The final stretch

So, tomorrow is the day many Americans have been anticipating since Ted Cruz was the first major candidate to announce that he was running for president in March 23, 2015: Election day.

Election day may bring something other than this campaign season to an end…

Yes, we might actually escape Secretary Clinton’s email controversy.

In my last post I described the ‘October surprise’ of more ‘classified emails’ being found on Anthony Weiner’s computer. The FBI reviewed emails, again, determined if a crime was committed, again, and are not recommending charges, again. The FBI reviewed the emails in eight days and are not recommending charges against Sec. Clinton.

The rhetoric currently circulating the latest development of the email controversy mainly on how the FBI was able to review the emails so quickly and Trump, and other supporters, claiming it was impossible, probably to push the ‘rigged election’ narrative. While Sec. Clinton’s camp hasn’t pushed anything out about the emails, keeping her presidential position and acting above the fray. I think Sec. Clinton’s position of not focusing on petty moments of the past and focusing on the big picture of the election is the best position to take in the final stretch.

In the past few days she has had celebrity appearances with Beyonce, President Obama and Bruce Springsteen, which is a smart move. She has great celebrity support and she has capitalized on it instead of commenting on the newest development on controversy in the news.

Meanwhile, Trump is scraping for support, doesn’t have any celebrities championing for him in person and still focuses on petty issues.

More than 42 million votes already cast, but that is lower than the 46 million votes cast in 2016, which is an indictor that there is a lack of motivation and enthusiasm (Vox). GO VOTE!

I promise it’s very easy.

Do it! Your vote counts!

You Heard It Here First

A Candidate for The Middle Class

As the campaign comes to a close and a Clinton victory seems imminent, I thought it would be useful to compile some of the most important promises that she has made to help the middle class. Over the last few months Clinton has proliferated a narrative that she is the better choice for “working families” and is more in touch with middle class values than her counterpart. Whether or not these claims will hold true, they have been a cornerstone of her rhetoric and have likely attracted voters.

Her Three Biggest Promises

Though Clinton has suggested a number of policies and policy changes during the 2016 race, I believe that the three most significant that could affect the middle class are: raising the minimum wage, making college tuition free (for some), and cutting taxes on middle class families. The viability and breakdown of these policies remains to be seen, but pending a Clinton victory, I think that these three policies will have the greatest impact on her ultimate legacy.

Clinton has announced intentions to raise the minimum wage to $12/hr. This would be the highest minimum wage ever recorded in US history. This article outlines the original context of the proposal and breaks down its potential benefits and flaws.
As for expanding access to college education, Clinton has suggested that tuition should be free for some families. At first, families making less than $85,000 annually would be eligible, and this figure would ideally increase to $125,000 by 2021.
With regard to cutting taxes on middle class families, Clinton has focused especially on “working” families with young children. Specifically, she has proposed doubling the child tax credit.

Overall Impact

Assuming a Clinton victory, it will be interesting to see how the policies that helped her get into the White House are actually implemented. If the Senate and House of Representatives end up with heavy republican leanings, these policies might prove difficult to implement. Nevertheless, Clinton’s rhetoric regarding the middle class thus far has served her well in reaching a commanding lead over Trump.

Trumping Along

Trump, with the election approaching, has managed to lay lower after the initial October surprises that gripped the media for most of the past few weeks. Now the attention has been shifted to the Clinton Foundation with all of the Wikileaks that have been released. Trump’s campaign has used this as the perfect opportunity to shift the attention from Trump’s mistakes to Hillary’s, even though the stamp of what was released is not something that can really be erased. His daughter in law, Laura Trump, has been at the forefront in supporting Donald Trump and trying to combat all of the so called “false narratives” and trying to discredit Hillary.

With the end of the election coming, Laura Trump has tried to sway the female audience as she speaks out against Hillary in an interview with Breitbart News, stating that Hillary does not represent the women in this country and that it is a shame that she is the first woman presidential nominee to represent our country. Trump’s campaign is surely using this line of fire as a way to discredit Hillary on one of her biggest strength’s in this election, gender. Laura is trying to appeal to the female audience by stating that, “we are smart enough to not vote solely based on someone’s gender,” implying that that is the only reason to really vote for Hillary.

Overall, Trump has tried to appeal to the female population as much as possible in light of all of the events that came into play in October. This is exactly what his focus should have been on because he greatly needed more support of women voters, specifically white, middle class suburban women, whom Laura Trump tried to target in her interview. However, I don’t think Trump’s campaign held enough women supporters with strong influence and persuasion to promptly sway this particular crowd. I think in the election tomorrow there will be a strong female support of Hillary because of all of the events that took place in October, and because of Donald’s lack of ability to strongly reach these female voters.

Sources:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3866934/We-ve-got-stuff-sleeve-Donald-Trump-s-daughter-law-hints-Republican-nominee-October-surprise-drop-Hillary-Clinton.html

http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/11/07/exclusive-lara-trump-hillary-clinton-doesnt-represent-most-if-any-women-in-this-country/

What’s Important NOW?

Tomorrow’s election is very critical because voters will be turning up to the polls and casting their votes on this election. WHO WILL COME OUT ON TOP?! Voters will be coming to the polls with many issues flowing through their minds before inking or electronically finalizing their votes to be processed. The voters will be coming to the polls with an idea in mind but many will not have made up their mind until just before casting their ballot, and the sad reality is that many will not even make it to the polls on what could be the biggest election ever for this country. Many will be heading to the polls with individual reasons as to who they cast their ballot for, for instance pro-life vs. pro-choice, foreign affairs, security, or economy. However, for many minorities it will be a huge day for the future of their livelihood in the United States. Obviously, because of the very opposing views that Clinton and Trump have on immigration make it a very pivotal piece of tomorrow’s vote.

Trump has really hurt himself when it comes to the immigrant vote with his comments on the national stage, however Clinton is known for being more of the open arms type when it comes to immigration. On one end of the spectrum you have someone who wants to build a wall and get rid of all immigrants without proper documentation. On the other end you have a woman who is more caring, sympathetic, and loving when it comes to people. For Clinton, it is bigger than documentation, Clinton sees people for who they are and would be more prone to take them under her wing, which illuminates an emotional response from the minority population. This is a way that Clinton continuously builds on her pathos and gains the upper hand on Trump and the minority vote. People see that Clinton is very open and willing to work with minorities/immigrants and these people are hurting and they find Clinton as the more appealing nominee.

The Profit of Trade

Shady is as Shady Does

Now closing in on the 2016 presidential election, October has been anything but boring. With less than twenty-four hours until our future president delivers their acceptance speech, voters have been thrown for a loop with the latest October surprises. Conspiracy has risen in a statement proposed by Senior Economic Advisor, Peter Navarro of Clinton’s involvement with media oligopolies and trade with China.

In this conspiracy Navarro explains how big media heads have been skewing the information they feed to the public to essencially fill their pockets. Evidence has suggested that, “Clinton megaphone MSNBC,were once owned by General Electric, a leader in offshoring factories to China. Now NBC has been bought by Comcast, which is specifically targeting the Chinese market – even as Comcast’s anchors and reporters at MSNBC engage in their Never Trump tactics.” Trump’s campaign has targeted trade to bring light on the situation at hand – trade with China is taking away from the United State’s economy and it’s citizens.

Your Career for Their Millions

Trump is “connecting the dots” and voters are seeing a side of the media and Hillary Clinton’s campaign that is shady at best. The statement referred to Clinton by being the candidate of the multinational ruling elite. She has earned this title since the same corporations that profit off of shipping American jobs offshore are pushing Clinton’s agenda. With this new situation people are now going to question big media heads and the Clinton campaign.

This could severely hurt Hilary’s campaign. She is already under the pressure of breaking laws and now voters may think she’s involved with even more scandals. The fact that news channels like NBC are bashing all of Trump’s trade tactics and promoting Clinton will appear dishonest now that Navarro has linked their involvement with trade. Has Clinton and MSNBC been profiting off of America’s declining economy and rising unemployment this whole time? How do we know what the media is telling us is true? Election day is near and the final shots have been fired.

Trade & The Working Class

Donald Trump’s campaign has been surrounded by his idea of “Making America Great Again” that he prides himself on every chance that he gets. He blames a great amount of why America isn’t as great as it could be, on trade with China. The record of U.S. free trade policies for working and middle-class America reveals havoc, not benefit. For example, total U.S. employment since NAFTA and China trade the past two decades has witnessed a loss of more than 6 million U.S. manufacturing jobs. This in fact has a lot to do with the working class, because Trump has argued that he has plans to bring jobs back to the states. It is very clear that Trump has won over many of the hearts of the working class that includes a high concentration of white, male, middle aged, non-college educated, working class voters, by attacking current U.S. trade policies.

The issue here is whether or not Trump is truly serious about making changes to the U.S. free trade policies. He’s been using the symbolic world view as a rhetorical strategy when discussing policies especially ones connected with China. This is a great tactic in his defense to gather voters in the manufacturing field because of his advocation of trying to implement harsh trade restrictions on China. However, his businessman persona contradicts his current rhetoric against trade because so many of his Trump products are produced in many other countries, including China. In order to be effective, however, Trump must demonstrate that he has a realistic and effective plan to actually see all of his ideas through, not just making empty promises. Although, his rhetorical strategy may have won over the hearts of some, but not all of America agrees with his plan here.

Image: http://www.theindependent.com/opinion/cartoons/bruce-plante-cartoon-trump-and-outsourcing/image_289def12-3fca-11e6-be78-d3d432d84284.html

A Different Perspective

Just in time for the election, I decided to take a different stance this week and talk about women who are voting for Trump, instead of more focus on the topic of why Trump has lost female votes. It seems that there’s a mix of Republican women who have voted for Trump without excitement, some who have taken a different road and voted against Trump, and then there’s some hardcore Republicans who are with him through and through. Although there are two sides to every story, I would like to argue that Hillary Clinton’s democratic views on certain topics such as abortion, respect, and how some think she negatively represents women have caused women voters to turn against her and see Trump’s qualities, such as him being a savvy businessman, speaking his mind, and getting the job done.

Trump at a rally showing off the Women for Trump logo.

The New York Magazine published an interesting article about how ten specific republican women’s votes have formulated over the course of the election process. This includes ideas such as, “I wouldn’t vote for Hillary. It’s especially the issue of abortion. I am a total pro-life person.” And, “He’s a businessman, and I think that’s what this country needs: someone to figure out what we’re going to do with our economy” And lastly, “I don’t understand how she can say she respects women when she doesn’t respect herself.” Not only does this article encompass opposing opinions from what we’ve heard a lot about women and Trump, but it holds truth to the reason why women are choosing Trump. As we touched on in class, people have a warrant to vote for Trump and try or die is his only alternative. His aggressiveness has seemed to win over women with valid reason, and although this still means that many women have reason to vote against him, it’s refreshing to hear a different perspective of the warrant that Republican women have about him. I definitely see how these women have formulated their opinions based on Trump’s ideas on many issues and his tactics such as being straight to the point, and why they have chosen to not side with Hillary’s extra baggage.

All in all, Tuesday, November 8 (tomorrow, yikes) will go down in history as a very interesting election for many reasons. The big question is if Trump will get enough of the women’s votes like these, although it seems right now that his negative qualities may be shining more than his positive ones.

The Grandma Card

It’s no secret that millennials were gaga over Bernie Sanders. And by no means was it because he’s young. The old geezer is 75 which is 6 years older than Hillary. And he looks and speaks in a manner that makes him seem way more senile than that! So why is it?-Why did millennials bow down to Bernie? Well, as the Huffington Post so lovingly answers- “It’s the authenticity, stupid.” They elaborate further: “For those of us who care deeply about policy and authenticity, it’s hard to get excited by studied politicians who craft messages based on polling and who drift in the winds of time.” This, right here, is the simple reason why millennials’ support for Hillary is lukewarm at best. She is inauthentic to them and they do not trust her.

In order for Hillary to gain some authenticity and to show millennials that she really did care about them, one tactic she has tried is playing “The Grandma Card” and I personally feel that it was a great idea to win over millennials. According to Kristen Soltis Anderson, who has studied trends in the opinions and values of young voters, millennials care very deeply about family. By Hillary rhetorically positioning herself as a sweet, loving grandmother, it seems logical that the youth’s trust in her and respect for her would grow.

Sometimes, the Grandma Card worked like a charm. For example, when Clinton unveiled her goals for renewable energy, she said, “The republicans on the other side, when you ask them about climate change, they all say ‘Well, I’m not a scientist.’ Well, I’m not a scientist either, I’m just a grandmother with two eyes and brain and I know that this is an issue we have to address.” Experts labeled this use of the grandma card as ‘brilliant.’ And brilliant it is- Clinton shows us that because she has grandchildren whose wellbeing she cares deeply about, she obviously wants our government to take detrimental climate change very seriously.

However, sometimes the whole #GrandmothersKnowBest (which is an actual hashtag that Clinton actually used on Twitter) can come across as inauthentic. For example, in the first debate, moderator Lester Holt began by asking Hillary why she is the better choice in this election to “create the kinds of jobs that will put more money into the pockets of American workers.” Before answering, Hillary redirected the question by asserting her focus on “what kind of country we want to be” and “what kind of future we’ll build together.” She answered her own question by saying, “Today is my granddaughter’s second birthday, so I think about this a lot” before going back into the issue of job creation. According to an article by Western Journalism, critics blasted Clinton for this “blatant ploy to connect with voters.”

So did the grandma card work for Hillary? Well, I think the examples show us that this tactic worked when it was smooth and integrated well into the subject and there was true authenticity behind the words. However, when the playing of the grandma card was calculated and premeditated, it did not go over well with the public. Authenticity is key- always.

Hacking: The Hidden Act of Terror

With election day at our doorstep, many are worried that Al-Qaeda has some drastic act of terror planned up its sleeve. It is a common belief that terrorists around the globe will attempt to somehow drastically affect the results of the 2016 Presidential Election. A potentially even more relevant concern however lurks upon the horizon this Eve of Election Day.

A much more hidden Act of Terror

According to an article written by Juliette Kayyem, a CNN National Security Analyst, the greatest threat that our country faces tomorrow is that of outside forces tinkering with our election results by hacking the system. Thus it is not by massive acts of terror that the future of our country will be determined by. However, these small and subliminal efforts to destroy/change votes is a realistic and immediate threat.

Can hacking this system be classified as terror?

Yes. And here’s why. Think about the very core of terrorism: Manipulation through fear. That is exactly what is occurring here. According to the article, the actual possibility of any outside source being able to tamper with enough votes to actually have a significant impact in and of itself is slim to none. However, the major implications come from the fear that it instils in the American people. The more a voter can be convinced, that “their vote doesn’t count,” the less likely they are to actually get out to the polls and vote. The ramifications of this are massive. Other countries and/or special interest groups outside of America are faced with the temptation to hold a lot of sway and influence over the American people and this is why I believe that there have been recorded attempts to hack the systems – not because they believe in their ability to outsmart the most intelligent and proactive security systems of the time, but because they believe that they can affectively sow a seed of fear and later reap the benefits.

Conclusion

Don’t let this change your mind! Get out and vote! Every vote counts in this election and every election is the most important election of the time. The future of the Nation is in the people’s hands, what are you going to do with it?

Where in the World is Bill Clinton?

He was supposed to be the secret weapon. A wildly popular ex-president whose broad appeal would cement a Hillary victory. Three days away from the election and the supposed Great Communicator, Bill Clinton, is nowhere to be found. On the campaign trail he’s been met with great admiration, but also with a distinct rancor that not even our sitting president has had to face. Protestors shouting “BILL’S A RAPIST!” or “BILL IS CORRUPT!” has become such a regular occurrence that Bill has been delegated to small, easily-controlled town hall environments.

For die-hard fans of the Bill Clinton White House—this election has been disappointing. Voters who were looking forward to a blast-to-the-past time in politics when Bill Clinton was galvanizing democrats with his southern charm have been greeted by a different Bill. A Bill that at times has become unhinged and defensive; contradictory to the cool, easygoing politician from Arkansas that most Americans fell in love with. Instead, he has foolishly spent his time on the trail defending his presidency and not vouching for his wife.

However, in defense of Bill, this is uncharted territory. Bill is attempting to pioneer a new role, the First Husband. And compound that with the fact that he’s an ex-president with baggage of his own means Bill is in a precarious positon. A weary positon that has been under attack by the Trump campaign during this whole election cycle. Three days away from election day and it can be said with confidence that the Trump team succeeded in nullifying Bill’s effectiveness.

From the start, the Trump campaign mounted an all-out offensive on Bill and his role as a surrogate. This isn’t a mark of ingenuity from the Trump team, but a route that had been explored and mastered by a 90’s Republican led House. Because of Bill’s prominence, he has a litany of failures as a public servant to attack. Furthermore, the Trump campaign has called into question the legitimacy and ethics of the Clinton Foundation which has created headaches for Hillary. Also, because of our current political climate, especially regarding Black Lives Matter—Bill’s popularity with millennials and blacks is fleeting.

Ultimately, what may be the cause of Bill’s undoing is that the Democratic Party is not the same party is was during 1992. If on November 8, Hillary becomes the presumptive president-elect she will have done so in spite of Bill and not because of him.