On the day after the election, while many worldwide were still in shock and disbelief, pundits did their best to portray the aftermath as being similar to all previous modern American presidential elections. Politicians and personalities praised the peaceful transfer of power that would inevitably take place and they commended President-elect Donald Trump’s call for unity as if it, along with the concession speech by Hillary Clinton and unifying comments by President Barack Obama were all that was necessary to put the divisions and bitterness of the long campaign behind us.
Later that night, thousands of disillusioned citizens took to the streets throughout America to proclaim that they did not consider Donald Trump to be their president. They let it be known that this election was not like previous elections and that a few speeches about unity cannot miraculously accomplish that end.
It is one thing to expect Americans to accept the fairness of the electoral process. In spite of Trump’s repeated claims that the entire election system was “rigged,” I suspect that the vast majority of Americans do recognize its legitimacy. It is another thing entirely to expect that all Americans will simply accept Trump’s words that he wants to be “president for all the people.”
We are now in the Trump era, so let’s “tell it like it is.” Donald Trump ran the nastiest, dirtiest, meanest, least factually honest campaign for president in the history of our country. He appealed to the basest instincts of people, encouraged violence, and regularly demeaned entire groups of citizens. Is it any wonder that Latinos, Muslims and many other citizens find his calls for unity unbelievable, and in fact laughable?
Trump’s entire campaign was built on the “Big Lie” theory that you can tell lies frequently and convincingly enough to make people think they are true. Tell people often enough that “Crooked” Hillary Clinton is guilty of violating the law, and soon they are shouting “lock her up’ and even hanging her in effigy — in spite of the fact that no charges have ever been filed against her. Tell people regularly that the electoral system is rigged and they come to accept that as fact, although incidences of widespread election irregularities have been almost non-existent for decades.
The Toronto Star’s Washington Bureau chief followed Trump’s campaign for several weeks fact-checking thousands of his statements. He found hundreds of falsehoods. Not a few; not a few dozen, but more than 400 – an average of 20 per day. Do you understand why people doubt Trump’s sincerity when he says almost anything?
Yes, Donald Trump legitimately won the race to become our 45th president, but he did it in a way that cannot be forgotten simply because he read a statement calling for unity. Real life has no delete button, so his previous statements mocking a disabled reporter, calling for his supporters to “knock the hell” out of a protester, and encouraging chants of “lock her up” aimed at Secretary Clinton cannot be forgotten as if never said.
It will take a lot more than a brief unity speech to assuage people’s fears about a Trump presidency. He will still be “The Donald,” a psychologically damaged human being who has shown throughout his entire life that he will do and say anything to make himself richer and more famous.
Donald Trump won the presidency, but he has a long way to go to earn the trust of all Americans. A few hopeful words cannot delete all of the previous hurtful ones.
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