Editor’s note: This commentary is by George Cross, who lives in Winooski, where he served as superintendent of schools for 12 years. He also served in the Vermont House for 10 years and is currently retired.
“Go back to where you came from.” That is the chant. But where did they all come from, and what do the people there really think? Let’s look at the facts.
Donald Trump comes from New York state. In the 2016 election, he lost New York to Hillary Clinton by over 22 percentage points.
Clinton received 59.01% of the votes and Trump drew a dismal 36.58%.
In the U.S. as a whole, Trump improved on his percentage, but still lost the popular vote by about 3 million votes. In the country as a whole, Clinton earned 48.3% of the votes and Trump garnered 46.2%. While he was elected president by the Electoral College, he was supported by less than half those who voted in 2016.
Rep. Ilhan Omar lives in the 5th Congressional District of Minnesota. She won 78.2% of the votes in her district in the 2018 election. Clearly, she was selected as their congresswoman by a resounding majority of the 5th District voters.
Interestingly, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won her district, the 14th Congressional District of New York, with the same percentage of victory. She received 78.2% of the votes cast in the 2018 election. Clearly, she represents a large majority of the voters in her district.
In the 7th Congressional District of Massachusetts, Rep. Ayanna Pressley swept to victory with 98.3% of the 2018 vote. Clearly, Pressley was overwhelmingly the choice of the voters of the 7th District.
With 84.2% of the vote in the 2018 election for the 13th Congressional District of Michigan, Rep.Rashida Tlaib also widely defeated her rivals. Clearly, she earned the right to represent the people of her district.
One last look at the facts: Trump in Minnesota had 45.4% of the vote, while Omar in the 5th Congressional District of Minnesota had 78.2%; Trump in New York had 37.5% of the vote, while Ocasio-Cortez in the 14th Congressional District of New York had 78.2%.
Trump in Massachusetts had 35.5%of the vote, while Pressley in the 7th Congressional District of Massachusetts had 98.3%; Trump in Michigan had 47.6% of the vote, while Tlaib in the 13th Congressional District of Michigan had 84.2%.
Perhaps it is not the political views of the Squad which are so offensive to Trump. Perhaps it is simply the fact that Trump hates to be drubbed by four women. The facts are clear, each of the four women earned a much, much larger percentage of the vote in her district than Trump did in his. Each of the congresswomen represents a large majority of her constituents, while Trump represents a minority of his. The facts are clear.
