Congrats, President-Elect . . . Looking Back on A Tough Race

I wanted to give a word of congratulations to Donald Trump, who had a surprising turnout across the Rust Belt today. Simply stunning.

I do hope that despite the lack of decency and the lack of understanding of the issues that he often displayed that he and others will somehow he cobbles together a successful administration that benefits everyone, not just those at the top. 

That might come as a surprise to many people. I believe that we have to strive to work together, whomever is elected. We can’t afford to use divisive, poisonous rhetoric. We can’t become histrionic and threaten throwing a fit, leaving the country, and not participating in this great democracy that is America. 

I do believe in the coming days the autopsy of this race will find a couple of key ingredients in Trump’s win. 

+Wonderful World

The 5 to 8 percent of the vote that went to Gary Johnson and Jill Stein in states like Wisconsin and Michigan were the difference between winning and losing. It was 2 to 3 percent of the vote and the difference in Pennsylvania, Florida, and North Carolina. 

And, that’s how you elect someone else by voting for someone who has no chance.

The Comey letter to Congress regarding Clinton’s email server and subsequent secondary letter that declared ‘nothing new here’ gave rise to a buoyed Trump campaign in the last two weeks.

+Wonderful World

And lastly, the women, millennials, and minorities simply did not show up in as big of numbers as they needed to in order to protect the legacy of President Obama and to promote their own agenda.

It will now all be in the hands of President-Elect Donald Trump and a GOP-controlled Congress. 

You sometimes get what you want. Other times, not so much. That’s what democracy is all about. And, I at least have a clean conscience for doing what I could during this election. 

Here in Coles County we were successful in at least passing a 1% sales tax for our community schools. That is at least something. And, I was thrilled to meet, work, and help support an amazing network of such motivated, inspired, and hardworking people in this community.

I do hope that we all do come together, that somehow the Congress, the President-elect, and the States can work together to actually raise wages, rebuild the middle class, promote opportunity, and protect those in need. 

They certainly cannot do it on their own. I do hope that they hold them to the same high standards as they have held others.