[tomder55]

travel the land of the deplorables like Salena Zito did this election cycle (one of the few reporters in the country that actually did their job) and speak to the people from the land that Evita and Madame Mimi only see from the windows of their personal or chartered jets . While Trump promised to bring jobs ,Bolshevik Bernie promised to shut down the trucking industry ;Evita promise to shut down the coal industry ;and the Emperor promised to shut down almost all the energy generating industries .

I started reading her columns early in the election and warned my fellow conservatives that Trump could pull this off. Here is a sample of her prescient reporting :

If you drive anywhere in Pennsylvania, from the turnpike to the old U.S. routes to the dirt roads connecting small towns like Hooversville with “bigger” small towns like Somerset, you might conclude that Donald Trump is ahead in this state by double digits.




Large signs, small signs, homemade signs, signs that wrap around barns, signs that go from one end of a fence to another, all dot the landscape with such frequency that, if you were playing the old-fashioned road-trip game of counting cows, you would hit 100 in just one small town like this one.
In Ruffsdale, I am pretty sure I saw more than 100 Trump signs.
It's as if people here have not turned on the television to hear pundits drone on and on about how badly Trump is losing in Pennsylvania.
It's not just visual: In interview after interview in all corners of the state, I've found that Trump's support across the ideological spectrum remains strong. Democrats, Republicans, independents, people who have not voted in presidential elections for years — they have not wavered in their support.
Two components of these voters' answers and profiles remain consistent: They are middle-class, and they do not live in a big city. They are suburban to rural and are not poor — an element I found fascinating, until a Gallup survey last week confirmed that what I've gathered in interviews is more than just freakishly anecdotal.
The Gallup analysis, based on 87,000 interviews over the past year, shows that while economic anxiety and Trump's appeal are intertwined, his supporters for the most part do not make less than average Americans (not those in New York City or Washington, perhaps, but their Main Street peers) and are less likely to be unemployed.
The study backs up what many of my interviews across the state found — that these people are more concerned about their children and grandchildren.
While Trump supporters here are overwhelmingly white, their support has little to do with race (yes, you'll always find one or two who make race the issue) but has a lot to do with a perceived loss of power.
Not power in the way that Washington or Wall Street board rooms view power, but power in the sense that these people see a diminishing respect for them and their ways of life, their work ethic, their tendency to not be mobile (many live in the same eight square miles that their father's father's father lived in).
Thirty years ago, such people determined the country's standards in entertainment, music, food, clothing, politics, personal values. Today, they are the people who are accused of creating every social injustice imaginable; when anything in society fails, they get blamed.
The places where they live lack economic opportunities for the next generation; they know their children and grandchildren will never experience the comfortable situations they had growing up — surrounded by family who lived next door, able to find a great job without going to college, both common traits among many successful small-business owners in the state.
These Trump supporters are not the kind you find on Twitter saying dumb or racist things; many of them don't have the time or the patience to engage in social media because they are too busy working and living life in real time.
These are voters who are intellectually offended watching the Affordable Care Act crumble because they warned six years ago that it was an unworkable government overreach. They are the same people who wonder why President Obama has not taken a break from a week of golfing to address the devastating floods in Louisiana. (As one woman told me, “It appears as if he only makes statements during tragedies if there is political gain attached.”)
Voice such a remark, and you risk being labeled a racist in many parts of America.
The Joe-Six-Pack stereotype of a Trump supporter was not created in a vacuum; it's real and it's out there. Yet, if you dig down deep into the Gallup survey — or, better yet, take a drive 15 minutes outside of most cities in America — you will learn a different story.
That is, if you look and listen.

[paraclete]

Interesting piece Tom and neglect will do it, it will cause people to change who they support

[ma0641]

"or, better yet, take a drive 15 minutes outside of most cities in America....
These Trump supporters are not the kind you find on Twitter saying dumb or racist things; many of them don't have the time or the patience to engage in social media because they are too busy working and living life in real time".


20 years ago, the county I live in was solid Democrat. In this past election, of all the county seats, judges, tax people, coroner, Sheriff etc. only 1 Democrat ran. Trump carried the county, just outside metro Atlanta, 75-25 and Trump signs ran 95-5. County used to be fairly redneck, born and raised here, almost all blue collar. Today, the county is predominantly white collar. HMMM. Majority of the people moving here are from liberal NE and Mid West states yet they vote overwhelmingly Republican.

Don't blame the Ruskies, blame Hillary, Podesta, Shultz, Palmieri and all the Ivory Tower intelligencia who only wanted 2 things; hide the emails and buy a purple pants suit-XL.

[smoothy]

Been busy as heck the last few days ergo my absence... about these claims "the CIA" made the claim.. and the FBI backs them... bullhockey. They all originated from "unnamed sources" which in lame stream media parlance.. means they made it up most of the time.. and you have a lot of other Liberal media cross quoting each other on this... the root issue is unreliable and likely fraudulent "unnamed sources" makes this yet another Fake news story.

[paraclete]

yet another Fake news story.

Didn't have any doubt smoothy, if the Russians did it they would be much more subtle. Come Monday all this hoo ha should come to an end

[smoothy]

Didn't have any doubt smoothy, if the Russians did it they would be much more subtle. Come Monday all this hoo ha should come to an end

The CIA doesn't have an issue making a Press release on issues like this IF in fact it did originate from them... they haven't shyed away in the past ... why would they have on this? I agree...like so many other things this will fade into the past.

[talaniman]

I disagree and doubt this will fade away. Just the opposite... it will get BIGGER... as well it should!

[smoothy]

[ScottGem]

If that is referring to the riots protesting Trump's election that came AFTER the election so that Meme doesn't make any sense. The only violence I recall during the campaign came around Trump rallies.

[tomder55]

Here is the lastest Salena Zito article .

The glass revolving doors of Trump Tower were doing what they have done every day since Donald Trump became the president-elect of the United States: briskly allowing a steady stream of mostly tourists from the interior of the country get a glimpse, sometimes longer, of the comings and goings of the man and his Cabinet members who will soon govern this country. "The energy of the people who come just to stand behind the ropes is sort of unbelievable," said one of two New York City fireman charged with keeping an eye on things in the lobby of the building where the president-elect has been going about the business of putting his government together for his January inauguration.
"If you see Mr. Trump can you please tell him that the Murphys' from Minnesota wish him good luck and that we pray for him?" a gentleman told one of the police officers as he and his wife strolled past the elevators where Trump, his children, future Cabinet members, U.S. senators, members of Congress, business leaders, a former vice president and a rapper have all taken the golden elevators to the 26^{[SIZE=2]th[/SIZE]} floor.
Carlos, from Florida, a third-generation Hispanic American also wanted to pass on good wishes to the Trump family, as he lingered with his family in the lobby, "We saved up to come to New York for Christmas for the first time, I wanted my family to see the best city in America, first place we stop is here to maybe see the next president," he told an officer standing off to the left of the gold elevators

It's like that all day long," the fire chief said, adding, "To be honest I didn't know what to expect during the transition process, but honestly the well-wishers come from all over and really just want him to know they are behind him," he said.

It's not exactly the same reception that Trump is getting from those who opposed him, loathed him, still have not accepted that he has won the election and worse yet still have not understood why he won.

They have blamed Russian interference and James Comey's letter for Hillary Clinton's loss; yes the Russians have appeared to interfere and yes Comey's letter was damning to Clinton, but if we all had the ability to be honest with ourselves the DNC emails and the Comey hesitation only reinforced people's view of Clinton's character whether for or against her.
In short, if more journalists had spent time in Middle America, they would have understood that this election wasn't decided at the last moment. The outcome was not a result of what was in those emails. People had already concluded they knew who Clinton was, and the revelations only cemented those sentiments.
Same with the Comey letter.
Here is a shocker: I'd estimate based on my reporting that this election was baked before the debates, before the "Access Hollywood" tapes, before the hacked emails and before anyone took the time to actually notice, listen and understand just how upended the American voter is.
Pollsters will likely become apoplectic over my conclusion. That's OK, they deal with numbers and could likely argue with great big gobs of data that I'm wrong; while I am not in the business of predicting, I am in the business of listening to people.
It was there in plain sight for everyone to see if they wanted to; it is clear that they did not and that is a bias towards him and prejudice towards the people that needs to be corrected.
What is remarkable right now is that a large portion of the pundits and some reporters still don't get it; they still aren't listening, they still aren't opening their minds to the concerns of the voters who placed him in office and they are still missing what is hiding in plain sight for all of them to see; this guy connects with a large portion of the United States.
Yes Hillary Clinton got more votes than Trump, the bulk of which are located in two states, but that is not how you win. In the 1960 World Series the New York Yankees scored 55 runs to the Pittsburgh Pirates 27; out-hit them as well .328 verses .256, but the Pirates won when it counted and all those superior numbers meant nothing.
In short, you win by the rules of the game, not by the rules of your bias.
The media miss the things that matter to voters like how Trump thanks his voters verses Clinton's thank you; he holds rallies in the very regions that provided him with a win, while Hillary thanks the big dollar donors in Manhattan.
Absolutely no one knows if Donald Trump is going to be a good or bad president. That is on him, his decision and the people he surrounds himself with. Was it a good idea to go after the CIA when it came to the Russians? No. He should have drawn a clear line saying his win had nothing to do with Russian hacking and that as president he will make sure that this never happens again.
That is the part of him that he needs to curtail but certainly not a sign, as many have suggested, that he is in bed with the Russians, or that he is a demagogue, or a fascist, or a Nazi, or will take press freedoms away, or any of the other of the thousands of things he has been accused of in the past month.
And despite repeated efforts to delegitimize his candidacy with recounts and faithless electors and allegations that the Russians stole the election from Clinton, none of this doubt-casting is going to change anything. It is a reminder that many people in this country have no idea of basic U.S. civics.
Hillary Clinton lost because she ran arguably one of the worst campaigns in the history of campaigns; there was no message, their team ignored the pleas of longtime grassroots activists to be more engaged, and to stop hating on anyone who was not brown, black, gay or part of some specialized voting bloc.
Bill Clinton understood that , you could see it in his speeches and his mannerisms at each event in Western Pennsylvania and Ohio that I covered; he understood that the politics was not reaching the very voters he embraced 20 years earlier, and you could see it pained him to see them dying young, left behind and without hope.
There is an argument to be made that had reporters and Clinton's team done two things a year ago they would have understood what was happening this year; read Trump's book, "The Art of the Deal," and gone out and really listened to voters rather than make a spectacle of them.
There is also an argument to be made going forward that reporters should do the same thing today; we have four more years of this administration with a big midterm in between today and his potential reelection. It might be a good time to start to get to know both instead of spending the next four years continuously getting him and them wrong.

Salena Zito
Two things Democrats, and the media, should do to understand Trump | Washington Examiner

[paraclete]

I think it is time to understand that Dump won despite the media, He won despite the hysteria, he won despite the illegals. Whether he has the temprement to be president is something else

[tomder55]

What Zito is saying is that reporters should actually visit America before they pretend to report about it .

[talaniman]

Don't the losers whine and winners celebrate? Happens after EVERY election doesn't it?

[tomder55]

let's see ;2000 the Dems contested the results in court ;2004 Kerry claimed that Bush rigged the election .

In 2004, when Kerry lost the Presidential race to George W. Bush, who is widely considered the worst President of the modern era, he refused to challenge the results, despite his suspicion that in certain states, particularly Ohio, where the Electoral College count hinged, proxies for Bush had rigged many voting machines,”
John Kerry Thinks Bush Rigged The 2004 Election | The Daily Caller

2008 Al Franken challenges the results of the Minnesota Senate race . Franken won after ineligible voter ballots were allowed. He becomes the key vote in the Obamacare Senate vote .He casts the 60th vote Dec 2009 making the law filibuster proof.
Jan 2010 Mass.voters selected Scott Brown to replace the swimmer Ted Kennedy . There was no more 60th vote . So the Dem narrative changed to Republican obstruction due to the race of the President . Anyway there was no equivalent challenges to the legitimacy of the Obama adm except for some fringe people like Trump who challenged the emperor's eligibility