Before assigning blame for why Hillary Clinton lost a race that she was supposed to win, it seems appropriate to first give credit to the victor. Whether you like or agree with President-elect Donald Trump, you have to give him credit for seeing and tapping into something that few others saw. From his gilded 58th floor, three-story apartment in Trump Tower overlooking Central Park, the real estate developer and television personality somehow peered into the American psyche and detected a growing anger and resentment among working- and lower- middle-class whites, particularly those in small towns, far suburbs, and rural areas, who feel left behind in the 21st-century global economy.You'll want to read the entire article.
Trump has lived in New York City for most of his 70 years, excepting a stint at a military prep school and an Ivy League interlude at Penn in Philadelphia, and his life was catalogued in glossy Manhattan style and society magazines. Yet alone among the presidential candidates, this moneyed, citified man sensed the grievances of country people toward the rich and powerful in New York, Washington, and Los Angeles. He was able to connect with these voters by skillfully manipulating the news media into lavishing on him as much as $2 billion in free airtime. All the while, he professed disdain and if not downright hatred for this very same media, further delighting his supporters.
The estrangement of these white voters created a backlash—inartfully called a “whitelash” by some commentators—based on the conviction that the country they remembered growing up, made idyllic by the passage of time, had been swept away. They at once deplored the change that took this country away from them, and demanded change to give it back.
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
The Establishment's Charlie Cook: Trump Grasped What Others Missed. From his gilded perch in Manhattan, he peered into the American psyche and saw the rising resentment of working-class whites.
The National Journal reports: