After the results were known, liberal activist Anthony Kapel “Van” Jones stayed on CNN Tuesday night to talk about President Trump. (Get used to saying it now, it’s going to be a long four years.) Van Jones emphasized that Trump’s victory was a white-lash: “This was many things. This was a rebellion against the elites — true. It was a complete reinvention of politics, of polls … This was a white-lash. This was a white-lash against a changing country, it was a white-lash against a black president, in part.”
Van Jones went on to talk about the personal and moral failings of the new president and complained about the problem parents now face in explaining the election to their children. “You have people putting children to bed tonight, and they’re afraid of breakfast. They’re afraid of, ‘How do I explain to my children?’” he said.
Jones is not wrong about Trump insulting his challengers in a petty way, appealing to the racist elements of the alt-right, and Trump not doing his homework as he should have. This guy, however, is wrong on so many levels.
About the parents, it’s not terribly difficult to explain that Hillary’s corruption is a serious problem and that the government was going to have someone morally unqualified elected in either case. She lied about her emails, claimed to be a champion for women and LGBTQ rights while accepting funds from countries like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia who have no respect for either (no one in America has been hanged off a crane for being gay), and could not stop playing the woman card for the life of her.
Secondly, people are tired of the race card. No, I did not dislike Obama because he was black, I disliked him because he used the IRS to target conservatives, opposed free speech in Citizens United v. FEC, and frequently pushed his edicts over the laws of Congress and the will of the American people. Overall, he has done serious damage to the rule of law in the U.S, and to the authority of Congress and to the Constitution. Race relations, furthermore, have worsened under his presidency, thanks to his demeaning speeches towards police officers after one of them shoots a black person, and also thanks to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Political correctness on campus has also furthered divisions. By canceling events by right-wingers like Milo Yiannopolous, Ben Shapiro, and others, Republicans on campus become more infuriated and finally cave to Trump. As Ben Shapiro can attest, most young conservatives he met were against Trump, compared to older generations. These divisions, along with attacking “white privilege,” push white people to identify with their race when they normally would not. In turn, they voted for Trump, because fuck everyone.
It is this backlash, not some racist revolt against a black president, which fueled much of Trump’s support. Thanks, guys! No, seriously, thanks, because Trump is your fault. For years the left has employed language that was hyperbolic and inaccurate, enough so that people stopped listening or taking it seriously.
Bill Maher, just before the election, even confessed to the liberal’s previous sins: “I know liberals made a big mistake because we attacked your boy Bush like he was the end of the world, and he wasn’t. And Mitt Romney we attacked that way. I gave Obama a million dollars because we were so afraid of Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney wouldn’t have changed my life that much, or yours. Or John McCain. They were honourable men who we disagreed with and we should’ve kept it that way … So we cried wolf, and that was wrong. But this is real. This is going to be way different.”
Ironically, just before that statement he claimed that America would get “President Trump for life” since fascists don’t give up power. I’m sorry Maher, but Trump is not going to be a fascist, and even if he was, he’s 70 years old and eats lots of junk food — he isn’t living for much longer.
I am sick and tired of my entire side of the political spectrum being called racist, sexist, bigoted, homophobic, xenophobic, islamophobic, and whatever other buzzwords are popular now, for daring to disagree with the left. So are many Americans, and that’s where Trump comes in. As much as I dislike him as a Republican candidate — his views seem to fit more with the left — and believe he is going to need to be spoon-fed on how to appeal to conservatives, I laugh at the mainstream media and the rest. Once you turn the dial up to 11, you can’t go any higher. So when you really get someone like Trump, and you’ve already trotted out the buzzwords against everyone else, who is going to believe you now? It’s the classic tale of the boy who cried wolf.
So congrats CNN, MSNBC, New York Times, Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, and the rest of you, you outplayed yourself. All Trump had to do was look better than Hillary, and denounce political correctness. Neither of those are high bars to set.
