What Trump’s victory is telling Democrats

Has Tom Hanks packed his bags yet?

No, because the report that he would leave America if Donald J. Trump won was satire. But there was a long list, even back in 2016, of American assholes entertainers who would rather switch than fight.

None of those deep thinkers left.

Not even Bruce Springsteen, who joked about leaving if Trump won, just as Trump joked about leaving if he lost.

So Trump was elected in 2016, served four years, the Republic survived, and then he got fired. 

And now he’s back, the once and future president. The same people who predicted a catastrophe eight years ago are on their platforms merchandising doom.

Is it different this time?

A little, yes.

Last time Trump was surrounded by actual patriots, who put a brake on some of the nonsensical and dangerous things he wanted to do. Many in that inner circle, starting with his own vice president, said they could not support his candidacy.

The fear is they will be replaced by Trump sycophants, who will let him run wild.

I understand the fear, and I understand the Constitution, which Trump does not respect, will get a severe stress test. 

What is the bulwark behind the Constitution?

The U.S. Supreme Court, which has a Trump-appointed conservative majority.

Yes, they reversed Roe, which had been precedent for 50 years.

Yes, they expanded presidential immunity, which had always shielded presidents in executing their official acts.

The court also ruled against states trying to remove him from the ballot. It was right in that case, but also ruled against him in others, such as this election challenge.

The conservatives are strict constructionists, meaning they believe the Constitution means what it says, and the foundation of that document is to protect citizens against its government. 

Should Trump try to undermine actual, delineated rights (abortion is not a delineated right), the conservatives will stop him.

Am I sure?

No. It is my belief.

One great danger of Trump’s presidency will be his attempt to infiltrate Trump zombies true believers into all levels of the federal and state governments, men and women, such as election deniers, who turn to him for truth.

They are the danger, and they can’t be fought from Canada or Mexico. They must be fought from here.

And should be, using the very laws that Trump might debase. Only cowards run from a fight.

I believe our institutions are stronger than Trump, or the most unhinged of his supporters.

Yes, that is hope. 

The people who called him a Nazi used fear, and it did not work.

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Now, how did this happen? Why did a majority of voters go with Trump, and against the coastal elites? For the first time he won the popular vote. (Which means the election wasn’t rigged, in Trump’s mind. It is only rigged when he loses.) It was the first time a Republican candidate won the popular vote since 2004.

He actually won among Latino men, who semed to understand what many Democrats did not: When Trump ranted against illegals, they knew he wasn’t talking about them. 

Immigration was the second most important issue to most Americans, following the economy/inflation, which was No. 1. Bidenomics was a bummer.

Trump triumphed among a working class sick and tired of handouts to the undeserving, and an obsession with proper pronouns.

The why  of the loss will spark a debate among Democrats, like what followed Hillary Clinton’s 2016 loss.

There is a split between the progressive Woke Left, and the traditional moderates. A chasm, really.

The Woke Left, anti-white male and anti-Israel, will argue Kamala Harris should have run farther Left.

The moderates will say she did not make a convincing case that she was a centrist. That was my major hesitation before I finally decided to cast my vote for her. It was my hope that she would be moderate, as it is my hope our institutions will be stronger than Trump.

I am anti-Woke — meaning what it has become — and have written about it several times, such as here  and here.

I see it as a danger, and I always believed I was in the majority. This election seems to prove it. 

Americans looked past Trump’s glittering faults and gave him an historic victory, in part, I think, because of his rejection of anything that is Politically Correct. That accounted for his strong support among non-college educated males. Two-thirds of Americans do not have a college degree. The only thing they know about the Ivy League is weak football teams, and ugly cheerleaders.

Middle Americans ignored Trump’s felony convictions and his implication in Jan. 6, along with the Democrats’ use of celebrities and the Obamas.

Keep in mind that even where Democrats won, their level of support dropped.

The Far Left will paint this rejection of Kamala as a demonstration of America’s innate misogyny and racism. But they must explain why a majority of Americans voted for Hillary (who lost) and Barack, who won. Americans ignored gender and color.

This time, Americans sent a message.

Democrats are too far left.

Will Democrats heed it?