Sunday Focus: The Vote

     Not in any particular order, some thoughts on the vote that put Donald Trump in charge of America.


     From here, it feels as if the U.S. has followed Alabama into the GOP fold. All three branches of Government in the state have been controlled by the Republicans for years, now all three branches of the Federal Government will be too.

President-Elect Trump wants the country to come together now. He said so in the early morning hours after election day: 

I say it is time for us to come together as one united people," Trump said. "I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all Americans and this is so important to me." 

     His 37 word statement includes one "us", one "our", three "I's" and one "me". 
     I suspect the country will come together the same way it did after both of Obama's election victories. Not at all.

40-Million Americans who had the right to vote did not do so. Including:
 
Kanye West who says:  a) He did not vote, but....
                                       b) if he had, it would have been for Trump.

"[Voting for Trump] don't mean that I don't think that black lives matter; that don't mean I don’t believe in women's rights; that don't mean that I don't believe in gay marriage," he continued, adding, "This world is racist, OK? Let's stop being distracted to focus on that as much. It's just a fucking fact: We are a racist fucking country, period."

                                              (In a Rolling Stone article.)

Colin Kaepernick

 “You know, I think it would be hypocritical of me to vote,” Kaepernick told the San Francisco Chronicle Nov. 13. “I said from the beginning I was against oppression, I was against the system of oppression. I’m not going to show support for that system. And to me, the oppressor isn’t going to allow you to vote your way out of your oppression.”

Several major Republicans

Add former President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, to the list of Republicans officially not supporting Donald Trump. 
A spokesman for the Bushes told the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that they cast ballots in Texas two weeks ago and did not vote for Trump or Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee. The spokesman declined to say whether they voted for a third-party or write-in candidate.

                                                                                                   LA Times story

13k Alabama voters...

The secretary of state's office, on its website, said there were 2,127,564 ballots cast in Tuesday's general election.
The number of votes in the presidential election – which had four candidates on the ballot – totaled up to 2,113,963 votes.
That's a difference of 13,601 – or about the population of Alabama towns such as Muscle Shoals, Gardendale or Saraland.

                                                                                                     AL.COM story

And those protestors after the election who "didn't vote"? 
The Snopes website did their usual thorough job of debunking that bumper-sticker conclusion. Not so fast, they conclude. But it's much easier to just accept the statement when you agree with it.


And now those who really were non-voters will be silent during Trump's term(s) in office? Right.

[Sunday Focus is a regular feature of www.timlennox.com]