Sometimes the truth is obvious: we're a more racist and sexist country than we thought.

[DanTex]

And all the intellectual contortions that people are going through trying come up with some other explanation won't change that. Trump put bigotry on the ballot, and bigotry won.

It's not just that Trump is a bigot. He made bigotry the centerpiece of campaign. Even down to his slogan: "Again" referred to a time when there were few Latinos here, blacks had to drink at different fountains, women cooked and brought coffee, and gays had to remain closeted.

But there's no need to read into his slogan to figure that out. He actually said it. Not just one gaffe. Over and over. He said racist things in interviews, in speeches, even reading from the teleprompter. What made Trump "different" wasn't that he was a Reality TV star with no political experience. It's that he's the first candidate in a very long time to make explicit racism his campaign theme.

And he won. I understand the desire of people to find some other explanation, besides the obvious one. It's not a nice feeling to realize that bigotry is so widespread. Although, my guess is that people who actually suffer from discrimination are less surprised by this that straight white men like me (and most of the people writing the articles about how no it wasn't really about racism).

But let's be real. We're a country with a deep history of racism. And we're not the only one. So it's not all that surprising that there's a lot of it still there.

It's not the Democratic Party that has "hard truths" to face. It's the United States.

[gollygee]

1. I totally agree

I was naive. I thought there were limit - that if someone said specifically racist things, that person would be unelectable. But no, he was overtly racist, over and over again, and it made him, if anything, more popular. But I suspect I only thought that because I'm white. I think if I were a person of color I would not be surprised.

[JI7]

2. and add in the acceptance of that bigotry by the media

As if it was just a different position on an issue .

[bettyellen]

5. Watching them normalize his cruel and idiotic rants was just too much.

[90-percent]

16. He may not be good for America,

He may not be good for America, but he sure is good for bigotry, uh, I mean, business.

-to misquote Les Moonvez, the CBS chief. When someone tells you who they are, believe them. Well, Les puts love of money above the well being of the United States and is burning up any future left for the planet. Their chose is literally to economize and get rid of a few jets an private islands, but keep your car elevators and a vacation home for every month, or continue to vacuum up all the money in the world and render our planet uninhabitable for most species to achieve your apparent goal to make the richest .1% wealthier than the bottom 99.1%. Nice people, these billionaires.

-90% jimmy

[RKP5637]

3. It seems to be what Americans want and like. It's hard to see otherwise! n/t

[SunSeeker]

12. 2.5 million more Americans voted for Hillary than Trump. nt

[RKP5637]

15. Quite true, of course, but the vote for Trump was deplorable, so many like him. WTF! n/t

[Garrett78]

4. I suppose the only surprising thing for me is that so many are surprised by this revelation.

I'm deeply involved in a couple local racial justice organizations in my area precisely because it's been clear for a long time that racism (and sexism), as well as xenophobia (very much rooted in racism), continues to be a *HUGE* problem in the US. The Tea Party, for instance, only really took off because of racism.

The "working class whites/economic messaging" narrative is, as I've written numerous times, ridiculous (it withers under scrutiny). It's also quite disheartening.

[Laurian]

6. I think you are absolutely right.

[gollygee]

7. Oh - and ableist!

I thought when he mocked the reporter who had a disability, that would be the end of him having any chance. But no, that was totally OK too.

People said they liked him because he spoke his mind. He spoke his racism, sexism, and so many other isms. People said why they liked him and they were telling the truth.

[Pantagruel]

8. Trump got 62 m votes

Not all are racists but a lot more than I would have believed pulled the lever for an unabashed racist.

[Skittles]

23. if you vote for a self-identified racist and misgoynist

YOU ENDORSE RACISM AND MISOGYNY

[mcar]

9. K&R

[3catwoman3]

10. From post #7 above - "People liked him because he spoke his mind."

Apparently he spoke a lot of people's minds. Minds full of hate.

I have long thought that when someone boasts about "telling it like it is," or "not holding back," or "I speak my mind. That's just how I am," that person is showing him/herself to be crass and completely unconcerned about anyone but self. To hell with everybody else.

[mountain grammy]

11. Sadly, I agree.

That's why Republicans keep getting elected, and the more they're elected, the more they find ways to expand their power. I think this minority of white supremacists, and they are the minority, will take us as far as they can.

It will be our job to loudly resist, beginning 1/20/2016.

[Paladin]

13. K&R.

[tenisfin]

14. I agree that this country

is more racist and sexist than many thought (particularly those of us in metropolitan cities) but I believe that those bigots are largely in rural areas and unfortunately are overrepresented in elections, largely due to ethnic gerrymandering. Certainly, many people in rural areas are not racists, but the racists who do exist tend to live in outlying regions and came out in KLANS this election.

[elmac]

17. Well, we do know that

65,124,828 people in this country are not racist and that trumps the 62,652,263 votes sniffles got. Hillary Clinton is my president.

[DeadLetterOffice]

34. We also know that over 40% of eligibles didn't bother

to come out and vote at all. Don't just look at votes cast, look at how many people who could have voted didn't stand against Trump. THAT is the true measure of America right now, and it paints a truly bleak picture.

[William Seger]

18. I can only speak from my own experience, but...

... indeed there are a lot of racists and sexists in this country, including those who are proud of it and those who would swear up and down that they are not, because they don't recognize their own prejudiced thought patterns.

But I also think that Trump had another group of supporters who aren't bigots themselves, but they have grown up so embedded in bigotry that they have become indifferent to it, because it doesn't affect them. Some may even be mildly offended by racist remarks, but treat it sort of like that guy who got drunk and obnoxious at a party: hey, other than that, he's a good guy, so forget about it.

But as has been pointed out, 100% of Trump supporters think it's not a deal breaker, and that's depressing as hell.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

19. No we're not....

Half of the public doesn't vote.

[DeadLetterOffice]

35. That over 40% of eligibles didn't come out to vote...

...one way or another, when a bigot like Trump was on the ballot, doesn't say a whole lot about America being a nation of tolerance and equality, now does it?

[Spitfire of ATJ]

39. I know a classic West Coast California Racist....

He voted Trump because he dreams of gun toting white guys busting in doors in full tactical gear grabbing up EVERYONE with brown skin and loading them into buses and sending them "home - where they belong".

Then he has the NERVE to say he's NOT racist because he doesn't have a problem with "the blacks". He even says "the blacks" should be on his side in his hate of "the Mexicans".

[treestar]

45. how do we know what they think?

they are at the very least very complacent.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

48. I'm more likely to believe the anti-NAFTA rustbelt line.

[IronLionZion]

20. We could bring back 90% tax on billionaires

a minimum wage high enough to pay for college, affordable college, unions, 8 hour workday, manufacturing in America, products that can be repaired, more natural food,

There are things that liberals would like to bring back but conservatives want the racism and sexism. They love it when America is great for only a select few.

But Steve Bannon assured us it's not about race because they're going to bring capitalism to inner cities.

Something tells me nobody is being told to go back to Europe. (although many liberals would love to go back)

[7962]

29. Practically no one ever actually paid that rate. Wouldnt do any good.

besides, these days it would be much easier to deduct/defer/hide a ton of earnings to avoid it like they used to 60 yrs ago. Theres no point raising the rate to a level no one will comply with.
We need a sales tax. Dozens of well paying professions are self reported income, so you can avoid tax on as much as you're willing to risk. A sales tax gets those people, and the criminal money as well.
Think about how many people out there arent paid with W-2 or 1099 earnings. A ton of them.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

40. That's a talking point...

The way they got out of paying that rate was they didn't give themselves such high salaries. They sunk the profits back into R&D and payroll.

[7962]

43. You're talking more corporate money than individual.

Not many individuals put their money into R&D. High income individuals had a ton of deductions back then.
No one will ever pay a 90% rate.
My other point is valid; dozens of well paying professions are self reporting income and a good many are likely under reporting.
Sales tax taxes those people as well as illegal earnigs. And we all know there is a LOT of that out there

[Spitfire of ATJ]

47. I want to take away enough so they can't buy the government....

.....even if the government is cheap.

[Dems to Win]

21. Some people remember a time when the factory was humming, everybody had jobs, it was great

I'm willing to grant my fellow Americans the benefit of the doubt that at least some have this in mind when thinking of Making America Great Again.

Many people are opposed to NAFTA, PNTR-China, and illegal immigration, and don't consider themselves to be bigots.
Union workers in Ohio, for instance:

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/11/rust-belt-democrats-saw-trump-wave-coming

These Rust Belt Democrats Saw the Trump Wave Coming
And they tried to warn the Clinton campaign.

PEMA LEVYNOV. 11, 2016 3:32 PM

Like labor unions everywhere, the local Plumbers & Pipefitters union in Ohio's Mahoning Valley—a historically Democratic bastion due to the influence of labor—endorsed Hillary Clinton for president in September 2015 and urged its members to vote for her. But unlike in years past, when Roland "Butch" Taylor briefed about 200 members on the union's support of Clinton and the prospective benefits of a Clinton presidency in May, the meeting didn't go well. "I got a lot of boos," he recalls. "I got a lot of chatter back. And out of the group, only one person came up and asked me for a T-shirt."

"Right then and there, I knew something was wrong," says Taylor, who retired a few months later. "I thought, 'Well, maybe it will change as the campaign moves forward.'"

snip...

Like Betras, Taylor doesn't believe his peers and neighbors who supported Trump are racist. But he understands how Trump's talk about immigration appealed to people in the Rust Belt. A few years ago, his union was working on a billion-dollar natural gas processing plant, and the workers noticed that the bulk of the work was being done by Spanish-speaking laborers who arrived each morning on buses. "It brought a lot of resentment to the area because they'd never seen it before," Taylor says. "People see that and then they go tell everybody else, and social media, the way it is, it just runs wild." He believes Trump benefited when the community saw immigrants "taking jobs that Americans think they should be doing."

snip...


In the aftermath of the election, even as Taylor looks backs and sees the writing on the wall, he sounds shaken by what the country—and specifically white-working class voters in the Rust Belt—allowed to happen. He acknowledges that the Clintons were "wrapped so close to NAFTA" (which Bill Clinton approved as president) and that Hillary Clinton's speaking fees from big banks looked bad. "I see where people would have resentment," he says.

[Skittles]

22. does Taylor understand DONALD'S and IVANKA'S PRODUCTS ARE MADE OFFSHORE

yes there was a problem but DONALD FUCKING TRUMP WAS NOT THE ANSWER

[Spitfire of ATJ]

41. Trump voters believe he HAD to outsource...

Like Clinton made it illegal to hire American Workers.

[Nevernose]

24. My gut reaction was to argue

We did have a deeply flawed candidate -- even if it wasn't her fault she was flawed. And ultimately she/America lost because we didn't have the turn out, especially where it was needed. And the media, Russia, the FBI, etc...

Buy the fact that so many millions of Americans voted for such an ignorant piece of excrement boggles the mind? I just can't get past it. It's like a joke or something.

I didn't think we were that bad a people.

We have become so fearful of "others" it's just sad.

[LisaL]

25. Whatever flaws our candidate had, it was nothing compared to Trump's.

Why is our candidate supposed to be flawless but republicans can get away with pretty much anything?

[7962]

30. They're used to having flaws!

[Skittles]

32. the bar is way higher for Democrats

and for women, the bar is in the stratosphere - what else would explain their approval of Petraeus?

[Nevernose]

33. I don't know. Honest answer.

As 7962 and Sittles have already said, it makes no sense at all. Part of that is a complement media, part of it is a complement infrastructure. I wake up every single day thinking this is a horrible dream.

[JI7]

36. everyone is flawed, she has a better record than most people of doing good for others. the people

who voted for Trump did so because they wanted to see some people harmed.

[certainot]

26. there will always be racists and sexists but limbaugh and sons have been used

to make it more acceptable - a major function of rw talk radio has been to magnify crimes by minorities and immigrants, make excuses for cop brutality, etc, to help them pass their voter suppression legislation.

it was all spectacularly successful because the dem party, the left and the progressive orgs ignored getting their asses kicked by 1200 coordinated radio stations for 30 years in a spectacular failure. the biggest political mistake in history.

we even let 88 major universities support 257 limbaugh stations! and then whine about how hillary had a private email server.

[BlueMTexpat]

27. The only comfort is that,

based on the popular votes, more of us who voted are neither.

It's cold comfort indeed in the circumstances. But it tends to show that if we survive as a united country - which is very much in question now - the trend should realistically shift back to inclusiveness and, hopefully, sanity and compassion. Some of us will not be around to see that, unfortunately.

For some of us, Hillary was literally our last best chance. I will NEVER forgive those who chose a lying racist, sexist, bigoted, thrice-married, philandering, pussy-groping POS over the best-qualified candidate in US history. I will also NEVER forgive anyone who enabled that POS to be elected. EVER!

I will NOT be "getting over" this. But I WILL be living my life with those I love as best we call can.

[kebob]

28. Yep

It sucks, but it's true.

[TonyPDX]

31. I believe most of us knew it. We're just more racist and sexist than we ever wanted to admit.

The folks at the very bottom who ultimately decided this last election weren't all bigots, though.Some probably were just willing to overlook issues they disagreed with if Trump could bring back the jobs they rely on. Despair can have that effect on otherwise good people.

We're also not as smart.

[iluvtennis]

37. AMEN, you speak the Truth! n/t

[COLGATE4]

38. I think we all were kidding ourselves, believing that as a society

we had come much farther than we actually had. With the election of Obama many of us believed (or wanted to believe) that a post-racial society was actually beginning. Likewise with many of the later advances for women, we wanted to think that perhaps gender equity was a foregone conclusion, only to be disabused by watching 62 million of our fellow Americans happily cast their votes for a narcissistic, puerile hustler whose greatest claim to those votes was "telling it like it is", i.e. demeaning, bullying and targeting groups with any significant variance from white, Anglo males.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

42. It was the BELTWAY MEDIA that has absolutely ZERO CLUE about the rest of America who pushed that...

Now they're going around wondering how to cater to a nation of sexists and bigots.

(As if they weren't before.)

[treestar]

44. True and I've seen the theory that

people voted in a black man so they can say they did it and therefore must not be racists. Then hold him to higher standards than any previous president, and say it proves their point.

Which in a way I am happy for Hillary in that she would have been held to even higher standards. They weren't ready to claim they aren't sexist because they voted for a woman.

That said though it really was only in 3 states, since Hillary won the popular vote by so much.

[mcar]

55. This is completely untrue

There was a clear message from our side. Perhaps you weren't paying attention?

[agalisgv]

49. The truth hurts

I am thinking along the same lines as you. People will not admit they are racist and/or sexist. And that is a large part of the problem.

[ismnotwasm]

50. I think there is a significant proportion that knew exactly how sexist and racist we are

The African American communities--they've been trying to tell us for years. Feminists-we get belittled and mocked and are told to "lighten up". Just to name a couple.

Overall, though, you are right.

[RFKISNEEDED]

51. Yet, we elected an Afraican American Twice

So, maybe there was more to Trump's win and Clinton's loss then racism.

[ismnotwasm]

52. There was more to Clinton's loss

But anyone who voted for Trump is a racist at least by proxy. There is no excuse,

[DanTex]

53. True, but racism wasn't on the ballot in 2012 like it was this year.

Romney was not a racist. Neither was McCain. This year Trump ran on strongly pro-racist message.

And it's more than just racism. Sexism played a big role too.

[Generic Brad]

54. The majority of the country wants empire

And empire it shall have. The experiment of democracy was nice while it lasted, but it's over and done with. I don't believe I am being hyperbolic about this. The America we knew was severely challenged under Bush. But with the accession of Trump it will be dead and buried. This is not the America we were born into and it is not coming back.

The entire country is more surreal now than it was under Bush/Cheney and this guy has not even been sworn in yet!

My wife is foreign born and our daughter is biracial. I keep telling them everything will be OK, but I don't believe it for a second. I am very worried over our well being. There is a new normal and we don't know where we fit in yet.