This is the Antithetical Election.

There is a wealthy real estate magnate from Manhattan successfully appealing to Evangelical Christians in the heartland. There is a 74 year old curmudgeon appealing to young voters. There are young women shunning the opportunity to vote in the first woman president. There is a Canadian lobbying for harsh immigration laws. And then there is a voting block of people willing take their vote from the socialist curmudgeon to the conservative magnate.

Watching the news lately, it seems as though the experts are no longer surprised by being surprised. Trump comes out with the most inflammatory rhetoric you can imagine and yet he still wins. Hillary’s credentials resemble high officers from the Soviet area, her chest adorned with medals displaying her public service record. And yet despite the many “Last Throes” speeches, she can’t escape Bernie’s insurgency. For some reason this cycle, the American voter is a plucky, reticent creature. We refuse to be told what to do by the elites and we have no problem telling the elites what to do. That strident streak is informing two movements, ABT (Anyone But Trump) and ABH (Anyone But Hillary). Both of these movements form a bridge between two antithetical campaigns and pose a huge problem for the Democrats going forward.

We’ve all been treated to a healthy dose of ABT. The ads, Mitt Romney, the circular firing squad at debates and the not so subtle hints from the pundit-sphere. This is a top down strategy where the voters are the ones being persuaded. Trump has been winning handily in most states, the voters voices are fairly clear on who they want as their nominee. But the message from the top is clear “You don’t get it.”

The ABH movement currently taking shape among Democrats is different. Being in my 30s and working in tech, I’m surrounded by Bernie supporters, almost all of which loathe Clinton. That loathing comes from a place of extreme distrust for government and a distaste for Underwoodian ruthless pragmatism. Unlike the Republican Anyone But campaign, the voters are telling those on top “You don’t get it.”.

What are the issues powering the ABH and ABT movement?

Corruption. Nobody wants another politician beholden to large corporate donors.

Nobody wants another politician beholden to large corporate donors. Surveillance. Nobody wants a politician who at the very least doesn’t recognize the problem with handing over the keys to all of our digital houses to any one person.

Nobody wants a politician who at the very least doesn’t recognize the problem with handing over the keys to all of our digital houses to any one person. Warmongering. Nobody wants another politician willing to start wars with very little pretense to widen America’s sphere of influence abroad.

Nobody wants another politician willing to start wars with very little pretense to widen America’s sphere of influence abroad. Wealth Equality. Nobody wants another politician who supports trade deals which eviscerate the middle class or does nothing to fix a system which only seems enrich the rich.

I’ve seen the arguments happen all around me. How can you even consider voting for Trump? Are you mad? Are you a racist? On the face of it, it seems Antithetical to go from voting for a Social Democrat to a Conservative Republican. But look at the issues that matter to the ABH movement and you can start to see the Venn diagram form. What other candidate has the political chops necessary to be the standard bearer for these issues?

When you start to consider the connective tissue which forms a shadow bond between the two apparently antithetical campaigns, it becomes much easier to understand. I’ve always had a hard time understanding Jews for Jesus. Why not just be a Christian? How can you have it both ways? It’s only after this election cycle and watching my friends and coworkers work through their core political principles that I was fully able to understand what it means to hold such an outwardly antithetical belief. Even the greatest story ever told has nuance. All you have to do is get beyond the narrative and peel back the issues to find the undercurrent of incredulity flowing through the electorate this cycle. The question is, if Hillary takes the nomination, can she convince the ABH crowd to come back?