I have observed many ideas about and reactions to the election since November that perplex me. One idea that stands out among Hillary fans is that Bernie was too dirty in the primary and has a lot of ground to make up if he is to win the support of the Clinton wing of the Democratic Party going forward. I will not address the absurdity of this idea here, but I highlight it to make a point: Hillary fans still have no idea what happened in 2016 that led to Donald Trump being president. This is particularly troubling given the small window of opportunity we have to replace Trump. Hillary fans, allow me to clue you in to the deciding issue of the 2016 election: many Trump voters ― nearly half ― believe that Trump’s victory was a victory against the Illuminati. And, because of that, nearly none of his scandals or failures matter to them.

In December, after an armed man walked into the DC pizza restaurant at the center of the “pizzagate” conspiracy, Economist and YouGov conducted a poll of Clinton and Trump voters about belief in conspiracies surrounding the election. A whopping 46 percent of Trump voters believed that leaked Clinton and Clinton loyalist emails contained information about a child sex ring being run out of the DC pizza shop. I was admittedly late to the “pizzagate” story as I tend to stay away from internet conspiracies, but once I researched it I discovered that this conspiracy is an extension of the Illuminati conspiracy. Believers thought the emails were in code, that the symbols on the front of the pizza place were Illuminati symbols, etc. Trump voters largely believe that Clinton is part of a global conspiracy run by the world’s wealthiest and most influential people. If we do not address this going forward, the Democratic Party will continue to make the same mistake it made in nominating Hillary.

Understand that when I say it was a mistake to nominate Hillary Clinton I am merely pointing out the fact that 2016 was a change election and she was an establishment candidate. But, to further muddy the waters, it was also very easy to paint her as a globalist. The Clintons have been mentioned in scandals going all the way back to President Clinton’s rise to fame in Arkansas. Their record is long and very well known. She has seemingly been on a two-decade long campaign for president. I know it is a little confusing that Trump, a self-proclaimed billionaire, is seen by Trump voters as not a part of the global, billionaire conspiracy. But, believe me when I say it is easy to paint Hillary as part of it herself. This was an easy sell for Trump to his voters and he had blowhards like Alex Jones to go further in tying her to the Illuminati than Trump would go in public. Trump voters view him as self-made and an outsider to politics. They view Hillary as deeply tied to the system that they have come to hate.

Going forward the Democratic Party must come to grips with the fact that we nominated a candidate who half of Trump voters view as part of the global Illuminati conspiracy. If we are to win in 2020, I do not think just being the anti-Trump Democrat will be enough to win us back the White House. We need to build a deep bench of and support candidates who are viewed as change agents who are not deeply tied to the establishment. I know many establishment Democrats are licking their chops at the opportunity to run against Trump, but many of them need to sit this one out. If you are an establishment Democrat, this is not your fight. We need fresh faces, new ideas and candidates who project independence from the system.

Democrats made a huge mistake in not nominating Bernie Sanders in 2016. Bernie had actual outsider credentials and appealed to people who ended up pulling the lever for Trump. Perhaps he is the best candidate to unseat Trump in 2020. I am 100 percent sure of one thing though: this conspiracy problem that plagued the 2016 election will not go away by 2020. We will still be dealing with the fact that a large portion of Trump voters believe that the Illuminati exists and controls establishment politicians. Remember this when you can not figure out why Trump voters still approve of Trump’s job performance even when it seems like he is failing. They simply do not care about the liberal media’s opinion or your opinion. All that they care about is that they believe they stuck it to the Illuminati. And, because of this, they are willing to ride with Trump even if it takes them over a cliff.