Who's To Blame For President Trump?

Thank you to Viral Thread and Jonathan Pie

As a Libertarian, I’m not shocked at all by Donald Trump's election. The moment liberals believed he couldn't do it is the moment he took the White House. Of course Trump won. Why is everyone so shocked? The media, the political elite, the pollsters, the markets, and the left are all walking around with their collective jaws on the floor.

How can the left be this shocked? Hillary Clinton? What were the Democrats thinking? Don’t get me wrong, I’d rather vote for Lucifer than Donald Trump, but this isn’t about how Trump won, it's about how Clinton lost.

Seriously. How bad do you have to be to lose to Trump? Where was Bernie Sanders? Why wasn’t he on the ticket? Sanders was infinitely more electable than Clinton, but the Democrats decided on a candidate who’s been cozying up to the banks and dry humping corporations for years. She’s on record telling her corporate friends that you should have a public and a private persona. In other words, don’t tell the truth to the plebs, or you won’t be able to rip them off.

What did they think was going to happen? People keep asking themselves, “How did this happen?” They’re dumbfounded, but it’s so incredibly simple.

The left did this. When are they going to learn? The left have given up putting any argument across at all to the point where Hillary Clinton is considered a liberal. On many issues, the conservative prime minister of England, Theresa May, is less right wing than Clinton. That’s a fact. And yet, people are all over Facebook saying, “I’m with her. She’s certainly better than Trump.” Sorry, that’s not good enough.

Most people who voted for Trump are not sexist, or racist. Some are, but most are not. Most people didn’t vote for her, not because she’s a woman, they didn’t vote for her because she offered no palpable change what so ever. Same old stuff in a different container.

Trump offers a change. A terrifying change, but at least it’s a change. Clinton represented very little actually. She protects corporate interests, feeds the military industrial complex, and doesn’t call the police when questions from the debate are leaked to her in advance. I noticed the media barely reported that.

What does it take to get the left to realize an argument isn’t won by hurling labels and insults? When will they learn that the key is discussion? Rational, thoughtful, meaningful discussion? Those on the left unwilling to seriously discuss issues created the conditions that allowed President Trump and people like him to thrive.

People on the left won’t listen, so this is their fault. The left have decided that any other opinion, any other way of looking at the world is unacceptable. They don’t debate anymore because they hold the moral high ground and won the cultural war. So, if you’re on the right, you’re a freak. You’re evil, racist, uneducated, and stupid. You are a basket of deplorables and are not deserving of their time. How do you think people are going to vote if you talk to them like that? When has anyone ever been persuaded by being insulted or labeled?

So now, those on the right, or anyone who is against the prevailing view, are attacked for raising their opinion. That’s why the media and pollsters missed on this one. The left shouted down their opposition, keeping them quiet and still until they reached the voting booth. In there, no one is watching. There’s no blame or shame, and you can finally say what you really think and that is a powerful thing.

All the exit polls were wrong; all of them. Because when asked, people on the right can’t say what they actually think. They can’t say what they think because they’re not allowed to. The left have made people unable to articulate their position for fear of being shouted down. Every time someone on the left has said, “You mustn’t say that,” they are contributing to this culture.

It’s time for the left to stop moaning and crying over an opportunity lost. It’s time to stop ignoring your opponent, or worse, trying to silence them. It’s time to stop banning people from speaking at universities. It’s time to stop thinking that reposting an article on your Facebook feed is political engagement.

It’s time to stop thinking that banning a gymnast from doing what he’s good at because he insulted someone’s religion somehow achieved something. When did the gymnastics association start thinking it was appropriate to start enforcing blasphemy laws?

If this dialogue hurts your feelings you have two choices: run away to your safe space, or you can engage and debate me, and tell me what I’m getting wrong, and why. Being offended doesn’t work anymore. Throwing insults doesn’t work anymore. The only thing that works is engaging in the debate. Rational, logical, meaningful debate.

So stop surrounding yourself with only people you agree with. Talk to people who think differently than you and persuade them with your argument. It’s so easy, and the left have lost the art.

Stop thinking that everyone who disagrees with you is evil, or racist, or sexist, or stupid, and talk to them. Persuade them to think otherwise, because if you don't at least try, you get what you deserve. You get President Trump.