
The concept most people don’t quite understand is the theory of confirmation bias. When you log onto your Facebook and scroll through your newsfeed, you are not searching for news, you are consuming your news. They’re news that massage your ego and reassure you that your disdain for Trump/Clinton is valid and relevant. They fail to serve up a new perspective and might not necessarily tell both sides of the story responsibly. If you’re constantly surrounding yourself with talk show hosts like John Oliver (which I’m a fan of), Trevor Noah or even Seth Myers, you’re only going to be exposed to one-sided opinions and video footages all the time. You’re not going to be seeing what someone watching Alex Jones or Paul Joseph Watson might be seeing – Whites getting attacked for their views, unlawful protests being held, Hillary supporters being rude and dumb etc. Likewise, if you’re only reading from sites like CNN, NYT or WP, you’re no different than the people who reads Breitbart and watches Fox News exclusively.
For example, an article from Vox might read “Stupid Trump Challenges Biden to a Fight”, but a site like Washington Examiner would have ran with this headline: “Biden Challenges Trump to a Fight During Rally Speech”. (The latter is true btw.) Also, a left-wing side might opt for a flattering image of Hillary and use Trump’s iconic gnarly look for stories about him, while a right-wing side will do the contrary. Over time, Facebook’s algorithm would have tracked your activity and got a fairly accurate gist of the type of content you’re interested in. You’ll end up being served these biased, occasionally false news or conspiracy theorists on your Timeline. Why? Because Facebook wants you to stay on their site as long as possible! I mean it’s not too long ago when Facebook was accused of censoring news from Conservative news outlets.
Speaking of NYT, people think that they’re some kind of hero for stealing and releasing Trump’s tax returns. But guess what, not only were they breaking the law, they actually ended up helping him. Thanks to NYT, The Guardian among other left-leaning sites have since published articles and op-eds stating that Trump wasn’t doing anything illegal as he was merely exploiting a loophole the government were responsible for.
Yes, dear liberals, Trump didn’t break any laws when he refused to pay his taxes.
Even MSNBC, a highly left-wing outlet, had to issue a warning to Clinton and her supporters to “get off their high horse(s)” and lay off this non-issue.
And you know what’s the most ironic thing? Guess who introduced the loophole for Trump to dodge his taxes?
Trump detected trouble early on and immediately changed his tune about the media and how they’re rigged to support Hillary Clinton. He explained to his audience, in layman’s terms, what agenda setting is, and they in turn could experience it first hand when Trump gets extreme with his rallies and speeches. It’s a smart play, I’ll admit, but really, these experienced organisations should not have fallen for his bait in the first place.
Also, another issue arising from those ‘basic’ millennial sites is that, the content and community it breeds are very divisive and rejects people who don’t agree with their social justice stances against Trump. These insecure millennials lack critical thinking, do not possess the courage to voice out their true feelings and hence are always seeking for approval from the people around them. Not only will provoking Trump supporters fuel their desire to vote, they’ll also end up ‘nurturing’ plenty of silent Trump fans afraid of ridicule from the people around them.
It’s not just these millennial sites, but even the news networks meant for normal adults as well. On camera, everybody wants to appear politically correct, and during interviews, everybody wants to give the ‘correct’ answer. Not long ago, everybody was busy posting #JeSuisCharlie as a reminder of the importance of free speech, yet fast forward a couple of years later, the same group of people suddenly couldn’t deal with their feelings being hurt when disagreed upon! They consistently attack and intimidate people who even dare mention Trump in a positive light, and as a result, reminiscent of Singapore’s very own #GE2015, the silent majority arrived in drones and annihilated the opposition.
–
Photo: Jacquelyn Martin / AP Photo
4. Hillary Clinton
This section could have easily been the longest given how Hillary’s biggest problem is herself, but with Trump’s victory confirmed, there’s really no point digging up her (entire) past. I fully agree that this is an election to choose between the lesser of two evils, but unlike many others, I believe Donald Trump is the lesser of two evils.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to say that Hillary Clinton is a crazy, pompous, crooked, dishonest, deceitful, psychopathic, narcissistically corrupt two-faced pathological shape-shifting reptilian of a cunning, dubious and deplorable lying criminal, I mean, she’s… nevermind, who am I kidding.
Clinton has access to the banks, she has access to the media, she has access to Wall Street, and she has access to the big corporations. She has created this impressive (not in a good way) ecosystem of corrupt officials and lying politicians to exploit, and the power she’ll possess is so much more dangerous than the damage Trump could possibly inflict on his own. Admitting on record that she takes two stances, constantly flip-flopping on issues, and pretending to be socially progressive when she consistently plays the woman’s card and panders to minorities is absolutely terrifying. Secret Service agents who worked with her described her as a nightmare to work with, and this it not an isolated incident but rather a worrying trend.
Contrary to what she believes, Hillary’s a horrid role model for children everywhere regardless of gender. How thick must your skin be to rain bombs down on innocent children and then preach about how you’re an exemplary human being whom people should emulate? A vote for her signifies an endorsement of elitism and corruption at its most rotten form, one which demonstrates how power absolves you from the consequence of your criminal actions. What’s the point then of having an education system that teaches our next generation to develop honesty and integrity?
Compare her long list of scandals to Trump’s comical nonsense over the past few months – which do you really think has an impact on the world?
Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women? Or Hillary accepting tens of millions of dollars from countries which sexually assaults women?
Trump wanting to chase away Muslims due to a disproportionate amount of terror attacks? Or Hillary helping Islamist and Al-Qaeda militants move into power to begin with?
Trump telling refugees to f*** off? Or Hillary constantly bombing the Middle East and destabilising North Africa resulting in refugees in the first place?
You get the idea.
p.s. Hillary supporters, how do you feel after reading the above paragraphs? Angry that I’ve exposed the incompetency of your candidate? Angry that I did not recognise her strengths and achievements? Angry that I did not attempt to make this paragraph two-sided? Does it make you feel motivated to vote and prove me wrong? Does it compel you to go to the ballots and rub your rebellion in my face?
Now, do you finally understand why Trump won now?
“For all you women out there who think that electing a female president will lift us all up, just ask yourselves if electing an African American president lifted up the blacks in this country.” – Judge Jeanine Pirro
–
Photo: MSNBC / Screengrab
5. Gary Johnson, Jill Stein & Polling Patterns
Sigh, I mean, Gary really grew on me over the past five months. He doesn’t know where Aleppo is, he can’t name a world leader he admires, and he describes reaching the peak of Mount Everest as looking up a girl’s skirt, but man, he’s one straight-talking dude. He apologised for his gaffe, in jeans and sneakers, without making any excuses – when I first saw it I couldn’t believe my eyes and ears. A presidential candidate nonchalantly admitting that he’s wrong, in jeans and sneakers, my god. He’s so chill, he talks like he’s high all the time and he’s a freak of an athlete – it’s hard not to like this guy. Jill is fine too I guess, I mean, she’s absolutely insane for wanting to award citizenship to illegal immigrants but I mean…
While those two are not going to win the elections by any stretch, their presence on the ballot is going to hurt Clinton. Johnson is a diet-Trump who’s as hippy as the day is long while Stein is a lady that appeals to well, people who hate Hillary. These two candidates are perfect destinations for former Hillary supporters and undecided voters who feel Trump is too extreme to elope to.
Sure enough, third-party candidates accounted for 4% of total votes casted and (allegedly) robbed Clinton of a victory in key battlegrounds like Florida and Pennsylvania.
Besides, the polls, as biased as they are, shows that Trump will always, without fail, get his support back, despite him consistently running his mouth off:
- Clinton started with a MASSIVE 20-point lead over Trump back in July last year, but in 2 months time, Trump closed that lead to 1.9.
- He said some nasty things, lost his lead (-4.5/peak), but 2 months later, in December, he closed Clinton’s lead back to -0.6.
- He continued saying more nasty stuff, lost his lead (-6.8/peak), but 2 months later, in February, he trimmed it down to -1.8.
- The Republican and Democratic primaries consumed both Trump and Hillary – the former dug himself in various holes, while the latter was riding high after cheating against Sanders. However, Trump somehow took the lead in May by 0.6 points.
- He said some stupid stuff, lost his lead (-6.8/peak), but 2 months later, surprise surprise, he took an even bigger lead of 1.1 points.
- As has been the pattern thus far, Trump said some stupid stuff again, lost his lead (-6.9/peak), but 2 months later, he trimmed it down to -0.9 points in September.
- He lost the lead yet again after his hot-mic scandal, but add two months to September and what do you get…? November, the month of the election. Unsurprisingly, democratic-leaning polls have shown Trump leading recently and even pro-Hillary news outlets have acknowledged and published those findings.
Misrepresenting the polls will only breed complacency among the winning camp, and sure enough, on polling day, the Clinton campaign overestimated voter turnout and couldn’t mobilise a large enough group to compensate for enthusiastic Trump supporters, who felt threatened by the lop-sided polls.
–
Photo: Seth Wenig / AP Photo
To really sum it up, Donald Trump is the lesser of two evils in my opinion.
His blasé attitude really captured the hearts of hundreds and millions of voters tired of the establishment, and it doesn’t help that Hillary’s opponent, Bernie Sanders, has preached the exact same sentiments, albeit at a different end of the spectrum. The damage has already been done, and WikiLeaks only served to rub the salt further in the wounds by releasing complicit emails of the Clinton campaign accepting bribes, getting cosy with Wall Street, rigging the primaries, rigging the debates, alleged corruption, insults towards (almost) every possible racial and religious group possible and executive direction on America’s major news networks.
While all the above factors are significant in itself, the real kicker for me has to be the regressive left and liberals. They are the main reasons, I firmly believe, why Trump could enter the White House with a landslide victory. With these group of people constantly ridiculing others who hold a different opinion, coupled with the constant stream of propaganda being presented in some of the largest media outlets in the world, most Americans saw the opportunity and recorded the greatest f*** you in recent memory. There was indeed a host of qualified politicians to choose from in the primaries, but they ended up choosing the most experienced one who eventually couldn’t finish the job. Technically, she could run against Trump in 2020, but if Trump follows through his extremist policies, Hillary doesn’t stand a chance.
For she’ll be in jail.
Do you agree or disagree with my views? Let me know in the comments below!
Follow me on Facebook for the latest politically incorrect commentaries!
If you enjoyed this article, you might be interested in some of my other Unpopular Opinions, such as my latest one, No, You’re Not Beautiful.
For any advertising, photography/videography/graphic design assignments, sponsorships, or enquiries, please get in touch with me at collab@lhuwenkai.com
Lhu 
Pingback: flabbytofu
You wrote extremely well! What an fantastic read that was. Keep it up! All the way.
Thank-you for your kind words!
Thank you so much for this posting, Lhu Wen Kai! Your writing was so clear and logical, and you opinion was backed up with facts. I was so surprised to learn you are so young! You give me hope for our future!
It’s interesting that Trump supporters are called racist, bigots etc. I haven’t heard any of that kind of talk from all Trump supporters that I know. And, just so you and your readers know, most “white” families in America aren’t white any more. Our immigrants are intermarrying in record numbers, whic is as it should be. This is why we hae always been called a melting pot! My family has Mexican, Chinese, Jewish, Brazilian, Malaysian, and Native American members.
And speaking of immigrants, we will have the first immigrant First Lady since 1825! I love that!
Your post very accurately described why I voted for Trump….except I thought of it as a total repudiation of Obama’s policies that have done so much damage to our economy and cultural fabric. But your great big “F…….You!” made me smile! There was no way I was going to vote for treason and corruption. We’ve done the Clinton Crime Family circus once….didn’t want round 2.
Thank you so much for some great writing. Even though I’m approaching 70, I signed up for more of your wonderful missives!
Deborah
Thank you so much for your kind words Deborah, and for sharing your thoughts as well. We could all appreciate a different perspective :)
Well, everyone’s entitled to their own opinions and feelings. Personally, Donald Trump wasn’t the lesser of the two evils. If Hilary screwed up and people decided to punish her for that, then was it not hypocritical to support Donald Trump who is known to have committed heinous acts and is a sexist, racist, anti-Muslim and anti-LGBT? He has even confessed and it amazes me how we chose to ignore that. People ignored him for what he was and chose him because he was going against the Constitution. People supported him because they opposed the Constitution and they did not care who the opposition was or what he stood for. What is social change when one supports Donald Trump? Supporting him would mean supporting whatever his campaign advocated. With reference to the article regarding the Muslim Trump supporter, you cannot say that while I’m not a sexist and a racist, but because Donald Trump will help my life problems, I’ll support this man and his cause. That’s just selfish. I am not saying it is wrong to support the opposition but do people know who they are supporting or are they simply blinded by the hatred they have for the Constitution. And just look, the moment he won the election, he suddenly became civilised and gracious? His inconsistencies will slowly manifest. We will see what social manifest America will witness with Trump as the President. God Bless America and the rest of the world.
Cry more plz
Thanks for the meticulous post.
On the regressive liberals point I think it’s more reciprocal than you suggest.
Empathy is certainly lacking, but on all sides. Trump’s candidacy was inextricably bound with harassing and laughing at what people on the Left (plenty of whom have economic difficulties of their own) value. It’s not surprising He inspires hate and anger in his opposition, and they reflect that back on his supporters. He knows he has this effect on the Left and revels in it. (And some liberals know he knows, and it makes them angrier.) This wasn’t liberals choosing to communicate poorly in a vacuum–their buttons were deliberately and incessantly pushed, raising stress levels to a degree I’ve not seen in ~30 years.
I liked Bernie, and there are some ideas and attitudes I appreciate in Trump. But his miserable character (how he says virtually anything reveals the disturbing egotism) and appeal to the lowest common denominator (sure it was a sales job, but there are other paths) turn me away. I doubt he’s stable enough to not fuck up in big ways, and I expect consequences will be disastrous for most Americans, including his supporters (save the infrastructure spending bill Congressional Republicans will gleefully unfetter now that they can take credit). I sincerely hope I can eat my words for 4 years.
I write a blog about theology and volunteerism so I am no expert in politics especially those of American politics as I am Canadian.
I can say however that I loved that piece of art of Donald Trump Lol.
Keep up the posting and sharing your views :) Freedom of speech is a wonderful thing.
– The Smiling Pilgrim
Thank you for your kind words!
I enjoyed reading your opinion. But I have to respectfully disagree that Trump was the lesser of two evils. Maybe equally bad, but not lesser.
He has done many unethical and selfish things in the past that has made it impossible to see him as a better choice. He has said that his various business will be handled by his children while he takes care of the country, but will this not run into the same corruption and cronyism that Clinton is accused of? His lack of policy, international and general knowledge is also worrying.
I get that many people were frustrated with the establishment, but this is truly cutting off one’s nose to spite the face.
Aside from comparing the candidates based on their past and persona, I think it was also important to compare and scrutinize their policies, And I think maybe a lot of working class voters for Trump might not have done so. I admit that I’ve not compared every one of their policies either but I’m not American so it doesn’t matter. Anyway, some of the key ones like tax and healthcare on Trump’s side seem like it will not benefit the poor or working class. He wants to reduce taxes overall, especially for the rich 1%, which will increase the national debt over time if he doesn’t cut spending. How does he fund the Mexican border wall with so much tax cuts? He also wants to bring back blue collar jobs which seems impossible because many of these jobs have been replaced by automation. In contrast, Hillary’s plan was to tax the rich and retrain the blue collar workers who have lost their factory jobs, which seemed more beneficial for the the lower income group. Your thoughts on their policies are welcome.
Another thought, with respect to your first argument, I think it is fair to say that Trump supporters are racists, xenophobic, sexist and bigoted. I think they should own and not shirk from the label. These people don’t get to vote Trump and get away with not being called bigots. They could have voted third party if they wanted to screw the establishment. They knew about the unkind things he said and did. And by not shunning him, they are condoning his behaviour, whether or not they actually agree or say that they voted based on his policies. If no one takes a stand against such behaviour, what are we teaching our children? That it’s ok to demean women and minorities and get away with it or even get to become President? I don’t think it’s right either to excuse his behaviour by saying he is just being ”honest” and ”politically incorrect”. If we allow our leaders to behave that way, peace and compassion degenerate. History has shown us so many examples of this, most painfully in Germany. I hate to bore with platitudes, but Martin Niemöller’s quote about the oppressed is especially relevant in these times.
Hillary does indeed have the better policies, but she represented little change from the Obama’s administration. No way were regular folks going to vote for her, given how she was responsible for screwing over them in the first place (NAFTA, TPP, Wall Street etc.) This was a f*** you to the establishment, not a testament of Trump’s ability to be the POTUS.
Quite a fun opinion piece. A sizable number of American voters, perhaps 25% of those who voted for Trump, had decided years ago that they would vote against Hillary and for whomever the opposition nominated. Regardless of the depth of her and Bill’s criminality, it was her disdain for everyone else which damned her in many voters’ eyes. From her treatment of Secret Service agents, military personnel and other ‘minions’, to her calling people who didn’t support her LGBTQ social agenda “deplorable,” there was no way Ithey would let her into the White House. And yes, I do believe that you wrote this largely before the election, because so much of it was so obvious to so many for months if not years. Coincidentally, I also found the Daily Mail to be well reported, largely unbiased and well written regarding this campaign.
Thanks Dave for sharing your thoughts!
If u wrote this before election day, ill believe u more. Not that yr points are not valid. But u can always take a subject or results for this case.link the dots and back yrself up.
Believe it or not, I did wrote this before election day. You could always drop me an email at collab@lhuwenkai.com and I can send you the proof.
wow…. really well dissected and written. always knew that the media was lopsided in terms of coverage but didn’t realize it would affect the outcome this way. you had the exact words i lacked to describe the whole thing whenever i discussed the election with friends. excellent piece.
I’m glad someone feels the same way and can relate to what I write, so thank-you!
Let’s not forget that Trump only won because of the inherantly flawed electoral college system (that he himself condemned 4 years ago). That no other democracy in the world uses. Yes, he won, but let’s not pretend it was an actual landslide.
Unfortunately, the electoral college count is the metric we have to use. If you’re playing a game of soccer and you win a team 5-0, it’ll still be a thrashing no matter how many more passes, shots or tackles the other team has. It’s unfair I know, and I fully understand where you’re getting at, but ~270+ vs ~220+is a MASSIVE victory.
I am totally amazed at your deep grasp of this election. I am a Singaporean living in the usa. And you are spot on with your observation. Majority of Americans as well as the world outside America are only exposed to mainstream media like CNN, ABC and MSNBC etc which are infiltrated by far left agenda. They are so shocked today because they thought they had it all under control, after all, they have been successfully false reporting for decades and manipulated votes. You are the first Singaporean I know who are not sad because Hillary lost and how afraid because Trump is going to create wars etc. When I read the general response of Singaporeans online, it concerns me that my country men and women are so bought in my American mainstream media. Over the last two decades, singapore is shifting more and more left. And universities like Yale are moving into Singapore to indoctrinate our best and brightest with far left agenda. I am honestly surprised why our government is allowing this to happen. I can see why our government supports Hillary Clinton , after all she represented a bigger government. But why support her lawlessness? Do they not understand that Hillary Clinton’s campaign was very dirty too? Anyway, I just want to tell you how much I enjoy your writing and how much I was shocked to find out that you are only 17. I think you are amazing and I am comforted that not every Singaporean ia blinded by the bright lights of the very corrupt American mainstream media. Keep doing what you do. God bless you.
Thanks for your kind words! For many people outside America, they are not really that exposed to right-wing media, and as such, are only able to form their opinions based on the traditional outlets, who happened to be in bed with Hillary. They bought into the hype manufactured by these outlets who are pro-Hillary and anti-Trump, and thus, when he won, which was the expected result for anyone who has been reading both ‘wings’ of the media, they freak out.
Have a great weekend ahead!
Good Luck America with your new President..
Well written article! But as we can see in the comments above, the comments from the regressive liberals amused me, because they lack the intellectual capacity to grasp the essence of your article. As we all have our own biases and perspectives, its really hard to transcend choosing between right and wrong, but instead focus on the problematic dichotomy of right and wrong and look even deeper into the issue at hand. If I was an American citizen I would most definitely support Trump. Not because I am a Trump supporter. Not because I am a racist, sexist, elitist bigot. I am voting for him only because I am forced to vote for him. I am voting for social change. I am voting for revolution.
On a side note, I do hope that one day Singaporeans can be inspired and actually start voting for the opposition party, because we will not perish even if PAP steps down, even though that is essentially what PAP wants us to think.
Finally I think u are indeed a breath of fresh air, opting to express your opinions in a more legal platform, I would say you remind me of a “refined Amos Yee”, but you are your own person and I respect that. Cheers!
I will give you dollars for my thoughts.
We lack guts. Not because we don’t have it. Just look at the brave souls going through National Service and having kids when the economy is not rosy. But when it comes to politics, all of sudden we all subscribe to Confucianism. That is both a good thing and a bad thing. Good if we have a morally upright and transparent government. That is a blessing to the country and its citizenry.
However when we start seeing machinations and manipulations that is definitely not right in all sense of the word but was worded and put into a context that is politically correct.
THAT my friends is the reason why there is UPROAR from the American grassroots. This is the biggest “Fuck You” message they can muster to the elites of that land. We essentially failed to address that because of this fear that nothing works.
It is precisely because if nothing works when PAP steps down, that would also mean PAP is a failure of a government too because there is no system that is robust enough to ensure the continuation of a governance if a political party fails. This failure will ensure that Singapore will fail if the nation cannot work with people outside of PAP. THAT to me is a greater sin.
The US will survive because their forefathers ensures that there is a system to fall back on if they have a despot as a President. That is also why the rednecks of the land have no qualms to vote him in in the first place.
First off, Thank you Wen Kai for this insightful and very different opinion on this truly tiring Elections. And indeed – when will us Singaporeans ever have the guts to truly stand up against something we all know has lost its direction for years.
I find many of your comments to be off the mark. Celebrities who tell people how to vote from their ivory towers are insane? Isn’t Trump a celebrity in an ivory tower telling people how to vote? This argument makes no sense. BTW. When did sexual assault become legal? Why isn’t Trump on trial for sexual assault? If he was, perhaps he couldn’t take office for he’d be in jail. #peoplewhorationalizevotingforttumpasthelesseroftwoevilsbecausesomehowtheyhavetorationalizetheirvotefortrump
By your logic, Hilary couldn’t take office as well for the amount of federal crimes and conspiracy against the US she committed
Trump is a candidate running for the White House.
I think Presidential candidates are allowed to tell their supporters to vote for them.
The depth of your ignorance terrifies me. The fact that you write with such authority on something you obviously understand very little about reflects the need for educational reform in this country.
Comments like this are the very reason this article came into existence.
Best article I read all day, you really do get it.
Thank-you Thomas! I appreciate your kind words.
I’m impressed by your writing. Are you a professional or just very knglledoeabwe?
Trump as president is 4 years of suffering, just like college
A truthful article on the pitfalls of the lack of empathy and taking the people for granted – the truth hurts and regressive liberals/millennials would do well to swallow their pride and see what the effects of their selfish and insular views have on the rest of the world not in their bubble. No man is an island but yet the message of the new age is centered on self: a Trump presidency is a signal to not just Americans but everyone in general that no good comes from dismissive elitism.
You put it better than I could :) Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Totally agree. That is what we are complaining about with the Singapore government. The self has taken over in the worst way possible.
You say that Hillary Clinton’s camp misrepresented polling patterns, but you, too, devote a large chunk of time to describing the patterns that you claim to be able to see in the graph. In doing so you fall prey to the narrative fallacy. Perhaps you wish to make a mockery of the Clinton camp for interpreting the data wrongly, but I don’t think you, or anyone, could have interpreted the data with high confidence during the campaigning period. Sure, I can see that Trump is bouncing back after each pitfall, but so is Clinton. The trends that you describe may exist but do not yield the resolution to point definitively towards the winner at any point in the graph before polling day (in the end Hillary won the popular vote by 0.3%!). Finally, I wonder why you cite statistical gains and losses to one decimal point when the uncertainty in the polling data (media bias, statistical fluctuations and such) is at least two percentage points on average by many pollsters’ own admissions.
Hello! Thanks for your comment!
1) Throughout the whole campaign since February, I have maintained that Donald Trump is going to win, simply because the same exact thing has happened in my very own country! I’ve seen with my own eyes how, despite ‘pollsters’ or ‘netizens’ claims, the Opposition eventually lost by a landslide even though they dominated the election trail!
2) The statistics is not meant to indicate voters’ preferences, but rather to show my readers how he’ll always get his support back. If I were to claim that Trump managed to win back supporters everytime, people would have disagreed with me if I didn’t show them a graph indicating so.
I hope this clarifies :)
Pingback: Bridging the gap | sobremesa
Landslide victory by Trump? Clinton won the popular vote, my friend. We could argue about the electoral college, but by the very basic basis, Clinton won, even if it’s marginal. As for the rest of your article, really appreciate knowing that child molesters and bigots are supported as long as they are honest and have no email scandals. I would list the many illegal and unethical things that Trump has done, but the Clinton Foundation and email scandals trump all, eh?
Hello Dana! Thanks for your comment. In football, if you win your opponent 4-0, it’s considered a landslide victory. It doesn’t matter if they have more possession, more passes, more shots or more tackles :)
You’ve got a way with words that I really love. Well structured, slightly humorous, and absolutely peppered with hyperlinks to help drive your points home.
Consider me a big fan. It was a great piece of writing. I really enjoyed it.
Hi Justin, thanks for your kind words! I appreciate it.
damn, its been awhile since I came back here to read but I share the exact sentiments “While all the above factors are significant in itself, the real kicker for me has to be the regressive left and liberals.” after the 20 minute read. 4k is not joke but you got me on regressive liberals.
Point is, it was so easy to fall into the trap of all these media shooting Trump as everyone sang the same tune and group think is very hard to escape out of. Upon reflection, damn did even bad publicity turn into publicity in any case because Trump successfully twisted back whatever fingers that were pointed at him.
Now America is in disarray and they reap what they sow, I could only wish the empathy for trump supporters weren’t something said in hindsight now. It is a dangerous world for them now, stay safe everyone.
20 minutes is roughly equivalent to a normal sitcom episode – I truly appreciate you staying till the end! The scary thing is that the silent minority, the people who gave the establishment the middle finger, they might see Trump’s victory as an opportunity to carry out the hatred and extremist threats during his campaign towards innocent people. If the Democrats and the liberals showed more concern for Trump supporters affected by the country’s poor policies, it wouldn’t have gone to this hateful stage where they’re further spurred on by their long-awaited vindication.
Never read your stuff, saw a random post of yours once and thought you’re one of the throngs (which Singapore is increasingly flooded with) of opinionated millennials who think they’re much smarter than they actually are. A pretty disgusting bunch that says a lot about how Singapore is delusional about its own situation and standing – a topic for another time.
Great article. Glad to see we are not all bandwagon-hopping sheep so eager to sound smart, be politically correct for the sake of it, and be consumed by the zeal to be vanguards of social justice, for the sake of it as well. This mentality is something that is “trendy” and leftist enough for the post-hipster generation to anchor their identities with. This is not something bad, but when it comes to something like this election, the sheep (around the world) supported one of their kind who is a wolf beneath.
That said, Trump best not be the idiot he has portrayed himself to be. Less international conflict, less corruption, less poverty, less domestic violence, restoration of media integrity, more compassion for everyone in general will be the best. Oh, and please punish Saudi Arabia and maybe the entire UAE for the peddler of evil it is.
Also, while I did think you wrote this article well with (some) substantiated points, your words emanate so much hate and vitriol that I must wonder what Hillary has done to you, or how her policies or positions have affected your life. Or is this just the rantings of an angry teenager jubilant after a Hillary downfall? Funnily enough, this is exactly the sort of article I’d expect from an intelligent, articulate Trump supporter with lots of hate in his heart.
Well-written and thought-through, but do you not think that faulting the “regressive left and liberals” for “constantly ridiculing others who hold a different opinion” is, ironically, ridiculing them for having a different opinion from you/Trump’s supporters? Further, to be fair, many of Trump’s supporters are not exactly the kindest and gentlest of spirits – the mud-slinging and insults go both ways. It is not a one-way street, with only the liberals “constantly ridiculing others”, as you seem to portray in this article.
Hi Robyn, unfortunately I had to angle my reasoning based on the context of the results. If Clinton was the one that won, I’d have said the same thing about the “regressive right”. I hope that clarifies.
Pingback: My reaction to US President-elect, Trump – Aaron Blogs
Reblogged this on satthina.
Thank you for this post.
Thank-you, I’m glad you enjoyed it!
I appreciate your point of view, and indepth knowledge . I whole heartedly agree. I have maintained the point of view that he would be the best fit at this time, and she is not fit for the part at all. However, I was unable to attach my name to either of them. I was a write in.
I’m eager to receive your mail and read more from you.
I’m glad you enjoyed this piece of writing! Thanks for staying!
Good analysis on the failings of the neo-left. But the massive downside is that in his campaign and through his blasé commentary, Trump has baited a lot of morally-reprehensible groups (white supremacists, homophobes, misogynists) and gave them a (hopefully false) sense of legitimisation. As you can see even before today, that has very real consequences to those in these vulnerable groups in America.
I do not think you and I share the same sentiment on Hillary Clinton, but I do agree with you that she is not perfect. Time will only tell if he will be as effective a leader in the White House as his supporters think he will be for them.
That is a very valid point. I can only hope he doesn’t go through with some of his extremist plans to target minorities. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Can we not forget the “collateral damage” that he brought about? Just on the point on targeting minorities (essentially non-white), what Trump’s campaign brought about is a wave of hatred against anyone that is non-white and possible legitimisation (even if just perceived by his supporters) of violence and harrassment (hell I even heard women are also the target of his supporters).
And in before I get mistaken as a pure Hillary supporter, yes I fully agree with the failings of the Democrats to care about the rural people (and they are the very invisible and real victims of globalisation and trade deals)
I often like your unpopular opinions because I often have unpopular opinions too and I admire that you openly say yours while I don’t.
Whilst my friends talked about how horrible Trump was, I usually keep quite because the times I couldn’t stand it and decided to reason, the group gangs up on me and gets heated up about how racist and sexist he is. Though I do agree that his IS and his views are extreme and he is in no way a good person and does it for self interest, it doesn’t make him a worse candidate than Hilary who hides all the time. What about transparency? At least Trump was honest.
This was interesting to read as I learnt more. I still don’t like either – though if I had to choose, I’d go right wing depending on how extreme (I’d refuse to vote).
I have a friend who would rather vote Trump and she is afraid to speak up. She told me after I got bashed by our group in the group chat lol for reasoning about the refugee situation. I also overheard her complaining to another friend. That other friend is completely against Trump though you can tell she was TRYING to be understanding as my pro-Trump friend was upset since it gets really tiring hearing all the comments about Trump being made everyday – it’s great she’s in politics and law with me so I have someone to freely share opinions with during the discussions.
I remember the bite Trump made at Clinton about going to jail in the second debate and I found it quite hilarious.
There’s this article I read while researching for my politics and law test where the writer stated that we don’t have enough people that is brave enough to be unpopular. ‘You have to do unpopular things sometimes in politics.’ it said.
The main comment I heard all day is “the world is going to end”. Made for an amusing day.
hey, sorry to bother you but do you mind deleting my comments on this post? I had a think and concluded that I prefer my opinions to be kept to myself. >< sorry
Just saying. Rationalise that fear for a moment. It is already out and you are not dead. In fact, you said what is needed to be said and you have elucidate the very problem we have in modern society – the need to be politically correct – when in fact, that’s the cancer that prevents us from getting to the real solution to very real and urgent problems of this world.
Be cool…ain’t the end of the world..YET.
as much as I don’t necessarily agree with your views, people will have to immensely dumb to actually attack you for whatever you think. it’s literal pure hypocrisy from the other side of the camp :)
Man your post was extremely detailed in summarizing why Trump is a better candidate as compared to Hillary. I really cannot see why all my friends say Trump is the devil while you have Hillary doing stuff like rigging the primaries and even dabbling into “spirit cooking”. How do I explain to people that Trump is a better candidate than Hillary? I mean they all say he wants to kick out all the Muslims and Mexicans but they don’t seem to realise that his policies need to go through debates by the House and Senate. Thanks for your post by the way, really enjoyed reading it.
A lot of this probably has to do with the fact they’re constantly surrounded by left-wing media. Some of them don’t even know what WikiLeaks is. They’re so trapped in the bubble the biased MSM has created for them and are constantly fed anti-Trump and pro-Hillary news.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and kind words!
ThE only true evil or enemy is none of the 2
The True Evil or True Enemy is War itself !
We only have to pray that the true evil does not see the light of day even if your favourite president is elected or not..