It's not about culture, people are still fine with their culture, it's about economics. Globalisation and corruption has caused a lot more instability for the working class. If you look at polls about what the number one issue was you'll see it's the economy, that's the main thing people are concerned about.
That's the thing that confused me; it seems to me that introducing a radical to politics would cause more instability; It also seems to me like the economy has been improving by just about all measures for nearly all of Obama's term; especially if you measure improvement in terms of unemployment and the like.
Most of the economic problems we have now are problems that the left would complain about. The rich make a lot more than the poor... and the GOP is promising more of that, not less, and the GOP won, so the 'it's the economy' model doesn't really fit.
> "The rich make a lot more than the poor... and the GOP is promising more of that, not less, and the GOP won, so the 'it's the economy' model doesn't really fit."
Here's the thing with Trump, he held so many conflicting policy positions over the course of the election, and was held to account so little by the mainstream media, that Trump supporters could basically line up with whichever of his policies they liked the most. People can ignore promises like tax breaks for the rich when he's promising to bring jobs back to the US.
Also, as I said in another comment, this wasn't a pro-Trump victory, it was an anti-Clinton victory, and Clinton has been disastrous with the US economy. She had no compelling rebuttal regarding her support for NAFTA and TPP, the huge (political and economic) disasters of the Iraq war, and had very close ties to Wall Street deregulation that was at the core of the 2008 recession. Clearly business as usual was not going to cut it, and Trump was boosted by that discontent.
>Clearly business as usual was not going to cut it,
This is clearly the real disconnect. I think things are going just fine, and the statistics I read say that, well, things are getting better, mostly, for most other people, too.
But then, I think free trade is great, and have no problem with NAFTA, just like almost everyone in the political establishment. I thought that protectionism was kind of a fringe thing. Clearly it's not, but that is what I thought before this election.
"I think things are going just fine, and the statistics I read say that, well, things are getting better, mostly, for most other people, too."
Statistics are wonderfully malleable to express any desired value.
My opinion & observations differ from yours, however we do agree there is a disconnect. I rent and grocery close to a large enclave of .1%ers(I am broke but useful) and hear plenry of conversations of unsold multi-million dollar homes on the market for years, many being rented until they sell. At the other end of the spectrum, have Katrina & Sandy cleanup/rebuild finished yet? As of 2013(last I was in the areas) both still had extensive areas of damaged, abandoned neighborhoods waiting to be renovated or bulldozed. Ever been to Detroit or any of the not-tech-hotspot cities in Cali? It's looking a lot like the 3rd world in many towns. My observations and conversations from working on nationwide locations and with the retail employees/managers suggest the 'Great Recovery' has been neither for most of the US. My hope is the ad-selling, opinionated infotainers are as wrong about Trump as they were about Obama.
If you travel to some rural areas in the Midwest you'll see that the economy has not been improving for everyone recently. Most of their wages have stagnated while the price of most goods/services has risen. And there isn't much opportunity unless they move to a major urban area. Not everyone wants that. They love where they live, but they've watched their small farming and factory towns crumble.
We all know that the majority of the gains in our economic rebound have gone to the wealthy. Stability in an economic sense just means more safe consistent returns for those who own the capital, pushing inequality ever higher. Is it rational to try to disrupt the whole system to spite the few winners? Probably not. But I understand how these people feel. I grew up in a small town in Michigan. Now I live on the East Coast because I need to work. I don't personally mind being displaced, and I'm lucky/skilled enough to find good employment. But not everyone is like me.
I don't find that too plausible. Sure there was anti-Clinton sentiment, but opinion polls showed far more anti-Trump sentiment. Iraq is seemingly forgotten by the electorate, it wasn't a hot button. He supports far less regulation than she does. The data that always jumped out at me was just how many conservative voters believe unequivocal myths like creationism or Obama is a Muslim. I think at some point you just have to acknowledge a huge swath of voters are utterly ill-informed and there's very little you can do about it.
Its also culture. Some Americans are fed up with having to be apologetic for supporting their own culture, wanting to maintain it, not wanting it to change drastically. They see hypocrisy in being told to respect other cultures, while being labeled racist and bigot for wanting to maintain their own.
> while being labeled racist and bigot for wanting to maintain their own.
Could you give a specific example here, as others have asked?
I don't doubt that you feel this way. As an immigrant into the US I initially felt there is too much political correctness going on, which prevented some people from expressing their thoughts clearly, which is never good.
But in terms of culture, I am surrounded by, and happily participate in the celebration of American culture. For instance, just to name a few things:
- trick or treating in costume with my kids on Halloween
- pumpkin carving
- lots of bbq-ing in the summer
- incredible amount of decoration, shopping and eating during the holidays, Christmas trees
- meeting extended family in thanksgiving, eating turkey
- wearing green on St Patty's day (not sure if that counts)
I also don't meet any Americans who are apologetic about any of these types of cultural expressions. I could argue that diversity and celebration of foreign culture is also a distinctively American trait, but that is a separate point.
So my question again would be - can you give an example of a cultural expression or tradition which you would like to see continued, but is disappearing, perhaps due to media pressure from the left?
It depends on how broad a view you want to take of culture. If you look at music, films, food and sport, I see no evidence that American people are enjoying US music, US films, US food and US sport any less than before, regardless of what's happening politically. However, if you include the economy as part of culture, then people certainly were disillusioned, and I don't blame them, kind of hard to enjoy life to the full if you're having to work multiple jobs just to have a decent quality of life.
