One of the questions that people
keep asking in the wake of the Trump victory is, how to explain this outcome to
your children. The awkwardness that is implied reminds one of the discomfort that
surrounds giving “The Talk”. Yes, that one. You know, the one about where
babies come from. Actually, some of Trump’s antics and utterances during the campaign
and in his prior lives also included stuff that you would not wish to mention in front of the children.
But that’s by the by.
The short answer
to the question is that the Trump victory provides a lesson in civics. That you
get what you vote for. Or, more to the point, what you didn’t vote for.
Let me explain.
As the post-election
autopsy progresses, we hear that nearly half of eligible Americans didn’t vote.
Of the half that did, 25.5% voted for Trump and 25.6% for Clinton, giving Mrs
Clinton a paper-thin majority in the popular vote. Not enough for the winning
magic in the electoral colleges because, for that, you need to win in the
states with big Electoral College numbers. But in these, only 29.9% opted for
Clinton, whilst for Trump 30.9% did.
It is
significant also that, among those who voted in this election, 70% were white. Most
of these (58%) voted Trump, whilst Clinton could only manage 37%. The 30% that
were non-white included among them, 23% Black and Latino who, in the event,
voted massively for Clinton (88% of blacks and 65% of Latinos). But, in their
totality, their numbers did not amount to anything enough to make a significant
impact.
You may well ask
then, where was the demographic shift they keep telling us about when it was needed?
The narrative, though, is that all kinds of obstacles were placed in the way of
minority voters when they attempt to vote and even before they thought of
voting. Not good enough, I say. We’re not talking about a Third World dictatorship
here. If you didn’t want Trump to win, then you should have gone out to vote.No excuse is tenable.
So, it’s not
just the Deplorables, stupid. It’s you as well.
And that’s what
you should tell the children.
Tell Fren Tru
