One month ago today. . . Palm Beach Post, page A5, Sunday, November 6th: “VOTE TRUMP!” & “DRAIN THE WASHINGTON SWAMP!”

The feverish hand-wringing continues at the Post over the election of Mr. Trump. However, the big question remains unanswered: If the editor(s) were so troubled by now-President-elect Donald Trump why didn’t they endorse Hillary Clinton? After reading the blog post below click this link to learn more about this.

Did you see one of those full-page ads (see below) to “Drain The Washington Swamp” leading up to November 8th? If I had my way would have preferred the baton be passed to Hillary but that didn’t happen. Have no doubt at all President Barack Obama will go down in history as one of the greats. But with all presidents a legacy can take thirty years or even longer before it’s truly appreciated.

Barack Obama. The 44th President of the United States.

In heavily Democrat-leaning Palm Beach County many reader’s of the The Palm Beach Post woke up to see this on Sunday morning, just 2 days before election day.

Hillary Clinton lost Florida to Mr. Donald J. Trump, now the President-elect and soon-to-be 45th President of these United States. In The Palm Beach Post there were three or four full-page political ads urging voters to vote for Trump. In heavily Democrat-leaning Palm Beach County the Post didn’t endorse Hillary Clinton. Or Mr. Trump either. But. . . how many more Republican voters marched to the polls after seeing this ad? Probably not many.

When I first saw those ads in the Post thought they must be starving for ad revenue. Their circulation is about 80,000 daily subscribers to the print edition. Not what one would call a major newspaper. If that number is off feel free to correct it. No one in Florida will ever accuse that newspaper of swinging any statewide election. 

Here’s the breakdown from November 8th in Palm Beach County:

• Donald Trump (R): 41.2%, 270,762
• Hillary Clinton (D): 56.51%, 371,411
• All the others: 2.26%, 15,062

Clinton got 100,649 more votes than Trump. So what does this all mean? Still no one really knows. The only thing for sure is Trump is going to become the President of the United States on Friday, January 20th.

The Post got some real hefty revenue with those ads. But those ads probably didn’t swing too many voters one way or another. The ads motivated the already decided Trump voters to get out and vote.

The problem now is a lot of people, Clinton supporters, are really angry in Palm Beach County and they’re not really sure who to get mad at. It’s not Trump’s fault for winning. And I’m sure Trump’s campaign team was initially as surprised an anyone when they saw the results.

There are a lot of questions though, here are just a few:

• Why did Clinton spend so much time in PBC? There was never any question she would do well here. Right?
• Should Hillary have spent more time in Pennsylvania? Some other state? How many states didn’t she visit at all?
• Was there polling data showing she was in trouble here too?

A Trump Presidency is not the end of the world. Remember all those people who said an Obama Presidency would be the end of America? And lastly, from Hillary Clinton:

“We have seen that our nation is more deeply divided than we thought. But I still believe in America, and I always will. And if you do, then we must accept this result and then look to the future. Donald Trump is going to be our president. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead. Our constitutional democracy enshrines the peaceful transfer of power.”