Post Election Thoughts

   -The vote in Warren County went 68% Trump, and while I voted Hillary primarily for healthcare and green energy reasons, I understand the frustration people have against the current government-and America generally- in which they feel the rich and powerful make the rules and hoard the profits. Voters feel a sense of injustice for the same reason that the jury voted to acquit O.J. Simpson in 1995; the historical record of oppression was on trial..Not O.J... So the blue collar working class and others are fed up with Washington and did what they thought was right. As for Trump himself, Peter Thiel summed up the national divide up well when he said that his supporters take him "seriously but not literally", while everyone else takes him literally but not seriously. Which means for instance that building a wall may not mean literally building a wall rather getting something serious done about immigration policy. We shall see what parts of the spin relate to reality. 

  - During the campaign I saw 'Vote Trump' signs in front of  beautiful houses, but I am not sure what definition of 'MakeAmericaGreatAgain' those homeowners thought had failed them; the America they inhabited looked  quite prosperous to me. And I saw signs in front of run down houses whose occupants probably worked two jobs to pay the bills, but they also had satellite dishes on the roof and pizza boxes in the trash. So neither were those homeowners as oppressed as they may have believed. For every 'lowering' of living standard that America has experienced through the loss of jobs, a Chinese or Mexican workers living standard has been raised, so the flux and flow of jobs is nothing new regardless of how painful it is to individuals. America has a deep safety net that many world citizens do not. The disaffected American worker justifiably wonders why billions of tax dollars are wasted overseas in wars and other places while his own life position seems to be stagnating. The income and education gap is real, and we'll see how much a billionaire can truly relate to the working class.

   -Like most elections, this one did not contain analytical discussions so much as sound bites with simple explanations and solutions that appealed to the powerlessness people feel within their own lives. In the Twitter age half truths sound great in a few sentences. I know a  Trump supporter who  emphatically claimed that trucks could never run on natural gas because they would never produce enough power to haul freight. A simple Google search of 'natural gas trucks' exposes the absurdity of that claim. So 'bomb the shit' out of ISIS sounds like a great solution to someone who has never researched the long troubled history of the middle east. It sounded great to the second George Bush who never thought beyond the first invasion wave. If only life were so simple. 

   -President elect Trump described his first transitional meeting with Obama productive and that they had "great chemistry". I believe it. Trump in 2004 admitted that "In many cases I probably identify more as a democrat" and Obama is a careful thinker who knows that he has to insure a smooth transfer of power.  Trumps daughter Ivanka is friends with Hillarys daughter Chelsea and I suspect that both will be positive influences behind the scenes.