Running neck-and-neck to Nov. 8, 69-year-old Democratic nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton holds an aggregate 3% national lead on 70-year-old real estate tycoon Donald Trump. Making their final pitches to voters around midnight, Hillary and Trump pleaded with voters to join their bandwagons. Hillary tried to close voters asking what kind of future do they want while Trump argued that Hillary has too many ethical and legal problems to be president. Voters decide today whether or not to vote for the devil they know or the devil they don’t know, referring to Hillary as a known political commodity while Trump’s a neophyte on the political scene. If form holds, voters seem poised to vote for the status quo, refusing to rock-the-boat with an unknown quantity like Trump. Both candidates are at the mercy of voters, many of whom have already voted.
Hanging in the balance today is the U.S. Senate, with Democrats hoping to pick up five seats, one more than to promote Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to Senate Majority Leader. If Democrats pick up four seats, assuming Hillary wins, then Vice President Tim Kaine becomes to tie-breaking vote, still giving Schumer his promotion to Majority Leader. Getting a narrow Senate majority, still won’t advance Hillary’s progressive agenda. With the House expected to retain its GOP majority, Hillary’s going to have a difficult time advancing her agenda, especially when it comes to increasing the debt ceiling. Republicans, led by House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), backed by the Freedom Caucus’s Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), will be galvanized to fight Hillary at every turn, including any Supreme Court picks. Hillary may find her only ally with Sen. John McCain (R-Az.) on the Armed Service Committee.
Winning the battle against Trump, Hillary could find herself losing the war with House and Senate Republicans. With Trump out of the picture, the Republican Party returns to its conservative roots led in the House by the Freedom Caucus. When you consider President Barack Obama hasn’t passed a meaningful piece of legislation since signing Obamacare March 23, 2010, it’s going to be worse for Hillary. Obama’s vetoed the one piece of bipartisan legislation Sept. 23, allowing victims of Sept. 11 to sue Saudi Arabia for damages. Obama’s veto was overridden Sept. 30, in a stunning defeat for the president. Beholden to the Saudis for funding his presidential library after he leaves office, Obama showed his true colors. Like Hillary, who’s taken millions from the Saudis and Gulf States for the Clinton Foundation, Obama picks his foreign policy based on who ponies up.
When you talk of a pyrrhic victory, it shows Hillary winning the White House but losing the war with Congress. Hillary said clearly during the campaign that here enemy was Republicans. No one voting for Hillary considered that she’d get nothing done in Congress, especially advancing a liberal agenda. Trump never really explained to voters that four years of Hillary would actually be worse than Obama, since she already labels Republicans as her enemies, it’s unrealistic to advance any of Hillary’s progressive agenda promised to various minorities, including the Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, Transgender and Questioning [LBGT] community. Voters not only overlooked ethical and legal breaches that could result in impeachment proceedings, they didn’t consider adding to Washington’s bitter partisan divide. Voting for Hillary did nothing to end Washington’s gridlock.
Trump’s path to victory involves running the table in the battleground states and picking up states in the rustbelt like Michigan and Wisconsin. If Trump wins Florida and picks up Michigan and Wisconsin, he’s got his path to 270 electoral votes. If Hillary starts showing weakness in traditionally Democratic states, she’s got nowhere to pick up ground in traditional red states. If neither candidate can win the requisite number of electoral votes, the Republican-controlled House will pick the next president. If Trump leads by a large popular vote, it’s going to be difficult to pick Hillary. All the prevailing national polls had Hillary up by 3% aggregate on Election Day, not taking into account the hoards of first-time voters looking for change in 2016, going for Trump, despite making many mistakes during the campaign. No one in the mainstream media had Trump running a competitive race.
Outspending Trump by four-to-one, Hillary’s overplayed her hand with too much Hollywood glitz, backfiring on her last minute PR blitzkrieg. Voters saw through the stagecraft and opted for all of Trump’s foibles. Playing the race card also backfired on Hillary, stirring up the silent majority, fed up with a politically correct culture, opting for a real person over Hillary’s rehearsed talking points. Hillary’s campaign showed too much bravado, acting as if her election was inevitable. Trump kept pounding away that Hillary had bad judgment, whether it’s domestic or foreign policy. Voters decided to go for change over the status quo. Trump the outsider eclipsed Hillary the career insider politician that’s couldn’t accomplish her agenda over the last 30 years. In the end, voters wanted change over more of the same. Trump restores to the White House a new idealism not seen since John F. Kennedy.
