Can We Ever Pull Together Again?

For John, BLUF:  So, if it is a "Blue Wave", what do we do with the 63 million Trump voters from 2016?.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Media don't want to understand Trump voters, all 63 million of them

From The Chicago Tribune, by Reporter John Kass, 1 August 2018.

Here is the lede plus five:

As the tax evasion trial of former presidential campaign manager Paul Manafort began, the Trump-hating Democratic Media Complex renewed its howls, hoping Manafort flips and gives up Trump’s head.

Then the author turns to a tweet by Ms Mollie Hemingway, who asked why reporters are getting paid to report on a President they don't understand in any way.  Mr Kass, not a vote for Mr Trump in November 2016, answers Ms Hemingway but then goes on to deplore the press for not understanding President Trump's voters.

Here is how it ends:

Think back on the ridicule that Hillary Clinton, the establishment Democrat of 2016, heaped on Trump voters when she called them “deplorables.”

It wasn’t what Clinton said, alone, that bothered those 63 million voters.  Many were shocked by Trump’s manner, by his bragging, his rude behavior, reference to his hand size, his boorishness, the way he treated women.

And still they voted for him.  Why?  Because they loathed the other side more.  They loathed the establishment.  They loathed the media.  And their reservations about Trump were washed away by the laughter following Clinton’s “deplorables” line.

Think back on that laughter, on that giggling when she talked of “deplorables.”  What followed were the snickers of the clique who get the joke at the expense of those who don’t.

That laughter stuck.  And Trump voters took the memory of it to the polls on Election Day.  Clinton won the popular vote, but Trump voters overwhelmingly gave him the Electoral College victory.

Now, Democrats are lathered up with the trial of this B-movie villain, this Manafort, whose alleged crimes took place long before he worked a few months for Trump.

Let’s say their Manafort fantasies come true, and he cuts a deal, and he serves Trump to special prosecutor Robert Mueller and the orange presidential head is placed upon a platter.

Then what?

What do you do with the millions who voted for Trump?  Mock them into submission?  Have them grovel and beg forgiveness before they’re re-educated?

You don’t have to understand Trump.  But it’s dangerous not to understand the 63 million who voted for him.  They’re not going into exile.  They’re here.

There is the example of the Vendée.  After the Battle of Savenay, in December 1793, General Francois Joseph Westermann reported to Paris:

The Vendée is no more ... According to your orders, I have trampled their children beneath our horses' feet; I have massacred their women, so they will no longer give birth to brigands.  I do not have a single prisoner to reproach me.  I have exterminated them all.

But, speaking of General Westermann, remember the Frank Sinatra lyrics:

You're riding high in April
Shot down in May

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff