The Tone for Trump White House Set During Campaign

We are on the precipice of becoming a country of punctuated extremes. This is not just about the rich and the poor. This is about who will stand up for the rights and fight against the wrongs of both extremes and those in the middle. The answer to that question is not a comforting one as President-Elect Donald Trump names appointees with strong histories of racist and misogynistic words and actions. With Steve Bannon, Reince Priebus, General Michael Flynn, Mike Pompeo and Senator Jeff Sessions surrounding him, Trump continues to create a solid sense of unease amidst the millions who did not support him. 

But its beginnings were there throughout his campaign.

A look back at an important time in the 2016 campaign, captured by Political & Otherwise and shown below, highlights the period when Donald Trump put his last team of advisors in place. It shows the intent and direction our new President-Elect had in mind all along.  

Trump's Women Problem Revisited /September 8, 2016

Photos by Gage Skidmore: CC BY-SA2.0

The next President of the United States will be elected in two months, and the first female Democratic nominee continues to be hammered by two things. Emails and her gender. At this point I believe Senator Bernie Sanders had it right in the first debate with Hillary Clinton way back in 2015 when he said, "Enough about your damn emails." Clinton has since admitted - and admitted again that she made a mistake and said it won't happen again. Matt Lauer missed that memo when he used about one third of her time at the at the Commander-in-Chief Forum asking her about those emails. Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) didn't get the memo either. The Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is calling for another Clinton email investigation. Moving right along, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus took to Twitter during the Forum criticizing Hillary for seeming angry and not smiling enough as she answered questions.

Wait a minute. The female candidate didn't smile enough while talking about national security and our veterans as well as her emails? Thank you Reince for getting to the point. This is the presidential campaign that has made misogyny a household term. 

When does a heated election contest between a man and a woman cross the line and become harassment? Perhaps when the male candidate surrounds himself with new advisers who possess an outright disdain for women that has gotten each of them into serious trouble. If Trump wins the election, these men are sure to play key roles.

Trump's new guiding lights as he fights to win this election are both men who have histories of reported “issues” with women. First up we have the man just thrown out of his last job for sexual harassment, former Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes. Fifteen days after being successfully sued by Fox anchor Gretchen Carlson, Ailes resigned in disgrace.

The stories recounted by a number of women who also worked at Fox are beyond repulsive as sexual harassment is bound to get. Roger Ailes has been a very powerful man, both in the media and politics, for a long time. Before Fox News, Ailes strategized victories for Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. But he let the power go to his head. Carlson was awarded a settlement of $20 million and an unprecedented apology from Fox. Ailes got a $40 million exit from Fox, and a place of esteem within the Trump campaign helping the candidate prepare for the debates and more. Donald Trump supported his buddy throughout his legal matter, and went so far as to question the veracity of the women accusing Ailes. 

Next up, the man who recently got the job of Trump campaign CEO, Steve Bannon. While far from a household name, Bannon was the Executive Chairman of Breitbart News, a publication well known to the extreme right wing political world. This is a man who has been charged with misdemeanor domestic violence against his now ex-wife and sexual harassment at a previous place of employment. Bloomberg News labeled Steve Bannon the "Most Dangerous Political Operative in America". With a reported strong desire to destroy those on the left and a no holds barred approach to taking opponents down, Trump has brought in another misogynist to work the final stretch of his campaign against Hillary Clinton. Weeks before being named Trump's new campaign CEO, Steve Bannon wrote the following on the Breitbart website:

"Women are -- screwing up the internet for men by invading every space we have online and ruining it with attention-seeking and a needy, demanding, touchy-feely form of modern feminism that quickly comes into conflict with men's natural tendency to be boisterous, confrontational and delightfully autistic."

What a lineup of handpicked top advisers.

Judgement, Donald?

A Painful Loss for Women

Photo by Gage Skidmore/CC BY-SA2.0

Every segment of our society who wanted to see Hillary Clinton win the White House is dealing with shock, pain and fear while trying to absorb our new reality. As a woman who watched the one woman we thought could break the barrier to holding the highest elected office in our country lose this election, I can say the pain is deep. Yes, Hillary, it does hurt. Why did I get choked up in the middle of an unrelated phone conversation the day after the election? Because the loss created a deep visceral pain for many of us women, the kind that comes from seeing a genuine beacon of hope for a more equal society abruptly crushed.

We are on the precipice of becoming a country of punctuated extremes. This is not just about the rich and the poor. This is about who will stand up for the rights and fight against the wrongs of both extremes and those in the middle. The answer to that question is not a comforting one now.

As millions of women in this country continue to face the daily inequities of being a woman in the workforce, the realization that our country was close to electing its first woman president became highly symbolic. And highly charged.

We have waited since our country's founding days to have a woman serve as president of the United States. I don't know how it would feel if there had been multiple female presidents preceding Clinton's stunning loss. But there never has been a woman who held the job, and never is a big word. Never means you're blocked from achieving goals and dreams because of your gender. Never sends a strong signal to women of all generations that the door remains closed. Never is the antithesis of what we want.

Hillary's final words closing out her role in the 2016 election spoke to the reality of today:

"Now, I know we have still not shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling, but someday someone will — and hopefully sooner than we might think right now. And to all of the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams." 

It was hearing her say, "someday" that struck a powerful cord. Someday sounds ominously far away. Especially when so many of us thought someday would be today.

The Games of Politics and Baseball

It's easy not to be upbeat about this election. There are some who say it's downright hard. But we all have to find a way to cope. The timing of this year’s World Series was perfect. The Chicago Cubs vs. the Cleveland Indians brought me back to my midwestern roots even though I was sitting blocks away from Pennsylvania Avenue. I’m a former Chicago area kid and former White Sox fan, but I watched the last game of the World Series cheering for the Cubs. It was an incredibly exciting game - and admittedly it felt really good to be excited and distracted from all political. As I checked in on Twitter during the game to give a shoutout to my hometown team, I realized I wasn't the only one looking for “the pause that refreshes. It was amazing to see all the politicos cheering for baseball, and not candidates. A true momentary relief. 

My initial World Series tweet was posted with a comment about my growing up days, adding "tnite my heart is with those #Cubs! So proud." The first person to ‘Like’ that tweet was Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (someone I don't know personally). Right after that, another columnist was asked via tweet if there were any new polls. The answer was perfect. "Rasmussen has the Indians up by 3." Rasmussen is a respected political polling organization who doesn't take sporting bets. Then someone else chimed in, "Most Americans want neither of these teams to lose." It got to the point where I just had to laugh at it all, and decided to ask, "Politics vs. baseball. What's the best game?" Hmmm.  

And that's what it came down to as the Chicago Cubs won the World Series, and the 2016 Presidential Campaign moved to its final days. Who’s on first became history.

It's a bizarrely uneven matchup of the two main candidates on the ballot. In one corner we have Donald Trump who, it could be said, is on the FBI protected list. Nobody is hacking his corporate or political staff emails. Lawsuits against him abound. No Trump tax returns have surfaced to find that elusive factual documentation of anything. And he maintains an abysmal record when dealing with women and minorities. Donald Trump's baggage is unique to a man with no political history, but a lot of questionable business history.

There is no doubt that Hillary Clinton has baggage. The political world has been her fishbowl for more than thirty years. She's had her successes and her failures. Yet the amount of almost too well orchestrated dumping and piling on her right now is bad. Between WikiLeaks hacking into the Democratic National Committee files, then into Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta's emails, and a FBI Director who seems prone to favoring political winds that blow from Republican ranks, It's rather miraculous that she's still walking and talking and flying all over the country. Imagine if all this hacking and dumping had taken place against Donald Trump.

Don’t underestimate the power of each individual vote on November 8th.

Join me @MarilynSalenger live on Twitter election night November 8, 2016.