I wasn’t in the “silent majority.”
In fact, I was extremely vocal in my support of President-elect Donald J. Trump from the time I decided he was my candidate. Needless to say, I’m ecstatic that he’ll be our next president.
Following the election, I penned a letter to the editor regarding The Daily Reveille’s overt lack of bipartisanship. In many ways, this paper was no different than many other media outlets in that they, too, were left wiping the rotten egg off their face.
The narrative that progressives and liberal media chose to push demonized the conservative opinion and stereotyped Republican voters.
Dare I say that’s downright … deplorable?
Trump’s victory was a devastating loss for the moral narcissists that pervade the left. The blowback from his supporters following 16 months of non-stop defamation reinforced the “Overton Window” — a political theory that argues that politicians only choose to undertake policies and views that voters will find acceptable. Democratic strategists believed that isolating a large segment of the population with identity politics and a globalist agenda would lead them to victory in the general election.
On Nov. 8, 2016, the voters spoke loud and clear. Many of the same people who voted for President Barack Obama in 2012 pushed the button for the Trump/Pence ticket on that fateful Tuesday.
Three counties in Pennsylvania, 12 in Michigan, 22 in Wisconsin, and 31 in Iowa flipped from blue to red for Trump, who won the most counties as a Republican presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan’s landslide victory in 1984. Those wins in crucial swing states ensured his victory.
In total, 220 counties that voted for Obama in 2012 voted for Trump in 2016.
We — the voters — collectively rejected the notion that we were a bunch of hateful racists/misogynists/xenophobes/homophobes/islamophobes.
We grew tired of our politicians being browbeaten and losing for us after months of infighting and repeated attempts to undermine and embarrass the candidate the people wanted. All the while, media outlets and the left continued to force feed us the narrative that a vote for Trump made us something we are not.
It was unacceptable, and by the time the Clinton campaign realized it, the Overton Window had been shattered.
So when Trump declared that our country — not our political party — was going to start winning again, we listened.
When Wikileaks emails and Project Veritas videos exposed the corruption of the Democratic Party, we were appalled, but not surprised. From Democratic workers openly discussing strategies for voter fraud or planting violent agitators at Trump Rallies, to Democratic National Committee chair and LSU alumna Donna Brazile unethically leaking debate questions to the Clinton campaign, it was nice to see the covers finally pulled back.
In the midst of it all, I reminded myself of President Barack Obama’s gloating following his inauguration in 2009.
“Elections have consequences, and, at the end of the day, I won,” he boldly proclaimed.
Following a clean sweep which saw Republicans seize control of the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Presidency, Clinton, Obama, and their supporters discovered that both elections — and campaigns — have consequences.
As the inauguration grows nearer, vitriol towards Trump is sure to reach a fever pitch. Some of that vitriol will be warranted, some of it won’t. In that sense, he will be no different than the 44 others who held the office before him.
Christopher Godail is a 27 year old interdependent studies junior from Kenner, Louisiana.