On the 20thJanuary 2017, Donald Trump will be sworn-in as the 45th President of the United States of America. To those who’d followed the 2016 election race via mainstream media, who on election morning had promoted Hillary Clinton’s chances of victory to an almost staggering 98.10%, the final result had, to say the very least, come as something of a surprise. However, as the final votes had been counted and the dust begun to settle, we’d learned that the unexpected outcome had not been decided by policies, political personalities or even by the free-will of the electorate, but instead, by the manipulative actions of Vladimir Putin and his Russian Government.
The entire narrative of “Blame Russia” stems from as yet unproven claims that the Russian Government were behind the hacking of DNC and Podesta email accounts and the subsequent release of data to Wikileaks. This claim of course could turn out to be true, but even if Russia were behind the hacking and forwarding of emails, all of which turned out to be 100% genuine, I suspect that we’ll all soon be referring to the orange chancer as President Trump, not because of Russia’s meddling in the electoral process, but because of something a little closer to home; the overwhelming hubris, corruption and incompetence of the Democratic Establishment.
Looking at the voting pattern from November 8th, it’s clear that Donald Trump didn’t so much win the election, as Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee threw it away. Trump actually received fewer votes than John McCain (2008) and Mitt Romney (2012), both of whom were considered by Republicans to have been abject failures, but the saving grace for Donald Trump, and for all of the newly elected Republican Congressmen and Senators, was that seven million traditional Democratic supporters had simply not had the stomach to cast their votes for Hillary-Wall Street-Clinton,
So, in no particular order, here are a few of my thoughts on the optics, and actualities, that kept Democratic voters away from the polls on November 8th 2016 ….. But Russia!
So, in no particular order, here are a few of my thoughts on the optics, and actualities, that kept Democratic voters away from the polls on November 8th 2016 ….. But Russia!
When the impartial Democratic National Committee (DNC) began their primary campaign by aggressively supporting their one candidate of choice, Hillary Clinton, at the expense of the other candidate, Bernie Sanders, should we accept that they were in fact, being manipulated to do so by Russia?
When the Democratic National Committee and Clinton Campaign Chairman, John Podesta, had conspired to promote Donald Trump as their preferred “Pied Piper' candidate at the General Election, should we accept that they were in fact, being manipulated to do so by Russia?
When leaked documents proving corruption and discrimination against Bernie Sanders had forced the then Chair of the Democratic National Committee, Debbie Wasserman-Shultz to resign in disgrace, should we accept that when in the face of extreme anger from Sanders’ supporters Hillary Clinton had chosen to immediately reappoint her as Honorary Chair of her own election campaign, she was in fact, being manipulated to do so by Russia?
When the Democratic Establishment had chosen to throw its weight behind the most unpopular candidate in Democratic electoral history, at a time when Clinton was polling around 2-3 points ahead of Trump, and to ignore the most popular politician in a generation when that man, Bernie Sanders, had been polling 14- 16 points ahead of Trump, should we accept that they were in fact, being manipulated to do so by Russia?
When CNN released the primary debate questions to their frequent contributor Donna Brazile, who in turn decided to forward them to the impartial DNC, who in turn passed them on to Hillary Clinton, but not it transpired to Bernie Sanders, should we accept that CNN, Donna Brazile and Hillary Clinton were in fact, all being manipulated to do so by Russia?
When Hillary Clinton publically demanded that Bernie Sanders first release his medical records, and then his tax returns, which within seven days he’d done, yet refused point-blank to release the transcripts from her own lucrative speeches to Wall Street, should we accept that she was in fact, being manipulated to do so by Russia?
When Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post published sixteen spurious smear articles in sixteen hours against Bernie Sanders, all of which turned out to be misleading or totally false narratives, should we accept that Jeff Bezos’ and the entire Editorial Board of his Washington Post were in fact, being manipulated to do so by Russia?
When throughout the primaries, the Democratic Party had on a national basis meddled and confused the voting process with crossover ballots, provisional ballots, and in Brooklyn NY, Bernie sanders’ home town, purged voter rolls, shortened voting times and closed two-thirds of polling stations in an attempt to improve Hillary Clinton’s chances of victory in that State, should we accept that they were in fact, being manipulated to do so by Russia?
When on the eve of the largest Democratic Party Primary, California, Associated Press had announced that Hillary Clinton had already secured sufficient pledged delegates to take the Democratic Nomination, an absolute falsehood that was none the less instantly syndicated and spread by every other media outlet, should we accept that they were all in fact, being manipulated to do so by Russia?
When during the primary contests ABC News had elected to give eighty-one times more coverage to Donald Trump than to Bernie Sanders, should we accept that they were in fact, being manipulated to do so by Russia?
When in response to National Polls showing that Donald Trump had closed the gap and was now leading Hillary Clinton, her team had reassured her that so far out from the actual election, National Polls had been meaningless, and that additional spending would be unnecessary, should we accept that they had in fact, been manipulated to do so by Russia?
When Hillary Clinton had chosen to continuously lie and contradict herself, both privately, publically and even under oath to Congress, about the use of a private email account and server, the classification of emails, the destruction, retention and release of emails already under subpoena and even the number electronic devices that she’d used during her time as Secretary of State, should we accept that she was in fact, being manipulated to do so by Russia?
When almost 600 Democratic Party Superdelegates had decided to pledge their absolute support for Hillary Clinton a month before Bernie Sanders had even announced his candidacy, and six months before any vote would be cast, should we accept that they were in fact, being manipulated to do so by Russia?
When ABC News, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, Huffington Post, Washington Post, New York Times, Politico, New York Daily News and others, had skewed Democratic Primary projections by continuously including superdelegates in their pledged delegate counts for Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, should we accept that they were in fact, all being manipulated to do so by Russia?
When live at the Democratic Convention in Nevada, a reporter from Democracy Now had announced violence and chair throwing by supporters of Bernie Sanders, should we accept that the Democracy Now reporter, and every other media outlet that carried the story and failed to retract it even after the reporter had been dismissed for fabricating the entire story, were in fact, being manipulated to do so by Russia?
When as Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and the DNC had scheduled the three initial primary debates in a manner that would heavily favour the candidate with the highest name recognition in electoral history, Hillary Clinton, and deny airtime to the lesser known but quickly rising Bernie Sanders, should we accept that they were in fact, being manipulated to do so by Russia?
When the Hillary Clinton Campaign took the ultimately disastrous decision to employ former Republican mud-slinger David Brock and his mouthpiece Correct The Record, to invent anti-Sanders narratives such as Bernie Bros, Angry White Men, Sexists, Misogynists, Basement Dwellers etc., should we accept that they were in fact, being manipulated to do so by Russia?
When Hillary and her Campaign had taken the decision to abandon their plans to visit Wisconsin, a State that she ought to have won at a cantor but ultimately lost by a margin, and decided instead to hold a $100k-per-plate fund raiser with wealthy donors in Washington DC, should we accept that they were in fact, being manipulated to do so by Russia?
When US Attorney General Loretta Lynch had met privately on the tarmac in Atlanta with Bill Clinton, and then days later recused herself from making any prosecutorial decision on the FBI’s criminal investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails, should we accept that she was in fact, being manipulated to do so by Russia?
When days after the Attorney General had recused herself from the case, FBI Director James Comey had in a televised broadcast laid out an almost flawless case for the prosecution of Hillary Clinton, but had ensured her continued candidacy by advising against her prosecution on the grounds that in his opinion, no reasonable prosecutor would prosecute the case, should we accept that he was in fact, being manipulated to do so by Russia?
When the New York Daily News, with the assistance of Hillary Clinton’s misleading debate statements regarding her opponent’s record on Gun Control, had painted Bernie Sanders as being somehow responsible for the Sandy Hook Massacre; “Sanders’ Sandy Hook Shame”, should we accept that they were in fact, being manipulated to do so by Russia?
When the Clinton Foundation .................. I could go one forever here, but I'll spare you, and myself, the pain.
All of the above suggests that the Democratic National Committee had backed the wrong horses, firstly by illegally promoting the extremely flawed and highly unlikable Hillary Clinton as their own party's candidate, and secondly, by promoting the wildcard Donald Trump as their opponent at a time when the entire world had been reacting against Establishment Politics. But, if we are being asked to believe that, without any shred of actual evidence to support the claim that Russia was ultimately responsible for President Donald J. Trump, then we're ignoring the actual evidence, the evidence that shows the Democratic Party, DNC, DCCC and Hillary Clinton herself, to be entirely responsible for their own abysmal failure....... Bur Russia!
Seeking a positive note on which to end, I can say that the only good thing about a Trump Presidency, is "No more Clintons". But having said that, given a vote, I'd probably still have held my nose and cast it for Hillary Clinton, which, probably says an awful lot about the state of establishment politics, and not just in the USA.
Seeking a positive note on which to end, I can say that the only good thing about a Trump Presidency, is "No more Clintons". But having said that, given a vote, I'd probably still have held my nose and cast it for Hillary Clinton, which, probably says an awful lot about the state of establishment politics, and not just in the USA.
[Of course, throughout the Democratic Primary Campaign, there were also scandals concerning Sen. Bernie Sanders. Well actually, there was only one, and that actually occurred after Hillary Clinton had already received the nomination, and in fact, it turned out not to be a scandal at all, just another Establishment smear campaign that probably encouraged even more progressive voters to remain at home on polling day. Bernie was accused of misappropriating his famous $27 campaign contributions and splashing-out on a lavish lakeside property at North Hero, Vermont. It actually turned out, that the Sanders’ had inherited a home in Maine from their family, but as it had been too far away from their home in Burlington, they’d sold it and used the money to buy property in North Hero].
This post first appeared on Poor Circulation .. The Motorcycle Misadventures O, please read the originial post: here
