Afterthoughts about the election

It's easy to focus on negative aspects of Trump:

• Misogynist 
• Allegations of sexual assault and rape
• Philanderer
• Bully
• Xenophobic
• Ignorant of issues
• Willing to provoke Mexico by putting up a wall
• Bully
• Calling people with problems losers
• Behaviors that would have gotten him expelled from kindergarten
• Racist supporters, giving impression of being racist himself
• Violent supporters 
• Inciting violence
• Absurd insistence that Hillary was the most corrupt candidate we've ever had, when he was more corrupt. Focusing on minor errors and appearance of impropriety, when there seemed to be none
• Wanting to persecute Hillary when she had spent most of her life in selfless public service
• Accusing Hillary of being negative, when he was more negative
• Not paying contractors
• Seeking to undermine freedom of the press

These were the reasons I supported Hillary.

But we shouldn't assume that everyone who voted for him endorses all this long list of bad characteristics. There were actually some issues:

• Obamacare helped many people get insurance, but it doubled costs for the self employed ) like me) and small business owners. I personally lost my preferred health insurance, because the NYSBA was decertified as a group and could no longer provide insurance to its members
• Low interest rates helped the economy recovery and brought cheap mortgages, but for retired people living on fixed income securities they were a financial disaster
• Trump spoke out against war, while Hillary seemed to be a hawk
• Gun control, which is a very different issue in rural communities with no police than it is in urban communities
• Abortion: I personally am pro  choice, but many people believe abortion is murder and this is important to them

People who cared about these issues may well have been holding their noses when voting for him.

I personally originally supported Bernie Sanders, because of these three issues

• Medicare for all
• Addiction is a disease, not a crime
• Voted against the second war on Iraq

Hillary seemed less strong to me on these issues

Curiously, on drug legalization, it appears that red states area as progressive or more progressive than blue states

Of course there were also allegations of sexual assault and rape and philandering against Bill Clinton. I don't know if he did those things or not, but at least he apparently knows those things are wrong and tries to hide them, rather than boasting of them.