What is amazing about the coverage of this campaign season, is the typical fixation on the horse race between the two candidates; when in actually, no matter who wins in November, our country will have the most unpopular president in history entering office. According to Real Clear Politics polling, 55% of Americans view Hillary Clinton unfavorable, and 65% view Donald Trump unfavorable. The dislike of the two potential candidates is causing, and will continue to cause, major dysfunction in our government. Typically, a president enters office with high ratings after winning the election over their opponent, and typically, newly sworn in presidents suck up that favorability to cross party lines and progress the government forward early in their first term. However, there will be none of that coming this January regardless of who wins.
This election in November, will likely be a dramatic one, with two rivals facing off for the highest office. However, what people tend to forget is that elections are also held for Senate and House of Representatives seats. Right now, it appears like Republicans will retain the Senate, and possibility keeping the House. This will prove a problem for Hillary Clinton if she is elected President, as she will be highly unpopular amongst the electorate and she will have to face hardline conservatives in Congress who have been reluctant to pass any bipartisan legislation. She will face tough blocks on all her calls for reform of any kind and very likely on Supreme Court nominations. She will also be constantly hounded for her pass misgivings and scandals and a never ending show of hate from all spectrums of politics will be thrown at her. In that case, not only does Mrs. Clinton lose, so do the American people who will be tormented with news media’s covering issues that do not matter to Americans.
On top of that, let’s assume that Mr. Trump wins the Presidency and Republicans hold the other branches of Congress or at least one other, as is expected. If this happens it would not only be a disaster for Democrats, but also for Republicans. Many Republicans have been waiting for the Trump movement and the Trump phenomenon to pass; but if he is elected President, Republicans will have to answer for all the mistakes the new politician will make in office. This should be frightening to many on the right as Trumps rhetoric does not offer a true conservative outlook, and if many so-called “Republican voters” side with Trump, then what is the Republican party and what does it really stand for? Does the Republican party truly believe in banning all Muslims, or building a huge wall on our southern border, or in killing terrorists families? If Trump wins, the Republican party will in essence be aligned with those views for at least the next four years. However, if he loses many Republicans may be able to claim they supported him simply for party unity and claim they had no actually sympathies for his policies. Politicians would be able to distance themselves from him and push his ideas and policies out of the mainstream; but if he wins, he would become the leader of the party and the face of Republicans for years to come. That should terrify Republicans and the average American.
Both candidates are flawed, but no matter who wins, both will not be able to break the dysfunction of our government, and actually they may add to it. With Mrs. Clinton past being such an issue for many Americans and for many in Congress, expect the “do-nothing Congress” to continue to do nothing for a while. If Mr. Trump wins, expect even more chaos and dysfunction for Americans, including Republicans. The only way the American people will win this fall, is if neither of the two candidates win the election.
