The Choice, Not An Echo

THE PHYLLIS SCHLAFLY REPORT
The Choice, Not An Echo
by John and Andy Schlafly
November 8, 2016

In the last days of the presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump held a series of last-minute rallies in the battleground states. The huge differences between those events reveal the stark differences between the two candidates who seek our nation’s highest office.

Since Hillary can’t draw a large crowd on her own, she depended on appearances by famous entertainment personalities such as Lady Gaga, Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Katy Perry, Beyoncé and Jay-Z. Despite the free tickets given away by her campaign, many in the audience left before Hillary even took the stage.

Some of those entertainers include vulgar and obscene lyrics as part of their act, but that didn’t stop Hillary from hypocritically hugging them on stage. Besides embracing the worst elements of the entertainment industry, Hillary’s own use of coarse language has been widely reported by the Secret Service and military aides assigned to protect her.

Following the vulgar entertainment, Hillary’s brief remarks consisted mostly of politically correct platitudes, such as claiming to be “inclusive” while attacking her opponent as “divisive.” Of course, the real Hillary was when she said “you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables -- the racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, you name it.”

Donald Trump has proved that those epithets just don’t work anymore. Most Americans are tired of being told that common-sense, traditional views are outside the bounds of acceptable conversation.

Trump had been doing 2 or 3 rallies per day, but he stepped up the pace to 4 or 5 per day during the week before the election. His 7-day schedule included several stops each in the states of Florida, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Michigan, plus visits to Iowa, Colorado, Ohio, New Hampshire, and Minnesota.

There’s no need for extra entertainment at a Trump rally, because Donald Trump himself is who the people came to see and hear. Most of Trump’s rallies drew crowds of 5,000 to 25,000 people, often with thousands more lined up outside waiting to get in.

Unlike Hillary’s substance-free remarks to people who mainly came for a free concert, Trump gave a full-length speech at each of his rallies. Unlike Hillary, Trump never loses his voice, his energy and incredible stamina, his humor, or his authenticity.

At every stop, Trump reinforced the signature issues of his campaign: build a wall on the southern border, stop illegal immigration and sanctuary cities, stop the influx of refugees and Muslims (unless they can survive “extreme vetting”), repair trade agreements that encourage companies to shift jobs overseas, rebuild our badly depleted military while staying out of unwinnable wars in the Middle East, repeal and replace Obamacare, end Common Core and restore local control of education.

Each of these issues is linked to the corrupt bipartisan cartel that has run our national government since Ronald Reagan left office in 1988. Imagine if this election had come down to Clinton versus Bush, as many predicted last year. The Clinton and Bush families agree on most issues, so it’s no surprise that several Bushes are publicly supporting Hillary.

The theme that runs through any Donald Trump speech is his instinctive desire for Americans to start winning again, after decades of losing to foreign rivals. Trump understands that the world is filled with enemies, adversaries and competitors, not friends, allies and partners.

The stakes in this election were illustrated by an article the Wall Street Journal chose to publish the Friday before the election. Entitled “A President Clinton Would Be Good for India,” the article by someone named Sadanand Dhume endorsed Hillary because Trump’s “antitrade tirades are dangerously kooky.”

It’s sad that the traditional voice of American business apparently wants the next President to be “good for India” instead of good for Americans. Too many of the Journal’s readers profit from the global trading system that has outsourced millions of American jobs to India, China and Mexico, allowing those countries to grow rapidly while America stagnates.

Americans left behind by the global economy have been attracted by Trump’s promise to return our country to world dominance in every field of human activity. That means employing our own citizens to help make America strong again, safe again, rich again, and great again.

To give Hillary Clinton her due, she made one statement with which all Americans can agree: “I believe this may be the most important election of our lifetimes.” But the real credit should go to Donald Trump, for framing the issues of this election, standing up for American workers, and providing voters with a real choice, not an echo.

John and Andy Schlafly are sons of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016) whose 27th book, The Conservative Case for Trump, was published posthumously on September 6.

Read more weekly columns.