Posted on 11/07/2016 6:09:55 AM PST by shortstop
Only one thing is certain about Wednesday morning, half of America is going to be pissed off.
Infuriated, alienated, disenfranchised.
If the winner is known, if the presidential race isn't hung up in some court challenge or Russian hack, the only prediction that can be made with any confidence is that this election will leave about 50 percent of the people in this country feeling like this isn't their country.
The divide will be wide and deep.
And the prospects of bridging it are meager.
But first, who's going to win.
It's anybody's guess.
Reasonable arguments can be made for several scenarios. The polls could be right and Hillary will win before the thing leaves the Eastern time zone. The Trump surge in the polls could push put him just past her and he squeaks it out when they close the polls in Nevada. Or there could be a rumbling subterranean tide, a huge surge of enthusiasm for Trump shown at his rallies but not in the miscalculated polling samples, and he could win in a landslide when they tally up Ohio and Michigan.
The range of reasonable outcomes stretches from a Clinton landslide to a Trump landslide, and any number of hanging-chad situations in between.
Both sides hope for victory, both sides are holding their breath.
And one side is going to be kicked in the ass.
And kicked to the curb.
The first responsibility of the president elect will be to reach out and welcome in. The great challenge will be making peace, not with foreign governments, but with American citizens.
And that doesn't seem likely.
Neither candidate seems inclined to graciousness. Neither candidate seems particularly interested in or capable of reaching out to people who disagree. Trump has spoken more of love, and been less specifically condemning of his opponent's supporters, but his brand has been so destroyed among Democrat voters that the only reasonable response they can have is hatred.
And it seems that a great deal of hatred has been shown by Hillary and her supporters for Trump voters. Election Day isn't a magic wand that makes "unredeemable" and "deplorable" go away, and when you have described your opponents as racists, xenophobes, sexists and Islamophobes as a matter of course, victory doesn't make bygones be bygones.
There is a likelihood that either side will see electoral victory as a justification for its own delusions of infallibility. Wednesday won't be brotherhood and understanding, it will be taunting and end-zone celebrations.
And one side will read the outcome as a giant middle finger in the face. The sense of being disregarded, disrespected and disenfranchised will be enormous -- no matter who wins. Recent years, and this campaign, have exacerbated dramatically social division along the lines of race, gender, religion and politics. Even the things that used to unite us -- God and country -- have become flash points of anger, with both being disregarded and dumped by some.
There is a revolution afoot, and one side is going to lose.
And the losing side is apt to be shouted into silence, defined out of the new America.
In times past, that would have troubled the winning side.
But not anymore. On Wednesday morning, half of America is going to be pissed. And, sadly, that is going to thrill the other half.
In recent days, people have been saying, "Won't you be glad when this is over?"
The answer is, "No."
Because when the election is over, that's when it's going to get bad.
Out of the frying pan, and into the fire.
True, but testing and firing sets the tone.
And one must start somewhere, best if it's an objective lab test rather than every accusation that some disgruntled underling makes...
I believe him, and I believe Mr. Lonsberry has totally missed that point
When Trump wins I want to see all those liberals who said they’d leave if he won, to leave. If they don’t they should be slammed everyday they’re still in the US.
I see what you did there.
Maybe maybe not. They may not want to tempt Trump. He will have alot of power thanks to Obama’s strengthening of the executive and he won’t hesitate to use it. I don’t think they will be able to punk him like W.
Indeed, indeed. They are already moving to enact those provocations.
But, I anticipate that lot has already been cast and they are not going to turn back no matter how our election turns out.
Hillary started this WWIII, she and 0bama, and it has not really yet begun.
Yep.
The deplorables to re-education camps.
The irredeemables to other camps.
Mass murder, it's what socialist and communists do.
Winner, winner, chicken dinner! You are right but, the media onslaught will be incessant.
>> I’m too old to move to another country.
But if you weren’t where would you go?
“...this election will leave about 50 percent of the people in this country feeling like this isn’t their country.”
We haven’t even had 65% eligible voter turnout since 1908. There’s plenty of folks who don’t/won’t care, or care enough to bother vote about it anyhow.
If the 10% of voters who are supposedly swing voters actually do decide national elections, then we have the situation where the dumbest who somehow still manage to vote actually decide all elections, no matter the result. No matter who wins, pub or dem, con or lib, they were chosen because they somehow swayed the swayable into choosing between two fairly opposed political philosophies.
Freegards
from my perspective, ANY political appointee from any prior president should be immediately fired. Fire every cabinet secretary, their assistants, deputies, personal hires as department heads. Fire EVERY US Attorney in the US, Fire the head of CIA, FBI, NSA and the DNI.
And in my opinion, everyone at the Department of State needs to be fired.
Voter fraud charges?
From the selfsame people who have been screaming every day that voter fraud simply doesn't exist????
There will be troops in the street by Friday th no matter who wins.
We are about to experience the legacy of Obama.
Hatred and division.
“It will be Gore x 1000, as lawyers immediately start demanding injunctions and recounts...”
So true. They will try to tie this up for a long time. And then the riots will come.
It doesn’t matter. They’ll make it up. Same with voter suppression.
oh wait...
I fear this article is just the edge of what will really happen... KYPD.
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