Donald Trump is going to win the US presidential election this coming November and will be sworn in as the 45th president of the republic in January of 2017. It is an alarming reality that many across the world initially laughed off as an impossibility, but it is a reality that has taken corporeal form as the months have trudged on. While I am not totally on board with the #TrumpTrain, as it is known, I can certainly understand how and why this fringe businessman will become the next president of the free world. To clarify before going further this article is not a wholesale endorsement of Trump, it is simply an explanation of how and why he will be elected; and why the regressive left will have enabled it. I do not agree with all Trump’s policies and am somewhat anxious knowing that a man who can be baited with a tweet will have the nuclear codes of the nation at his fingertips.
In a previous article I explained that Trump has been riding a substantial backlash against political correctness to fuel his campaign, something that has come to attract him the most ire from political commentators and activists. I would like to make an addendum to this previous point, in the light of further research.
The source I would draw upon is an essay from the French sociologist and philosopher Jean Baudrillard (1929 – 2007). Baudrillard is a name most history majors might recognize (Francis Fukuyama being the other) as he was one of the champions of postmodernist theory. I have made no secret of my disdain for postmodernism, especially when applied in the study of history, but that does not stop me from recognizing a valid argument when I see one. The theory I would like to reference from Baudrillard comes from his 1990 work The Transparency of Evil.The exact passage can be found on page eighty-two, in the chapter Whatever Happened to Evil? and reads as follows: ‘Every last trace of negativity is smothered by the virtual consensus that prevails. Our political authorities themselves are but mere shadows of their declared functions. For power exists solely by virtue of its ability to designate the Other, the Enemy, what is at stake, what threatens us, what is Evil. We have become very weak, our societies have become fanatically soft – or softly fanatical. By hunting down all of the accursed share in ourselves and allowing only positive values free reign, we have made ourselves dramatically vulnerable to even the mildest of attacks’.
What I believe Baudrillard meant when he summarized his work in this manner was that political correctness has made western society, American society, brittle to the core. The whole premise of a prosperous society is that it must maintain a semblance of balance politically and socially to counteract the excesses of the opposite wing. Political correctness has thrown the balance of society out of kilter, with regressive leftists and social justice warriors in particular attacking what they perceive as being the Other in the form of any dissenting opinion to what they believe is acceptable. The reality is that the ideal society the regressive left seeks to establish, a society cleansed of all Evil, is literally impossible. This is because as right wing and anti-PC figures fall in the face of this onslaught the ideology as a whole has developed an auto-immune response – a mutated super bug if you would. This response is Donald Trump, a candidate who is absolutely immune to the tactics used by the regressive left and whom attacks political correctness with the enthusiasm of a lumberjack. This is a primary pillar of Trump’s support and it is one he recognized early in his campaign, then used to great effect – felling all his competition during the Republican primaries. Throwing insults and attempting to shame Trump and his supporters for expressing their constitutional right of free speech simply does not work as they have mutated beyond the point of being affected. We actually have another very good example of regressive tactics of this vein being used extensively but ultimately failing to have their intended effect. Can you think of a time in recent weeks/months when shaming, labeling and pleas to emotion failed to affect decision making for an entire nation?
Exactly.
The tactics of the regressive left (and some right wing conservatives I must add) proved worthless in the face of reality. This reality is that the left wing, and by an extension the liberalism that spawned it, is not a universal movement and never has been. The same can of course be said for right wing movements like the Brexit camp but the fact of the matter is that the Brexit camp never attempted to shut down the debate entirely and never attempted to suppress free speech. The regressive left does this and has perfected it to an art form, take a look at developments on American university campuses to see this in action. Free speech in particular, literally the first amendment of the constitution, being trampled on by an increasingly apartheid-esque group of regressive leftists is a clear vote winner for Trump. Other issues like fears over immigration require more time and space to explain but suffice to say, multiculturalism is all-and-well-good when the intelligentsia who advocate it live in ‘ivory towers’ and are largely sheltered from the negative aspects of it. Again, for another time.
The second clear-cut reason Trump will secure the presidency is down to his opponent, Hillary Clinton. Michael Moore, a film-maker I always have an ear for who is as socialistic as they come, recently wrote a fantastic letter on his website where he detailed the reasons Trump will win the election. I’d like to quote him here as it really summarizes the point I am about to make. ‘Let’s face it: Our biggest problem here isn’t Trump – it’s Hillary. She is hugely unpopular — nearly 70% of all voters think she is untrustworthy and dishonest. She represents the old way of politics, not really believing in anything other than what can get you elected. The kids don’t like her, and not a day goes by that a millennial doesn’t tell me they aren’t voting for her. No Democrat, and certainly no Independent, is waking up on November 8th excited to run out and vote for Hillary the way they did the day Obama became president or when Bernie was on the primary ballot. The enthusiasm just isn’t there’.
Eloquently put Mr. Moore. In my original article I mentioned that Bernie Sanders would have been the ideal candidate to pit against Trump and my opinion in this matter has not changed. After all, the best way to highlight how absurd something or someone is is to juxtapose it or them against their pole opposite. Ideologically, Sanders and Trump have about as much in common with each other as steak and fish but the fact remains that they are both practically Independents using their own respective party tickets. Make no mistake about it, Trump is not a real Republican – something his primary opponents frequently pointed out – and Sanders is not a real Democrat; he is a a Democratic Socialist. What I would like to add to Michael Moore’s prose is the drama surrounding the DNC e-mail hack. To summarize this scandal, ongoing I should add, took place just over a week ago; proved, through leaked DNC e-mails, that the DNC had been actively conspiring against Bernie Sanders to ensure that Hillary Clinton secured the party nomination for president. Suffice to say this is undemocratic to the extreme and has understandably alienated Sanders supporters, very enthusiastic supporters at that, putting a dangerous knife in the side of the Democrat vote. Will all Sanders supporters stay home on the day of the election or even worse vote for Trump to spite the party that betrayed them? Of course not, that’s unrealistic… but not entirely impossible. Say what you will about Donald Trump but the fact is that he was nominated through a democratic process within his own party, Clinton was not – and the voters will know this when they go to the ballot on the 8th November.
The third and final reason Trump will secure the presidency is the Brexit Effect, a newly coined term that re-brands the practice of politicians targeting economically depressed and politically alienated working class voters with promises of economic prosperity and the promise of being brought in from the cold into the political process. Trump will focus most of, if not all of his efforts on the ‘Rust Belt’ of the northernmost states: Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Of these four states, the first three currently have Republican governors while Pennsylvania has a Democrat. Clinton’s support of free trade deals like the TPPA and NAFTA are tools Trump will use to absolutely crucify her in all these states, and whats more – the crowd will be cheering when he does. Trump is vehemently against free trade deals of this ilk and this will secure his votes from the disaffected working class voters of these states. If this happens then Trump doesn’t even need to win Florida. Will he win Florida? It’s really hard to call that state so I’m going to give it to Clinton. These states, coupled with the Republican stronghold states of the south and the mid-west hand Trump enough electoral votes to secure the presidency.
Click the map to create your own at This is of course assuming that the electoral results of the 2012 election, prior to my aforementioned predictions, remain unchanged.
In conclusion I think it’s best to compare what is happening in the liberal media and in the DNC to the Kubler-Ross Model of Grief, the sequence of events a person goes through when faced with death or severe emotional trauma.
Denial: The DNC and liberal media is in denial over the prospect of Trump being elected.
Anger: Vitriol against Trump and Sanders supporters is already out there.
Bargaining: Will come when the DNC scrambles to bring alienated voters back onside.
Depression: Will come when Trump is president-elect come November.
Acceptance: Will come when Trump takes office early in 2017.
Actually, scratch that last one – I doubt acceptance will ever come. Reality sucks at times, but you have to accept and live with it nonetheless. There is an exceptionally good chance that Donald Trump will be elected as the next American president and the sooner people can accept that as a distinct possibility rather than live in an echo chamber the sooner they can do something about it if they wish to to do so. Because, as it stands the primary benefactor to the Trump campaign has been the regressive left and Hillary Clinton.
Talekeeper 