The Dynamics in 2016 May Be Why Trump Wins

The other day I spoke a little bit about history having a tendency to follow the future when it comes to elections and politics in general, and how I felt that due to some historical and current data it strongly suggests that Hillary Clinton cannot win the upcoming presidential election. I stand by the arguments I made for my case on that. But there is something else that we know about history when it comes to primaries and who ultimately winds up winning nominations; The front runners rarely become the nominee.

I also talked a bit about some changing demographics and dynamics in this election cycle which could have at least some influence on things. For much the same reasons I believe those changing demographics and dynamics hurt Hillary's chances, I think they bolster Trump's.

For all intents and purposes you could say that Hillary Clinton has been the front runner for her party's nomination for at least the past four years and running. Despite her obvious troubles I don't see anyone emerging in the democratic party who stands a chance of unseating her strong lead within her party.

Hillary Clinton will be the democratic nominee for president without a doubt.

I am beginning to think that when it comes to who the republican nominee will be, it will be Donald Trump. He is going to manage to buck the trend that suggests that someone would ultimately otherwise knock him out of first place. And again, it is that changing demographic and dynamic that will help him maintain his lead. One of the brilliant things Trump has managed to do throughout his campaign, and continues to do to this day, is run against even his own party. He's running as much as an independent as he is running as a republican, and this just happens to be resonating with the electorate—and handily. I think Donald Trump, in many ways, is also managing to do something that any other republican candidate would be hard pressed to do and that is to capture at least a portion of the liberal voting public's interest. I actually believe that Trump can win the majority of the swing vote and take up enough of the democratic vote and ultimately win the White House.

Whether or not you totally agree with the movement of the 99%, and certainly everyone can agree that Donald Trump is certainly not in that majority, the movement did strongly suggest at least the idea that the citizens were becoming more and more dissatisfied with the way of the world. Granted, this anger was directed toward the fat cats. The rich and the powerful. But I think it was also a protest against an establishment that they (the 99% people) felt gave license to the rise of the rich and paved the way for a growing gap between the rich and the poor. Or in this case, the 1% and the rest of us. Trump may well be a part of that 1% the 99%ers hate so much, but he is not a part of the establishment.

Trump may not be for a $15 an hour minimum wage, but he is for restoring the kinds of jobs in the country that will provide a better chance for better wages, and moreover, more opportunities for the average citizen to get a good job that pays well and provides for their families and their basic needs. Even the 99%ers argued that the evildoers of the corporations raped and pilfered not only by becoming rich off the people (their claim, not mine), but they also did it by sending good paying jobs away to places like Mexico and China.

Donald Trump has said he wants to fix that.

Whether it is by design or by default, it seems that Trump is speaking to the masses. He's bucking all of the trends. He takes no prisoners. He draws a hard line in the sand. He has also managed to draw a good many people into the realm of politics who would not otherwise be so inclined. Perhaps it is still too early to draw such conclusions, but with the times being what they are and mindsets in places we haven't seen in our past, there is enough here to strongly suggest politics are out (leaving Hillary out), and anti-establishment in, meaning Trump may enjoy a rather surprise victory. Trump's success may well come partly from a combination of rules, history, and timing. If the dynamics were not what they are, Hillary could certainly have bucked history. Those dynamics are key to understanding exactly why the historical trend may perpetuate even with very different aspects as to why they will, and why perhaps they would not have.

Kurt Cobain's 'Sappy'

For the rock band Nirvana, it was their song Smells Like Teen Spirit which instantly propelled them into stardom, and literally brought alternative rock smack dab into the mainstream. The song also catapulted their second album Nevermind, wherein Smells Like Teen Spirit was the lead track, high on the charts. Nirvana effectively paved the way for the entire grunge scene and provided for bands like Green Day, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and countless others to see their music receiving airplay on the radio—even some of it on stations that did not generally touch this kind of music. If there was a "sound of the 90's," that sound, which ultimately was dubbed the Seattle sound, was started by Nirvana if for no other reason than Smells Like Teen Spirit simply caught on in a massive way.

Nirvana's release of their MTV Unplugged recording to this day also remains the best selling CD of the entire collection of Unplugged, and I think that is saying something about the massive popularity and the undeniable impact that Nirvana had on the entire music scene, 

Sadly, Kurt Cobain, the band's front man, would take his own life in April of 1994, leaving countless fans shocked and stunned, and leaving us all to wonder what we could have seen had he still been alive. His talent for writing great songs was undeniable, and I think there was a lot more great music that died with him.

Still, part of what made grunge so popular was its pure rawness. It was music, simple and plain. Unclean. It defied the pop mainstream. I think that is part of what made Unplugged so popular as well in that it allowed us to hear songs in their simplest form, untouched by studio hands for the most part. As such the release of Kurt Kobain's solo home recordings, which is set to hit store shelves in November 2015, should be huge. Personally I cannot wait to get my hands on a copy. This is Kurt in real form, just doing what he loved to do, and that is compose and play music. 

The album is called Montage of Heck, and the first release is Sappy, the song that would eventually become Verse Chorus Verse.

Meg Myers' Desire

I was reminded the other day that much of what we once thought of as alternative music, which is still generally referred to as that, is not really all that much alternative anymore. This style of music has literally made its way into the mainstream.

I still don't call it pop however. I still find that the style of the music is distinct. It's still alternative to me.

One of the newer songs to catch my attention is one from Meg Myers, who by the way happens to be quite beautiful as well, Have you seen her video for her song Desire? Quite eye catching actually if you know what I mean.

The song has a strong driving beat, and I quite like the way that the low E piano note bangs at the end of what is a powerful, but simple riff which drives the song to its crescendo.

"Desire, I'm hungry. How do you want me, how do you want me."

The song has a driving rock beat, using a drop D tuning which gives the guitar and bass combination a gruffy growl which just goes right to the gut of the listener. On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being horrible and 10 being holy crap that's awesome! I give Meg Myers' Desire a solid 8. It's a fun song to play if you like to play guitar, and it's a fantastically good song to listen to. Whenever it comes on the radio, the volume mysteriously ramps up in the car.

Like the way I write or the things I write about? Follow me on my Facebook page or on X to keep up with the latest writings wherever I may write them. If you like new and emerging music, check out my playlist, Indie Lemonade Mix, on Spotify.