By Jack Kelly, Business Editor
The crowd swarms around the CNN projections like moths to a light. Still holding fast to the polls from the previous day, Clinton supporters reassure each other that their worst nightmare is not coming to pass. An uneasy silence falls upon the group as Florida swings in favor of Donald Trump.
“Don’t worry,” I am told by an elderly gentleman. “The southern counties will come in blue.”
Almost nobody predicted Trump’s landslide victory in the 2016 election. In the week leading up to the election, there was not a doubt in my mind that Clinton would be the 45th president of the United States. How could she not? After a vicious campaign season unlike any other, nearly every poll predicted a Clinton victory.
On the night of Tuesday, Nov. 8, I visited the Clinton Victory Party at Westin Hotel in downtown Seattle, which had transformed into the Washington State Democratic headquarters. As I ascended the escalator, I was prepared to celebrate the election of the first female United States president. The enthusiasm in the room was clear on the faces of passionate Clinton supporters.
Even as Trump took an early lead, nobody expected it to last. Clinton was predicted to surge ahead as key swing states and the West Coast cast their ballots. It wasn’t until Florida was awarded to Trump that doubt entered my mind. The idea of a President Trump became a little less comical. I took another look at the remaining swing states, each predicted to go to Clinton.
I will never forget the dramatic shift in energy in that convention hall as each critical state was awarded to Trump. One. By. One. Even the keynote speeches delivered by Washington State elected officials shifted in tone from that of celebration to despair.
I began to go numb as I slowly realized the implications of Trump’s election. With victories in both houses of Congress, the executive, and a vacant Supreme Court position, Republicans will likely control all three branches of government.
Upon reflection, perhaps we discredited Trump too much. Analyzing the debates and watching the media, it seemed like he was guaranteed to lose. When compared to the well prepared Clinton, Trump looked like a dumpster fire.
Until the dumpster fire turned into a victory torch.
Yet apparently, it was this dichotomy in preparation that made up the minds of the electorate. A massive group of people in this country are tired of the political machine and saw Clinton as its gold-braided pilot. Trump, on the other hand, appealed to the demographic seeking an outsider. With his absolute lack of political experience and charismatic populist rhetoric, Trump was the perfect candidate.
A new kind of pilot who could change the machine’s destination.
Where do we Democrats go from here? In her concession speech, Clinton preached a message of unity. While denouncing the hatred that Trump seems to represent, she acknowledged that the United States stands best united. In his address, President Obama emphasized America’s legacy of a smooth transition of power.
Many are furious that Trump was elected — unable to even acknowledge him as President. While this anger is justified, we have to consider where we go from here. In order to survive the next four years, we have to find a way forward — as an island, as a community, as a nation. We must begin to repair the fractures that have come to light in this election cycle.
How do we do this?
I don’t know.
But I suspect the only way to keep that ship of state from running aground — and continuing to provide a shining beacon of liberty to the world — no matter what pilot stands at the helm — is by selecting the course that we’ve always chosen for survival.
Communication and compromise.