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I Reject the Popular Premise

I am going to buck a popular premise here.  Hillary Clinton didn’t lose because she was an establishment candidate.  She lost because Donald J Trump was the only person who could’ve beaten her.  Hillary Clinton could have beaten  any other candidate.  She would have mopped the floor with Kaisch, Bush, Rubio, Cruz, Christie, or Walker with her experience, her policies, her knowledge, and her strength.  Hillary came out stronger for improving the ACA, college affordability, tax code fixes, overturn Citizen’s United, women’s rights including equal pay and family leave, overturn Hyde, protect Roe vs Wade, gun safety laws, protect the environment and go to clean energy, fix the voting rights act, make registering to vote automatic and appoint liberal Supreme Court Justices. 

None of the rest would have elicited the same enthusiasm from the swathes of white voters and the fringes of the alt-right, in addition to mainstream republicans.  I am sorry it happened, apparently that's what it took for the racism and sexism in our society – the xenophobia and misogyny to be exposed and it took Donald Trump to expose them in such a blatant and ugly way. 

I hope the Democratic party doesn’t think they now need to run the same kind of candidate.  The Republican base has been saying for years that if the Republicans would just run a conservative enough candidate they would win.  Well, they did. They ran someone to get the alt-right, the evangelicals, the whites, and the fiscal conservatives.  They got their angry change agent.  The Democratic party did have a change candidate.  They had a candidate who was bringing policy, listening, and a spirit of cooperation to politics. 

What we need to do is what FLOTUS said, go high.  We need to combat racism with strength, truth, love, and solidarity.  We need to combat sexism with belief, respect, awareness, and power.  We need to unite to protect the rights and needs of all of us. 


HRC could’ve won against any candidate but this one. Not a one of them offered what she did including the one that won.  But, the anger, the endless lies, the heights of frenzy about “winning” for so many that have felt lost was too strong.  Trump won because the roiling blame, fear, anger and pain of 40% of our citizens needs to be acknowledged and addressed.  And that doesn't mean ignore the other 60% because we have fear, pain, and hurt too.  The only thing we can do now is come together stronger and more determined.  United we stand.
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