What Are Positive Things Can You Take From The 2016 US Presidential Election?

“I  believe that behind every negative things, there are positive things that we can learn.” -Sparklesbehind

Keep this in mind whenever you find yourself trying to learn something positive from something that appears negative in all phases.

When someone or something turns out to be negative in all phases, it can be harmful, toxic, and painful to watch and be apart of. The beauty that exists in such negative things is that you can learn some positive things that can help you become better and change the world in the process.

Today’s inspiration will take a look at the 2016 United States Presidential Election in a different light. We will simply take a look at the following:

• 2016 U.S. Presidential Election: How did we get from start to finish?
• What were some of most negative comments from the 2016 U.S. Presidential Candidates?
• What made the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election negative?
• What positive things can you learn from the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election?

Now that we have the questions, let’s find the answers!

The 2016 U.S. Presidential Election: How did we get from start to finish?

The best way to take a look at this is to look at the two nominees and their roads respectively.

Democratic Party Nominee: Hilliary Clinton

• Hillary Clinton started her run for President of the United States on April 12, 2015, by releasing her video stating her intention to run.
• On July 20, 2016, she picked Virginia Senator Tim Kaine to be her running mate. The slogan was changed from “Stronger With Her” to “Stronger Together” to show their unity.
• She battled the following five candidates from the Democratic Party to not only win the Democratic Party nomination on July 26, 2016, but became the first woman in American history to win a major party nomination:
  • Bernie Sanders
  • Martin O’Malley
  • Lincoln Chafee
  • Jim Webb
  • Lawrence Lessig
• On November 8, 2016, Mrs. Clinton would eventually lose to President-elect Donald Trump as a result of the losing the electoral vote despite winning the popular vote.
• On November 9, 2016, Mrs. Clinton conceded the election to President-elect Donald Trump therefore officially ending her run for President of the United States.

Republican Party Nominee and President-elect: Donald Trump

• Donald trump started his run for President of the United States on June 16, 2015, by making the announcement from Trump Tower in New York, New York, and the slogan “Make American Great Again” began its journey across America.
• On July 15, 2016, he picked Indiana Governor Mike Pence to be his running mate.
• He battled the following 16 candidates from the Republican Party to win the Republican Party nomination on July 19, 2016:
  • Ted Cruz
  • John Kasich
  • Marco Rubio
  • Ben Carson
  • Jeb Bush
  • Jim Gilmore
  • Chris Christie
  • Carly Fiorina
  • Rand Paul
  • Rick Santorum
  • Mike Huckabee
  • George Pataki
  • Lindsey Graham
  • Bobby Jindal
  • Scott Walker
  • Rick Perry
• On November 8, 2016, Mr. Trump would eventually beat out Hillary Clinton via the electoral vote and not only become President-elect, but also completed the biggest upset in American politics.
• On November 9, 2016, President-elect Trump received a phone call from Mrs. Clinton conceding the election therefore ending the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election.

What were some of the most negative comments from the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election?

The 2016 U.S. Presidential election provided some very negative comments from the candidates. With more than enough quotes provided by the two major candidates that could keep you up for hours, I will only list three quotes from each candidate.

Democratic Party Nominee: Hilliary Clinton

1. “To just be grossly generalistic, you can put half of Trump supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables, right? Racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic, you name it.”
2. “Trump’s lack of knowledge or experience or solutions would be bad enough, but what he’s doing here is more sinister.”
3. “So when a tweet gets under his skin and he wants to retaliate with a cruise missile, maybe cooler heads will be there to convince him not to…Maybe!”

Republican Party Nominee and President-elect: Donald Trump

1. “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
2. “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot people and I wouldn’t lose voters.”
3. “I think Islam hates us. There’s a tremendous hatred. We have to get to the bottom of it. There is an unbelievable hatred of us.”

What made the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election negative?

The 2016 U.S. Presidential Election showed some negative and low point for American politics. Here are four things that made the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election a negative experience:

1. Unfavorable Ratings
   • With high unfavorable ratings of 54.4 for Hillary Clinton and 58.5 for Donald Trump, according to RealClear Politics, you can see that a lot of voters did not like their options prior to voting.
   • When you have unfavorable ratings that high among your top two presidential candidates, you find yourself choosing between the lesser of two evils.
2. Negative Ads
   • With a combined spending of $285.4 million on advertising ($211.4 million for Clinton vs. $74 million for Trump), according to Bloomberg Politics, you can see how much of the negative comments and rhetoric that spewed out into the televisions, computers, and radios of people across America and the world.
   • When you are constantly exposed to negative ads from candidates, it can cause you have a bad taste about the political process to where you are either likely to develop a biased view or become turned off about voting.
3. Media Coverage
   • With a combined 1,799, 260 mentions across just the television networks (624,873 mentions for Clinton vs. 1,174, 387 mentions for Trump), according to the GDELT Project analysis of the Internet Archive Television News Archive’s 2016 Campaign Television Tracker, you can see how much acknowledgement both candidates get in the media.
   • With such high amounts of mentions, it forces you to pay more attention to the candidates and the issues based on how the media wants you take in the information.
     • If the information is unbiased, you will gain balanced information in making your decision.
     • If the information is unbiased, you will get a skewed and one-sided view on particular topics.
4. Controversies
   • Both candidates have had their fair share of controversies during the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election.
     • Hillary Clinton had to deal with Benghazi, email/server issues, calling young African-Americans “superpredators” as a few of the issues she faced.
     • Donald Trump had to deal with alienating and offending races and social groups, sexual harassment claims, and not revealing tax returns ahead of the election as a few of his issues.
   • With the controversies clouding the election, it does not allow for you to listen to and focus on the issues in order to make the best decision for yourself.

What positive things can you learn from the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election?

Despite the negative tone and energy that has been displayed from the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election, there are some positives you can take away from this experience:

1. Quantity of money does not always determine the outcome of your success.
   • Despite being at a disadvantage financially during the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election, according to Bloomberg Politics, Donald Trump was able to manage his money wisely and won the right to be called the next President of the United States.
   • No matter how much money you have, it is all about what you do with the money because if you waste it, it will not work in your favor to become successful in whatever you do.
2. You have a better chance to succeed when you reach out to people.
   • Donald Trump was effective during his candidacy run due to his ability to reach more people through his high number of rallies and attendance (59 rallies with 337,955 people) compared to Hillary Clinton (22 rallies with 13,970 people), according to the Gateway Pundit. Trump also reaches people through social media with the following numbers presented by USA Today:
     • Facebook likes: Trump (10.1 million) vs. Clinton (5.3 million)
     • Twitter followers: Trump (10.6 million) vs. Clinton (8.1 million)
     • Instagram views: Trump (2.2 million) vs. Clinton (1.8 million)
   • It goes to show that if you want to be successful, you still have to reach out and impact people to where they can help you.
3. If you want to succeed, you must overcome obstacles.
   • Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump had to overcome obstacles in order to become the last two standing and create history respectively in the process.
     • Hillary Clinton overcame the Benghazi and email server investigations in order to become the first female to win a major party nomination in American politics.
     • Donald Trump took on 17 candidates, two political parties, various media outlets, and a host of protesters and doubters in order to become the next President of the United States and pull of the greatest upset in American politics.
   • If you are wanting to become successful, you have to be willing to take on and overcome the obstacles that may stand in your way.
4. Anything is possible if you keep on fighting until the end.
   • With the taped comments about women and the mass amounts of people who wanted him to drop out back in October, Donald Trump dropped the tweet vowing never to give up.
   • Being down by as much as 11 points nationally, Trump kept on fighting and despite the polls showing him losing on Election Day, he would wind up winning the important Electoral vote and becoming the next President of the United States.
   • You never know how things will turn out which is why you should never give up and keep on fighting until the very end.

I encourage you to reflect back on the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election. You will find that there are lessons that you can take from it that can help you become a better person. You may not like the candidates that ran or the things that they said towards one another, but they were able prove to you and the world that in the end, they learned how to be graceful in victory (Trump) and defeat (Clinton) towards each other, their fans, and the world. Let’s remember that even in the ugliest of battles, there are lessons for you to learn from so that you can avoid making the same mistakes and make the world a better place.

I have a few questions that I would love for you to give some thought. Feel free to comment and answer below:

• What do you consider the most memorable moment of the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election?
• What made the moment memorable from your perspective?
• What positive things did you learn from that memorable moment?
• How did that moment change your life?
• What would recommend to someone who is trying to find positives from the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election?

Your answers and comments can help you or someone else find out this important question…

• What are positive things can you take from the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election?

-Michael J. Fite