Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Thursday, November 10, 2016
OTHER VIEWS
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Publisher
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Managing Editor
TIM TRAINOR
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OUR VIEW
Democracy will
survive Trump
Donald Trump will be the 45th
Will he cut taxes for the rich?
president of the United States.
The possibilities are endless,
A turn in the polls in the last few
and because the media and voters
days put the New York billionaire
couldn’t nail down Trump’s positions
on top of an election that caught
on any of these matters, we’re all in
pollsters and observers by surprise.
the dark.
But Trump has
The nation must
to
do
now grapple with
“Let us realize doesn’t something,
he? Will he
a president-elect
as mysterious and
the arc of the build a wall along the
undisciplined as our
border — at
moral universe is Mexican
country has ever
a cost of roughly $25
seen. He has no
long, but it bends billion — a tab that
strong bond to any
all know Mexico
towards justice. “ we
political party, lacks
is going to go
concrete policies,
— Martin Luther King, Jr. nowhere near. Will
made campaign
he raise taxes to pay
promises that he can
for its construction,
never live up to and has a notoriously or will he just add the cost onto the
short temper. He likely will lead our
national debt?
country for the next four years.
So many questions with no
apparent answers.
Before we opine on just what a
Trump presidency might look like,
But one can be answered: How did
we must take a moment to speak
Democrats allow Trump to pull off
the upset?
for American democracy. This is a
First, and most clearly, they
strong, moral country with mature
and entrenched democratic traditions. misunderstood just how deeply many
Americans despise the Clintons.
It is scary to elect an outsider
And they misread the national pulse,
candidate who flirts with America’s
putting forward an establishment
authoritarian enemies and seems to
lack a basic code of decency. But this candidate after six years of total
Washington gridlock and ineptitude.
country is strong enough to weather
Clinton’s weakest points — her
it. Full stop. It might not be pretty,
stance on trade, her ties to Wall
but we can and will survive it.
Street and her hawkishness — were
So what will happen?
Because Republicans held onto the open sores that left her vulnerable
to Trump’s incessant pecking. And
House and the Senate, Obamacare
Clinton lacked the agility to pull the
will disappear into the caverns
rug out from under Trump at every
of history — along with medical
stage of the game.
insurance for millions of Americans.
Democrats also made gargantuan
Trump will kick Merrick Garland
campaign errors. Clinton never set
to the curb and put forward his own
foot in Wisconsin during the general
nominee to the Supreme Court.
campaign — a state she lost — and
Trump says he will amend the
their late scramble to hold onto
Constitution in his first 100 days
Michigan was too little, too late.
in office, adding term limits to
They misread the tea leaves so badly
Congress. Republican-dominated
they were caught gazing into their
officeholders will certainly have
own navels.
nothing to do with that, setting up
Barack Obama’s election made
perhaps the first struggle between
many Americans feel scared,
Trump and party establishment.
forgotten, confused and angry. Many
Working class whites elected
people who felt that way were white
Trump and he must, somehow,
people without college degrees, and
improve their lives. Will building
they voted for Trump in tremendous
a wall do that? Will pulling out of
numbers. The pendulum that brought
NAFTA? Will rounding up and
deporting undocumented immigrants Obama to power has swung back,
and Donald Trump rose with it.
satisfy them? Even if it doesn’t
Trump’s presidency is a stumble
improve the financial situation?
for America, and this country
What if it makes their life worse by
will face serious dangers. But the
increasing the cost of groceries and
pendulum is always moving. Our
consumer goods?
nation has pushed it backward with
Will Trump start a trade war with
force, yet it will soon come forward
China? Will he start an actual war?
Will he try to overturn Roe v. Wade? at an equal speed.
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board of publisher
Kathryn Brown, managing editor Daniel Wattenburger, and opinion page editor Tim Trainor.
Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not
necessarily that of the East Oregonian.
The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues and pub-
lic policies for publication. Send letters to 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email
editor@eastoregonian.com.
Homeless in America
I began election night writing a
Trump’s obsession with “winning.” For
column that started with words from
him, life is always a zero-sum game:
an immigrant, my friend Lesley
I win, you lose. But when you’re
Goldwasser, who came to America
running the United States of America,
from Zimbabwe in the 1980s.
everything can’t be a zero-sum game.
Surveying our political scene a few
“The world only stays stable
years ago, Lesley remarked to me:
when countries are embedded in
“You Americans kick around your
win-win relationships, in healthy
country like it’s a football. But it’s not
Thomas interdependencies,” observed Dov
a football. It’s a Fabergé egg. You can
Friedman Seidman, the CEO of LRN, which
break it.”
advises companies on leadership, and
Comment
With Donald Trump now elected
the author of the book “How.”
president, I have more fear than
For instance, America undertook
I’ve ever had in my 63 years that we could
the Marshall Plan after World War II — giving
do just that — break our country, that we
millions of dollars to Europe — to build it up
could become so irreparably divided that our
into a trading partner and into a relationship
national government will not function.
that turned out to be of great mutual benefit.
From the moment Trump
Does Trump understand that?
emerged as a candidate, I’ve
Do those who voted for him
taken seriously the possibility
understand how many of
that he could win; this column
their jobs depend on America
never predicted otherwise,
being embedded in healthy
although it certainly wished
interdependencies around the
for it. That doesn’t mean the
world?
reality of it is not shocking to
How do I explain Trump’s
me.
victory? Way too soon to say
As much as I knew that it
for sure, but my gut tells me
was a possibility, the stark fact
that it has much less to do with
that a majority of Americans
trade or income gaps and much
wanted radical, disruptive
more to do with culture and
change so badly and simply did
many Americans’ feeling of
not care who the change agent
“homelessness.”
was, what sort of role model
There is nothing that can
he could be for our children,
make people more angry or
whether he really had any
disoriented than feeling they
ability to execute on his plan
have lost their home. For
— or even really had a plan to
some it is because America is
execute on — is profoundly disturbing.
becoming a minority-majority country and
Before I lay out all my fears, is there any
this has threatened the sense of community of
silver lining to be found in this vote? I’ve
many middle-class whites, particularly those
been searching for hours, and the only one
living outside the more cosmopolitan urban
I can find is this: I don’t think Trump was
areas.
truly committed to a single word or policy
For others it is the dizzying whirlwind
he offered during the campaign, except one
of technological change we’re now caught
phrase: “I want to win.”
up in. It has either wiped out their job or
But Donald Trump cannot be a winner
transformed their workplace in ways they find
unless he undergoes a radical change
disorienting — or has put stressful demands
in personality and politics and becomes
on them for lifelong learning. When the two
everything he was not in this campaign.
most important things in your life are upended
He has to become a healer instead of a
— the workplace and community that anchor
divider; a compulsive truth-teller rather
you and give you identity — it’s not surprising
than a compulsive liar; someone ready to
that people are disoriented and reach for the
study problems and make decisions based
simplistic solutions touted by a would-be
on evidence, not someone who just shoots
strongman.
from the hip; someone who tells people
What I do know for certain is this: The
what they need to hear, not what they want
Republican Party and Donald Trump will have
to hear; and someone who appreciates that
control of all the levers of government, from
an interdependent world can thrive only on
the courts to the Congress to the White House.
win-win relationships, not zero-sum ones.
That is an awesome responsibility, and it is all
I can only hope that he does. Because
going to be on them. Do they understand that?
if he doesn’t, all of you who voted for
Personally, I will not wish them ill. Too
him — overlooking all of his obvious flaws
much is at stake for my country and my
— because you wanted radical, disruptive
children. Unlike the Republican Party for the
change, well, you’re going to get it.
last eight years, I am not going to try to make
I assume that Trump will not want to go
my president fail. If he fails, we all fail. So
down as the worst president in history, let
yes, I will hope that a better man emerges than
alone the one who presided over the deepest
we saw in this campaign.
fracturing of our country since the Civil War.
But at the moment I am in anguish,
It would shake the whole world. Therefore, I
frightened for my country and for our unity.
can only hope that he will, as president, seek
And for the first time, I feel homeless in
to surround himself with the best people he
America.
can, which surely doesn’t include the likes
■
of Rudy Giuliani or Newt Gingrich, let alone
Thomas L. Friedman won the 2002 Pulitzer
the alt-right extremists who energized his
Prize for commentary, his third Pulitzer for
campaign.
The New York Times. He became the paper’s
But there is also a deeply worrying side to
foreign-affairs Op-Ed columnist in 1995.
There is
nothing that
can make
people more
angry or
disoriented
than feeling
they have lost
their home.
Gritting our teeth and giving President Trump a chance
ure, if you’re in the
had been elected, Canada’s website
approximately 52 percent
for immigration crashed from too
majority of voters who
much traffic.
supported someone other than
It’s complicated, but let me offer a
Donald Trump, go ahead and mourn.
few reasons to hold off on your visa
When a former Ku Klux Klan
application:
leader like David Duke is giddily
▪ Trump is inexperienced and
celebrating a political triumph for his
makes extreme statements, but
values, how can we not ache for our
Nicholas he’s not ideological. He used to
own?
Kristof be pro-choice, then suggested that
Yet, like it or not, we Americans
women should be punished for
Comment
have a new president-elect, and
getting an abortion, but neither
it’s time to buck up. I’ve seen past
is a core view — because Trump
elections that were regarded as the end of
doesn’t have a core. He is an opportunist. He
the world — including, in many Democratic blustered about building a wall and banning
circles, the Reagan triumph of 1980 — and
Muslims but won’t do either, because they
the republic survived. This time as well, our
are unworkable.
institutions are stronger than any one man.
The area where Trump would be most
We are not Weimar Germany.
dangerous is foreign affairs, because there he
It was disgraceful that many Republicans
can act largely at will, unconstrained by law.
eight years ago tried to make President
Yet it is perfectly possible that Trump will
Barack Obama fail. That’s not the path to
appoint as secretary of state an experienced
emulate. Today, having lost, we owe it to our Republican like Richard Haass, with
nation to grit our teeth and give President-
Stephen Hadley as secretary of defense, thus
elect Trump a chance.
signaling that adults are in charge of foreign
policy.
Having said that, Trump has talked about
The thought of Trump with the nuclear
repealing Obamacare, deporting millions
codes is terrifying, but if Trump were to give
of our neighbors, instituting religious tests,
a crazy order, no one knows if aides would
overturning Obama’s actions on climate
circumvent it. In 1974, when President
change, and moving the Supreme Court
Richard Nixon was drinking heavily during
far to the right. How can progressives
the Watergate crisis, his defense secretary,
respond with anything but resistance — or
emigration? As it became clear that Trump
James Schlesinger, ordered the military not
S
to obey any presidential instruction for a
nuclear attack without checking further.
▪ Democrats are too quick to caricature
Trump supporters as deplorables. Sure,
some are racists or misogynists, but many
are good people who had voted for Obama
in the past. My rural hometown, Yamhill,
Oregon, is pro-Trump, and I can tell you:
The voters there are not all bigoted monsters,
but well-meaning people upended by
economic changes such as the disappearance
of good manufacturing jobs. They feel
betrayed by the Democratic and Republican
establishments, and finally a candidate spoke
to them.
Liberals condemn the stereotyping of
Latinos or Muslims, but have been too quick
to stereotype Trump voters.
Look, ordinary Americans have not
somehow lurched into bigotry, even if
they have backed a man I consider a bigot.
A Bloomberg poll found that if Obama
had been allowed to seek a third term, he
would have defeated Trump in a landslide,
53 to 41 percent. And just four years ago,
the presidential election was between the
African-American son of a single mom and
a Mormon.
▪ Trump was absolutely right that the
economic system is broken for ordinary
Americans, especially working-class men.
Since 1979, real hourly wages for men have
essentially been unchanged for the bottom
half of Americans by income.
Today, we’re a country divided not only
by ideology but also by identity. Whites
voted for Trump by 21 percentage points;
blacks for Clinton by 80 percentage points.
If it had been only women voting, Clinton
would have won in a landslide. (Thank God
for women and people of color!)
Unfortunately, Trump’s proposed
policies would exacerbate the inequity that
he campaigned on. And normal checks
and balances will not apply, for he will
be working with a Republican Senate,
a Republican House and a majority
Republican Supreme Court.
One crucial check could be the news
media — if we are up to it. I’ve been very
critical this year of the role that we in the
media, especially cable television, played in
Trump’s rise. We need to be watchdogs, not
lap dogs.
The time for ranting is over, and it’s time
to accept the inevitable. Trump has surprised
us in many ways this year, and let’s hope
and pray that he will stun us once again by
repairing the tears he made in our social
fabric. Let’s give him a chance — for those
are our democratic values.
And if he falls short, let’s hold him
accountable — for the sake of those same
values.
■
Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times