“It’s the economy stupid.” James Carville’s famous statement explaining Bill Clinton’s 1992 victory has been lost to the left in America.

The progressives are hysterical following the defeat of Hillary Clinton. Predictably, they went to their playbook and decided that Trump’s sexism and racism appealed to enough of the electorate to give him victory. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Trump was elected for the same reasons President Obama was elected. People believed Obama’s promise of “hope and change” following years of war in the Middle East. Black and white alike thought his election would heal the racial divide in the nation. No blue America or red America — only one America. His promises to unite the country failed and led to the most divided nation since the Civil War. President Obama also failed to give us much hope, and the change that he brought was not the change that most people longed for. This was his legacy.

President Obama urged the voters to support Hillary Clinton to carry forward his legacy. The American people rejected his pleas. Since 2010, the Democrats have been decimated in the state legislatures, both houses of congress and in governorships. These massive losses illustrate the total rejection of Obama’s policies over the past eight years.

Hillary Clinton could not separate herself from the Obama legacy. She failed to comprehend the people’s desire for dramatic change, nor did she recognize the anger in the nation’s heartland. She then proceeded to insult half the voters.

Although Trump was a flawed candidate, Clinton was even more flawed. She was overconfident, arrogant and thought she deserved to be president by proclamation. While Hillary was napping, Donald was on the campaign trail attending multiple rallies every day. He out-hustled her. Promising to close the coal mines and take away their jobs was not a winning economic message for folks struggling to feed their families and provide an education for their children.

What was the message that made Trump so appealing? He promised dramatic change from the status quo especially in the areas of immigration, the economy, trade, the military and healthcare. And he delivered the message in a way the Trump supporter understood, the way they talked around the breakfast table and in the bars and cafes all across “fly-over” country. It was so politically incorrect the people loved it!

Meanwhile, Democrats completely ignored the white, male working class. They wrote them off, preferring to depend on their minority groups to carry the day. These men were the only unprotected class left in America. They were fed up with group identity and victim politics, and especially the political correctness that followed. Their frustration and anger finally found an outlet in the person of Trump — he was in their corner. These folks voted for Trump because a vote for him was a rational vote for their own and their children’s future self-interests. What is wrong with that? If you want to call this racism or sexism then do so, but most people won’t buy it.

“It’s the economy stupid.”

Francis T. Lake Sr.
Gainesville

Send a letter to the editor or email letters@gainesvilletimes.com