The political problems in America over the last three decades all came because people got involved too late.
Many young people registered to vote only because Obama was the rave at the time. Prior to that, many of those “Obama registrants” didn’t care about politics more than the top movies and pop music of the week. They got involved as novices—unfamiliar with the political games that come from all directions. That threw off political strategy. Republicans didn’t know how to react. Democrats thought they were more loved than they were, making them lazy in 2016.
Then came Trump—and his Tweets. Trump’s Twitter account has brought in another slew of political novices. People who didn’t care all that much during the Obama years, one way or another, are fiery hot about Trump—one way or another, but mostly in objection. That’s alarming to the slightly-more-quiet Trumpists.
Don’t underestimate the Trumpists. He will be re-elected in 2020. It usually works that way. 2018 will likely see a reduction in Republicans in the House, the Senate could go either way, and that will have no prediction on the 2020 presidency.
Anti-Trumpists have made every effort to censor pro-Trump speech in their families and friendships. The Trumpists have been smeared, shouted down, told to shut it, and told where to shove it. They have been mis-quoted, filibustered, disrespected, and the candidate they supported with 70% of their hears has been misquoted and cut-quoted in erroneous context. They’ve gotten the message: Stay hidden.
Telling people to shut it rarely changes their minds. The result has not been any reduction in the “Trump Underground”; it has only made it nearly impossible for Anti-Trumpists to measure their opposition. In 2020, that not-so-loud, not-so-weak opposition will be quietly panicked about Anti-Trump sentiment and they will quietly go out to vote even more than 2016. Anti-Trumpists are making sure of that with all their noise.
Thanks to Obama and Trump, fad-chasers and tone-moderators have finally decided to start caring about politics. They didn’t care before. That’s what got us here. Had they cared before—had they been reading the Constitution, had they been talking with and listening to their elected representatives at city and state levels—Bernie Sanders or Ben Carson would be in the oval office right now. But, they didn’t care until Twitter erupted.
While both Trumpists and Sanderers are disturbed, I’m not. People finally care. That puts me quite at ease.