It may seem unlikely to the regular political pundits that supporters of a far left wing candidate would choose a right wing candidate when their candidate is no longer running, but that seems to be what is happening in many instances.
What the regular political pundits don’t seem to realize, is that this election isn’t about Democrat and Republican, it is about establishment and the regular folks.
The Primary Coup
Most presidential primaries go the same way. Each party puts up their choices, and throughs in some outsider that doesn’t stand a chance to make things look fair. This primary season, however, the outsiders gained the support of the people.
The people, on both sides of the aisle, have become sick of the same old establishment politics. There doesn’t seem to be much difference between the usual Republican candidates and Democrat candidates. Barack Obama was elected on a platform of change. He promised to end the wars, yet started more. He promised to end the invasion of citizens privacy, but expanded it. He promised to reign in Bush’s spending, but doubled the national debt. His election brought with it the promise to unify the nation, yet he divided it.
This isn’t just Obama’s problem, or the Democrats. The Republicans are just as guilty. Bush promised to lower spending, yet he increased it. He promised to shrink government, but he expanded it. He promised us more personal freedom, and left us with less.
The two parties are corrupt. The people wanted the outsider, the anti-establishment candidate.
So in this primary cycle, both parties turned to that person. On the Democrat side, it was Bernie Sanders. On the Republican side, it was Donald Trump.
The Republicans tried to get rid of Trump with slander, and bad press, but it didn’t work. Trump won the nomination. This scared the hell out of the establishment. Seeing the same thing going on in the Democrat primaries, they vowed not to let this election cycle come without an establishment candidate on a major party ticket. So the Democrats used ever trick on the book from voter manipulation, to flat out voter fraud to get the establishment candidate on the ticket, and to get rid of Bernie.
The Election Season
So now, the election season is turned upside down. There is a liberal running as a Republican, and a conservative running as a Democrat. Or, more accurately, the establishment running as a democrat, and the anti-establishment running as a Republican.
How is Trump more liberal then Hillary you may ask? Well, let’s look at both of their histories.
Trump is a champion of women’s rights. Many news reports during the campaign have tried to call Trump sexist, or a misogynist, but his history speaks otherwise. In Trumps 1987 book “The Art of the Deal”, he wrote that he hired “a lot of women for top jobs, and they’re among my best people.” Today, according to Trump’s attorney, Michael Cohen, there are more women than men holding executive positions in the Trump Organization, heading such departments as human resources, golf and hotel management, and global licensing, even though women make up just 43 percent of the overall workforce. Women who are in similar positions as men, Cohen said, “are compensated at equal and in many cases higher pay rates.”
And what about Hillary? Obviously a woman would be better for women, right? If we take a look back to the 1990’s, and Bill Clintons string of sex scandals, we see that the Clinton administration aggressively discredited women who accused Bill of sexual assault and even rape. Meanwhile, according to the New York Times, “Mrs. Clinton had supported the effort to push back against the women’s stories.”
Even though now, while campaigning, Hillary Clinton states that every woman who accuses someone of sexual misconduct has “the right to be believed”, back when the accusers where accusing her husband, the Washington Times reports “Mrs. Clinton’s intent to “destroy” the story of one accuser, while former adviser Dick Morris said Mrs. Clinton engaged in “blackmail” to try to force women to recant their stories.”
What about business? We all know that the democrats are the champions of the working class and they fight against Wall Street, the big banks, and corporate greed. And Donald Trump, well he is a billionaire businessman. He must be a part of the problem right?
Donald Trump has always been an outsider in big business. He has a track record of fighting the banks, and supporting entrepreneurs. In 1933, after the great depression, the US passed the Glass-Steagall Act that effectively prohibited big banks taking part in both commercial banking and investment banking. This was done to stop banks from failing due to loosing investments backed by regular peoples money. Without Glass-Steagall, banks could basically gamble with your money. Bill Clinton passed the so called “Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999” which effectively repealed Glass-Steagell. Less then 10 years later, in 2008, the banking crises destroyed our economy due to the very activities that Glass-Steagall had been preventing.
The reinstatement of Glass-Steagall has been a part of the platform for many left leaning political groups in the years since the 2008 recession including groups like “Occupy Wall Street”. Although both Clinton and Trump have stated that they would like to reinstate Glass-Steagall, Trump has a history of fighting banks, and Clinton has a history of supporting them… so who do you believe.
But what about Trump’s Wall? Many news reports have stated that Trump wants to build a wall to keep out immigrants. These news stories are promoting an agenda. Trump does want to build a wall, but it is to keep out illegal immigrants. There is a big difference that the establishment doesn’t want you to understand. America is a country built by immigration, and immigrants are a good, and necessary part of our country. As long as they follow the rules, and come here legally.
Clinton agrees. In fact, Hillary Clinton has several times bragged about voting to build a wall to keep out illegal immigrants. So even though the mainstream media may want you to think that Donald Trump is a bigot conservative for wanting to build a wall on the Mexican boarder, Hillary Clinton has voted to do the same thing.
But what about LGBT rights? Donald Trump has to be against gay rights… right? Looking at it historically, Trump and Clinton seem to share the same views. Although some may argue that Trump is a better candidate for the LGBT community then Clinton. The New York Times says that Trump “has nurtured long friendships with gay people, employed gay workers in prominent positions, and moved with ease in industries where gays have long exerted influence”. When Trump’s longtime friend Elton John married his partner David Furnish in 2005, Trump took to his blog to say “I know both of them and they get along wonderfully. It’s a marriage that’s going to work.”
However, Donald Trump has also stated that he is against gay marriage, and instead supports civil unions that provide the same rights as marriage. This is a sentiment that Hillary Clinton has stated time and time again. In 2004 Clinton called marriage a “sacred bond between a man and a woman”. In 2002, Hillary said she did not think New York state should recognize gay marriage. Although now Clinton says she supports gay marriage, her history says otherwise.
So what makes someone “liberal” or “conservative”? Is it gun control and abortion? For here, the candidates are clearly following party lines, aren’t they?
Donald Trump has said that he is against public funding of Planned Parenthood. But does that make him pro-life? In an interview in 1999, Trump said “I’m very pro-choice, I hate the concept of abortion. I hate it. I hate everything it stands for. I cringe when I listen to people debating the subject. But you still — I just believe in choice.” I agree wholeheartedly. I am against abortion. I will never have one. But I believe that I only have the right to make that decision for myself. I do not agree with government funding of abortion however. If you want it, that is your choice… but you can pay for it.
Hillary Clinton supports abortion 100%. She believes it should be paid for by the government (tax payers).
So the reality on abortion is that both candidates are pro choice. They only differ on who should pay for.
And then there is gun control. Hillary Clinton is a supporter of gun control, and does not believe in the people’s right to bear arms. Donald Trump supports the right to bear arms, and currently is a NRA member. However, in his 2000 book, The America we Deserve, Trump wrote “I generally oppose gun control, but I support the ban on assault weapons and I also support a slightly longer waiting period to purchase a gun,”
So what does this mean for gun control? Not much really. Both gun control and abortion are issues that get people riled up. But in truth, no Republican will overturn Roe v Wade, and no Democrat will overturn the 2nd amendment. George W Bush was a strong pro life supporter, yet he did nothing to stop abortion. Barack Obama is a strong gun control advocate, and his policies have only increased gun sales.
Abortion and gun control are red herrings. They are issues that are meant to get you riled up and scared, but no one will ever really do anything about them.
If we stop listening to what lies politicians say when they are trying to get elected, and instead focus on what those same people actually did during their lives, we can see that Donald Trump is clearly more liberal then Hillary Clinton. More then that, we can see that Donald Trump is clearly the anti establishment candidate.
Hillary Clinton will continue the policies of the establishment that have failed our country for decades. She is controlled by the same people that control Obama, and Bush before him. Many Bernie supporters see that, and see that Trump is the anti establishment choice. Unfortunately, so many people are stuck to party lines, that they will vote Republican even when the Democrat running is more conservative, or they will vote Democrat, even when the Republican running is more liberal. That’s the funny thing about this country. To many people are sheep.
