Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) has not been hushed about her role in the election, which has been the canary in the coal mine for Hillary Clinton’s incredibly frail position in Michigan ahead of Election Day. She warned that President-elect Trump could win the state for the Republicans for the first time since 1988, but was ignored by members of her party, who said he was exaggerating. She was also called a lunatic. In an editorial for The Washington Postbasically described how Democrats didn’t read the tea leaves in the state carefully, even after the auto industry bailout. With wages stagnating, these people were more willing than ever to vote for someone fresh. That person turned out to be Donald Trump:
I was the crazy one. I predicted that Hillary Clinton would have trouble in Michigan during the Democratic primary. I saw that Donald Trump could win the Republican nomination for president. And in Rotary clubs, local chambers of commerce, union halls, and mosques, I saw that we could see a Trump presidency. “This is Debbie, this is too much, she’s crazy.”
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My district reflects much of the country’s diversity. Ann Arbor is a college town and a startup city. Ypsilanti is an urban city, and its problems mirror those of larger cities like Detroit and Chicago. Dearborn is home to Ford Motor Co. and has the nation’s largest Muslim population. “Downrivers” — a group of communities south of Detroit — refers to auto factories and manufacturing with robust union affiliations.
The district is mostly Democratic, and those voters went strenuous for Bernie Sanders in the primary. That result didn’t surprise me, but it pissed me off that Clinton and her team didn’t show up until the weekend before the primary, when it suddenly became clear they had a problem. I took Bill Clinton grocery shopping that Saturday—too little, way too behind schedule. They never stopped on campus; they never went to the union hall; they never talked to the Arab-American community. Sanders was in my district 10 times during the primaries. How could anyone in their right mind not have predicted how this election would turn out? This could have been fixed before the general election.
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Ordinary working men and women in this country are not asking for much. They want to live a decent life. They want to be able to support their family, buy a home in a secure neighborhood, have enough to eat, go to the doctor when they need it, afford medicine and educate their children. Many do not understand how many things are at risk of becoming unattainable for too many Americans.
During my first week as a member of Congress, I flew with President Obama to Michigan to visit an auto plant and see the results of his policies that saved the auto industry and thousands of Michigan jobs. During that time, I found myself deeply grateful for the president’s leadership because I know what would have happened to my state and country had he not implemented his robust economic plan.
But I also said to him, Mr. President, with all due respect, many of these workers do not understand what you have done to them. They do not feel better. Their real wages have not increased in decades, and for many of them, they have actually decreased.
Well, Michigan will ultimately be called in Trump’s favor. One hundred percent of the precincts are in play, and Trump is ahead of Clinton by just over 13,000 votes. Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Ohio also voted to Make America Great Again this cycle; Wisconsin went Republican for the first time since 1984. The blue wall has fallen, but you can bet Dingell and other Democrats are already planning to rebuild it, especially when the 2018 midterms come around. Republicans have also retained control of Congress — and increased their majorities in state legislatures. Republicans are now the dominant political force in the country. It’s time to govern effectively. They need to prove themselves. Like the millions of Obama supporters who flipped to Trump, along with the legion of white, working-class voters who also voted Republican, they can change their minds in a heartbeat.
