What We Have to Do to Prevent Another Trump

It really bothers me that Donald Trump could use a platform of fear and hate to become President of the United States of America. We can't let it happen again. However, I get how it happened.


I truly believe that most of the people who voted for him are not bigots. I truly believe they feel trapped in the current version of America. The other option spoke about continuing the good work that President Obama has started. That will not inspire someone to vote for you who wants change. The only road to improvement goes through change. We must remember this.


America, this is what you have to do.


1. Vote. For a nation that talks a lot about democracy, you really don't practice it. You only get about half of your eligible voters to vote. This changes your strategy to win. If three quarters of your population voted every time because it is important and did not need to be motivated to get out and vote, you would see different platforms and different results. If you know most people are going to vote, now you need a platform that appeals to at least half of your eligible voters.


2. Speak to the majority as well as the minority. Both sides of the aisle stopped listening to and asking about white working class voters. I truly believe most don't mind if other people do well but, if it feels like everyone but you is getting some help, eventually you are going to do something drastic to shake things up.


3. Simplify the message. There is a lot of clutter out there. People are working hard to grab your attention. People don't want to feel like they don't understand. People want to receive communication is a manner that they understand. As much as Trump's message was short on substance, it was simple and it spoke to a lot of people.


America, you have made a real mess. It didn't start when Donald Trump announced he was running for President. It didn't start this century. This has been building for a long time and finally it came to a head. Too many people who thought they were smart stopped listening to a lot of people who have just as much say in the general election as they do. They didn't break down the message into easy to understand and digestible bites. They dismissed millions of people as insignificant. Look what happened. A guy who knows how to reach people came along with a very simple message and won it all. He used the establishments perceived strengths against them. He spoke directly to the people. He used consumer data to understand what mattered to them. He went to them. He didn't ask them to come to him. He sold ball caps to people who wear ball caps and he wore one as well. He knew what he was doing and the other side didn't even notice. It was in plain sight. He didn't hide it.


So, what we have to do is, listen. We have to listen to the minorities. We have to listen to what may be perceived as the ideal. I know a lot of people think life is easy if you are a white man in America. It may be true but it really doesn't matter if you feel like things are not going well. You only know your own experiences and we have to listen to everyone's experiences. We have to acknowledge their problems because they are real to the person facing them.


Someone else is going to try and do what Trump did, and their agenda may be much more evil than his. We need to prevent this from resulting in the next guy's success.

What Happened?

Almost a year ago I was having dinner with my colleagues and bosses. At the time, I was working for an American company and the bosses were American. At one point the conversation shifted to the recently completed election in Canada and the upcoming election in the United States of America.


The conversation shifted to Donald Trump as President. The company's group vice-president turned to me and told me not to worry, there is no way that Trump would ever be President.


We are six sleeps from the US Presidential Election and it is not out of the sphere of the possible that Donald Trump will be the next President of the United States.


How is this possible?


Despite the fact that he has made a fortune, he is not fit for President. He has said horrible things. He acts without thinking. He is rude. He lies. The list goes on. I don't need to expound on the details here, they are readily available everywhere. Yet, with everything that he has done, he may still win. It is not a slam dunk.


Last Friday on his weekly show, Bill Mahr noted that Democrats really need to ask, "Why doesn't America like us?"


With any respectable candidate seen as an outsider, the Trump strategy would have been an runaway winner. Only his deplorable character is holding him back. (This is not a bad thing, I really think he should not run that country.)


Donald Trump was able to tap into a lot of people who feel lost in America. His slogan of Make America Great Again is really just the icing on the cake. His real strategy is find and mobilize disenfranchised Americans by using Hilary's calling card against her. By agreeing with the angry American that the system is broken and letting the Democrats remind the angry voter that Hilary has been doing this for 30 years, it sets her up to be responsible for the system being broken. When you throw in a few decisions that question her judgement, no wonder she can't pull ahead in what should be a one horse race. In 2016, nobody as deplorable as Donald Trump should be this close to potential victory but it's happening. One of the reasons why is his opponent's husband has significant character flaws as well. The fact that she remained with him after it became very public, removes the moral high-ground that she should be standing on. She won't speak to it. It's like she's trying to hide something, so can she really comment on his tax returns?


Hillary Clinton has been preparing for this moment for over 30 years and if she loses, that will be her undoing.


Nobody is going to win this time around, despite their best efforts, one of them is not going to lose. American's are big on the peaceful transition of power, and in four years they can transfer power from one of these two to someone who can lead that nation.