By Cheryl Mattox Berry
I went to bed last night with Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton trailing in electoral votes and woke up this morning to news that Republican nominee Donald Trump was president-elect of the United States.
Only in America.
Voters elected a sexist, misogynist, racist, anti-Semitic, ill-tempered and poorly qualified man to the highest office in the nation. With Trump in the Oval Office, blacks and women will have to fight to keep the rights we won more than half a century ago.
The fact that Clinton didn’t win the women’s vote with the high percentage expected is mind boggling. Did they buy into the Trump narrative that she was a criminal or think that women can’t run a country? Either reason shows faulty thinking and manipulation by the Trump campaign.
Blacks voting for Trump is a travesty. He doesn’t know or care about you. Trump won’t be your savior.
As for the millennials who supported Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders and stayed home or voted for a third-party candidate, you just handed the country over to a megalomaniac. You didn’t get your way in the Democratic primary and thought you were making a point. Unfortunately, you made a terrible mistake, and there are no do-overs.
Only in America.
The first lady will be a former model who posed nude and violated immigration laws when she came to this country. Let’s not forget how she plagiarized first lady Michelle Obama’s speech and lied about getting a college degree. I can’t wait for Melania to unveil her platform.
Donald and Melania will be great role models for our children. Other nations will look at the United States as a country where anything goes, morals, values, respect, tolerance, inclusion, etc., be damned.
I took Clinton’s loss personally because I know how it feels to prepare, work hard for something and then be subjected to the whim of others who don’t want you in a position for reasons that have nothing to do with your qualifications. It has happened to many of us in our careers, but we trudge on, and sometimes find something bigger and better.
Clinton should be proud of making history as the first woman to be nominated by a U.S. political party to run for president. Her accomplishments as first lady of Arkansas and this country, a U.S. senator and secretary of state can never be erased from the history books. Her legacy is still being written.
Trump, on the other hand, will probably remain vile and repulsive, but soon he’ll become the 45th president of the United States.
Only in America.