An Election Analysis by Actual People - Not Politicians, Pollsters, Press, or Pundits - Part 5

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One of the pleasures of publishing the Coltons Point Times is the opportunity to share with you the comments of my readers, the everyday persons working to survive and filling their life with everything they love.  A series of post-election analysis will be offered from contributing writers sharing their thoughts on the election.

They are not seasoned journalists but they are dedicated, patriotic Americans.  At times it is refreshing to hear honest observations rather than biased news so do not expect to hear from any professional politicians, pollsters, press, or pundits.

I want to thank the contributing writers and hope we can all learn more about each other if we will just take the time to read.

This Contributing Author post is hosted on the Coltons Point Times.  Contributor authors control their own work and the views do not reflect those of the Coltons Point Times.  If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email in the comment section.

A Report on the Election from the People's Republic of Johnson County Iowa

By Charles Kapp

November 14, 2016

I live in Iowa City, home of the University of Iowa, and a place the rest of the state sneeringly calls "the People's Republic of Johnson County."  I grew up in Southeast Iowa, not in Johnson County, however, and felt I had a reasonable grip on my state's electorate. 

For the last three months I have been telling my Iowa spouse, my Iowa offspring, my Iowa friends, and pretty much any who would listen that the Trump campaign would implode in a debacle that would do harm to the Republican party that would take them decades to undo.  Watching returns the other night on most of the networks it was pretty clear that my wildly mistaken analysis was shared by many.

The Donald made good on his boast.  The upset was "Uge."  Iowans returned their all-Republican-less-one delegation to Congress and supported Trump.  We are a red state.

I can only assume that votes for Donald Trump were of the "at least he isn't one of them" stripe and a vote against a woman whose bad press made that act an easy pleasure.  "He can't screw it up any more than they have" is profoundly naive.  Or is it pure cynicism?  Or just giving up? 

What it is, first and foremost, is sexist.  The question became "Are you going to support that nagging wench that we can't trust because right-wing quasi-news media tell us so or the strong 'broad shoulders' of the man?"

I have spoken with countless Iowans who I now suspect planned to vote Trump from the get-go.  A few were vocal supporters but most breasted their cards.  These are fine, loving people.  They do not want others to suffer.  But they do feel threatened.

A changing world continues to whittle away at our livelihoods.  People of color are encroaching on our white melting pot.  Our nation has actually been successfully attacked.  Violence, while hardly on the scale of so many places in the world, moves ever closer to us all.  And so, we must need more guns to protect ourselves.  We must need a strong, blustery man to protect us.