by B. R. GOWANI
CARTOON/Gary Markstein/Creators Syndicate/US News & World Report
Republican Party’s miscalculation
The top Republican Party leadership thought that one of its presidential candidates, Donald Trump, a businessman and an outsider with no political experience but a big loud mouth and unacceptable behavior, will gradually vanish from the scene, and thus make room for candidates in tune with the party machine. Trump made great efforts, if one can say that, at every step to lose an opportunity to grab the nomination: first by alienating blacks and Mexicans (combined, they make up 25% of the US population), then by announcing a ban on Muslims entering the US. He has been nasty to other groups too, including the disabled people and women. Not understanding people’s anger over ruling class’s neoliberal policies, which have economically affected them badly, and Trump’s power of bullshitting was Republican leadership’s huge miscalculation.
Democratic Party’s miscalculation
Ditto for the managers of the Democratic Party. They, including Hillary Clinton (former First Lady of Arkansas State, former First Lady of the United States, former New York State Senator, former Secretary of State), one of the Democratic Party’s presidential candidates, underestimated the strength of one of her rivals, Bernie Sanders. They wouldn’t have thought in their wildest dreams that 75 years old Sanders would get hold of the young voters, men and women, to such an extent that one hellish woman had to, in supporting hellish Hillary, scare women of hell if they didn’t vote for her friend.
Sanders’ miscalculation
Sander’s chances of reaching the White House were minimal because the establishments of both parties would have seen that it never happens. Just one example: on March 6/7, 2016, the Washington Post newspaper, on its online edition, published 16 stories on Sanders in a 16 hour period – all of them were negative! (By the way, the Post is owned by Jeff Bezos of Amazon, the company which got a $600 million contract with the CIA. Amazon also got business from the State Department when Hillary was its head.)
Sanders miscalculated the unpredictable support he got and thought that the supporters will stay with him even if he deceives them. He was wrong; they were for a change and not Bernie. Many of them are mad at him and some have gone to the Green Party.
Trump’s miscalculation
Donald Trump, who is liberal on certain issues and is a conservative on some things, is basically a businessman who wants power and money. To grab the presidential nomination, he flaunted his bigotry too much to impress a racist segment of the whites (many of whom are economic victims of neoliberalism). Trump miscalculated that he could rely on racist and conservative whites to win the presidency. He has realized and that’s why he flew to Mexico to meet President Enrique Peña Nieto. But once he returned back from his visit, he started playing his old tune of deporting millions of Mexicans. Trump is also trying to woo blacks, women, and other groups but seems like it’s too late.
B. R. Gowani can be reached at brgowani@hotmail.com