2016 Presidential Election takeaways

2016 Presidential Election takeaways

2016 Presidential Election takeaways – What we’ve learned following the results of the election and Donald Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton.

  1. Two awful candidates got into the center ring for a round of cock fighting. Trump pecked Clinton in the eye and escaped the winner.
  2. If you play the stock market, buy now. People are finicky and panicky and this is a great opportunity to buy low and reap the benefits later.
  3. Lessons learned from Trump’s surprise victory: Don’t put all your stock into polls. The margin for error is often vastly inaccurate and the sampling is woefully unrepresentative. Don’t let the media influence your thoughts and feelings. Let them deliver the news to you and you make your own educated decisions.
  4. I’m extremely tired this morning. I stayed up until nearly 3 a.m. watching election coverage. What’s that old saying about not being able to take your eyes off a car wreck? … How about a historic one?
  5. Car wreck is up to each individual’s interpretation. If you dislike Trump, you consider the election results a car wreck. If you dislike Clinton, it’s her campaign that is the car wreck.
  6. Elections are clearly emotional events due to the time, energy, and deeply personal thoughts and feelings that are invested in them. But just as the world would not have ended if Clinton had won, neither will it end with Trump in the Oval Office.
  7. Many Americans are out on a ledge this morning. Some are genuinely scared and afraid. Others are angry and in denial. Still others are just putting on a good act to demonstrate their feelings about Trump. Whatever the case may be, step back off the ledge. The sun will continue to rise each day.
  8. I find it offensive to be put into a box and labeled sexist because I did not support Clinton. Just because you don’t agree with her liberal agenda, suddenly you dislike her gender?
  9. I have little empathy for Clinton supporters who were ready to celebrate her “historic milestone” and instead left her rally in tears. If you supported Clinton because you thought she was the most qualified for the job, that’s your right. If your primary reason for support was because you wanted a woman president, shame on you. If that’s the case, there are plenty more honest, decent, and trustworthy women to fill that role than Clinton.
  10. Airplanes are revving up right now ready to depart the country. Will any of those smoke-blowers who vowed to leave the country if Trump won the election be on board?
  11. If you’re serious about leaving the country and are interested in heading south, just make sure you leave quickly before Trump’s wall makes it more difficult to do so.
  12. This could be the most divided the country has been since the Civil War. Trump has an awful lot of fences to mend and wounds to heal.
  13. Although Trump helped further the divide between the left and the right, in fairness to him, the country was already splitting at the seams before he even announced his intent to run for president.
  14. One of the characteristics that bothered me most about Clinton was her sense of entitlement. She felt it was “her turn” in 2008 until Barack Obama knocked her off her throne. Once more, she thought she was next in line in succession to the throne but her peasants-to-be had other ideas.
  15. I don’t like Trump and I find it hard to respect a man with an impressive resume of questionable character. But just as I’ve said throughout Obama’s presidency: I will respect the office of the president and honor it like it deserves.
  16. Although Trump wasn’t my first choice for president — or second, or fifth, or sixteenth — I’m proud of the American people for taking action. They chose not to settle for a government that became too powerful, and instead chose to rise up and take part in democracy.
  17. Anyone can sit at home and grumble about feeling betrayed by their government. The true sign of our country working as intended is the power of the people to bring about change.
  18. Speaking of change, Barack Obama and Donald Trump are both agents of change — albeit in completely opposite directions. Change seems to have a perpetual feel to it in that the greater that Change A is, the more dramatic and needed that Change B will seem. It swings back and forth like a pendulum.
  19. Funny thing about pendulums: The further they swing in one direction, the more rapidly, momentously, and purposefully they come back in the other direction.
  20. This country’s pendulum swung to the far left when Obama took office and the Democrats held both the House and the Senate. It’s what enabled Obama to pass the Affordable Care Act. Now the pendulum has swung back in the other direction and the Republicans have total control of government — or, at least the White House and control of Congress.
  21. Once concerned that Trump’s political inexperience could cause major problems in Washington, I’m kind of intrigued that America has elected a common man. After all, our Founding Fathers, by and large, were ordinary men with jobs who cared about our country. Wealthy men, yes. But those who sought to lead and make the country as great as it could be.
  22. If Trump’s lack of experience and erratic temperament have you a little concerned, just consider the idea that if he is really bad at his job and does something illegal, he can and will be impeached by a Republican Congress that was divided about him, anyway.
  23. Let’s just hope that if he does something impeachable, it’s not permanently damaging and beyond repair.
  24. How long before the #ImpeachTrump hashtag becomes a trend on Twitter? #NotMyPresident is already trending.
  25. Sadly, you see the division — and the delusion — that exists in this country. Trump is, in fact, your president if you are a citizen and resident of the United States of America. And if you don’t like it, join the celebrities who vowed to exit the country if he won the election.
  26. Speaking of exists, Californians are stirring up ideas of seceding from the union — a “Calexit” — in the wake of Trump’s victory. Fine. Instead of being one of the largest states in the greatest country in the world, you’ll be a small, isolated country surrounded and squished up against the Pacific Ocean by a nation that won’t be so eager to help you.
  27. Reports of violence amongst protesters in the wake of Trump’s victory only confirm the reason why Trump was elected in the first place. Lawless disobedience must be curbed.
  28. Trump said he wants us to be a nation of law and order. I concur. Now that he’s in office, he’s going to have to prove it in the face of rising violence.
  29. If there is one thing above all else that I approve the government spending money on, it’s national defense and homeland security. Without safety and protection, without law and order, we descend into utter chaos and cease to be a nation.
  30. Speaking of ceasing to be a nation, Trump has said many times that without borders we cannot be called a nation. This is actually an area in which I agree with the President-elect. And although I remain skeptical that we’ll actually erect a southern border wall, I would be in favor of one existing.
  31. The narrative against Trump is that his border wall contradicts the American history and spirit of immigration. We’ve heard Democrats rail against this, claiming that we are a nation of immigrants and of freedom and opportunity, and that Trump is trying to take that all away. That’s just political posturing done by one party to make the other party leader look bad.
  32. The truth about Trump’s immigration stance is that he is against illegal immigration. Shouldn’t we all be? Yes, we are a nation of immigrants, but the process must be legal, otherwise we become overrun by those who do not conform to our laws, take our jobs, and lower wages for hard-working, legal Americans. Those are not disputable facts.
  33. As I watch my Twitter feed today, I cannot believe the overwhelming potshots taken at Trump and his supporters from angry, disgruntled Clinton supporters. It feels like scorned high schoolers who were dumped by their boyfriend or girlfriend and are now trashing them behind their back.
  34. Twitter is a wonderful tool for sharing news and information; but it makes an awful online diary.
  35. Sour Grapes are alive and well in America. I’m willing to give some leniency to those who are voicing their frustrations. A few days? Maybe a few weeks? But if this kind of angry rhetoric continues beyond Inauguration Day, it’s time to grow up and move on with your life.
  36. I think many of the problems we face in America today stem from a lack of morality and faith in God, thus giving a rise to selfish ambition and self-reliance.
  37. “God help us” and “God save us” seem to be a popular turn of phrase following Trump’s election victory. Something tells me the same phrases would have been uttered had Clinton been victorious. Common thread? This country needs God’s help.
  38. I find it ironic that so many are calling upon God’s name after Trump’s victory and yet God is largely forgotten or left out by Americans on a daily basis.
  39. With Mike Pence — a devout Christian — standing by his side, I’m hoping the Trump Administration can bring back an emphasis on faith and morality in this country.
  40. If there’s one thing that can be taken away from the 2016 Presidential Election more than any other, it’s that we remain a diverse nation and one that will not conform like robots to the agenda from either side of the aisle. We still have a pulse.
Ryan Glab
Ryan Glab
A Christian, conservative man seeking an open mic and a stage in the crowded, clamorous barroom of life. Fear God, love Jesus, and always seek truth.