I listened to the news of the 2016 U.S.
Presidential Election come in over my hand-held, transistor radio on WNYC, 93.9
FM, National Public Radio, in New York. Listening to the reports roll in, I grew increasingly
despondent as the night continued. I voted for and supported Hillary
Clinton, Democrat, and I lost. Donald Trump, Republican, won. Hillary Clinton
has called to concede defeat, but has not yet delivered her concession speech.
Donald Trump has addressed his supporters in his victory speech.
At least I could enjoy the comfort of my
shared office space, my dedicated desk, with wi-fi included in the rent. This
is where I listened to my public radio over my early twentieth-century
technology, a simple radio, that remains a useful form of media. It is on my
Samsung Galaxy Tablet, over this office space wi-fi, that I write my post. I combine
earlier, simple, useful low-tech with more contemporary high-tech to post this entry
on my blog.
Small comfort. I am a democratic socialist
who is sitting here now in my shared office space and watching the Republican
Party sweep the U.S. House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Presidency. All
of this conservative ascendancy is led by our new President-elect, Donald
Trump.
There is nothing I can do but
grin-and-bear-it, wince, and accept the results of this legitimate, democratic
election. Woe be to us on the Left in America tonight, and presumably, for the
next four years.
Donald
Trump rode a wave of what one speaker on NPR termed “reactionary populism.” I
think so. Trump proclaimed economic nationalism and won, hands-down, in a white
backlash vote against President Obama and the political elites of Washington,
DC.
In this broad, conservative electoral
turn, President-elect Trump was shown to be right about his repeated claim that
we would witness a Brexit vote here in the United States. In the U.K., voters
recently turned away the plans of the political and financial elites, and stood
up to take back their own destiny and take back their country. That is exactly
what Donald Trump said the American people would do here in the U.S. by voting
for him. Most people in the media and the polls did not believe him on this
claim, but tonight the American people have done exactly that.
The popular vote and the electoral college
were both close, but Donald Trump clearly won.
In his victory speech tonight, before
Hillary Clinton’s concession speech, but after her call to him conceding defeat,
in Donald Trump’s victory speech, he was not combative, but welcoming and hopeful,
almost conciliatory, to all of the American people and to all countries around
the world. Specifically, he promised opportunity to the American people, and
fairness, and the opportunity for partnership, to all other countries around
the world.
I hope the mean tone and personal attacks
between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton during the campaign can be put behind
them.
Finally, although I feel disappointed that
Hillary Clinton lost, I hope that we can all survive—and make the best of—this
upcoming Donald Trump presidency. At this point in history, it is all that we can do.
--Nicholas
Patti
New York, NY
