It wasn’t about race, the patriarchy, or xenophobia. Though the haters on both ends yell the loudest, they’re a tiny minority. This happened because a huge swath of the American working class was abandoned by both parties decades ago. Both parties had “populist” candidates speaking out against it leading up to the primary. I voted for the candidate that seemed determined to work against the banks, the corporations, the military industrial nightmare that has possessed the US for half a century or more. The Democrats scuttled his campaign in favor of business as usual. It has become obvious to a large number of people that most politicians are puppets, and the masters aren’t working in the interests of the working class. Sure, social/cultural issues are part of the feedback loop but they don’t keep a lot of people employed.
The other party also tried to scuttle their own populist candidate. Even though he didn’t fit with their social/cultural norms, his anti-establishment appeal and brand recognition was too powerful to overcome. I didn’t think Trump could win, but that anyone paid attention to him at all should be a loud and clear message – a message, and an entire swath of the American population, that the left often mocked and ignored. Yes, these issues often affected, and therefore were reflected in the voices of, mostly straight, white, rural, “uneducated” (by the standards of the left), males. Unfortunately, in clamoring to give voice to the voiceless, power to the powerless, we have become obsessed with who speaks while ignoring the content of the speech itself.
Unfortunately, I don’t think the Democrats will learn from this. Instead, they’ll lean further right, more centrist politics, more following rather than leading, and the weaker they are the easier it will be for their masters to manipulate the situation for their gains. The result may be further losses for the working class and the nation as a whole because neither side seems to be genuinely working toward filling the growing economic chasm. Instead, both parties prefer to use a cultural crowbar to pry us further apart.
A while back, Michael Moore predicted a Trump win. I can’t argue with his take on the subject: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxDRqeuLNag
Cracked.com has a good take on it as well: http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-reasons-trumps-rise-that-no-one-talks-about/
