To the editor:

Last week Donald Trump was declared the winner of this country’s presidential election and it didn’t take long for commentary to follow ‘explaining’ why he won. 

Some of the pieces were honest and took a look at the state of our nation’s politics, but unfortunately others were simply insulting, suggesting Trump voters were sexist, racist, homophobic, xenophobic Neanderthals. One example from The New York Times stated “…a woman following a black man to the White House was simply too much to swallow.” Another from CNN nearly cried asking “How do I explain this to my kids?” Others stated it was a “Whitewash”. Overall the media and pundits were incredulous — How could Donald Trump win? How could this have happened? Wasn’t everyone for Hillary?

Despite being a billionaire, Trump struck a chord with average Americans who were frustrated with our government. During one debate, he was asked about being ‘angry’, and instead of backing off, he affirmed it and stated that he was very angry with how our country was being run. He admitted to a feeling that was shared by millions of law-abiding, hard-working Americans and he was not embarrassed to say it.

Trump also shattered the tenets of “Political Correctness” and brought up issues that were on the minds of American voters. He spoke bluntly, and admittedly at times, embarrassingly childish and rude. But nonetheless he gave a voice to people who were feeling similar thoughts, but who had been guilted into thinking they must remain silent lest they be labeled a hater.

And so Trump’s support grew, and against the odds, he won. He won because people are tired of incompetent, crooked, politicians, not because we don’t want a woman president. He won because people are worried about our open borders, not because we are xenophobes. He won because we value the Constitution and want justices who will fight to protect it. He won because people are tired of knee-jerk race baiting where the police are the first to be blamed instead of defended. He won because people want a president who is proud of our country, and doesn’t apologize for its past deeds at every opportunity. He won because of: Bengahzi, the ‘Iran deal’, soaring premiums under Obamacare, unemployment, classified emails, biased media, the Clinton Foundation, etc.

Is Trump perfect? No, but perfection was not an option, so you have to choose the lesser of two evils. One was a man who said rude comments in private, the other did worse, one example being, her foundation’s acceptance of millions of dollars from countries where, among other things, women are subjugated to men and homosexuality is punishable by death.  

So please, next time you hear that Trump won because he or his supporters are racist, sexist, homophobes, etc., be honest with yourself and do not take the bait. It might be easy to use such reasons, but in doing so, you will be ignoring the reality of why people really voted for Trump.

Matthew Fletcher

Barrington