Hillary Clinton got it so very wrong in 2016. First, was the INEVITABILITY OF CLINTON Everyone KNEW she would win until election night. Second, Clinton IGNORED THE SEETHING ANGER IN THE “RUST BELT.”

In February of 2016 I wrote:

Trump could easily win PA in November’s Election

AND:

TWO PEOPLE WERE SHOT TO DEATH HOURS ACROSS THE STREET HOURS BEFORE. THE CRUEL DISREGARD OF HUMAN LIFE BY THE PAID CLINTON STAFF INFURIATED ME. 

SEE BELOW

***

 I thought Clinton vs Trump was 50-50. I didn’t think Hillary would concede at 11pm on Election Day.

My dad was a "Jack of all trades." See bottom of this post. 

In 2012 Bruce Springsteen put THE SEETHING ANGER IN THE “RUST BELT.” to music in  "Jack of All Trades"

***

The Harris Campaign understands what happened in 2016:

“But it’s clear that both campaigns see the rust belt as decisive.

Trump’s choice of JD Vance, the Ohio senator and author of Hillbilly Elegy, a memoir about the struggles of the white working class, as his running mate was a move to win over a key constituency, although Vance’s failure to connect with audiences at recent rallies may be causing the former president some regret.

Harris is expected to reveal her vice-presidential running mate before a rally in Pennsylvania on Tuesday. The location has fuelled speculation that it will be that state’s governor, Josh Shapiro, although Harris’s aides have cautioned against reading too much into the connection.

Two other state governors, Tim Walz of Minnesota and Andy Beshear of Kentucky, are also reported to be serious contenders for the post. Either would probably play well in key rust belt constituencies. But the appeal of Shapiro lies in his strong approval ratings even among some Republicans and his defeat of a Trumpist rightwinger, Doug Mastriano, by a wide margin in the governor’s race two years ago.

Harris has also made Michigan’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer, a campaign co-chair after she ruled herself out of the vice-presidential contest. Whitmer will be a valuable asset in keeping the campaign focused on the issues that matter to midwestern voters after she defeated a Trump-backed candidate by 11 points in 2022 while Democrats took control of the Michigan state legislature for the first time in 45 years.

All of this is a tacit acknowledgment of how badly wrong Clinton’s campaign got it in 2016. She was the first Democratic presidential candidate since the late 1980s to lose the three blue wall seats. Her defeat can in part be attributed to a mix of hostility to elitism in general and the Clintons in particular, a perception compounded by controversies surrounding her speeches to Wall Street firms and other wealthy groups.

All of this is a tacit acknowledgment of how badly wrong Clinton’s campaign got it in 2016. She was the first Democratic presidential candidate since the late 1980s to lose the three blue wall seats. Her defeat can in part be attributed to a mix of hostility to elitism in general and the Clintons in particular, a perception compounded by controversies surrounding her speeches to Wall Street firms and other wealthy groups.

Her campaign focused on urban voters and too often neglected rural and working-class whites who felt left behind by globalisation and free trade policies that saw jobs exported. Union officials complained that Clinton’s team failed to listen to advice to talk more about protecting jobs from unfair competition by China and less about gun control.

Trump, on the other hand, tapped into rust belt grievances by promising to renegotiate trade deals, bring back manufacturing jobs and “drain the swamp” of Washington politics.

On election day, voter turnout among key demographics in the rust belt, including Black voters, was lower than expected for Clinton in contrast to real enthusiasm for Trump.

Four years later, Trump’s vote went up substantially in all three states but he lost them because voters who stayed away when Clinton was on the ticket came out for Biden. But as Biden’s disastrous debate performance in June shifted the focus on to his health and fitness for office, there was a real risk that enough voters would stay away again to deliver Trump back into the White House.

Harris has been the presumptive nominee for less than two weeks but has already gained ground against Trump in all but one of the seven swing states. One poll shows her doing better than Biden in the rust belt and as neck and neck with Trump in the three key states. Another poll puts Harris 11 points ahead in Michigan and two in Wisconsin although she trails Trump by four points in Pennsylvania.”

MORE AT:

The

Guardian

Hoping to avoid Clinton’s 2016 mistakes, Harris courts three ‘rust belt’ states

‘Blue wall’ states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin could decide the outcome of November’s election

Chris McGreal

Sun 4 Aug 2024 06.00 EDT

***

WHAT I WROTE:

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Trump could easily win PA in November’s Election

When Obama ran in 2008 Gov. Rendell supported Clinton.  Mostly, I think, because he thought Obama would win in Philly but not much of the rest of Pennsylvania.

Governor Rendell’s line of thought dates back to President Andrew Jackson:

“SINCE Donald J. Trump shot to the top of Republican polls last fall, pundits have tried to make sense of his popularity. He has been described as a modern-day product of reality-TV narcissism, or the second coming of European fascism. But as he cruises into the South Carolina primary after beating his rivals by double digits in New Hampshire, it’s clear that neither idea quite explains his strength. 

Mr. Trump’s rhetoric resonates with a particular American political tradition. Voters may not know the details of that tradition, but they feel it viscerally when a politician taps into it. Mr. Trump has done just that by emulating a classic model of American democratic leadership. 

A clue as to just which leadership model can be found on a map. While Trump fans are spread across the country, they are heavily concentrated in and near the Appalachian states — from Mississippi and Alabama all the way to western Pennsylvania and New York. The northwest corner of South Carolina is one of the most pro-Trump parts of the country…

Consciously or not, Mr. Trump’s campaign echoes the style of Andrew Jackson, and the states where Mr. Trump is strongest are the ones that most consistently favored Jackson during his three runs for the White House.”

MORE AT: 

New York Times 

Donald Trump’s Secret? Channeling Andrew Jackson 

By STEVE INSTEP  FEB. 17, 2016

When you look at the 1824 electoral map of Pennsylvania county by county things haven’t changed much. 

See the map at:

Why did Pennsylvania support Andrew Jackson so strongly in the US 1824 presidential election?

Jackson carried Pennsylvania with 76.1% of the vote. 

I don’t believe Trump will get numbers that Jackson did. 

In a Trump vs. Clinton general election, I think Trump would win Pennsylvania. 

Governor Rendell's reasoning that Obama could not win Pennsylvania but Clinton would win has been turned around. 

>————————————————————-<

It’s not a poll, but Republicans that I see when I'm out and about like Donald Trump as president over the other Republicans. They are mostly college educated professionals, not John Birch Society Crackers. 

Chester, Lancaster and Delaware Counties have, by the way, a considerable number of JBS type Cracker White Supremacists. For instance, Colin Hanna, http://letfreedomringusa.com/about/ 

And this guy:

Pat Sellers

>————————————————————-<

No matter what the DC Beltway says, I think Trump is a shoe in for the GOP Presidential Nominee. 

Republicans have no “super delegates” like the Democratic Party. Primary elections are final on the GOP side.

>————————————————————-

That thing about Governor Rendell thinking Obama would not win Pennsylvania has been turned around in this election.

Donald Trump may have his strongest support nationally and in Pennsylvania from the very same kind of Democrats that, back in 2008, Governor Rendell envisioned voting for Hillary Clinton and not Barack Obama. 

“Donald Trump holds a dominant position in national polls in the Republican race in no small part because he is extremely strong among people on the periphery of the G.O.P. coalition.

“He is strongest among Republicans who are less affluent, less educated and less likely to turn out to vote. His very best voters are self-identified Republicans who nonetheless are registered as Democrats. It’s a coalition that’s concentrated in the South, Appalachia and the industrial North, according to data provided to The Upshot by Civis Analytics, a Democratic data firm.

MORE AT:

New York Times

Donald Trump’s Strongest Supporters: A Certain Kind of Democrat

Posted by James Pitcherella at 10:09 PM 

***

Thursday, July 4, 2019

A WOMAN CAN BE PRESIDENT! HILLARY CLINTON LOST because her election CAMPAIGN was run as A MACHINE DEVOID OF HUMAN COMPASSION

I worked with the Kerry campaign. Their paid staff were compassionate, caring and considerate of others. People here routinely walk between moving cars. I noticed that Benari Poulten @BenariLee  was extremely careful driving through Coatesville’s streets.

The Obama for President paid staff were amazing. They had human compassion I hadn’t seen since I was involved with Father John McNamee in Philadelphia. In particular Omar Woodard @OmarWoodard was an outstanding campaign manager and outstanding human being. 

Obama 08 was an exciting time in Coatesville, PA

Clinton’s paid staff were robots working on laptops. 

A staff member looked up when I asked if they noticed the Coatesville PD across the street and said he did. I told them that 6 hours before they opened that morning there was a double murder. He giggled and went back to his laptop. 

We are accustomed to gunfire in Coatesville  Most people know to get down. I was warning the Clinton people that there would probably be retaliation for the double murder. 

I never expected indifference to the violent deaths across the street and the possibility of more gunfire. 

There was retaliation and more gunfire just down 6th Avenue. 

SEE:

Police tape was across the street from Clinton Campaign Headquarters in 2016 at Coatesville, PA. I came in early, told them be careful there was a double murder across the street & might be retaliation. They looked up, giggled & went back to their laptops. 

"In a news release, the Coatesville Police Department said detectives are investigating whether Wylie's shooting death is related to a double homicide at about 3:20 a.m. Wednesday in a rear apartment on the 500 block of East Lincoln Highway. The apartment is about a block away from the alley where Wylie was found.

In Wednesday's double homicide, police have said that David Wayne Fitzsimmons, 56, of Coatesville, and William Chance, 46, of Philadelphia or Coatesville, died after being shot."

MORE AT:

Man, 50, shot dead in Coatesville; police see possible link to earlier double killing

by Julie Shaw, Posted: September 29, 2016

Posted by James Pitcherella at 2:50 PM 

***

2016: "The Game of Elections" is played with hate and fear

When I first listened to  Bruce Springsteen's "Jack of All Trades" I cried like a baby. That "Jack of All Trades" is my Dad. 

In the run up to the 2016 elections hate and fear is manifest on all sides, even non-voters and people who ignore elections are concerned. 

That hate of course includes the 60% Republican xenophobic, "Christian", anti-government racists who see Donald Trump or Ted Cruze as their national savior. 

But there is a universal malaise, a solid rational base for that hate and fear that grips all of us.

The loss of friends and family members in needless and very long wars that we were tricked into supporting by people who would profit from those wars, fear of losing all that you have if you get sick, steady loss of real income over 4 decades, fear of terrorist attacks, fear that your children will be shot and killed in school, fear that ends won't meet and like so many others you could be homeless. We had 15 years of disappointment and fear. 

There's an underlying hate that's universal. It's hatred of the Wall Street bankers that caused the depression of 2007 and ruined so very many peoples lives. 

Well not quite universal. There's this small group of men:

Corporations win big if Republicans win. But no matter which party wins, corporations will win. They win less if Democrats win. 

Before 1980 the GOP was a mix of populists and corporatists. Since then the GOP has been nothing more than a corporate shill organization. 

A "We're the corporate shill party." campaign doesn't attract votes. So the "We're the party of the threatened white race." facade was created by the Republican Party. It worked extremely well. Fear and hate of the "others" put the GOP in control of most state legislatures, most courts and the U.S. Congress. 

All Republicans, even those in local elections, need to pay at least lip service to the 60% Republican white people hate/fear base to survive.  They dependably vote in every election.

The anti-government/racist, ethnic hate on world wide display at Republican campaign events is a facade to attract frightened white men. It's a bait-&-switch. 

The frightened white people are being conned by corporate shills. Any way the election goes the 60% Republican frightened white people base will discover that they were scammed. 

Ultimately catastrophic failure is built into the Republican Party white/fear/hate election strategy.  At some time in the near future our country will no longer be mostly white Anglo-Saxon Protestant. The GOP as it now stands is a minority party inevitably destined to become a tiny minority party. 

Europe is looking dangerously right wing. The Greek Golden Dawn Party says their swastika is an ancient Greek symbol. That the brown shirts with swastika bands aren’t Nazi. 

The 60 percent of Republicans that want Trump or Cruze as their leader are nurtured by anti-government hate. They listen to and talk about radio shows that say "civil war could erupt on American soil." 

Bruce Springsteen's "Jack of All Trades" ends with:

"So you use what you’ve got and you learn to make do

You take the old, you make it new

If I had me a gun, I’d find the bastards and shoot ’em on sight

I’m a jack of all trades, we’ll be all right

I’m a jack of all trades, we’ll be all right"