Clinton and Trump differ in how they respond to Americans who feel wronged

When I saw President Obama speak at the University of North Carolina last week, I was ecstatic just to see our sitting president and such an amazing orator. In terms of content, I wasn’t expecting anything different from the speeches I’ve seen on television for the last 8 to 12 months.

It’s easy to get swept up in the sensationalism of American politics – the sweeping rhetoric, the hearsay, the media companies who purposefully hire two opposing political analysts to scream at each other on national television.

But something happened at the Clinton rally in North Carolina that changed my outlook on American politics.

As I stood in the press section of the rally, I watched as an African American man with a flip phone stood in the section in front of me. He was listening and interested in the entire rally. He was screaming his support. But when President Obama stepped on stage, I heard him scream into his phone, “You will never believe where I am!” He held his phone to the stage, so whoever was on the other end could hear the president’s voice over the line. He dialed number after number during President Obama’s speech.

Photo: Brenna Elmore / The Tab

For as long as I can remember, my family has been made up of strong Republicans – a fascinating development considering our life in Detroit, MI, as an auto industry family. I always wondered how Michigan could be ruled by God first and the Union second, but still create Republicans. How could one not be thankful for the opportunities provided by the Union?

A simple answer would be: once you’re in the Union, you see its flaws. You watch the auto industry crumble, and you have no idea who else to blame but the unseeable “union.”

If anything, this thinking is parallel to the thinking Donald Trump has targeted with his rhetoric. He has targeted sexists. He has targeted racists – as evidenced by his support from the KKK’s official newspaper. But he has also targeted the people of America whose lives have crumbed – the people who have no one to blame but this unseeable “establishment.”

To me, this is the true difference between the campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Clinton tries to garner the support of those who find hope in change through the establishment — through leaders like Barack Obama — just like the man who still carried a flip phone at the rally.

On the other hand, Donald Trump has also attempted to gain the support of those who find hope in changing the establishment, but through the feeling of being wronged by the system.

Trump’s followers include many terrible people. But they’re also many people who cannot find anyone to blame for their struggle. These people are veterans who feel they didn’t receive any help when they got home. They are African Americans who see Hillary as continuing the status quo of allowing officials to kill innocent kids in the street.

Photo: Brenna Elmore / The Tab

Trump has channeled their anger into a campaign that has become more and more twisted as time goes on. He has taken advantage of anxieties to propel a racist, sexist, ableist campaign. He has pushed people to abandon American ideals in the name of changing a “broken system.” He has built his campaign on fear.

Clinton has done her fair share of influencing the uneducated and the vulnerable. But she does so in a pursuit of what she sees as keeping America great. She sees the same goodness in America as the man who dialed his phone over and over to share the good news. An America that creates hope for people and doesn’t force them to seek it through disadvantaging their neighbor. Hillary has built her campaign on hope.

I can only hope that today we will elect the individual who will make us all want to phone home for the next four years. Someone who will suggest that hope can be created together. That hope can sit in the White House as an inspiration to us all.