When Bush lost to Clinton, the blame was placed on Ross Perot. When Gore lost to Bush, the blame was placed on Ralph Nader. It wasn’t even 10:00 p.m. EST on election night when the media began to blame Gary Johnson. Rather than lose with grace and accept that Clinton lost fair and square, Democrats frantically began to seek out a scapegoat. Yes, in swing states such as Florida and Michigan, the final results were extremely tight. However, to place blame on third party voters is ignorant, lazy, and discriminatory. If you still want to place blame on Johnson, I really think you need to sit down and mull things over the next four years. Here are some things which led to the defeat of Hillary Clinton.
1. Connection with Millennial voters was just not there.
Unlike Obama, Clinton had a tough time gaining support from Millennial voters. Even when she adopted many of Bernie’s platforms, she still having major difficulties in gaining traction. Clinton’s personality was seen as cold by many Millennials who attempted to warm up to the idea of a Clinton presidency. Between her and Trump, she got more Millennial votes, but they were definitely quite reluctant.
2. Bernie supporters were alienated.
It would be an understatement to say that Bernie supporters were upset when Clinton won the candidacy. You would think the Democrats would have done everything in their power to support the Bernie faithful. But rather than be welcoming to unite under a common cause, the Democrats intentionally alienated them. Why do you think the Bernie fans stormed out of the convention and protested?
3. Distrust of the establishment.
What do Bernie and Trump have in common? They did not belong to the establishment. Since the Bush years, we have seen trust in career politicians plummet. Things in Washington either remained stagnant or they got worse. Many voters were energized by the fact that these two were outsiders. Clinton? Her long career may have made her more qualified than Trump, but that’s not what Americans were looking for.
4. Attack of third party supporters.
A month out from the election, Obama led the charge against third party supporters. Of course, Tim Kaine, writers from the New York Times, and other Democratic supporters jumped in as well. What did you think was going to happen? Did you really think that you were going to gain some supporters? Definitely not.
5. The Democrats lost touch with industrial America.
Everyone thought the Democrats were going to sweep the Rust Belt without breaking a sweat. But with the threat of jobs going overseas, the decline of coal, and the threat of the TPP, the Democrats lost the support of blue collar America. Trump did well appealing to the workers making promises that appealed to this particular group.
6. Shaming tactics did not have their intended effect.
If you were not a Democrat, chances are that you were shamed and ridiculed at some point in time during this election cycle. Although it is important to make people aware of what is right and wrong, there comes a point in which you make over-generalizations, which is never a good thing. People got tired of the constant barrage and became turned off to the Clinton campaign. The results reflect that. Pick your battles correctly.
7. Obama alienated LatinX voters.
Obama gained the reputation of having deported the most illegal immigrants than any other president in history. Although many LatinX voters hated the thought of a Trump presidency, they couldn’t fully trust Hillary. The lack of trust ended up costing Clinton Florida and the Rust Belt.
8. The debates turned into reality television.
Hillary fell into Trump’s trap. Rather than talk about the issues, she continually ended up stepping into a cage match with Trump. Yes, Trump started it, but Hillary did not choose her battles correctly.
9. Many voters were not informed.
Many voters voted based their decisions on what the media was feeding them. I guarantee that if people actually looked at the issues, this election could have turned out differently. Trump was able to harness people’s emotions, especially during the debates against Hillary. Many voters just based their vote on Benghazi, the email scandals, Russia, and WikiLeaks.
10. Hillary did it to herself.
With Hillary’s experience, she could have easily taken out Trump. However, she kept on alienating people, became too confident, and fought the wrong battles. She had a hard time battling Bernie Sanders in the primaries and did not do well in the debates. Hillary lost because of Hillary, not because of Gary Johnson, Jill Stein, Evan McMullin, or even Harambe. Accept that Hillary defeated herself and stop looking for a scapegoat.
