Chamblee54

This is a repost from 2017. …. Lots of smart people have been writing about the 2016 election. One popular line of thought is that Donald Trump won the electoral vote because of racism. There are numerous studies that indicate this. This feature will not quote, or link to, these articles. The bottom line is that DJT was labeled racist, and enough voters either liked it to win the election.
There is a problem with this line of reasoning. In 2008 and 2012, the same population elected a dark skinned man. If America is so racist, why did Barack Obama win the Presidency twice? There is something not quite adding up here.
One possibility is show business. BHO was clearly a better performer than John McCain, or Mitt Romney. DJT is much more entertaining that Hillary Clinton. Some fuddy duddy purists talk about issues, when the voting public is clearly superficial.
Another option may be the way Democrats dealt with racial attitudes. HRC called DJT’s actions racist. If BHO did the same against his opponents, it did not get much attention. The supporters of HRC said repeatedly that anyone who votes for DJT is a racist. It is unlikely that anyone said that anyone voting for Mr. Romney, or Mr. McCain, was a racist.
There is an urban-rural divide in America. Many people face tough economic times, and resent what they perceive to be a liberal elite. The reaction of the liberal elite is to label this resentment as racism. While racial attitudes may be part of the problems in rural America, it is far from the entire story.
It would have been better for HRC to win ugly, than to allow DJT to win. She handed millions of votes to DJT by labeling people as deplorables. Barack Obama won the support of many deplorables. Maybe BHO is just a better politician than HRC.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Nick Parrino took the pictures in 1943. The men were Army truck drivers, many stationed “somewhere in Iran.”