THE CASH POST ELECTION COMMENTARY

                                                                   CASH MICHAELS

SO WHAT KIND OF COUNTRY ARE WE NOW?

by Cash Michaels

The shock is palpable.

The fact that Donald Trump is once again the president-elect of the United States, and will take office again next January, is nothing short of stunning.

What part of “this man is dangerous” didn’t many Americans understand about the convicted felon they’ve just re-elected to power? A man who has no respect for women, for people of color, for the truth.

In many ways, I’m glad I’m a 68 year-old man in poor health, so I’m not looking forward to much. The future does not look bright at all for young people under this man. Indeed, democracy is gagged and bound to the railroad tracks with this guy.

Give Trump credit, he knows how to read a room though. His instincts told him that most Americans care more about themselves before ever considering the future of their country. Trump pegged it right believing that life for many Americans is so raw, they’d rather hold someone else responsible for their problems. That speaks to an absurd sense of entitlement, that there are those who don’t deserve the blessings of citizenship because they weren’t born here. Never mind what freedom traditionally meant across our fruited plain, that those who come here willing to work hard and honestly build a life, deserve our respect and welcome.

No, in Trump’s America, they get accused of “eating the cats and eating the dogs.” In Trump’s America, they are royally disrespected by being told that they come from “a pile of garbage.”

And if they’re female, and dare to speak up, stand up, or step out of place, they get called “dumb,” “retarded,” or “trash.”

This is Trump’s America now, where those who voted for the man apparently believe he can indeed stop entrenched wars and bloodshed in one day, or fix the economy with nothing but a phone call. A man whose “infinite wisdom” made him destined to rule, because he has no intention of sharing power with Congress or the courts.

A man who, now more than ever, sees himself above the law that the rest of us cherish and must abide by.

The majority of American voters elected a television star to lead them once again, instead of a principled public servant, who happened to be an accomplished woman of color, who was the embodiment of the American dream, and promised to lead the rebuilding of this country, and had the gall to see a nation that could march into the future together.

The fact that once again, Americans rejected the inspiring leadership of a great woman, is sickening. 

One good thing closer to home did come out of this election though - Mark Robinson, our loudmouth lieutenant governor, can go back to being a loudmouth private citizen again after Democrat Josh Stein handed him his backside in the race for governor.

History will never forget how Robinson, once the hottest thing in conservative politics, became the political pariah for almost every Republican candidate running for something. Even though the man couldn’t afford to be on TV after that explosive “Black Nazi” CNN report came out, Democrats were more than happy to put him in their campaign commercials to use against their Republican opponents hoping he would scare the hell out of women voters with his anti-abortion rants.

So unless, the MAGA movement feels Mark Robinson still has some currency in politics worth investing in, his days as a feared cultural warrior are over beyond the sticks of North Carolina’s redneck counties.

I hope.

But make no mistake, beyond Stein’s commanding victory, I was not that pleased with North Carolina’s election results. I so much wanted State Auditor Jessica Holmes, a decent human being,  to win the office she’s ably managed since Gov. Cooper appointed her to it last December. Holmes had very little money, and certainly couldn’t afford to campaign on television like her Republican opponent, Dave “I hate DEI” Boliek. Instead, she worked hard to win across the state, but in the end, fell short.

I am grateful that, according to unofficial results, our next superintendent of Public Instruction won’t be someone who wants to see Pres. Barack Obama executed by firing squad on pay-per-view TV. Nor will our next state attorney general be someone who sponsored a so-called “bathroom bill” that discriminated against citizens because of their sexual orientation.

But back to the world according to Trump….I’m not ready for it. Never will be. That monster played games with a deadly disease which led to the deaths of 1 million of my fellow citizens when he was first elected. He demeaned people of color in his rhetoric and actions. And he disrespected women and punished them for wanting their reproductive rights.

As I said, I am stunned. And when it becomes clear that this cruel clown has been lying about everything he has promised to make our lives better, all I will be able to do is just shake my head, and wonder why more folks could not have figured that out sooner.

I get it. The Democratic Party has serious work to do. It needs to stop being perceived as elitist; needs to stand up stronger for the working man and woman; needs to get tougher and mean it about important policies that improve the quality of American life.

One can reasonably argue that when rural folks, Black and Hispanic men, and working class white women allow themselves to be wooed by a criminal shyster of all things, we’ve fallen so low, it’s hard to look up.

What could have happened if my country just had the guts to elect a woman leader who was willing to see us as Americans, and not suckers, losers or piles of garbage?

Good things, I imagine, good things that would have made all of our children proud.

         But Kamala said it best in defeat - “The light of America’s promise will always burn bright, as long as we never give up fighting!”

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TWO CASH ELECTION STORIES FOR THURSDAY

 STEIN DEFEATS ROBINSON

FOR NC GOVERNOR; TRUMP

WINS NORTH CAROLINA

By Cash Michaels

It didn’t take long on Election night for Democrat Josh Stein to claim victory after his unofficial win for governor. With 55% of statewide precincts reporting in, Stein, currently the NC attorney general, defeated controversial Trump-endorsed Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson of Greensboro by 15 points..

“Thank you for believing in the promise of North Carolina,” Stein told supporters at a watch party in Raleigh.

Lt. Gov. Robinson, who lost support from fellow Republicans after controversial comments denouncing women, Jews, Muslims, LBTGQ+ and Blacks, followed by an explosive CNN Report accusing him of calling himself a “Black Nazi” on a porn site, now finds himself a political outsider once he leaves office in December.

“I’m not sad for me, I’m sad for you,” a tearful Robinson, the first Black lt. governor in North Carolina history, told supporters.

Sources say that once Stein takes office in December, the Republican-led North Carolina General Assembly is expected to pass legislation to further take power away from his office.

Meanwhile, Republican former Pres. Donald Trump outlasted Democrat presidential opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, 51% to 47% with 100% of precincts reporting in to unofficially win North Carolina’s 16 Electoral College votes. Both Harris and Trump made repeated trips to campaign in the state in recent days, hoping to secure North Carolina as an important battleground state on the road to 270.

Back to NC Council of State races, with 100% of precincts tallied, Democrat Jeff Jackson unofficially outpolled Republican NC Congressman Dan Bishop, 51.4% to 48.6% to become North Carolina’s next attorney general.

Incumbent State Auditor Jessica Holmes lost a close race to Republican Dan Boliek 49.4% to 47.6%, while former Guilford County Schools Supt. Maurice “Mo” Green defeated Republican opponent Michele Morrow for state superintendent for Public Instruction, 51% to 49%.

For the NC Supreme Court with 100% of precincts reporting in, conservative Republican Jefferson Griffin ousted incumbent Democrat Allison Riggs, 50.2% to 49.8% in unofficial returns. That means there will now be just one Democratic justice seated on the seven member NC High Court.

On the NC Court of Appeals, Republican Tom Murry defeated Democrat ic incumbent Judge Carolyn Jennings Thompson, 50.9% to 49.1%

For Congress, 12th District U.S. Rep All Adams was re-elected, and Fourth District Democratic Congresswoman Valerie Foushee won a second term to Congress Tuesday..

Finally, North Carolinians passed an amendment to the state constitution that prohibited non-citizens from voting, which was already the law before the measure passed.

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HOW DID NC’s BLACK VOTE

PERFORM IN ELECTION 2024?

By Cash Michaels

Contributing writer

As always, the African-American vote was a critical part of the November 5th general election. Did the mostly Democratic voting bloc turnout in the numbers that the party needed?

At the end of early voting, which saw a record over 4.2 million North Carolina early votes cast in this election, various analysts expressed concern about the amount of Black vote cast versus in 2020.

“About 17,000 more Black voters showed up for in-person early voting than four years ago,”wrote veteran political analyst Thomas Mills. “In total, 791,000 African Americans voted early. Democrats need about 300,000 Black voters to show up on Election Day.”

Did that happen? At press time, it was too early to determine how North Carolina’s Black voting bloc performed on Election Day, but a snapshot of Black voting behavior during early voting creates a picture of what Black voters needed to accomplish on Election Day.

A statistical breakdown of the five top counties by turnout from the North Carolina State Board of Elections shows in Wake County, out of 863,176 total registered voters, 510,175, some 59.1% had early voted by November 2rd. Of that number, 328,980 were white; 83,302 of 152,182 (54.7%) were Black, and 97,893 were other.

In Mecklenburg County, out of 839,672 total registered voters, 55.0% or 461,822 early voted. Of that number, 261,123 were white; 129,485 of 250, 247 (51.7%) were Black; and 71,214 were other.

In Guilford County, where 228,555 (57.5%) out of 397,722 total registered voters early voted, 130,378 were white; 70,228 (53.2%) of 132,118 were Black; and 27,949 were other.

In Forsyth County, the total number of registered voters there is 280,085, of which 166,473 (59.4%) early voted. Of that number, 107,960 were white; 37,490 (55.1%) of 68,043 were Black; and 21, 023 were classified as other.    

        Rounding out the top five counties, Durham County saw 154,835 (61.1%) of its 253,531 registered voters early vote by Nov. 2nd. Of that number 81,765 were white; 43,750 (57.8%) of 75,748 were Black; and 29,320 were other.

As Stella Adams, veteran elections analyst says, per the Black vote across the state, but particularly in counties like Wake, Mecklenburg, Guilford and Durham, Election Day Black voter turnout was crucial not just for the Harris-Trump race, but all of the important down ballot races as well.

So what Black voters did on Nov. 5th, that they didn’t do during the seventeen-day early voting period beforehand, was critical.

In an earlier analysis, Thomas Mills made note of concerning deficits in Black early voting turnout just four days into the early voting period.

“So far, there are more than 67,000 fewer African American voters than there were in 2020 at this point. That’s a huge deficit that Democrats should be scrambling to address,” Mills wrote during the first week of early voting. “They need to be shifting money and people to connect with Black voters and get them to the polls.”

“The problem is widespread,” Mills continued. “In Durham County, there are 4,500 fewer Black voters this year than four years ago. In Mecklenburg, the number is 5,000. In Wake, it’s a little more than 3,000. In Cumberland, the Black vote is down by 5,000. In Guilford, the number is more than 8,500.”

“This is a turnout election,” Adams stressed prior to the polls closing on Election Day. “Where we needed the high turnout was in the urban centers, because traditionally, they’re more progressive in how they vote.”

Adams added that getting at least 75% high turnout counties like Durham and Orange with the “purest” Democratic voters was important, thus their Black voter turnout on Election Day made all the difference in elections that were generally so close.

At press time Tuesday, none of the top five counties had a 75% Black early voting turnout - Wake (54.7%); Mecklenburg (51.7%); Guilford (53.2%); Forsyth (55.1%) or Durham (57.8%) had reached that plateau. So what they did on Election Day was of key concern, especially given how Republicans and unaffiliated dominated early voting.

Adams added that if the Democratic Party is not doing all it can to get more of its registered Black voters to the polls, then that will be a problem that will consistently bite it in coming elections.

According to Adams, African-Americans over 65 dominated early voting at 80% or higher in the community,  the majority of those being females. Working African-American adults between the ages of 30-50 were the ones underperforming and voting at less than 60%.

Again, a breakdown of Election Day final turnout numbers will determine whether the slack in younger Black voters was made up sufficiently. But given that Republican Donald Trump ultimately won North Carolina on Election night, Black voter turnout apparently fell short on Election Day.

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