Trump: a True Minority…

Dear Editor,

It seems ironic that Donald Trump, often criticized for being less-than-friendly towards minorities, should prove to be such a minority himself.  We all know about the popular vote, but when you consider losing the popular vote by the second largest margin of any president in history (which has happened five times, the electoral college favoring a Republican every time) and you combine that with one of the lowest voter turnouts in recent times (55 percent), it turns out that only 26 percent of eligible voters voted for Trump.

On the issues, only 16 percent of Americans believe there is not enough evidence to support global warming and 65 percent of our population believes that humans are in part responsible. Of all Americans, 57 percent believe abortion should be legal. I was unable to find statistics on public perception of the EPA, but it does exist to enforce the Clean Water Act (1972), the Clean air Act (1970), and the Endangered Species Protection Act (1973)–three  landmark Acts that resulted from a groundswell of public sentiment and bi-partisan support—and the EPA does this despite being underfunded and understaffed.  Solar energy has been described as “ice cream” in its almost universal approval across party lines.  I could not find any statistics on the percentage of Americans who believe in facts, but I like to think that this is also a majority.

Trump, at a net worth of $3.7 billion, is often mistakenly referred to as part of the “one percent.”  Most everybody knows 100 people, and if this were true, each one of us would know someone in Trump’s income bracket—we’re talking major CEO money, major campaign donor money, cabinet member money—actually the .0000001 percent.  (Today, the richest 62 people have more wealth than half of the world combined, while only six years ago, it took 388 of the richest people to achieve the same status.)

Also, the majority of Americans pay taxes.

There are other things things that make Trump a minority among Americans:  beliefs regarding “the wall”, civil rights, tax breaks for the wealthy,  private takeover of public land, health care, torture, education—but what I wanted to say is this:  if you believe that our new president does not represent you or your beliefs, you are not alone.  Most of America is with you.

Ed Ohlweiler
Sandpoint